by Dani Corlee
Shouts and laughter suddenly burst out in the room. The tension had been palpable, and the witches allowed to witness the call had held their breath. This was a new situation and nobody really knew what was going to happen next. There were too many uncertainties about the prophecy and they needed to proceed very carefully.
“Be quiet, y'all!” Lucille exclaimed, gesturing to make them all calm down. “Witches, please!” she continued while the uproar was still too loud. “Stop it, or I’ll sew your traps shut, and I mean it!”
Everybody stopped talking at once. Lucille wasn't a woman to threaten in vain.
They still remembered the day a young witch didn't want to lend an ear to her and she had transformed her ears into elephant ears. Isidora had to intervene to make Lucille break the spell.
Or the time a witch argued with her and turned away, without caring that Lucille was still talking. So Lucille had turned her legs into marble. Again, it was Isidora who had to calm Lucille down...
CHAPTER 9
Kimberly entered the big parking lot, each space defined by a little cherry tree, casting a nice and fresh shadow in the hot summer afternoon.
“Here we are,” she told Aurora, helping her with her seat belt. “Are you sure you want to bring Mrs. Daisy with you?”
“Yes, she said she wants to come,” Aurora replied.
“Did she?” Kimberly grinned and rubbed her head. “Then you must take her. I just hope no kids will take and ruin her.”
“Don't worry. She won't allow it,” was the serious reply.
“Oh, okay. Let's go.”
The Magic Club was a modern, three-story building, two stories of which were covered with reflective, mirrored glass, shining under the sun. Lots of colorful balloons had been placed on the sides of the big entrance, made of glass sliding doors.
A woman was near it, and waved at them. Kimberly looked at her tall, slim figure with curiosity. She was dressed in tight jeans and a baby-blue, spaghetti-strap top and looked young, but while approaching her, something in her hairstyle and appearance made Kimberly think she was probably older than she pretended to be.
“Mrs. Pupp, it's a pleasure to meet you,” she said, extending her hand with an embarrassed smile, as if she wasn't totally sure how to behave. Something in her overall look, which spoke of a very determined person, seemed to contrast with her demeanor.
“And you are...” she said, looking down to Aurora with a smile.
“I'm Aurora,” the little one exclaimed, not at all shy about talking to the tall woman. “And this is Mrs. Daisy.”
“Nice to meet you two!” she replied, and added, “You are very pretty, Aurora, a real princess!” And I mean it, she thought.
“Okay, come with me. The Magic Club is at your disposal. You two—oh, sorry, you three, including Mrs. Daisy as well—are our honorary members.”
“Are we?” Kimberly asked. And thought, She’s behaving oddly... Is she going to try to sell me some pots and pans, a mattress or something like that? Most probably...
The club atrium was big, with a very high ceiling. All in all, it looked like a classy place. Just in front of the entrance there was a big reception area where two smiling girls looked at her and stood up from her chairs like soldiers would at a general passing by.
“The receptionists are at your disposal, for anything you might need.”
“Here's our contact info, Mrs. Pupp,” one of them said, handing her a card with a stiff smile. She looked embarrassed, and her extremely polite manners puzzled Kimberly.
“Come, let's go in the auditorium, where some friends are waiting for you.”
The auditorium was a huge room which held, on one side, a little dais with a microphone. There were roughly twenty women of all ages there, and a few men. As soon as they entered the room, all of them stood up, smiling, waving, sending greetings, and the sudden noise was so loud that Aurora halted in fear.
“Quiet, quiet, please!” Lucille said and gestured to make them all sit down.
Be quiet, she added in telepathy. She probably doesn't know what's happening and what all this is about. I can't read her mind, which is dumb and deaf to us. Either she doesn't know her powers or else she is using some spell or great powers to hide from us. Could she be acting like that to test us? Ugh! she exclaimed in her mind. That was a rhetorical question!
Asking something mentally to a group of witches means receiving many mental answers, all arriving in unison, which would have made another witch's mind blow up. But Lucille was very powerful and could handle any kind of problem.
Kimberly opened her eyes wide. What the hell was all this about? Were they trying to get her into some sort of strange and expensive membership? If so, she should be clear about it from the very start, because she had no intention of following any new belief system or of giving some strangers the sum of her earnings...
Aurora, instead, was smiling, feeling at ease with all those strangers waving and smiling at her. She herself started waving to and greeting everybody.
An old lady approached and stretched out her hand to greet her. She was elegant and looked solemn when introducing herself as Isidora, who had first contacted her by phone. She led them to take a seat in the center of the first row, taking a seat near her, while Aurora ended up between her mother and Lucille.
