The Magical Raincoat

Julie

"Thank you for helping me look through some things in the attic, Julie. Home has been getting /really/ upset at all the dust up there, and I'll never hear the end of it if we don't do this..."

Julie took the steps two at a time while Wally walked up them at a steady pace behind her. She spun at the top and stared down. "What are neighbours for if not helping, Wally?"

Wally's eyes met hers, but his grin remained static. "I just felt bad pulling you inside on such a nice day."

"Oh, don't you worry that silly head of yours!" Julie laughed. "Do you know how puffy my hair would have gotten if I'd spent today outside? In this humidity? I'm glad to be in the cool indoors!"

"That's... good," Wally conceded. He made it to the top as well and pushed open the attic door with some struggle until Julie decided to help. The door popped inward, banging ridiculously loud in the quiet house. Home banged back. "Sorry, Home."

Dust particles rose from the floor at the presence of the intruders, swirling around in the dim lighting. Julie looked at everything with wonder.

"I didn't know you had so much stuff up here, Wally!" She stepped forward, her little white pump heels clicking on the wooden floor as she approached an open box, shooing some dust off the top.

Home rattled with displeasure, earning another quick apology from Wally. "Let's try to do this without disturbing too much dust, all right?"

Julie didn't expect Wally to be so close to her but nodded. "Right, right, sorry!" More carefully this time, she reached for an item in the box, an old, colourful clock, and plucked it out. "Does any of this stuff still work?"

"No, that's why it's up here. It can be... hard... for me to let go of things."

"Hm, so /that's/ why you needed my help, then," Julie said like it was obvious. "I can do that! I throw things out all the time! Old clothes that don't fit anymore, food that I forget to eat, tons of failed art projects--"

"Thank you, Julie," Wally interrupted, only because he knew Julie would have kept going. He made sure she could see his smile. "I knew I picked the right person for the job."

Walking past her, Wally reached up to pull the chain that turned the attic light on, finally allowing them both to see just how dusty it was. The floating dust was worse like this, but Home wasn't complaining, at least not loudly, with a few creaking wheeze-like sounds.

Immediately, Julie flew past him once again, her eyes on something specific far off in the attic. Wally's smile became confused, his eyelids dropping and adding to the expression.

"You sure have some gems up here, don't you?" As she turned, Wally could see she hadn't abandoned the clock, which was tucked under her arm for safekeeping. In her hands was a wooden birdhouse that Wally had never seen before but remembered as if it had been built just yesterday.

"Sure do..." he said. His eyes adjusted more slowly to the light than his other neighbours, but when they finally did, his gaze shot to the corner in shock. "What's this?"

Julie followed Wally with her eyes as he knelt down in front of a clothing trunk. There was no lock or anything, and no dust, either, strangely enough; like it had been put there recently despite being in a far corner.

He popped the lid of it open, the creaking of it sounding old, and looked inside. "Only one thing, and it's this clear raincoat." Wally stated. "I've never seen this before, either. My raincoat is downstairs and it's orange."

"Can I have it?!" Julie exclaimed, swooping in and leaning over Wally's back with her hands on his shoulders.

He look up at her face peeking past his hair. "Uhh, sure, if it fits. Help yourself."

Julie reached out over Wally's shoulder and grabbed the clear plastic clearly shaped like a normal raincoat. She held it up in front of her, and hers and Wally's eyes widened.

"Woah!" Like magic, the coat which was once clear and straight took on a prettier pink, and the bottom shimmered with glitter before suddenly poofing outward into a flowery shape to look just like Julie's dress.

"Isn't that just the most..." Wally breathed.

"The most!" Julie agreed with a wide grin. Then she turned to Wally with worry in her eyes. "Are you sure I'm allowed to have it?"

Wally's eyes watched the coat sway in Julie's grasp as she moved. "Well..." his brow creased. "Can I hold it, just for a moment?"

"Ooh, you want to test it, don't you?" Julie bounced on her toes excitedly before holding the coat out. "Here, let's see!"

"Ah--" Wally grabbed the coat, and it started to change directly under his fingertips. Julie let go of it fully, letting Wally bring it closer, where it visibly shrunk to his size and turned yellow with red, orange and blue ribbing, and loops and buttons down the front. "How neat. I wonder if it changes like this for everyone?"

"We should test that, too!" Julie exclaimed as Wally handed her the coat back with little enough hesitation that she didn't notice.

She hopped back to the door to go downstairs and Wally looked around at everything, muttering one last quick apology at Home that they didn't get to finish cleaning the attic today, before following his neighbour out of the dusty room and closing the door behind him.