“Am I supposed to see something?”
“Hang on.” Gaia twirled her finger, and the sun rose. Green sprouts shot up from the grass. Then the lightest-pink buds on a tree opened and showed off their darker pink blossoms. Before long, they were joined by white lilies of the valley, yellow and purple pansies, and ferns, and then the yard was exploding with all kinds of flowering bushes and sturdy ground cover.
Dr. Ned staggered backward a few paces. “How? How did you do that?”
She placed a hand on her hip and frowned. “I told you… I’m Mother Nature.”
Dr. Ned passed out.
“Oh, for the love of me.”
Pan came trotting out from behind a rock, laughing and bleating, laughing and bleating.
“Okay, dipshit. What did you do this time?”
Pan could barely contain himself. He kept trying to talk but would burst out laughing and had to start over. Finally, he took a few deep breaths and said, “Just another little truth spell. Except this time, I cast it on you!”
As he rolled back and forth in the grass laughing, she grasped his scruffy beard and yelled, “Fate! Karma! Come here.”
Pan tried to pull away, but she just grabbed him with her other hand and held him tight to her leg. “Oh no, you’re not getting away this time.”
Fate and Karma appeared simultaneously.
“What happened?” Fate asked.
Karma checked out the male figure facedown on the ground, saw Gaia with her teeth clenched, hanging on to Pan, and started to chuckle.
“It’s not funny!” Gaia groused.
“It’s kind of funny.”
“How can you say that?Hecould be dead.”
“He’s not dead,” Karma said, poking the doctor, still unconscious on the ground. “He’s not even injured.”
“He passed out. He could have been injured if he fell on a rock,” Gaia said.
“How did it happen?” Fate asked.
“Ask this dumbass. Last time, he cast a truth spell on my date. This time, he cast the truth spell onme!Here I am telling the scientist all about the big bang because I was there!”
“And she said she sneezed,” Pan added. “She caused the big bang with a big sneeze! She probably farted, since it was a gas explosion!” Pan laughed and laughed and laughed.
Mother Nature yanked his goatee and yelled, “Stop it. You’re a menace.”
Karma crossed her arms. “Do you mean to tell us you’ve interfered with her date?”
Pan smirked. “I don’t know if I’d call it interference. I was trying to help. I think honesty is a very good policy, don’t you?”
“Let’s see how much you like it.” Mother Nature kicked him and said, “Why are you doing this?”
“Because you insulted me. I volunteered to be your mate, and you all laughed. How would you feel if someone you admired laughed in your face?”
Fate sighed. “I see your point. Your feelings were hurt, but that did not give you license to interfere with and ruin her dates.”
“What should I have done, then?”
Karma put her hands on her hips and leaned over him. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybenotruin her dates? Maybe tell us how you felt? Allow us to apologize for hurting you?”