The president—Celeste, Kimberly later found out—took her place on the dais.
Lucille mentally warned her: Beware! Remember what we decided in case she doesn't know who she really is!
“As the president of this club, we want to welcome our new fellow citizens, Kimberly and Aurora. We are very pleased to make their acquaintances and are sure they will soon be valuable members of our community. We really appreciate new, young people coming to live in our area. There was a time not long ago when not many children were born in our town and we were afraid our community would soon die out. Luckily, we gathered new friends from other places and hopefully our town will soon prosper. Moreover, as far as we understood, Kimberly is a talented physical therapist and the local hospital has already employed her. Therefore, she is already a valuable member of our town!”
There was warm applause. Too warm, Kimberly thought. But Isidora interrupted her thoughts, standing up and asking her to follow the group to take a look at the club before the refreshments.
“Shall we go? But first, let's take Aurora to the indoor playground.”
When Aurora saw the room, she giggled with happiness. Such a great and incredible place to play! There was a huge playset with sections that held colorful balls and big slides Aurora simply couldn't resist. On one side was a door window that led to a big terrace, with a high railing for safety purposes. Half of the terrace was covered with grass, and lovely little tables and chairs with umbrellas were positioned here and there. There was also a small inflatable pool to get some escape from the summer heat. Each inside wall had a different color and funny cartoons were hung on them.
Four young ladies introduced themselves as the kids’ guardians, explaining each member of the club volunteered from time to time, taking turns.
“Kids, behave!” said Lucille to the little group of children who rushed over to them as soon as they entered the room. And when I say behave, you know what I mean... she said mentally.
“Yes, we know!” a little kid replied aloud. “Uh??” Lucille made a face at him and continued mentally. No magic tricks or jokes with the new girl. I'm not asking, this is an order. Behave if you don't want me to turn you into green caterpillars!
Strange kids, Kimberly thought. First, one of them answered to a question nobody asked him, then they all looked terrified of Lucille. People in this town behave strangely, she thought. I suppose I'll have to get used to it soon!
Aurora smiled to her mom and climbed up on one of the toys.
“Okay, now Aurora is settled and we can have a tour of the club.”
Lucille took Kimberly to visit some of the facilities of the club and then led her to the auditorium ag
ain, where the refreshments were waiting for them.
She soon was introduced to the group of people who had greeted her at the beginning. They all seemed very friendly and affable, and she felt at ease with them, having a very pleasant time. She received many invitations for lunches and dinners. They all seemed to compete with each other for her time and attention, and even though surprised and quite suspicious at first, she had to admit that she enjoyed their warmth and welcoming attitudes.
The afternoon ended too soon for Aurora, who didn't want to leave that playground and her new friends.
“Come on, darling, we have to go.”
“Five minutes, Mom! Please, only five minutes more!”
“No, you asked the same ten minutes ago. We will definitely come back another day.”
“You can bring her whenever you want. You can use any of our facilities while she stays here, or you can just leave her here and go to run your errands,” Lucille told her.
“Oh, that could be really good. I still have to settle many things at home and it would be a great help for me to know Aurora can play safely with other kids. I don't want her to stay at home with me while she could be enjoying herself,” Kimberly said and silently decided to ask Mr. Patten if he knew of and could recommend the club for her daughter.
“Now we know she doesn't know anything about her new powers,” Isidora told to the group of witches who had had the privilege of meeting Kimberly.
A witch raised her hand.
“Yes?” Isidora gestured for her to talk.
“Why didn't we tell her at once? Why wait?”
Isidora rolled her eyes in irritation and replied, “We have already talked about it. She is too important to us. We have to tell her that not only is she a witch! We also have to tell her she is our Queen! The Queen witch of all the witches of the world! That's not something you can say while drinking tea or having a slice of cake... By the way, Lucille, the refreshments were really good.”
“Yep. Y'all made them during the cooking lessons. Obviously we used some magic, too, which never hurts,” Lucille replied and winked.
“So, how do we proceed?” Celeste asked. “Her house is still a mess. The garden is awful and she might need some help. She told me she will probably bring Aurora here on Monday morning. By the way, Lucille, please set everything for Aurora. No more than twenty kids, not yet, and some entertainment, too. We must have her enjoy the place and her new friends. The more she likes it, the more likely we will be to have Kimberly here often.”
“Yeah. On Monday morning, I'll be here too. Maybe with some flowers. I will tell her I bought them as a present for her and then I'll ask her if she needs some help at home. A gentle mental push will have her accepting and we will be able to get a little closer.”
“Excellent, my dear. Let's wait for Monday. She will have time to digest all of her new acquaintances she made today, and hopefully she will think about the club like a very nice place to relax and have some fun.”
