“Really? It’s obviously a princess castle with flying unicorns guarding it and a beautiful garden.”
Caleb turned to look at the painting and Aleki winked at her. She had to hold back a giggle.
“That’s right! It is. How comes you couldn’t see that, Daddy?” she asked Caleb with mock-innocence.
Caleb turned and gave them both suspicious looks. “What? Is it really? No, it’s not.”
“It is.” She deliberately widened her eyes. “Daddy, can you really not see it?”
“Maybe he’s not magical enough,” Aleki suggested. “I think you have to have a bit of magic in you to see it.”
Caleb shook his head. “I know you’re messing with me.”
She made her lower lip tremble.
Caleb pointed a finger at her. “Don’t do that. No pouting.”
She sniffled pathetically and turned to Aleki. “What will we do? Daddy doesn’t have any magic.”
Aleki sighed. “It’s a sad state of affairs. Do you know why he doesn’t have any magic?”
“He was on the naughty list and Santa took it away from him?”
“Hey, I was never on the naughty list,” Caleb protested.
She gave him a skeptical look.
Aleki shook his head. “No, he was far too good to be on the naughty list. That’s the problem. He’s always too good. And he’s not a believer.”
“He’s not?”
“Nope. Do you know he doesn’t believe in fairies or unicorns or even mermaids?”
She gave a mock-gasp of horror. “How can he not believe in mermaids?”
Caleb just stared at them both, his hands on his hips.
“What do we do?” she asked Aleki.
“We need to think about how to give him some magic back.” Aleki tapped his finger against his chin. “We might need a magic ceremony.”
“With glitter.”
Aleki shot her a look. “Of course.”
“And magic wands.”
“Couldn’t do the ceremony without them,” Aleki agreed.
“And will he need to wear a tutu?”
“Hmm.” Aleki pretended to ponder that. “Yes. But what color?”
Caleb waggled a finger at them. “You two are trouble. No tutu.”
She pouted.
“Jelly bean, you put that away or I’m going to make you face the corner until it disappears.”