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How I miss your father this time of year. We had to make our own presents that first Christmas. / I knitted him a tie-dyed sweater. We had such a wonderful time. There was so much love, it felt like we were floating in the air. / Floating in the air? Wow? What did daddy make for you? / A hash pipe. |
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Ahem. / Happy Christmas, Yuletime, Chanaka, Ramadan, Kwanza, Winter solstice, Ho Ho Ho, and have a merry Y2K! / Did I forget anyone? / What about the athiests? / Oh? / Have a nice day. |
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What did you get me this year? / Get, get, get. Buy, buy, buy. Christmas is so commercial these days, it drives me crazy. / Paul, Christmas has been commercial since the three kings gave Jesus all that cool stuff. / Actually, the custom of gift giving this time of year predates Christmas. / I guess it's all pretty much for kids anyway. / Yeah, them and every mall on the planet. / I just wish I was a kid again and could really enjoy the season. / Hey Paul! / Splat! / Ho ho ho! |
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You got a computer for Christmas? / Yes. Mama and Ben gave it to me. I still can't believe it. / Why not. You Mama would do anything for you? / I know that. / And I'm sure that deep down, Ben... / You're right. I can't believe it. |
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I brought you some software for your new computer. / Cool. Thank you so much. / Let's see... Quake, Doom, Ages of Empire, Falcon... / These are all games. I do appreciate it, but I was hoping to use my computer for other programs. / Other programs? |
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Sebastian? What are you doing? / I am playing this Age of the Empire game Master Jubal installed. / Looks like you are fighting twelve empires at once... and winning? / True. It is not as challenging as I had hoped, but the raiding and pillaging is quite intoxicating. |
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It won't be long before a new millennium is upon us. / Well, actually the millennium doesn't start until next year. / Oh, let's not start that. If enough people believe something will happen then it will happen. / Post-modern reality? If we perceive it to be, then it will be, or it is or... whatever. / I... guess. You know, this could all be a dream... or worse. / Worse? / Yeah, we could all be a figment of someone ELSE's imagination. |
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10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1 / Would you please remove your hands from my eyeballs, so I may see if the world is still here. / Happy New Year! / Hmm... yeah, uh... Happy New Year. |
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Welcome to the new millennium... doesn't look much different from the last one. / Yeah, it's still beautiful. Let's just hope that it only gets better. |
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Before you can use magik, you must know what it is... / You see, magik is like... it's like a force. It's a force that comes from all living things and it ties us all together. All of us, people, trees, cats, the whole works. / Do I have to worry about going over to the dark side? / Okay, you make your fun, but magik, the craft, has been here a whole lot longer han any Darth Vader and such. / Sorry, I couldn't resist. / And there ain't no good or bad to it. Magik just is. People are good or bad. / It's like this kitten. Magik flows within you. It flows within us all. Some it flows a little, some it flows a lot. Then there are those like you. / Those like me? / It's hard to explain, but you are magik... in a way. / 'course like anybody else you got to learn it, and I aim to teach you one one condition. / What's that? / No Yoda jokes. / Hmmm. Hard it will be, but try I will. / Do, or do not. There ain't no try. |
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Good grief. / Sigh / Nice threads Chuck. / My sweet Babboo. / They'll never know who I'm suppose to be. / To commerorate the final Peanuts daily, I have persuaded some of the Clan to dress up as their favorite characters. One snafu though. In describing Lucy, Chelsea thought her friends said "Witch". / Thank you Charles Shulz for 50 wonderful years. |
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Now normally you would use a broom to "sweep" away negative energy before a ritual. / I take it we will not be doing anything normal today. / No Ma'am. Now I want you to sweep the yard. / Sweep the yard? / And you must concentrate, letting nothing distract you. / But sweep the yard? / Well... it's a mess ain't it. |
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I see that madam has you engaged in the sweeping ritual. / Of course you realize that this is only an exercise in pure concentration. Very "zen" of madam don't you think? Hello? Miss Chelsea? Hmm? / I see. It is that way is it? Then the gauntlet is thrown. I must break you. |
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Now this could be quite challenging. I only trust that you know that I WILL break you from your focus. / Ahem. / Yeeooowwwyeeaoooooooowwwyweeeeeeooooaawwyeeoo / In case you are wondering, yes, we do this on purpose. |
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Thank you for stopping by girls. / Not at all Ruth, not at all. / I see that you have the poor child sweeping the yard. Good for you! / I know. It's a lot harder to concentrate on something you don't like doing that what you do like doing. / And it's much more effective than "wax on, wax off"... in my opinion. |
