.  .  . One week later..   .

Loki sees a picture of Joy wearing a blonde wig. She reminds me of someone, Loki thought as he somewhat could see some familiarity on her face. She seemed vaguely familiar like someone else who Loki had met in the past. Who does she remind me of? He looks away from the book left on the table and proceeds to eat his lunch.

“Joy, are you going to be in this year’s office play?” Ginger asks.

Joy looks down from her book—that’s in her right hand--with the festive glasses resting on the nose bridge. Her lunch had already been eaten about thirty minutes ago. It’s currently lunch hour; everyone is taking a break from their jobs. The time is 12:10 PM.

“Remind me what month is it.” Joy said.

“It’s May.” Ginger said.

The other employees were eating or having some conversations. Loki is tuning out the chattery of a woman beside him going on and on about her family’s vacations. Loki did not find driving a mobile house into clothing stand as something ‘funny’ in his taste. Loki takes another bite out of his sandwich.

Mortals had a strange sense of humor that didn’t make sense.

“Year.” Joy stated.

“Uh, 2011.” Ginger said, puzzled.

“What day is it?” Joy interrogates her.

“It’s May 18th,an Wednesday.” Ginger said.

 “No means no, I don’t want to play Maleficent.”  Joy said.

“Come on, girly!” Ginger pleads with her. “You’ll make a great Maleficent.”

“Maleficent?” Loki asks after he swallowed his bite, and  raised an eyebrow.  “There’s something to play about males being magnificent?”

Joy looks at the ceiling and sighs. It was as though she is doing to keep herself from laughing hysterically.

“She’s the villain to an old Disney classic.” A co-worker, Hank Arnolds, said.  “It was called Sleeping Beauty.”

“You mean ‘is’.” Joy corrects Hank.

Hank’s light brown eyes roll from Joy’s insisting grammar correction.

“This ‘classic’ was about how sleeping has beauty?” Loki asks.  “I do not understand how you consider sleeping to be beauty. Is there anyone who practice sleeping poses?” Three of the women co-workers were getting a kick out of his blunt remarks. Loki shook his head while muttering something about ‘mortals’ and ‘ confuse me’ in the same sentence.

“Maleficent used to have wings.” Ginger said, with a sad sigh. “Maleficent was betrayed by the man who was Aurora’s father—Aurora’s princess name is Sleeping Beauty—and got her wings clipped off. “

“Go on.” Loki said, apparently intrigued.

“Because the former king was dying and he wanted her dead. She was the protector of a forest across from the castle.” Ginger explains, and then takes a sip from her mug. She gulps down what had been in the mug. “Anyway, the man who betrayed Maleficent had been her love interest a long time ago.But since Aurora’s father cared for Maleficent so much he decided to  clip off her wings. “

Loki rubs his chin.

“Maleficent learned Aurora’s father did it just to become king—when the former king passed away-- and marry the king’s daughter. And the stories say she put a curse on Aurorar as a baby to fall into a never-ending sleep when she was older.” Joy continues the explaining.  “However, Maleficent added a unique way out of the forever-sleep; true love’s kiss.”

“That doesn’t exist.” Loki interjects, putting the sandwich on the plate. The co-workers look at him. Loki looks down to his right while whistling a little and fiddles with his finger “I did that once when mastering magic. It didn’t turn out pretty.”

“He’s really obsessed with fantasy, ain’t he?” Hank asks.

A whole lot of the co-workers nodded.

“And Maleficent has a bird friend.” Joy adds.  “You can call him a boyfriend because technically he is. Maleficent has horns like a griffin!” She makes an outline of those horns above her head. “She has this long brown staff with a green sphere at the top. She usually has a high collar, a long cape, and a black neckband.”

“I do not understand Sleeping Beauty.”  Loki said.

“At the end, in the classic movie, Prince Philip kisses her and then Aurora wakes up.” Hank finishes. “And Maleficent’s dead because Prince Philip was like ‘oh mah horse it’s sleeping, now die!’. For 17 years, in the classic, Aurora was raised by three fairies who took on human form to raise her. She had to touch a needle on her 17th birthday to fall into this never ending sleep.”

“Fairies are the not the best care-takers with mortals.” Loki notes.

“We learned that in Maleficent.” Ginger said.

“How can you go inside a mortal and learn something?” Loki asks.

Joy cracks up at Loki’s question as though someone had flipped the ‘hysterical’ switch up.

“There’s a movie about Maleficent.” Ginger said, watching Joy’s face become red. She hands Joy a brown bag for her to breathe in and out. Joy grabs the bag and starts breathing into it.  “It’s called Maleficent.”

