A Charming Christmas

by Tonya Kappes

  The four of us ran out of Ever After only to be almost bowled over by Patience, who was running after her strutting ostrich.

  “The thief went that way!” Petunia shouted to Patience as if Patience was going to do anything.

  “Outta the way!” Patience screamed waving us off to the side. “I’ve got ‘em! I’ve got ‘em!” She dove on top of the creature like she was playing the childhood game of leap frog.

  The ostrich had a string of blinking lights around its neck, along with Patience’s hands as she held on tight. Her legs flew out from behind her, the antlers flew off, her body waved like the American flag on a windy day.

  “I swear.” Petunia huffed and puffed. She rubbed her hands all over her belly. “It was the strangest thing.”

  “I’m getting Colton.” Ophelia rushed down the street toward the police station. “Try to find out whose shop decorations are missing.”

  I didn’t have to go looking. I glanced across the street at A Charming Cure. All the garland, holly, and decorations Arabella had put along the wisteria vine along with the window box decorations were gone.

  Chapter Five

  A little after midnight, I found myself snuggled under the comforter on my bed with Mr. Prince Charming curled up on the pillow where Oscar’s head was supposed to be and Madame Torres on the bedside table where she was still nursing her motion sickness.

  Colton had taken my statement. I hadn’t seen anything. The only thing I knew was what Petunia had told me she’d seen. She told him the same story about her cleaning out the puppy display and how she put the display in her window because people loved to get puppies for their Christmas present. It was her way of decorating for the bazaar since she refused to put up trees, lights, and ornaments because she insisted it made people nuts. Crazy was her exact word.

  Patience and her ostrich came back. The bird nipped at Colton a few times and he warned Patience he was going to give her a citation if she couldn’t control her animal. Still, to no avail, Patience hadn’t seen anyone or anything in the woods.

  She said she was too busy trying to keep up with her ostrich and too busy trying to catch him after he got loose. . .again, that she didn’t see anything else.

  There was nothing we could do.

  I turned on my side and ran my hand over Madame Torres. She came to life. Her face was still green, not as queasy green as it had been earlier, but still not her normal shade.

  “I know what I know,” I whispered looking at her. “I know something is going on.”

  “Do you think?” Sarcasm dripped out of Madame Torres’s mouth. “But I’m not allowed to give you any information.”

  “What?” I threw the covers off me and flung myself up.

  “There are rules to follow.” Madame Torres turned her head, not looking at me. A sure sign she was hiding something.

  “What good is it if you can’t show me Oscar?” I get that I was used to her helping figure out my gift of creating different homeopathic cures for what was really bothering my customers when I needed her to read them. “Where is your loyalty? To me? Or him?”

  “I’m not talking about him.” Her ball swirled and twirled, creating a funnel of red and green flecked with gold glitter. She was really getting into the spirit of the bazaar.

  I didn’t care whom she was talking about. I only cared about Oscar.

  Her ball filled with a scene where Oscar was tucked in and asleep on the couch of his childhood home. There was a fire in the fireplace. The home had an open floor plan shaped in a ‘L’. When you walked in the front door, you walked into the family room. On the far end was the dining table with four chairs and next to that was the kitchen.

  “Wait!” I grabbed the crystal ball and held it close to my eye. “Go back to the table.”

  Like a rewind button, Madame Torres went back and zeroed in on the kitchen table. There were two beer bottles, two plates with food half eaten on both of them and a couple of tapered candles. Lit.

  My heart sank along with my stomach.

  “I can’t believe it,” I gasped, looking down at my ring. “He’s cheating on me?”

  Rowl, rowl! Mr. Prince Charming batted the air. He and Oscar were never too fond of each other. Well, more on the end of Mr. Prince Charming than Oscar. But still.

  Mr. Prince Charming stepped into my lap; his paws kneaded me, back and forth, trying to give me comfort.

  Madame Torres went back to the couch where Oscar was cuddled under a blanket, sleeping soundly, not worrying a bit about our village or me.

