Imaginary Friends Agency

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Present Day

Multitudes of voices spoke at the same time. Echoes ricocheted off the vaulted ceiling, enhancing the already deafening volume. Orderly conversation had escalated, transforming the stately formal gathering into a mass of fretting, pacing, arguing debaters. Separated by point of view, they shifted and mingled as their audience changed. No one voice could make itself heard over the others, the most vehement shouting their opinions, faces turning crimson.

"Scientific reasoning has proven sound or centuries!"

"What supporting evidence is there?"

"This is insane!"

"Nothing will come of this meeting if we only argue..."

"Magic operates on a whim!"

"How can we be expected to believe this nonsense?"

"Magic can't be defined, and science can't be bent to one's wishes!"

A new voice suddenly spoke up, quietly stilling the quarrels, and bringing the fruitless squabbling to an end. Meeting the gazes of everyone present in the hall, even the three sitting on the bench, the new speaker waited till everyone had retaken their seats and even the echoes had disappeared. All was in complete silence before he broke his dramatic pause. Offering a placid smile, his voice was hardly louder than regular volume, but it carried clearly. "Gentlemen, ladies, we came here to listen and judge whether there was truth or falsehood in the account given to us. Thus far, we've only talked in circles."

"For a man of science, McVicar, you seem awfully keen that a fair consideration is enacted out," observed one of his colleagues, a stern man, a master mathematician, white-haired and respected, hand currently stroking his neatly clipped beard in thought.

Spreading his hands in a disarming gesture, showing his impartiality to the matter, McVicar's earnest answer reflected his expression. "I have seen some things beyond believing. Above all, I hold science, mathematics, and sounds reasoning most dear. But when my eyes see the truth of something that counters those principles, who am I to be the first to discredit them?" Addressing the entire room, he offered his appeal sincerely. "As a child, I delighted in the fictional, finding wonder in fairy stories. I knew they were not true, but never once did I criticize them for that. There is such a power known as magic. Though I cannot understand it, cannot wield it, I know it exists. I see it being employed. I experience it in my everyday life. And I know it is real. Science and magic both come from one person, the Creator, our Almighty God, and it is at the command of His voice that they obey."

At the end of McVicar's speech, another man rose, younger, sporting the telltale kerchief of a magician around his neck under the collar of his suit.

"While yes, science and magic do come from the same source, they also operate within laws, boundaries. Under what boundaries does a child's mind operate in?"

"Under what boundaries does magic truly heed to?" McVicar retorted smartly, turning the question back around.

Coloring slightly, the young man gave a nod in acquiesce, but didn't back down from pursuing his point. "If such a thing were true, can you fathom what that would mean for everyday life? How the face of reality would be altered?"

"Yes," McVicar answered simply. "And I can only imagine what incredible things it would bring to our lives."