Page 6 of Magically Generated
People looked for any reason to dismiss something, and she was no exception, though her reasoning had certainly been better; she wouldn’t write something off because of a legitimate punctuation mark.
As she finished her coffee and got to work, her mind kept drifting back to that walrus, and she decided she had to see it for herself.It would be a good way to enjoy—or, at least, attempt to enjoy—the Christmas season.
After finishing her work for the day, she put on her winter gear and headed to Trinity Bellwoods.She hadn’t been to the park in years, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever been in winter.Why would she have?She’d never lived in the area, and the last time she’d come, it had been to see the cherry blossoms.
Nora entered by the gates on Queen Street.Once upon a time, Trinity College had stood here.It had been demolished before she was born, but she’d seen black-and-white photos.It looked rather grand.
She’d been wandering through the park for several minutes, no walrus in sight, when she started wondering if maybe she’d been duped after all.She wasn’t sure how—there had been multiple photos and videos from various accounts—but why couldn’t she find it?
She took off her mittens and looked at her phone to see if anyone had posted information about the walrus’s location.Sure enough, they had—it was closer to Dundas.
“Hi.”
She looked up.A young man was standing in front of her, and he appeared to be with a young woman who was a few paces behind.
“Could I borrow your phone?”he asked.“Mine’s dead.It’s an emergency.Please.”
Nora was instantly on alert.No way in hell was she giving a stranger her phone.She suspected this was a scam, and while she doubted things would get violent if she declined—there were lots of people around—she still stepped back before shaking her head.
“If you tell me the number,” she said, her voice wavering slightly, “I can call and put it on speakerphone.”Just in case he was telling the truth.She knew what it was like to have a family emergency, after all.“Or if it’s not a phone call you need, you should be able to charge your phone at one of the coffee shops on Queen.”
The man and woman simply turned away.
She blew out a breath.What had been their plan?She vaguely recalled hearing of a scam where someone asked to borrow your phone, then bolted.She swore she’d heard of others, too, but she couldn’t recall the details now—she was too rattled.
Nora took several steps before realizing she was going in the wrong direction.After a few deep breaths, she reoriented herself and quickened her pace.She soon found a small crowd and saw a smiling walrus head rising above all the toques.
“Thank god,” she muttered.
The sculpture was definitely real.
She stopped a couple of meters away and snapped some pictures.
“Hey, Nora.”
In her surprise, she dropped her phone in the snow.She turned and saw Everett, dressed in a big red jacket.She exhaled slowly and picked up her phone.
“Sorry for scaring you.”He gestured toward the giant walrus.“What do you think?”
It took her a moment to finish composing herself.
“It’s impressive,” she said.“Apparently, it just appeared overnight.”
It was strange to encounter Everett somewhere other than the hallway of her building.Maybe that was why she found herself thinking he was rather cute, something that had never occurred to her before.It was a weird thing to think when she could see so little of his face.His hat was pulled down to his eyebrows, and his scarf was pulled up to his lips.
She shook her head, hoping to clear it of that thought, but it persisted.
She looked away from Everett and focused on the snow sculpture.On her trip down to the park, she’d seen some people arguing online about whether walruses could smile, of all things.But whether or not real walruses could smile, she liked that this one was doing so.It added to the whimsy of the sculpture.
And however it had been made, this snow walrus actually existed.
It was almost magical.
Nora felt a smile coming to her lips.Not quite as broad as the one on the snow walrus, but a smile nonetheless.Her wonder was amplified by all the people around her, everyone staring in amazement at the walrus.
“Can you take a picture of me?”Everett asked.
When she nodded, he handed over his phone, and she snapped a few pictures of him standing next to the walrus’s right tusk.Then he moved out of the way so a little girl could take his place for photos.She wore a neon green snowsuit and was missing a front tooth.