  “Where is my charm?” I glared at Mr. Prince Charming who’d always given me a protective charm from things that hurt me. Right then I could have used a charm to protect me from whatever was going on with Oscar.

  Needless to say, I didn’t bother calling him or sleeping. My heart was too heavy. Not only did the Whispering Falls Grinch steal my decorations. . . my heart was stolen too.

  Chapter Six

  The village was abuzz with talk of the thief and how they had not only hit Bella’s Baubles and A Charming Cure, but now Ever After Books and Magical Moments were hit. The nutcrackers were there, but the decorations Arabella had put out were missing. Everyone had gathered in the street in the pre-dawn hours. The snow had really fallen hard overnight, leaving the roads too treacherous to leave or enter Whispering Falls.

  “Amethyst, how are you?” I asked Whispering Falls’s latest shop owner, Amethyst Plum. She owned Full Moon Treesort, Whispering Falls’s first bed and breakfast. Of course it was a cover up for her spiritual gift of Onerirocriticy; which was dream interpretations.

  I noticed the black circles under her eyes, which stood out from her pale complexion. Her loose curled black hair flowed from underneath her red cloak hood, snow sprinkled all over her, making her look glittery.

  Her thick black brows were arched perfectly, her long lashes swooped down with each blink as she said, “Petunia stayed over along with the rest of the visitors snowed in our village.”

  “Oh yeah.” I snapped my fingers. I had forgotten about the tourists that had come to the first day of the bazaar and how the snowfall had affected them. I only thought of Oscar and his. . .I shook my head. I couldn’t even begin to think about Oscar’s kitchen table and the table setting for two that Madame Torres had showed me in her ball. “I’m glad the treesort is here so they have the option now.”

  “You’re telling me.” She puffed, hot air clouds dotted out her nostrils as she huffed. “I had some people who had to double up. But not her.”

  I followed the line of vision Amethyst’s eyes were focused on. It was the willowy woman snowshoeing down the main street. She had on a hot pink snowsuit with a fur hood that had jingle bells along the edge, her hair tucked up inside of it. She wasn’t leisurely snowshoeing, she was hoofing it.

  “Her. She’s the worst tourist ever. Making all sorts of demands like I’m the Ritz,” Amethyst rolled her eyes. “Is she nuts?”

  “No, I think she’s exercising.” I sucked in a deep breath and took a Styrofoam cup off of Gerald’s tray when he strolled past.

  “June,” he greeted me by tipping his head, but kept his eyes on Amethyst, sliding the tray in the opposite direction of her hand when she tried to get a cup. “Traitor,” he mumbled as he walked by, refusing to give her a cup of the warm java.

  “I’m her friend!” Amethyst referred to letting Petunia stay with her overnight. “Her best friend!”

  “I’m her friend.” His head bobbled back and forth mocking her and he continued on down the line of spiritualists as we all waited to see what Colton had to say.

  He was going through the snow with a fine-tooth comb, as if he didn’t want to mess up any evidence. At least that was what my intuition told me.

  “Can you believe him? What would you do if your best friend needed a place to stay?” Amethyst nudged me.

  Little did she realize Oscar was my best friend and he felt like he needed some other place to go. My heart felt heavy and pounded dee
p within my chest.

  “Here.” I held the hot coffee out to her. My stomach wasn’t really in the mood to digest the liquid. “You can have it.”

  “No.” She waved me off. “I’m fine.”

  “What is going on?” The willowy woman stopped right in front of us, blocking our view.

  “We are trying to figure that out,” Amethyst said snidely.

  “We are getting ready to open our shops for the day.” I smiled and took a sip of my coffee. “Are you going to be stopping by the shop today? Since you are snowed in and all.”

  “You know,” she dug the snow poles deeper in the snow, “I just might stop in for more of that hot apple cider.” Our eyes dropped to the snow covered ground when one of her jingle bells fell off her hat. She reached down and grabbed it. “This hat was so expensive, you’d think these damn bells would stay on. I got it at Nordstrom’s.” She shook her fist with the jingle bell inside of it. “They are going to get a piece of my mind.”