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Hmmm. Miss Chelsea seems to be quite undaunted in her focus. Drastic measures may be called for. / Scratch! / Hey! Now that's not fair!! / Please direct me to the witch's handbook that indicates life is fair. |
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I don't believe this! That... cat scratched me while I was sweeping the yard! Totally broke my concentration! / What? I'm sorry kitten. Is it bad? / Well... no, but... / Let me go get some Dirtdauber's nest to put on it... / That's... not really necessary. It's the principle of the thing. / I know, but in a way, ole Sebo did you a favor. / What? / Life comes with many distractions... / ... and if you are to fully succeed in this effort, you must block all distractions. Even if they are howling cats. / 'course that ole devil shouldn't a scratched you. That was uncalled for. / ? / You hear that Sebo! Bad cat! / Intriguing. You say that as if I cared. |
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Now, I want you to go out and sweep the yard again. / Again? / Yes, again. This time you only need to visualize it. / Ah, I think I understand. / Boy. I hope this is the way I get to mow the yard in summer. |
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Hey Chelsea! What are you up to? / Chelsea? Hello? Are you in there? / I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay, sleep all night, work all day. |
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Concentrate... concentrate... sweep... sweep... / Sweep... concentrate... / Hmm. Seems to be a wind picking up... |
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What in heaven's name... sounds like a dad-gum tornado out yonder. / Chelsea!! What are you... / Lord almighty... |
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I say, it is quite blustery today... / Rreeooow / C'mon kitten! Let's get out of here 'fore we all blow away! / Reeoooww / Too late. |
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Looks like it is dying down. / Looks like it. / That was so weird. Just as I was beginning to really focus on my sweeping the wind came up and... / Kitten! Chelsea! Chelsea!!! / When you are quite done with Miss Chelsea, please be so kind as to... HELP!!! |
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W-what happened? / You lie still. You collapsed out in the back yard. Ruth called me right afterward. / You fainted right after that wind died. / I fainted. I was really beginning to focus too. You don't think I made the wind? / Shhh. You lie back down and get some rest. Ruth and I need to talk. / Now tell me again what happened. / I had asked Chelsea to go and sweep the yard, and then to do it only in her mind. It's an exercise to get her to focus on things. That is so very important in magik. / And so she was out there concentrating and when she became fully focused, I believe she caused that wind to come up. / Doing that drained her, and so when the wind died, she passed out. / Ruth, I respect your... religion and beliefs. God knows I have seen some fantastic things lately, but Chelsea as an all powerful witch? What if she gets hurt? She is my daughter. / And my granddaughter! / I'm sorry Diane. I understand how you feel. I'm worried too, but this is the way it's got to be. / If Chelsea truly is this powerful in magik, then she may be the one to break the curse. |
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Peter spoke to me about the curse while we were at a concert. / He told me about its effects, how it transformed some women of the Chattan clan into cats. However, he left out the specifics, the origin. / It would not have mattered much if he had. I would not have believed him. / We were both... in diminished capacity. / Stoned out of your minds, you mean. |
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Ruth? You haven't told anyone of the origins of the curse, not even Chelsea. Why? / Especially not Chelsea. If she's to have any chance at all of breaking this curse, she must discover it on her own. / I would have told her the second I suspected if I could have. / Then tell me. / Diane, you intentions are good, but you'd muck up and tell her just the same. / Thanks for the vote of confidence. |
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Please Ruth, tell me about the curse. Chelsea's my daughter, your granddaughter. I have to know. / Please? / Let's go out here so Chelsea won't over hear us. / Lord, why did you make me so softhearted? |
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What's going on? / It appears that madam and your mother have gone outside to discuss something important. / Hmm. Something sounds fishy. / Don't look at me. I've been fish deprived for weeks now. / Ugh. |
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Curses are strange things. Some of them last for generations, while others last only a few years. / You see, families have been cursed, people, places, and, so some say, even diamonds are cursed. / Most curses don't have a name, unless they been around a miserably long time. The one that plagues our kitten is called the Mór Sine curse and it has been around for near about seven hundred years. |
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Now I ain't gonna be able to tell you all about the curse, 'cause mainly you ain't ready for it. / Also I have to recollect what has always been sketchy anyway. / Okay, the Mór Sine curse began in Scotland near about the 1300's. It is named so for the girl who started it. / It's also been called the curse of Antigone, the Clan Chattan curse and the curse of the Clan of the Cats. |
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