The Moonlight Boy | Ferry's Tale # 1

Mr. Pancake's magic show (part two)

Ben opened his alien notebook and took out the show's poster. He was in luck ─ all the other posters were gone after the show ended, although they had invaded the town the week before.

Ferry studied the poster. It depicted Mr. Pancake, surrounded by four magical animals. His look was beyond odd. He had the hoofs, legs, and horns of a goat and he was wrapped in a blue cloak.

"That's strange..." said Ferry. "He doesn't even look like a human."

"That's because circus artists are using make-up, costumes and wear masks," Matilda concluded.

Ben also looked at the poster.

"It looks like─ Oh, my! How come I didn't see it before?"

"See what?" Ferry and Matilda jumped off their seats.

"Look at his name! If you remove the last part, we have the word PAN. Meaning a Pan," Ben said with a satisfied look on his face.

"What's a Pan?" asked Matt.

"A Pan is a mythical creature. He's the god of the wilds, shepherds, and flocks, of the wild mountains and he's also accompanied by nymphs. And he looks just like Mr. Pancake."

"Don't you find that strange?" Ferry insisted. "Mr. Pancake looks like a Pan; all our pets look like the animals at the circus. What if they are the animals at the circus? What if they're not animals at all?"

"Then what are they?" asked Matilda.

Ben's eyes were shimmering, "Maybe they're aliens!"

"My Shadow is not an alien!" Matilda replied.

"Come on, Matt, you said it yourself he behaves oddly for a dog," Ferry tried to calm her down. "Besides, they all appeared in our lives the same night. The night of twenty-three to twenty-four of June, last summer."

"So what? Why is that date so important?" Matilda said, feeling the need to argue with them both.

"It's my birthday," said Ferry softly.

"Obviously," Matt snorted. "Everything must revolve around you."

"That's not fair, Matt," Ferry protested. "I'm just saying there are too many coincidences. And we should solve this mystery once and for all."

"And how do we do that?" asked Ben, also curious.

"Easy. We bring them all together," Ferry answered with a big smile on his face.

⃰

"Why did you have to invite May?" Matilda's been mumbling for the past a quarter of an hour. They had decided they should meet that very Saturday, at the foot of the hills. And bring their pets along.

They met in front of the school and then headed towards the hills. Four children accompanied by four unusual animals.

May has managed to convince her parents to let her come, too. They had eventually accepted just because Ferry was coming. Somehow, the boy had gained their trust. Now May was walking in silence, carrying her rabbit. Her pink bonnet, crocheted by her mother, couldn't hide her tresses falling on her shoulders. She was walking beside Ben who was trying to impress her. He was now talking about one of his alien theories. Ferry would have liked to ask her about her flowers, but he was taken hold of Matilda, who wouldn't let go of his hand. Shadow was following her closely, sniffing the air around, while Izzy was dozing on Ben's shoulder. Only Ferry's raven was missing.

"So where is that raven of yours you've talked so much about?" Matilda asked.

"He'll be here when I'm going to call him. He does that all the time," said Ferry.