The spark

I was sitting on my porch swing lazily swinging my left leg while having my right leg tucked underneath me and holding my journal in my lap. I was watching various groups of people walking down the sidewalk a short distance away. They too were enjoying the breezy, but warm spring day that God had graced us with.

It had been abnormally hot this year. So, not many of us in the community had really ventured out this spring because of it. So, when days like today come about - it is human nature to want to be out and enjoy it.

"Good morning Katherine!", my elderly neighbor Becky called from the sidewalk. She was carrying books in her arms and looked to have just returned from the library with her latest selection. She was known to go to the library on a weekly basis and go through the shelves looking for a unique morsel of fiction. Occasionally, she would come over and share with me some of the unique stories that she had recently read. I would enjoy these visits and usually would find inspiration to work on my writing because of them.

"Good morning Becky. What did you find today?" I asked, smiling, and pointing to the pile of books in her arms.

"I explored the realms of fairies and warlocks today,” she said with a sparkle in her eyes. And there was a tinge of spark in the air about her today. Almost electric.

"Oooh... sounds exciting!", I exclaimed. "I can't wait to hear all about it."

Becky smiled and waved, and she continued into her house and shut the door.

Just then, a bustling wind came up - almost as if to add accentuation to the air that was around Becky when she had passed by.

"Well, that's odd!" I thought to myself.

Later, that evening…. I was sitting at my kitchen table, writing in my journal about the beauty of the day, and the strangeness that I had felt earlier that day with the wind following Becky passing by me. When suddenly, I heard:

Knock, knock, knock.

“Coming!” I called, getting up from the table and going to the door.

I opened the door to find Becky so excited that she was bouncing on her tiptoes.

“Katherine! Katherine! You will not believe what I read today! Did you know that fairies are real?!?! I mean, not like teeny tiny, winged things like they portray in the old-time fairytales… but like real beings?!?”, she exclaimed. She was talking so fast that it was hard to understand what it is that she was trying to say. “So… did you?”

“Did I what?” I asked with confusion.

She sighs deeply as if I was a child that she had reprimanded repeatedly for the same dead. Shriveled up her nose in disappointment and glared at me with the utmost of impatience. “Are you not listening to me?”

I chuckled and gave her a soft smile. “Becky my dear, I see that you are excited, and I really want to know what it is that has given you so much sparkle. But honey, you are speaking a thousand words a second. Slow down! Or else you are going to break something, and I do not want it to be your hip”, I laugh.

She smiles broadly at me with the sparkle returning to her eyes and lighting up her face. “Magic really exists, Katherine. It really does!” And with that, she spins and giggles, and spins again. She pulls out a worn leather-bound book that looked like an old book my grandmother used to have that she called the Book of Shadows. It had a gold imprint of a big tree on it that looked similar to the Tree of Life that you see in various drawings in books about the Garden of Eden. But there were unusual symbols in the corners of the cover.

“Becky, what do these mean”, I asked pointing to the symbols.

“I’m not sure.” She said in awe. “Why? Do you think it’s important?”
“I’m sure that there is a reason that they are on the cover. Becky, tell me what you learned?” I asked with curiosity.

She giggled while sitting down next to me and opening the book while allowing me to lean in for a closer look. She opened the book to close to the middle of the book, and on one side of the page, there was a drawing of a beautiful woman that was sitting near a river amongst flowers, trees, and some forest animals. And standing among the animals were small people. They were not children – even though they looked to be the size of children, but neither did they appear to be like what you know dwarfs to look like. They were just like adults… just smaller. Much smaller. But they all had pointed ears. And they were all smiling up at the beautiful woman.

“Isn’t she beautiful?” Becky asked.

“Yes! I was just thinking that.” I said.

“She looks just like you, Katherine!” she said as she ran to get a photo of my sister and me from the mantel on our right. She placed the picture next to the book. And the resemblance was uncanny! “This woman is called Hermione. She was the one that befriended the fairies and learned how to use fairy dust and other magic. She was executed in the trial of the Pendle Witches in England.”

“My family is from England. I always heard rumors of witches being in my family… but no one would ever speak of them. I wonder…” I whispered with the realization.

Just then, the candle on the center of the table ignited!

“My dear!” Becky exclaimed and smiled with acknowledgment.