Morning Magic

by Meriam Wilhelm

  The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I whispered to no one:

  “What is going on?”

  There wasn’t time for an answer because just then whatever was freaking Miss Cassandra out turned up its juice. Letting out a low, guttural growl Cassandra stiffened and turned her copper eyes directly towards me and froze.

  “What have you been playing with my witch friend?” she asked.

  “Uh-oh. This is not good.” And with that, my cell phone began to ring.

  Chapter 6

  Feeling more rattled than fulfilled and preferring to avoid all the craziness that was suddenly surrounding me, I hesitated to pick up my ringing phone. I was already second guessing myself on whether I should have cast that spell or not.

  Darn, darn, darn. On the third ring I finally caved and answered, “Hello?” only to hear the other end click off. Checking caller I.D. I came up with a number that I’d never seen before. Who was it that was calling me? And why?

  I didn’t have any more time to worry. I had one stop to make before getting to my shop and if I didn’t leave now my whole morning would be screwed up - more than it already was.

  Reaching for my cat carrier I watched as Miss Cassandra seemed to read my mind and headed towards me.

  “Hold your horses. I think that you may need me today, Olivia,” were her only words as she cautiously climbed into her mover for the ride to work. Buckling Miss Cassandra in the front seat of my orange Volkswagen we set off silently together. First stop? I needed to talk with Constance.

  Luckily, there was a parking spot right in front of Constance’s delicatessen -Supernatural Subs. Okay, so I had to ace out a guy in a little black Alpha Romeo who was heading for that same spot. But I was on a spell driven mission and needed to talk with my sister ASAP.

  Glancing at the parking meter I noticed that the time was about to run out. Was nothing going to go right today? I knew that I didn’t have time to forage through my purse for lost change so with a snap of my fingers the meter bay jumped immediately registering two more hours of parking time. What good was it to be a witch if you didn’t use your powers once in a while?

  Exiting my car I caught a quick glimpse of the guy in the black sports beauty as he drove off with a raised finger, giving me the bird, before a look of surprise or maybe it was recognition seemed to pass over his face. What a jerk! I wish the sun hadn’t been blasting in my eyes and I could’ve gotten a clearer look at his face.

  “Hey, we need to talk,” I said in a raised voice as I entered Constance’s deli. Taking a deep breath I spewed out, “What the heck is this deal about a hotel at the beach? I have a bad feeling that dad is involved somehow. We’ve got to talk with Harmony.”

  “Well, good morning to you too,” Constance said, continuing to fill her deli case.

  “Constance, listen to me. I’ve had two different people tell me something about some stupid hotel that might just be going in around here. And both of them implied that it was not good news for either of us,” I said letting out an exasperated sigh. “You need to work with me and now.”

  “Sorry Olivia, but I don’t know much about that entire hotel business. It’s been brewing for a while, I really think it’s all just talk. And I haven’t heard from dad in months. Why? What do you know that I don’t? He’s not coming here, is he? What did you do?”

  Giving me her full attention now Constance said, “Tell me again why you’re all worked up about some hotel, Olivia. You haven’t been back home that long. Take some time to talk to people to find out what’s really happening here in town. I just haven’t paid much attention to that stuff. And you can forget about dad. Last time I heard someone in Boca Raton had caught him up in some new business venture.”

  “Well, something set Miss Cassandra off this morning and I need to find out what it was.”

  Distracted and feeling my stomach grumble, I asked “Are those cookies?”

  “Yep, I decided to give Gino's Bakery a chance to sell some of their baked treats here. People are always bugging me for some kind of dessert to go with their sandwich. And since I don’t want to get into the baking business, I asked Gino’s daughter if she was interested. What do you think, three dollars a cookie…. too much?”

  “I’m so stressed right now that I’d give you ten dollars for one of those sugar bombs,” I said, reaching for one of the flip flop design cookies as Constance scooted the tray just outside of my reach.

