“I heard you got some pretty flowers today,” said Constance cautiously.
“Yes,” was all that I could say looking at Gail through eyes that clearly declared her to be a traitor.
“Don’t get mad at Gail. I saw the delivery guy bringing them to your shop. And then, not too long after, I saw Jonathan looking all forlorn when he jumped in his Alpha Romeo and split.”
“He was there?” I asked. “He was the one driving the Alpha Romeo? A black Alpha Romeo?” Okay, it’s confirmed; he’s a jerk. Redirecting my attention I drove into the City Hall parking lot finding it stuffed with cars.
“Wow, this parking lot is jam-packed tonight,” said Constance. Every spot was filled, including all of the bike racks. I guess the word had gotten out and the people of New Moon Beach were interested in what was actually happening in their town.
“I wonder if we’ll be able to get seats together.” I questioned noticing that the meeting room was also packed and suddenly feeling the need of support from my friends and family.
“They’ll make room for us,” Constance said, shooing down a young mother she knew to make room for the three of us to all sit together in solidarity.
“Thanks so much for the darling baby bib Constance. April looks so darn cute in it that I hate to take it off her to wash it,” said the young mother.
“I’m glad you like it. Took a class at my sister’s store and voilah! I am a seamstress…. sort of,” she said laughing.
Groups of people milled about the auditorium each making a stop at the large, silver coffee urn to fill their Styrofoam cups before grabbing a cookie or two and finding their seats. Crowds were quite unusual for a New Moon Beach City Council meeting and the council members looked a little uneasy I thought as I saw my sister speaking to a couple. Clearly there was a lot of interest in what was going on in our little beach city as the lights were flicked on and off to signal the start of the meeting.
Sitting at the front table was my sister the Mayor, the City Clerk, City Treasurer, the Zoning Commissioner and several other men and women in suits that I did not recognize. Off to the side sat another man with a group of charts before him. He had on a jacket with a logo that I could not make out, but that looked somehow familiar to me. Looking around the room, I noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz, Officer Parker and Angelica Gino were all in attendance. It felt good to be among friends.
Harmony banged her hammer and called the meeting to order. “Shall we all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?” And we did.
After taking care of several mundane issues - the dates for the summer surf contest, permits for the use of the city hall auditorium for upcoming events and a confirmation of the treasury report from the last meeting, Harmony cleared her throat.
“I want to thank everyone for attending tonight’s meeting. We have a lot to talk about,” Harmony said with a nervous smile on her face.
“Although I’m sure that you know our City Clerk -Davis Jackson, City Treasurer - Abigail Johnson and Zoning Commissioner - Albert Cotter, there are a few other people here tonight that I would like to introduce to you before turning this meeting over to Mr. Jackson.”
“From the MaxDon Land Development Corporation I would like you to meet Johnny Albert the Project Manager, Nancy Meyers the Project Architect and Ben Azuko the Project Financial Advisor. They are all here tonight to present information on a possible hotel project for New Moon Beach. Also with us tonight is Jason Frick, who will be showing us renderings of the project for everyone to see.”
“At this point I would like to turn the meeting over to our City Clerk Davis Jackson, who will lead us through this process.” Sitting down, Harmony turned and offered the audience members her most reassuring smile.
“So what we are going to do tonight,” announced Jackson with great bravado “is to present an overview of this beautiful little gem that the MaxDon Land Development Corporation wants to build here at New Moon Beach.”
“We’ll start out by hearing from the Project Architect Nancy Meyers. Ms. Meyers?” said Jackson as handed off the microphone and sat back down.
Over the next half hour Meyers presented the facts on hotel size, potential themes, structural design and more. She shared with the audience what materials she would be recommending and showed a rendering of what the new hotel might look like. The oohs and Ahhs of the audience confirmed that the possible designs were quite beautiful.
Next came the Project Financial Advisor hyping up the audience with his predictions that “hundreds of thousands of people will flock to this city bringing their dollars with them. Your stores will be busting with business and your city coffers will fill from the parking revenues alone that this project is sure to generate.”
The room seemed to tilt for a moment as everyone turned to look expectedly at Officer Parker, who was beaming. Traitor!
With a warm smile Azuko continued “Everyone loves the beach. And at MaxDon we want to embrace what you have already said about New Moon Beach and make it our own. When you walk in our hotel,” he said, emphasizing the word hotel, “you’ll find that everyone is a friend and no one a stranger for long.”
With that last statement, the room erupted with applause. It suddenly felt as if everyone simultaneously drank the MaxDon Kool-Aide and was now in favor of this new hotel.
In an attempt to ask a few pertinent questions I timidly raised my hand. Mr. Azuko abruptly replied, “No questions right now, please,” and moved on with his presentation.
If not now, when, I wondered as the guy in the corporate jacket began flashing charts and pictures in front of the crowd. Nancy Meyers thanked the crowd for appreciating her renderings and Project Manager Johnny Albert assured everyone that the building of the hotel would only cause minor disruption to the city. As if under a spell, my neighbors seemed to nod their heads in unison and smile in agreement. I wondered, just for a split second, if someone had actually cast a spell on all of my neighbors.
