Chapter 5

That night Amy showed Amicus to his room,which she had created last-minute out of her office with a roll-out bed she had used only once or twice before. He didn’t resist or argue about it, but he did wrinkle his nose at the sheets and demand, "what material is this?"

"Um…Cotton?" Amy replied, not quite sure.

Amicus’ eyes widened. "Cotton? These must be of great value; it is so hard to get seeds out of cotton!"

"Ever heard of Eli Whitney? Or the cotton gin?"

"What?"

"We can get seeds out of cotton now, don’t worry."

"Well we can’t."

"And we can."

"I think I’ll sleep well tonight," Amicus assured her, smiling. Amy smiled back and left the room.

Yes!

She thought to herself, he trusts me now!

The next morning when Amicus walked into the kitchen he was greeted with the smell of pancakes.

"Hello," said Amy, "I’m making pancakes; hopefully they’ll stay on your fork better."

"Are these pancakes…er…processed?"

"What? Oh, no, they’re real, it’s my own batter." She looked at him strangely and turned back to the stove. He’d slept in his new clothes, and although his hair was nicely brushed, his clothes were crumpled and in a sad state.

The phone rang, and before Amy was able to snatch it, Amicus picked it up and put it to his ear. He had learned so much that you answer the phone when it rings. "Who’s there this time?" he snapped.

"Hello," said a voice on the other end, "may I speak to Amy Lockwood, please?"

"No you may not," Amicus replied coldly, "I have forbidden her to talk to anyone without my permission."

"Is this Mr. Lockwood, then?" the other voice asked.

"Mr. Lockwood? What do you mean? Do you think I’m her father or something?"

Amy groaned.

"No…I’m sorry sir. I just wanted to invite her to our Summer Block Party; I’m one of her neighbors, Mr. Colfax, just down the road."

"Mr. Who? And what in all the worlds is a Summer Block Party? I’ve never heard of one."

Amy groaned again and rushed to the back room to get the other phone, but Amicus had hidden it.

"You’ve never heard of a Summer BlockParty? Wow. Are you new around here, mister? And my name is Colfax."

"Well, Colfax, I must apologize but Miss Amy Lockwood is not going to and never will attend another Summer Block Party ever again unless she gets permission from the one and only me."

Mr. Colfax was appalled. "And who exactly are you to go and boss everyone around?"

"I, sir, am Amicus Grunebaum and I am The King! How dare you little peasants order me around as though I were only so much…rubbish!? I am Amicus Grunebaum, Father of all, Master of the World, Keeper of the Winds, Knight of the Waters, Protector of all Animals, and rightful heir to the throne!"

Amy had snatched the phone away from Amicus at about the "how dare you little peasants" part and slammed it down onthe holder, but Amicus continued to scream at the phone.

"Amicus, stop it!" Amy snapped.

Amicus shut his mouth. He was going to continue but decided that it was a good time to stop. "How dare you order me around?" he growled deep in his throat. He was trying to hold back his anger, and his voice sounded strained. Amy was going to reply but her face was suddenly soaked, and looking around she saw that the water in the flower vase was gone.

"Amicus, you’ve caused nothing but trouble for me since the moment you walked in!" Amy cried. Amicus was appalled,seeing she was quite upset.

"Sorry for splashing you," he replied.

"Not that! I mean that’s troublesome too, but it’s more than just that!"

"What do you mean, then? The spaghetti, maybe? Or the new clothes?"

"No, it’s that-"

"I’m an elf," he said flatly. Amy sighed, and nodded weakly. That was the problem with him, as natural as it may be to him it was chaotic for her. How was she to find his home again? Or live a normal life again? Or what would happen when she was supposed to go back to school for her next college semester; she couldn’t leave him here at the apartment. She wouldn’t be able to talk on the phone ever again, or answer the door, or go to Summer Block Parties for that matter.

She forgot about the pancakes and ran to them as one started burning. Before she got to them Amicus used that magic water-thing again and doused them using the soapy water in the sink.