  “Come on, let me sample one and I’ll tell you if they’re worth three bucks,” I said successfully grabbing the green and white iced treat.

  “Anyway, if you’d seen Miss Cassandra after I cast my spell, you’d understand. She started acting all weird and then I just knew that something bad was coming. That usually means dad.” I decided not to tell Constance anything right now about finding good old dad floating in my cauldron.

  “Wait, back up. You cast a spell this morning?” Constance asked, checking around the deli to make sure that no one had overheard before she continued.

  “What kind of spell did you do? You know, Olivia, you’re still not that good at spell casting. Did you upset some cosmic aura?” she asked before shoving the last cookies into her case. “Don’t tell me you were checking in on the whereabouts of dad? You know that dad hates when you “peak” into his business. Great. I think you may have done it now.”

  “I was just curious about all this hotel stuff and I don’t even know if there is a problem with dad. Geez Constance, I was just trying to find out for myself what’s going on and behold dad popped up in my cauldron. And I got a real bad feeling when I saw him there. I’m sorry I guess I should have tried the non-magical way of getting info first.”

  “Okay, okay, we better get a hold of Harmony and soon! Let me call her and we’ll all get together later. How about we meet for a late lunch? I guess it’s time I find out if there is any truth to all of the tales about a possible hotel going up around here. Now you have me worried too with this nonsense about you, dad and your pot! And you know that dad stays in closer touch with Harmony than anyone else. I’ll ask her if she’s been in contact with him. Until, then, no more spells, Olivia.”

  Constance wrapped up half a dozen of those awesome cookies and placed them in a pink, string drawn box for me to take with me. “No more spells, right?”

  “Thanks Constance. Okay, I’m off my spell-making duty for now,” I said nodding my head briefly.

  “I think I’m going to order a bunch of these cookies for my shop open house. Do you think she could make cookies that look like sewing machines or craft boxes? Oh, I forgot to tell you that the first Tuesday of next month we’re having an official Mystique Creations Open House and I expect you and Harmony to be there so please put it on your calendar.”

  Heading for the door, I offered, “Let me know about lunch, okay?”

  Raising two fingers in salute to me Constance moved on to a new customer and I headed out to my car.

  I scooted into my brown leather front seat and turned on the ignition. “Took you long enough. I think that you get so wound up in your business that you forget I’m even here,” Miss Cassandra complained as I turned up the radio to drown her whining out. Just as the music grew to my desired level, it was suddenly silenced.

  “That was not very nice Olivia,” Miss Cassandra said. “You forget that I have powers too!”

  Deciding not to take our conflict to the next level, I drove down the street, put my merchants parking placard on the dashboard, grabbed my car keys and unbuckled the seat belted carrier before entering my shop door.

  “Oh goody, goody! I get to come too?” Miss Cassandra asked sarcastically.

  “Any more out of you and I’m leaving you at home the next time.”

  “Just try it. A lot of good to you I’ll be there!” she said, scrunching down in her carrier so that all I could see were her copper eyes.

  Sunlight was already filling my store as I walked through the front doors and turned on both the ceiling fans
. It was a beautiful, warm morning in New Moon Beach and I was determined to put my recent concerns all behind me, for at least a little while anyway.

  Before I could get all of the overhead lights turned on I heard, “Knock Knock. Hello in there. Olivia?”

  As I turned around I was surprised to see the friendly face of Larry Webber.

  “Well, hello-there-yourself. How are you, Larry?” I said, noticing his perennial flip flops. Today they were zebra skin and I made a point of looking down at his feet and whistling.

  “Like them?” he asked.

  “I do. You are such a fashion icon,” I said, laughing before asking “What’s up? What are you doing here?”

  “Well, I heard about this incredible new shop by the beach and I thought that I had to check it out.”

  “Come on in and take a look around,” I said gently taking his arm and pulling Larry further into the shop.

  “Hey, this is nice. You did a good job; kind of funky. I really like it!”