Finally, I was allowed to ask a question but only after I stood up and said in a loud voice, “I have one simple question that I need to have answered.” All 4 corporate reps stared at me, shooting daggers from their eyes.
“Where, exactly, is this hotel to be built?” Suddenly the spell seemed to pop and people around me perked up, anxious for this info.
Johnny Albert looked at me with a pained faced and said, “Thank you for your question. We are looking at several locations right now and will get back to you.” Looking as if he felt satisfied with his response he went to sit down.
I stood up again. “Can you share, which spots you are considering. Will it require the relocation of any of our shops? Are you considering putting your hotel right on the beach, blocking off any of our walking or biking pathways or the surfing areas? Has the Coastal Commission weighed in on this yet?”
My words seemed to ignite a spark as the city folk quickly came to understand just what the building of this hotel might really mean to all of us. Conversations broke out everywhere as some people lobbied in favor of the income this new hotel would generate while others spoke against the disruption to our relaxing beach life.
Penelope Martin, the beloved long time owner of Be Careful What You Wish For, a metaphysical crystal gift shop that carried all sorts of healing crystals, seashells, art work and vacation fashions, stood and addressed Harmony directly, “Madame Mayor, as you know, my shop is one of the oldest shops in New Moon Beach. My grandfather built the shop by the shores some 85 years ago.”
Harmony smiled at Penelope and said “Yes, Penelope, I am aware of the value that your family’s shop has brought to New Moon Beach over these many years. And I have to admit publicly that Be Careful What You Wish For is actually one of my favorite New Moon Beach stores to shop in.”
Not smiling back, Penelope continued to question. “Is there a reason that this was never brought before our monthly Local Merchants Meeting?” not waiting for a response, she continued. “I certainly would have liked an opportunity to weigh i
n on this before having it shoved down my throat at a public meeting.”
Oh my! The room erupted as Harmony banged her hammer on the table. After some time, Harmony stood and pleaded, “Ladies and gentlemen, as I said when we started this meeting, this is just the beginning. I can assure you that nothing is being shoved down your throats.”
Looking directly at Penelope she continued, “We will be meeting again and again as we work with MaxDon to determine all of the particulars. If we all just stay focused and calm and look at this project objectively, we should be able to make the best decisions for this city,” she said as she folded back into her chair and looked to the back of the room for what appeared to be help.
Following her line of sight I glanced to the back where I saw three unexpected guests holding up the wall; Jonathan, Larry and my dad. Hmm.
By the time the meeting had ended and I reached the back of the room, all three men had vanished as if they had been a mirage.
Her hand on my shoulder, Harmony whipped me around to face her. “Thanks Olivia for making such a big fat scene.”
“Calm down Harmony. She asked some good questions you know,” said Constance attempting to quell the hysteria.
“Be quiet, Constance, this is between Olivia and I,” Harmony said through clenched jaws.
“Hold on Harmony. Your little dog and pony show mesmerized the crowd so much that they didn’t even know that we weren’t getting the whole story. How can you support this hotel?” I asked.
“As the mayor I have to do what’s best for the city. We need the money that this hotel can bring in. All that you are thinking about little sister is yourself. I have to think about everyone else.”
“So that means you forget about your sisters?” I asked.
“That is not fair,” shouted back Harmony.
“Fair went out the window a long time ago,” responded Constance her voice cracking.
Thank God that the room had already cleared out and the crowd headed home as our conversation continued to escalate. And something else was happening too. I felt the first wisp of wind and heard a metal chair scraping its feet across the floor before becoming air born. Chair after chair, took off clattering into each other as the auditorium doors slammed back and forth. The video screen hurtled across the auditorium, tearing in half before it settled across the podium. Charts and graphs were flying around the room. The pace of the wind began to pick up and I was blinded momentarily as my hair wrapped around my face. All three of us were so involved in our angry discord; none of us was prepared for what came next.
“Enough. Stop this now!” came thundering from the back of the room and out of the mouth of our father.
Uh-Oh.
Chapter 10
I’d like to tell you that we all made up after the meeting and went out to dinner with our dad to celebrate. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened.
As soon as my father made his booming pronouncement the wind stopped. It just instantly stopped. Paperwork fell helter-skelter all around the room and the auditorium doors slammed shut; along with all of our mouths.
Staring back at our father who was staring at us through large black, frustrated eyes, Constance was the first to break the connection.
“Oh my gosh, we better clean this place up before anyone comes back in here and discovers this mess,” she said as she started to pull chairs back into their upright positions.
“Better yet,” she said. Snapping her fingers, she quickly cast a ward on the auditorium doors, keeping them closed and everyone out until we were finished cleaning up.
I went for all of the artwork that was scattered across the floor, attempting to capture it into one big pile. Whispering a word or two I called for the papers that were filling the room corners to return to me at once. Like flat spiders each sheet crawled its way back to me. At least I could cast that kind of meager spell with success.
Constance calmly called for the chairs to march their way back to their metal carrier and pulled the podium back on its feet. A snap of her fingers brought the two pieces of the video screen back together. Man, she was one awesome witch!
