The Magical Raincoat

Just the Beginning

Julie and Wally stepped outside, the humid weather quickly making them feel like they were melting ice cream cones. Wally just hoped the sun wouldn't make his hair go up in flames.

"Who do we want to show first?!" Julie asked, bouncing on her toes. She was clenching the jacket tightly, the plastic creasing under her fingers. "I want to show everyone!"

"Well, let's start with who's not busy," Wally said, then pointed at their star neighbour. "Look, there's Sally."

Julie gasped. "SALLY!" Wally jumped at the tone. Julie held the jacket high in the air, the sun above them reflecting off of the material. "I HAVE SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU!"

Their theatrical neighbour waved and then approached, eyes following the jacket as Julie lowered it back to eye level. "You wanted to show me a raincoat? Well, it's pretty, I'll say that. Did Poppy make it?" She stared at it closely, trying to see if there were any tricks about it or anything special that Julie might want her to see, but couldn't find anything.

Then it was out of her sight, Julie shoving it roughly into Wally's hands once more. "No, Poppy didn't make it, but look!"

Sally looked and waited. Her eyes trailed to Wally, and she blinked as she stood straight up. "I don't get it. What's so special?"

"Give it a minute!" Julie said, her smile dampening the longer they stood there. "It did it before..."

"Maybe it only works inside or... once," Wally suggested. As much as he hated the idea that they'd already broken the coat, he relented it back to Julie and looked at Sally. "It really is special."

"I'm sure," Sally muttered, stepping closer to Julie as she held the coat in her arms looking like a wilted flower. "It's still pretty. Why don't you put it on and let me see, huh, Petunia?"

The nickname got a little smile to grow on Julie's face, and she nodded, slipping it around her back so she could stick her arms through and pull it closed around her. Her smile grew, and her eyes closed as Sally playfully pulled the hood up and over her beehive hair.

Wally watched on, glad his neighbour was starting to feel better, but flinched as he felt a drop of water hit the bump in his face above his mouth.

He looked up to the sky with wonder. "It's raining?"

The sun was still out, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but the water droplets still fell. Wally covered his hair as best he could and stepped under the canopy of a nearby tree to keep watching as the surprise light rain fell.

Sally and Julie didn't seem to care as much, as the hood already covered Julie's hair, and Sally's rays only grew brighter.

"Oh, feathers..."

Wally turned to the source of the new voice, tuning out the other two girls of the neighbourhood as he looked up at one of the tallest members. "Hello, Poppy."

She looked down at him as she hid under the tree as well, her head feathers melding with the leaves. "Oh, Wally! Did you know we were expecting rain today?"

"No, I didn't. It's a sunshower, though, so it shouldn't last long if there is anything you need to do today."

"Just going to pick up some baking supplies from Howdy's, that's all!" She lowered herself to sit next to Wally. "Lovely raincoat Julie's got. How did she know it was going to rain?"

"She didn't. We found it in my attic, and she wanted it, so I let her take it. Wish I'd have grabbed mine on the way out." He looked longingly at Home. "Too late now, I suppose. My hair's already wet."

Poppy hummed, reaching a wing out to fix a lock of hair that was falling into Wally's face. He gave a smile. "Your attic? How often do you even go up there, dear? That thing must be older than Julie!"

"Yeah, I'm not sure how it got up there, either. It didn't look like that when we found it, though. It can change colours."

Sally perked up and turned around from whatever conversation she was having with Julie in the rain. Her denim dress was flat against her legs, and it looked heavy but not heavy enough to bother her.

"IT CHANGED COLOURS?" she shouted, then returned to staring at Julie. "Why didn't you guys tell me that?!"

"We tried to show you, but it stopped working!" Julie huffed, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes in annoyance at the situation.

"Come under the tree, dears. I'm sure even that magic jacket can only protect against so much, and the rain seems to be coming down harder..."

And it was. The sky was suddenly littered with clouds, and a heavier downpour was starting, with even heavier winds to accompany it.

Wally looked up at the sky while everybody talked amongst themselves. "Julie?"

They silenced. "Yeah, Wally?"

"Take off your raincoat."

Blonde hair poked out from the hood as Julie's shoulders hiked up to her neck. "What? Why?" She looked from Wally to Sally to Poppy and then back to Wally.

"I have a theory, is all." Wally's usual monotonous tone felt 10x stronger when he was interested in something--the opposite of what anyone might think would happen. "Take it off just for a moment, please?"

Sally's eyes widened as she caught onto why Wally was saying what he was saying and she latched onto Julie's shoulder with a bright expression. "Do it, Jules!"

"Wally just wants to see what happens, dear," Poppy soothed, rubbing a wing over Julie's back.

With the encouragement of her friends, Julie opened the coat back up and pulled her arms out of the sleeves. Immediately, the rain died to a drizzle, and then nothing. Julie's eyes grew as big as saucers.

"Oh!"

"HOW COOL!"

"Feathers, that's amazing!"

"I was right," Wally stated, not quite as amazed as his neighbours but still pleased. He looked back at Julie. "You can put it back on if you wish, but let's try to keep the emotions neutral this time."

Julie and Sally were still simply amazed at the sight, so much so that Julie didn't hear Wally and instead threw the coat at Poppy so that she could go and see the neighbourhood after the rain. Maybe she hoped to find something significant.

The coat was now in Poppy's possession, and she looked down as she felt a tingle, chirping at the sight of the coat changing before her very eyes. The sound caught Wally's attention, and he also watched the previously pink coat turn orange with colourful flowers and grow several times its size just to account for Poppy's shoulder width.

The pattern matched Poppy's scarf perfectly, and the hood would make it so that her head feathers would be covered. She chirped happily but then frowned as much as her beak would allow.

"Oh, but I can't keep this--it's Julie's!" she handed it to Wally where it underwent a similar transformation into a smaller yellow coat for him, the fascination never dying down. "I'm sorry, magic raincoat!"

Wally smiled and looked at her. "That's okay, Poppy. Julie will appreciate that you gave it back, but maybe she'll let you borrow it sometime."

Poppy's brow remained furrowed, her neck craned in worry, and her eyes on the raincoat like it would duplicate if she tried hard enough. Not too long later, she stood and continued her journey to Howdy's, albeit later than she'd hoped.