Page 5 of Magically Generated
She seemed like the sort who considered smiling a weakness, and she’d never let herself smile around him, not once—the ornament mishap had only led to a raised eyebrow.He had the inexplicable urge to change that, even though he barely knew her.To show her some Christmas magic that would bring an unconscious smile to her face.It was a silly desire, but he couldn’t help it.
Hopefully, she liked walruses.
Nora had run out of Scotch tape.She now had three options: she could use duct tape, she could put the presents in gift bags, or she could go out to get some more Scotch tape.
With a sigh, she admitted that the third option was the best.
Duct tape—the only tape now in her possession—would not make for very pretty gifts.Although she had a few gift bags, she recalled finding such things disappointing as a kid; they weren’t as satisfying as tearing open paper.And while the holidays might not feel magical to her now, she did want her niece and nephew to have a good time.
It was eight thirty at night, but the nearest Shoppers would still be open.She put on her winter boots and coat.The temperature was well below freezing, but it was a short walk, and at least it wasn’t snowing.
As she locked her door, a delivery person approached.He carried a helmet in one hand and a very large order of food in the other.To Nora’s surprise, he knocked on Everett’s door.
Her neighbor lived alone.Did he have company?
Everett opened the door, and Nora didn’t fail to notice that his apartment was quiet.It didn’t look like he had visitors, but she could be wrong.Besides, it wasn’t any of her business.
When he caught her looking, she turned away and hurried outside.
Chapter 3
Everett’smagicrequiredalot of energy.
One time in university, he’d been so exhausted after making a large snow woman with big boobs—he blamed this on being a teenager—that he’d nearly passed out.He’d needed to wait an hour before walking home.
The key was to eat a lot beforehand.To eat until he was about to burst.
And so, for dinner tonight, Everett had gotten beef and broccoli, beef with black bean sauce, seafood chow mein, and wonton soup, all from a restaurant that he knew was generous with their portions.He ate every last bite—as well as half the chocolate in his extra advent calendar—then headed outside.
Before going to tonight’s park, he went to a nearby house, where an older Chinese lady lived.He’d gotten to talking to her one day last winter when he’d helped with her groceries.After noticing that the previous day’s snow was still on her driveway, he’d shoveled it and promised to take care of it from now on.
And he had.Sometimes he shoveled, but other times, like now, he used his ability to magically manipulate snow.It took him all of a minute, and once he was done, he got on the TTC and headed to tonight’s park: Trinity Bellwoods.
At 10 p.m., this park was busier than the last one.He passed a group of teenagers doing who-knows-what and arrived at the spot he’d picked out years before.He could see the CN Tower in the distance.
Everett held up his mittened hands and moved them through the air, willing the snow to gather into a large pile.It was a bit like conducting an orchestra.Though it would take an awful lot of time to do this manually, with his powers he could create a sufficiently large pile in about ten minutes.
It truly was magical to watch as the snow appeared to defy gravity, as it swirled and sparkled under the light of the street lamps.While he was used to seeing snow move at his will, it hadn’t lost its luster; he still enjoyed the experience.He had no idea if anyone else could move snow like this.If so, he’d never encountered them, and the thought made him feel rather lonely, but he quickly brushed it aside.
Once he’d gathered the snow, he pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket and looked at his design.He had it memorized, but it was still comforting to have a look before he began the sculpting process.
He had to concentrate very hard to smooth the snow, to get those tusks just right, to make it look like the walrus was smiling.He’d once read an article about a similar sculpture, which had taken someone almost a hundred hours to create.
Everett, on the other hand, could do this in under two.
Finally, he finished the tail, and he stood back to admire his work.He snapped a picture before heading home.
“Not again,” Nora muttered as she sipped her morning coffee.
A “photo” of a large, smiling walrus made of snow was circulating on social media.Supposedly, it was in Trinity Bellwoods and had suddenly appeared overnight.
Why did someone want people to believe that snow sculptures were popping up across the city like magic?
She had no idea, but she looked at the comments to see if anyone else was calling out the lie.Sure enough, one of the top responses said it had to be generative AI.
But the top response tothatwas a picture of the walrus from a different angle.Someone had posted a photo of a woman touching one of the walrus’s tusks.Another person had a video.There was additional photographic evidence of the hockey-playing bears, too.
Nora felt guilty that she’d dismissed the initial image as AI, but when so much stuff wasn’t real, genuine things occasionally got caught in the fray.Why, someone probably thought her own writing was AI, although that could happen just because she loved em-dashes and the Oxford comma.Ugh.