  Amethyst jaw tensed, doing her best to ignore the woman.

  “By the looks of things, it looks like we might be here another night.” She stuck her hand out. “Tiffany Rossen.”

  “Tiffany,” I gave one big handshake up and then down. “June Heal. Nice to meet you. Well, know your name.” She winked.

  Tiffany turned her nose up at Amethyst before she leaned into me. She whispered, “Please tell me there is another motel around here.”

  “I’m sure,” I put my hand on Amethyst’s arm, “Full Moon Treesort has been amazing to stay at. I love how the rooms are actual tree houses. Plus Amethyst has the best dinners.”

  “Actually I was making homemade vegetable soup for the guests. It’s very cozy for snowy days.” Amethyst rubbed her hands together. She smiled with pride.

  “Are you using organic vegetables?” Tiffany planted her hand on her chest. “Burt and I only eat organic.”

  “I’m sure Full Moon has the freshest and best vegetables around,” I assured her and made a mental note to have Amethyst go see Eloise because I knew Eloise had plenty of organic herbs and veggies.

  “I. . .” Amethyst began to protest, but I stopped her.

  “Eloise said to be sure to stop by because she’s afraid the snowfall might hurt her crop.” I lied, but she knew I gave her an out with Tiffany.

  “Toodles.” Tiffany gave us spirit fingers before plowing her way back in the direction she had come from.

  Amethyst muttered a few choice words that weren’t in the spirit of the Christmas Bazaar.

  “What is happening?” Constance and Patience walked up behind us. Both of them rubber-necking around the other trying to see what was going on. “Arabella doesn’t look happy.

  Silence fell around us. We all wanted to hear what was being said between Arabella and Colton. Arabella’s face contorted in all forms of anger while Colton tried to temper the situation by whispering.

  “I’m not going to let some thief ruin the bazaar!” Arabella’s face was as red as fire. Her long hair was braided, but sticking out like Pippi Longstocking with ornaments dangling from it. She was definitely taking the bazaar to an entirely new level.

  She picked up one of the stomped-on flowers the thief had walked over and brought it right back to life. She could bring the life back to any type of greenery.

  Colton coughed in his gloves, trying to diffuse the situation.

  “And the good citizens of Whispering Falls won’t stand for this!” she protested, getting louder. “I call for an emergency meeting of the Village Council. I’m putting on the table the situation with you and Officer Park! This is what happens when you cut the budget to keep our village safe!” She pumped her fists in the air. “I’ll have picket signs by the end of the day for anyone who wants to protest in front of the police station tonight! Save Whispering Falls from the Grinch!”

  “Save Whispering Falls from the Grinch!” Patience Karima giggled double fisting the air, knocking her antler headband off her head.

  I bent down and picked it up for her.

  “Oh, no. Your bell fell off.” I brushed the snow with my foot looking for her missing jingle bell.

  Patience’s eyes teared, her mouth turned down.

  “Don’t worry.” I patted her on the hand. “We can fix it for you.”

  Patience was so good hearted. Her habit of repeating might drive a few people crazy, but it was her quirk and I embraced it.

  “Thank you.” She handed me the antlers and I stuck them in my bag. I would make sure it was sewn back on before Constance came to pick up a mojo bag.

  Madame Torres glowed green from the bottom.

  “Come by the shop around lunch and I’ll have it all fixed up for you.” I patted her on the back and she shuffled off in the direction of her sister.

  “What did I miss?” Faith Mortimer shoved past the crowd with her pen and paper in her gloved hands, ready for the scoop. Her long blond hair was tucked under a cobalt blue knit cap, making her onyx eyes pop.

  “Colton is trying to calm Arabella down, but it’s not working.” Chandra moseyed up, pulling her hunter green cloak tight to her body. Her fingernails were red with little green Christmas trees painted on them, replacing her normal gold stars.

  Mr. Prince Charming darted up to the crowd, finding his way around Chandra’s feet. She bent down and picked him up, flipping his paw over, rubbing the pad of her thumb over it.