"Thanks," she muttered as she grabbed up the pan and dropped it in the sink. She reached for another and set it on the stove.

Amicus muttered back in the same tone of voice Amy had used, "You’re welcome." He sat down with a thunk on a chair. Amy poured more batter into the new pan and the pancake started sizzling. And then, to her great distress, the doorbell rang. Her heart sunk—and she wondered how often people would be coming over or calling on the phone. To her surprise Amicus made no move to answer it.

At Amy’s curious look at him, he said "What do you want me to do now?"

Amy sighed with relief, realizing that Amicus hadn’t realized the answer-the-door trick yet. So she went and did it. It was Mr. Colfax.

"Oh," she said nervously, "hi Mr. Colfax."

"Hi…" he said slowly, looking at her strangely. "I must have gotten a wrong number when I tried to call you about five minutes ago."

"Called? Oh, called? No, oh no, you must have gotten a wrong number, yea."

"Yea, I thought so. I just wanted to invite you to our annual Summer Block Party next week."

Amy closed her eyes as Amicus bellowed inthe background: "WHAT ABOUT SUMMER BLOCK PARTIES!?" And Amicus strode into the room, chest heaving in indignation. Mr. Colfax looked scared for a second as he looked at the very angry Amicus Grunebaum, Father of all etc.

"Miss Amy," Amicus thundered, "I said very clearly that you were never to attend another Summer Block Party until you get me back to—" Amy stepped into the hallway and slammed the door behind her in Amicus’ face.

"Sorry," she said to the bewildered Mr.Colfax. The door suddenly opened wide and Amicus’s head appeared, and he growled at Amy "how dare you—" And Amy slammed the door again, locking it behind her.

"Sorry," she said again, "He’s very angry for some reason."

"Is…is he your guardian or something?"

"Guard—no! No, no, no, he’s just…" she used her excuse from the day before, "He’s my boyfriend. But he’s a bit…um…" she paused, another excuse walking down the stairs.

"Amy, are you alright?" asked her neighbor from the night before. "It sounds really loud down there."

Amicus was smashing things and yelling in rage inside the apartment.

"Oh! Phew, yea, we’re fine, but…yea, my boyfriend is really mad because the Arizona State Sun Devils won last night."

"They did? No they didn’t; I saw the game," said Mr. Colfax, "the Washington State Cougars won."

Amy hesitated, and then tossed a hand and said "Really? Well then we must have been mistaken, he’ll quiet down once I tell him the good news!" She waved a hand to say "goodbye" but Mr.Colfax stopped her and said—

"Well, can you come to the party next week?"

"Um…" she paused, but said flat-out, "Yes. Yea, I don’t have any plans for next week except…except to drop him"—she motioned to her apartment—"off at…at his home, so yea, I’ll be there."

"Good," Mr. Colfax replied, turning to leave.

"Alright, Amy," said her neighbor-from-up-stairs, "You just watch out for that guy," he indicated toward the door, "he doesn’t sound very nice."

Amy nodded. "I’ll be careful. Thanks."

Amy burst into the apartment, where she was shocked to see Amicus sitting quietly in his chair at the table, straight and composed, but acting very cold toward Amy.

"Guess what?" Amy said, giving a little laugh, "The Arizona State Sun Devils lost last night."

Amicus made no response but was wondering to himself what on earth Amy was talking about. With a flick of his finger the orange juice flew out of his cup and darted toward Amy, but when another pancake started burning he stopped it and flicked it over to douse the flame. Amy was going to say "Thanks" but was pelted with ice cubes from the box she set out. She was going to ask how he was able to control ice cubes too, but remembered that ice was just frozen water.

"And guess what else?" she continued as though Amicus hadn’t thrown ice cubes at her, kicking an ice cube on the floor with a fake laugh, "I’ve been invited to attend Mr. Colfax’s Summer Block Party! Won’t that be exciting?"