The Magical Raincoat

War is Over

Wally sighed as he sat on the front stoop of Howdy's bodega, his magic raincoat on his lap, while his old raincoat was still on him. He didn't particularly want to get wet even with the protection, but going inside meant leaving his friends and he really didn't want to do that, either, so a happy medium it was.

The door opened behind him and one of Howdy's many hands held an apple down in his view. "Here you are, Wally. I know these usually help your mood; it's on the house."

"Thank you." Wally smiled gratefully, taking the apple and staring into the deep colour of the red delicious as it laid against the yellow coat on his lap. "It's perfect."

Howdy chuckled. He was only in his work clothes standing above Wally, but he stuck his hand out into the still steady rain anyway, the sleeve collecting water. "At least this is better than all of those freak storms, huh? Nice and cool temperature, too, to beat the heat."

"Yeah, it's nice," Wally agreed, his attention focused on the apple. But he wasn't distracted, it helped him think. "Howdy, do you ever get anxiety?"

"Hm?" Howdy looked down at him, pulling his hand back. "Oh, yeah, loads of the time, why?"

Wally hummed. "I think I had anxiety about the coats. At first, I thought I was jealous that everyone had gotten one but me."

"Right... that's how it seemed when you came to show me Julie's." Howdy thought back, scratching his chin.

"But then," Wally continued as if he hadn't heard, passing the apple from hand to hand, "I finally got one and I didn't know how to act."

"Eddie told me about that. Anxiety can be overwhelming, there's no doubt about that."

Wally nodded, looking up from the apple finally. "But... Poppy and Frank were also scared, and look at them now."

He pointed to the bird laughing at Sally's half-improvised play based on her coat, explaining the magic of them that was still a mystery to everyone, and then to Frank, the bearer of the coat providing the weather everyone was enjoying, sitting calmly with Eddie on the bench. Their coats all protected them against the weather they were also capable of making.

It was poetic and beautiful, in a way.

"I think I see your point." Howdy's hand lowered again and set itself on top of Wally's pompadour playfully. "But I also think it was just new to them both. You have to put yourself in their shoes--not literally, but in the sense of... you have experience with a lot of things they don't. You talk to Home while no one else can, and you have your little bond with it, too. You know: magic. The very thing that scared the two of 'em. The coats were a new experience for everyone, including you. Let yourself feel these things."

,

After that conversation, Wally felt like he had a lot to think about. He returned to Home, sitting on the shiny red couch in thought. He stared at the apple still in his hands that Howdy said he could bring home. That made him happy, but...

"Anxiety," he said incredulously, though still monotone. "I didn't even know I could get anxious, Home."

Home creaked at him. Something, something, finding things out about himself. Wally frowned.

"You all talk about new experiences like they happen everyday. Other than the odd thing Barnaby has to teach me, it's not like I'm constantly new to the world. I know things--I'm not some child."

Home rolled its eyes through the curtains in the window, and Wally's frown deepened as he asked a long unspoken question,

"What do you think would happen if I put on my coat?"

The house seemed to still, Home's eyes looking right inside at Wally in complete silence, like it was waiting for Wally to continue. And he did.

"I really just can't get Sally's words out of my head..."

He thought back to Sally, telling him she would hate to see how his emotions (or supposed lack of, as he understood it) would influence the weather, in not as eloquent phrasing.

His jacket, hung on the hook, began swaying as Home manipulated itself around it, still silent. That was its response.

"I wonder, too." He nodded, then smiled. "I'm glad you're no longer angry at me since I explained everything, Home. It was very... mature of you."

Home clicked something happily.

"That's good to hear. And, yes, a wonderful idea. The rain has stopped so everyone has gone to bed. We'll wait until they wake up and then we'll see."

,

The first neighbour Wally saw the next morning was Julie, carrying a basket of muffins and heading home from Poppy's with a big smile and a skip in her step.

"Good morning, Julie," Wally greeted from the lawn of Home as he watered the flowerbeds. "How's your morning been?"

Julie seemed as happy to see him as he was to see her. "Lovely!" She spun in place. "Would you like a muffin?" She held the basket out to him, pointing at and naming off all of the different flavours.

Wally picked the smallest muffin with a well-hidden confusion tainting his genuine grin. "Thank you. Say, where's everyone's enthusiasm for the rain gone?"

The sky was as clear as could be, the heat having died down and making the summer day feel almost perfect. Julie kept her eyes to the sky along with Wally, whose pupils expanded under the direft light. She giggled.

"I guess everyone thought it was nicer this way. I think I heard Eddie and Howdy saying it'll just be a 'once-in-a-bluemoon type of thing', and I'm not sure what a blue moon is but it sounds special! We could make the weather a holiday!"

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Wally shook his head. "People should be free to express their emotions how they want. Home told me that."

Julie's eyes flicked briefly to the red house next to them, her smile fading slightly. "I guess you're both right. But if that's the case, then why don't you try on your coat? You're the only one I didn't see playing in the rain with it yesterday."

"I'm going to, in time."

"Great! Because I'm very curious what kinds of weather your beautiful brain will cook up!" Julie hyped herself up again. "We started playing a game where we figured out what weather belonged to who. There were clouds and wind and, of course, rain. Nothing dangerous, though, because we were all playing so no one was in a bad mood--except Frank, for obvious reasons."

"That sounds like a great game. Maybe I'll play with you sometime. Right now, I have to get back to watering the flowers. I'll see you later, Julie."

"See you!" Julie skipped off, not even noticing Wally staring after her as she left.

Home brought his attention back wirh a bang of the window shutters.

"Yes, I think today would be a good day to test it."