  “Oh, I didn’t do it all by myself. My best friend Gail helped me. You remember Gail, don’t you Larry?” I asked, keeping my eyes masked as I tried to still read his response.

  “Uh, yeah. I remember her. But I don’t see her anywhere,” he responded, looking around the shop.

  “Oh, she’ll be here in a little while if you stick around.”

  “I just stopped by for a minute, Olivia. I got a proposition for you.”

  That sounded interesting so I lead Larry over to the sofa area, stopping along the way to turn on the coffee pot I’d set up last night.

  “Okay, fire,” I said.

  “Well, you may not know that this, but I also majored in design in school,” he said looking at me quizzically.

  “You did? No, I guess I didn’t know that.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t do fashion stuff like you and Gail. I worked with metal.”

  “Metals. Like wrought iron?”

  “Yeah, that and steal and all sorts of different metal combinations.”

  “I had no idea Larry,” I responded truly surprised to learn something new about Larry Webber.

  “Well, anyway, you know my parents left me that big old house with the barn sized garage. Right?”

  “Yeah, hey, Larry I don’t think that I ever told you how sorry I was to hear about your parents.”

  “Thanks, Olivia. It was not easy at first, but I’m doing better now,” he said quietly, anxious to move on.

  “So tell me are you doing something special in that barn sized garage?”

  “Yes. Exactly! I am working with iron; forging, welding and more. I realized that not only do I love working with metals, I kind of have a knack for it. In fact, I’m pretty good.”

  “Wow, that’s cool,” I said.

  “Well, anyway, I have been making benches, tables and bike racks for the stores in New Moon Beach village and I wondered if you’d like one?”

  “Oh Larry, that would be great. I’ll have to wait until we are making money. But yeah, once I’m in the black, I would love to order one.”

  “Oh no, Olivia. You don’t understand. This is something that I can do for the merchants of this city. The people here have been so supportive of me that I want to repay them by doing this for free.”

  “Oh, that would be awesome Larry. Thanks.”

  “Well, I’ve made you up some quick sketches and I want you to pick out the ones you like. Maybe run them past Gail too,” he said, looking around to see if she might have popped in.

  “Okay, that’s great. I can’t wait to see what you came up with. And maybe someday Gail and I will stop by to see you and your barn sized garage at work?”

  “Sounds good to me,” he answered as he moved towards the door.

  Before he had a chance to scoot out the door, I lobbed a question his way. “Larry, have you seen my sister lately? She’s been so busy she hasn’t even stopped by yet to see me.”

  “Constance? Yeah, I had a sandwich from her place yesterday.”

  “No, I meant Harmony.”

  “Harmony? No, not lately. Of course I see her all around town doing her mayor stuff. I got to go. I’ll get back to you about those benches.” And with that he left me to wonder if he had been rattled or just too busy with life to stay longer.

  A loud Meowwwwww, escaped from the cat carrier that I’d left by the front door. “ H-e-l-l-o. Once again, you have forgotten me. You know this is starting to become a habit and I don’t care for it one bit. I guess that I am going to have to learn how to open this stupid carrier all by myself. I can do it you know. Just wait and see! Won’t I surprise your customers when I swirl my tail and the trap door to my cage releases!”

  “Yeah, yeah. Don’t get yourself so worked up.” Picking up the carrier, I transported her to the back and her freedom. Crawling out slowly she stretched every bone and muscle as if she had been tied up for hours.

  “I do wish that you would find another way for me to travel about town other than that awful flowered contraption,” she whispered, not wanting Larry to hear her comments. “Maybe you could at least install a bell I can hit to remind you that I’m still alive!”

  “Stop being such a prima donna. And we don’t need to whisper, Larry is gone.”

  The front door flew open as Gail kicked her way into the shop; hands balancing two cups of hot latte as she came in. Man, if there was ever a day that I was going to have a heart attack, this was it. That bang aged me 10 years.