“Why don't we have her love this place with a spell?” a shy voice asked.
Isidora sighed heavily. What were the teachers teaching to the young witches?
“Who spoke?” she boomed.
A hand raised slowly, while a flushing young face peeped out from among the other witches.
“That would be extremely unethical, totally contrary to our code and our beliefs. We are only allowed to mentally push other people in case they are in peril or if their actions are putting us in peril. And I repeat, only if. All other cases would be a great sign of misconduct and a total lack of respect for another person's will.”
CHAPTER 10
“Aurora, what have you done?” Kimberly entered Aurora's room to finish putting some clothes on her dresser. Aurora's room was the only one completely fixed up, because it had been her priority. Kimberly wanted to give her as much stability as she could.
While some rooms had only a light bulb hanging from the ceiling, others still had no curtains—not to mention the basement, which was totally bare—but Aurora's room was delightful.
The pale pink walls complemented the white curtains with pink lace. The white, princess-like furniture with pink decorations included a tall bookshelf full of fairy-tale books. There was also a little table with chairs, to have a tea with friends and dolls, and a pink fabric castle to hide in.
It was a spacious room, full of natural light, and Kimberly was very proud of it. She turned to Aurora and smiled, but soon her smile turned into a grimace.
“Oh, my God! What have you done?” she said and looked around for a handkerchief to clean that little face, half of which was covered with brown stuff.
Aurora smiled and passed her little tongue around her mouth. Trying to clean her, smelling the dirt, Kimberly asked what it was.
“Ice cream,” she replied, a little embarrassed.
“Ice cream? Where did you get it?”
She pointed at some tiny plates and cups on the little table, smeared with white, pink and brown ice cream.
Kimberly looked at them, open mouthed. They looked like melted ice cream but it wasn't possible. There was no ice cream at the house. She had forgotten to buy it, and no one had come to the house that morning who could possibly have brought it.
“Where did you get it?”
“I told you, from there!”
“Okay, but where was the ice cream before being in your cups?”
Aurora looked doubtful, then smiled. “At an ice cream parlor,” she replied, nodding.
Kimberly took a deep breath. This matter was starting to get on her last nerve.
“And how did it get here?”
Aurora shrugged. “I just thought about having it...”
“Oh, you just thought of it and it appeared.” Kimberly frowned
Aurora felt in danger. Her mom usually didn't get upset with her, and she didn't know what to expect now. “It's not my fault. Mrs. Daisy told me she felt like some ice cream!”
There was too much you could not discuss with a four-year-old kid.
Aurora had always been very mature, sensible and helpful, compared to other children her age. She was behaving strangely, probably only because of their move. She had just been removed from her world, and even though she said she was happy, Kimberly suspected she would say anything to please her. Probably the divorce and the move had been too much for her.
She wasn't going to investigate anymore for now. It seemed pretty useless, but even though Kimberly had put a finger on those cups and tasted what surely was melted ice cream, she was still afraid it could hurt her little one. The logical explanation was one of their neighbors had brought some ice cream and she had forgotten. She only had to check for the empty container.
She gave a quick look at the room, Aurora busy again with Mrs. Daisy's hair.
There was something strange she couldn't quite understand.
Things seemed slightly different. Mrs. Daisy looked brand-new and many other toys were as shining and clean, as if they had never been used. There was also...
“Aurora, what's this?” Kimberly asked, putting a hand on an expensive doll which she had refused to buy just a few weeks before.
“Uh? A doll!” Aurora replied with half a smile, not being able to stare back at her mom.
“I know it is a doll, but where did you get it?”
“Er... I found it there,” she answered, pointing at her bed.
“What?” Kimberly frowned.
“Eh! I mean at the club! I found it at the Magic Club.”
“Aurora!” Kimberly shouted. “Are you saying you took it from there? Don't you know it is a very bad thing to take items without the owner's permission?”
“Yes, I know,” she replied, her eyes wet. “But I don't think it had an owner...”
“Everything has an owner! You are going to take it back today. What will they think of us? That's really a very bad impression to make! I must think about a punishment... For now, I'll take it,” she said, and went out of the room
with that doll, which she soon put in her bag to take back.
“Hi Aurora!” Lucille said, bending her tall body over to meet the little face. “Welcome back!”
“Hi, Lucille. Thank you for inviting me here again.” Aurora smiled widely.
“What a lovely little woman! It's such a pleasure to have you here. Go, your friends are waiting for you,” Lucille added with a laugh.
“Kimberly, I'm pretty sure you can run your errands without worrying for your daughter. She will have a lot of fun,”