Joy puts the bag on the table while her right hand is still holding the book.

“Pick someone else to play Maleficent.” Joy said.

The other woman workers had a ‘not me’ look in their eyes. They either seemed; too pretty, too much make up, and way too cute. Joy, on the other hand,  just seems like an balanced woman who didn’t wear makeup minus the odd big glasses. It seemed as though Joy had been destined to play a great character on screen.

Joy is not perfect. She has her flaws.

 It was like some-one had dropped a vase and everyone had gone silent.

  “Really?” Joy said, looking at the other women. "Dying my hair black is too messy.”

“We’ve got wigs.” Hank said.

“Remember the last wig that had the head insects?” Joy reminds them.

“Joy, that was last year.” Hank said. “We checked. It didn’t have any.”

“You never forget having that in your hair; ever.” Joy said. “Hey, why don’t you have Loki over there be the male version of Maleficent? He’ll make a good one.”

“I’m  . .  .  I’m  straight.” Loki said, waving his right hand light above the table.  “You’re out of luck.”

 Joy slides the plate to the side and puts her head on it; then lightly lift her head up and then down.

.  .  .  .2:30 PM  .  . .

   .  .   At Work  . . 

“How new are you to Wisconsin?” Hank asks.

Loki had been standing by the water cooler thinking, and Hank really burst the bubble.

“Relatively.” Loki said, sending a sharp glare at Hank.

“So new you’ve already gotten on the news channel?” Hank asks, as he witnesses Loki’s confused reaction.  “Last night you stole all the coffee cups from a Donut McFlurries store. I recognized your face on the tape played on the news this morning. You didn’t realize Wisconsin has doubled the amount of security cameras.”

“I didn’t do it.” Loki lied.

“So you stole all the coffee cups, and, you deny it.” Hank said. “You can’t deny it when they come in the building!”

“They?” Loki repeated.

“The law enforcement.” Hank said. Loki could tell this man is not lying. “Winsconsin is serious about its coffee cups! Most  Donut McFlurries don’t have a great roof; so when it rains all of the coffee cups are used as buckets. And you should return them—“

“I should keep ten of them.” Loki interrupts.  “I can’t make coffee cups.”

Hank looks at  Loki, oddly.

“You have a paying job.” Hank tells him. “That means you can spend money on these necessities.”

“They are overpriced.” Loki said. “I tried to take twenty of them, but, the mortals claimed I didn’t have enough ‘money’ for it.”

Hank rubs the dark beard on his chin.

 “Strange question,” Hank gestured his hand in the way he said it. “But I have to ask; do you live in a hotel room?”

“A comfy one, but it had a lousy price on it.” Loki said

“You know where Joy lives?” Hank whispered the question as two co-workers went by the duo.

 “Doesn’t everyone on this realm.” Loki said, more like a question and a statement put together.

“Not really; we tried following her once and we got lost in traffic.” Hank said. “Another time she tricked us into driving into a monkey exhibit. She has a long-forgotten company vase at the house, and I was thinking  . . .”

“That you can go back to zoo and be a prime example how stupid you are?” Loki finishes for him.

“That you can steal it back  .  .  .” Hank finishes, looking at Loki oddly. “For a man who got hit by a jeep; you have a strange way of saying you are better than anyone.”

“Thank you.” Loki said.

“That wasn’t a compliment.” Hank said.

“You would make a great Jafar.” Loki said.

“I don’t have a long chin.” Hank said.

“What chin?”  Loki asks pointblank.

Hank shook his head.

“All right, if you like those coffee cups so much; why don’t you go to Joy’s house, steal the vase, and then ditch the coffee cups at her front door.” Hank suggested, and then he takes a drink out of the gray small cup filled of water.  “After work, that is.”

“She chased after me with her broom.” Loki said. “I believe you mortals consider this as  ‘you are not welcome in my castle’.”

Hank rolls his eyes.

“O-kay.” Hank said.  “You’ll be giving me directions. I’m driving my truck--" He could see  a confused reaction on Loki. Hank cups his face with his free hand then slides it down.  “Don’t tell me you have no idea what a truck is.”

“What’s a truck?” Loki asks.

“You gotta be Amish not to know this.” Hank said, jokingly.

“I made a whole army into cows.” Loki  brags.  “I’m the god of Mischief, of Asgard. I do not see how I’m a  ‘am’.”

“I .  .  ."  Hank looks up to the ceiling and muttered a colorful word.

“I know someone who would gladly do that to you,” Loki said. “If I wasn’t banished from Asgard.”