  Seeing the sketches Larry had left on the table, Gail said “Oops, looks like I should have brought more. Sorry, I didn’t realize that we had company,” she said as she pushed the front door closed with her toe and looked around inquisitively.

  Grabbing one of the two cups, I thanked Gail, “Oh thanks so much. I really need this. You just missed Larry Webber. He stopped by with a proposition.”

  Gail’s whole demeanor perked up as she said, “Oh really?”

  “Yeah, did you know that he went to design school?”

  “Um, yeah, he may have mentioned it once,” she said, looking around the room expectedly.

  “Really, I had no idea. Well anyway, he wants to make a bench for us, out of iron…. for free.”

  “Cool,” was all Gail said.

  “There are a few designs there. Take a look, he wanted your opinion.”

  “Really?”

  “Does that surprise you?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, what’s with the one word responses?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” she said now fully engaged with the sketches. As she perused each design she added, “Saw your dad in town this morning.”

  “What? Wait! Really? Where was he?” I stuttered out all at once. “Did he say anything?”

  “Yes, he said he’d stop by and see us soon,” she said remaining focused on the designs Larry had left. “These are really good. I especially like the one Larry made with the witch flying across the back of the bench. Hmm?”

  “He said he’d stop by? Who? Wait, what did you say about the witches?” I asked becoming thoroughly confused and more than a little uptight.

  Chapter 7

  “What do you think about your dad stopping by to see us?”Gail asked, tearing her attention away from the sketches Larry had left.

  “I really don’t know what to make of it. I didn’t even know for sure that my dad was in town.”

  “Olivia, what is wrong with your cat?” Gail said clearly distracted by something Miss Cassandra was up to. “She’s been acting strange since I came in to work,” Gail said as we both noticed Miss Cassandra skulking around the store.

  “Um, well, I did a spell this morning to try to get some information and it may have backfired on me.” I turned away from Gail and began to unpack the spools of thread that had recently arrived.

  “Backfired?”

  “I don’t know what to make of it. First, I start hearing about some new beach hotel and how we might have to move.”

  “What? Move?” suddenly G
ail was all ears. “Who said we had to move? And I thought you told me that you hadn’t heard from your dad for a while.”

  “Well, I haven’t heard from him, but I did see him during my spell this morning.”

  “Jeez, it’s only 10 a.m. and you’ve already fired off a spell because of something you think might just happen? You need to be more careful.”

  More than a little annoyed that Gail thought I was over reacting, I stopped enjoying my morning latte and shared my earlier conversations with Officer Parker and Mrs. Schwartz.

  “What did Parker mean by saying that we may have to make some changes?”

  Before I got a chance to tell Gail any more, two things happened at once. My sister Harmony called on the phone and my old boyfriend, Jonathan, walked through the front door of Mystique Creations. What the heck was going on today? Stunned, I immediately took the phone from Gail and turned my back on Jonathan.

  Harmony is my oldest sister and also the new Mayor of New Moon Beach. She has only been mayor for six months and takes her responsibilities very seriously. Well, to be truthful, Harmony takes everything in life seriously. She is one somber witch.

  “Olivia, I just got a call from our father and he is ticked off.” Before I could ask any questions or offer any explanations, she continued. “I’m not really sure that I even understand what he is concerned about, but he is. I think that we better get together.”

  “By we do you mean Constance, you and I or is dad included in our little coven?”

  “What? No. I mean you and Constance and me. Constance called me and said that the two of you need to meet me for lunch anyway. I’m really busy but I can carve out a little time today. I’ll meet you at your shop around 1:00. Be ready.” And with that she hung up leaving me confused and more than a little ticked off myself. What the heck did dad have to be concerned about? It wasn’t his store that was in jeopardy. And why was she being so huffy. Honestly, witches can be so touchy!

  Hanging up the phone I remembered that Jonathan had entered my shop at the exact same moment that Harmony had called. Thankfully, Super Gail had come to my rescue.