  “Are his little paws cold?” I asked wondering if I needed to pick him up some cat shoes for the snow from Glorybee, plus it would give me an opportunity to talk to Petunia.

  Misery loved company and according to Amethyst and Gerald, she was as miserable as I was in terms of love.

  “No.” Chandra’s eyes shifted and took a look at his other paw.

  “Are you trying to read his paws?” I grabbed my fairy-god cat away from her.

  “Well, it’s known that cats love to destroy Christmas decorations.” Her brow cocked.

  “Are you accusing Mr. Prince Charming of creating this chaos?” My mouth dropped at her accusations. Mr. Prince Charming was not a destroyer. “I’m going to work.”

  I looked around at our friends who had gathered around. Chandra’s words stung me. Maybe I was just overly sensitive because of what was going on with Oscar, but still, it hurt.

  “I’m just covering all the bases,” Chandra called after me as I walked off.

  Arabella was still chanting, Colton was rubbing his head not sure what to do, and I noticed Glorybee’s lights were on. I still had about twenty minutes until the shop was supposed to open and I hadn’t heard from Oscar.

  A tear fell down my cheek. I wished I could say my eyes were watering due to the bitter cold and wind, but I knew better. It was a knee-jerk reaction from my heart.

  I tried to focus on the puppies in the window as they played with red and white striped balls and nibbled on each other, but the tears began to flow more.

  Lightly I tapped on the window, trying to get Petunia’s attention from the back of the shop. The puppies got excited and bounced over to the window, planting their front paws on the glass, propping themselves up on their hind legs. Petunia rushed over and opened the door, waving me in so the cold weather wouldn’t sweep past me.

  “June?” she asked as though she was trying to put some pieces together. “What is wrong?” She took Mr. Prince Charming from my arms and rubbed him.

  Meow, meow. Mr. Prince Charming jumped down and ran over to the live tree in the back of her store. He loved climbing the tree and perching on one of the branches with the other animals that lived there.

  The hedgehog scurried across the grassy bottom of the tree getting clear of Mr. Prince Charming.

  “Everything.” I sucked in a deep breath trying to get a handle on my feelings.

  “It’s this Christmas bazaar that is making everyone crazy! Crazy!” She stomped her feet. A twig fell out of her brown up-do. “I tried to tell everyone at the council meeting to only do the bazaar one day. Not the entire m
onth. But no.” She shook her head, causing more twigs and leaves to fall out. “The economy would do so much better if we did it for a month,” she mocked what someone had said.

  She pulled a container full of brushes from the counter and popped a squat on the floor. I sat down next to her. Hooves ticked across the floor, birds flew overhead and other animals lined up next to us. They loved for Petunia to brush them; something she did every morning before she opened and every night.

  “I had heard the economy had taken a dip, but I had no idea it was that bad.” For a second I had forgotten about my love problems, and then I looked down at my hand. “I think,” I gulped back the tears, “that Oscar is really having a hard time not working full-time as a cop. I think he’s cheating on me because he’s unhappy.” I said it so fast, I had a hard time understanding me.

  “He what?” She looked at me, but continued to rub the brush down the skunk who had sat down in front of her. I grabbed a brush and ushered in the next customer. . .Clyde, her macaw. “Oh, you go on you old bird.” Petunia flung her hand toward the bird she’d been trying to sell since I knew her.

  Only she never tried too much. Truth be told, I knew old Clyde was her favorite.

  “Clyde’s a pretty boy. Clyde’s a pretty boy.” He ruffled his feathers in the air and strutted over to her.

  “Silly old bird,” Petunia plucked a loose feather and stuck it in her hair with the rest of the mess up there. “Now what were you saying about cheating?”

  “I don’t know. It sounds so silly coming out of my mouth after all Oscar and I have been through.” Mr. Prince Charming trotted up to me. He always liked to take part in the hair brushing.

  Purr, purr. His back arched and tail fluffed as the brush glided down his white fur. He batted at my dangling charms hanging from my charm bracelet before darting off and letting the squirrel have his turn.