Instead of offering her help, Harmony on the other hand, had moved to the back of the room where she and our father bent their heads in quiet conversation. What was that all about I wondered? Was dad involved in this mess after all?
Just as we had about finished our clean up and Constance and I were heading towards the back of the room to deal with dear old dad, who popped his head in the door, but Larry Webber. How did he get past the ward I wondered? Did he have some hidden powers that we weren’t aware of? There were just too many weird things going on here.
“Boy, there sure were a lot of people here tonight weren’t there?” he said smiling at me. Raising a hand in greeting he continued, “Hi, Mr. Merriman. Good to see you.”
Looking up from his conversation with Harmony my father responded, “Oh hello Larry. “
Hello Mr. Merriman? Hello Larry? I didn’t even know that they knew each other.
Saddling up to me, Larry puts his head next to mine and said “Wow, that was kind of a big deal, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, a big deal; maybe you could share some of your insights with us? I have a feeling that you know the inside story on everything that is happening in town,” I said, putting my arm around Larry in a more than companionable manner.
Looking a little nervous Larry stepped away from me. “Sorry, Olivia, right now I know just what you do. I’ll keep my ears open and get back to you if I hear anything,” he said looking away.
What was that all about?
Unsure of what was to happen next, Constance and I slowly marched to the back of the room to await our dad driven sentence. Wringing her hands, Harmony looked a little sick as she started, “I’m sorry guys, I guess I should have done a better job preparing you both for this meeting. Dad says I blew it and because of that my best two potential allies…. aren’t even on my side.”
What? Was dad actually on our side? With a confused look on her face Constance stared at our father and asked “What do you have to do with this whole fiasco daddy dearest?”
Not appearing to like her tone, he responded, “That’s enough of that Connie. I don’t need nor appreciate your attitude. Your sister merely asked me for my input and I was happy to assist.”
Turning towards Harmony I said, “You asked for dads’ help? I thought that you hadn’t heard from him lately? I guess you sort of forgot that part,” I said rather resentfully.
“I know that you and dad don’t always see eye to eye. And I thought that you might have done something stupid to rile him up with your spell-making. We may not always agree on things, but dad has a good business mind and I sometimes need his insights.”
“Really?” responded Constance. “Okay, so dad, let’s forget for a minute Olivia’s poor spell casting skills; what do you think of this hotel thing?”
“I think that you three girls better be more careful to not engage in any more climate disruptions. If you know what I mean? That was pretty stupid letting your emotions get the better of you just then.”
Without thinking out slipped, “Well, I guess that’s easy to say when you don’t have any emotions to let loose.” Wait, did I catch a hint of hurt in those black eyes before the armor went back up?
“At this point, what I think is not really important. What is important is what the three of you going to do from this day forward? Harmony needs your help. But the girls need to know that you’ll be looking out for them too, Harmony.”
“I’ve got to go now. Look for me to stop by your shop sometime this week, Olivia,” dad said as he exited the room. Just like dad, always leaving.
This was all just too, too weird. Dad and Harmony? And was dad on our side…..or not? And where did Larry and Harmony fit into this whole shebang? And where had Jonathan disappeared to?
“I don’t get you, Harmony,” I said sadly as I left the room and headed towards my car. Noticing that Constance
did not follow me, I assumed that she was dealing with Harmony in her own way and without me. I looked around and realized that sometime during the night, I had also lost Gail. I guess she got tired of waiting for me and went home.
I guessed wrong.
“Want to get a cup of coffee?” That is how Jonathan had connected with Gail as she was exiting the auditorium doors.
“No thanks, Jonathan, I’m pooped and I really want to go home. This was too much drama for me tonight. Thanks anyway,” she had responded as she turned away.
Grabbing her arm and gently turning her to face him Jonathan pleaded, “Please Gail? I could use a good ear and as I remember it, you always had one.” And without even sharing that smile of his, she had caved and headed off to our local coffee shop, The Hang Ten.
“One cup Jonathan; Olivia will kill me if she finds out.”
“All I want is just a few minutes and I’ll even buy you a famous Hang Ten fudge caramel brownie to go with that coffee. Olivia always bragged about how good they were,” he said with a sort of sad look on his face.
Uh Oh, Gail was toast. At least that is how she had described it to me the next morning in our shop.
What, you thought Gail would keep a secret from me? No way, we are too good of friends. Plus, she knows that I can always tell when she is not telling me something. I’m a witch, remember?
Even though she’s a witch too, she doesn’t have the same powers that I do. Gail is a Water Witch. In scary old folk tales Water Witches were called Sea Witches or Sea Hags, but neither of us like those names. And Gail is far too cute to ever be considered a hag.
Gail can see things that I cannot. She sees and talks to the dead and she can religiously find the truth, even when it is well hidden. Born with incredible intuition Gail has always been able to tell who a true friend was. This skill caused her a lot of pain in college when people tried to pretend friendship as a way of getting her to share her ingenious designs or sewing prowess.
Morning Magic Page 6
