Cypress, Candles, and Mrs. Cobb

As dawn approached Mrs. Cobb slowly lifted herself out of bed. Her gray streaked hair violently out of place from the nightly struggle with her pillow. She slowly coasted her feet into her worn fuzzy slippers, stretched her withering arms above her head, and let out a small yawn. She then drifted out the bedroom, where she slept alone, down the narrow staircase, and into the kitchen. Upon reaching the kitchen Mrs. Cobb began to follow her normal routine.
She filled her teapot with water, set it on the stove, and turned the burner to high. While she waited for the water to heat, she walked out onto the front porch to retrieve the newspaper. Without opening it or even bothering to glance she walked back into the kitchen and tossed the paper onto the table.
The tea pot whistled. She shut the burner off, grabbed a cup from beside the sink and dumped a tea bag, two sugars, a splash of cream, and boiling water into her mug just as she did every morning. Carrying her mug to the table, she plunked down in her customary chair, set the tea beside her, and grabbed the freshly printed copy of the Wickett Weekly. Every year the paper creates a special edition on July 5th and it is usually filled with pictures of the 4th’s events. Children eating ice cream, sparklers, and a beautiful picture of the grand finale always covered the front page.
Holding the string to the tea bag, Mrs. Cobb slowly stirred her cup of tea and created a small whirl pool. She began to unfold the newspaper. The headline on the front page was not the customary 5th of July special title of “Wickette’s Watch: Independence Day Finale, Fireworks Extravaganza” or last years Headline “Fourth of July Goes off with a Bang”, instead the headline read “Anvil Floats: Fireworks Light the Way.”
Her lips formed the words as she read the headline again, “Anvil Floats: Fireworks Light the Way.” She shook her head in disbelief then glided the paper across the table, knocked over her cup, and drowned the newspaper and all of its contents.
Without bothering to clean the mess Mrs. Cobb got up from the table and proceeded back to her bedroom. Once reaching the room, she dug through the top drawer of her mahogany dresser. Frantically moving her under clothes aside she pulled a shoe box out of the drawer. She placed the box on the bed and slowly lifted the cover. Inside the box was a list of all of the children in the town, their birthdays, a box of strike anywhere matches, and tea-light candles of many colors. Underneath all of these items was a brown envelope labeled “Weddings, births, deaths, etc...” After removing all the contents from the shoe box, Mrs. Cobb dumped the envelope into the cover of the box. The envelope contained little plastic baggies, each labeled with the name of an herb and a property. She fumbled through them briefly until she came to one marked Cypress: Death. She took a black candle from its resting place on the bed, the box of matches, and the baggy of cypress out of her room and made her way back the front porch. She walked to the center of the porch, where there was a small round table. She faced outward towards the beach where the townspeople traditionally gathered for the Fourth of July celebration and placed her candle in the center of the table. She opened the box of matches. She took out a single match and struck it gently against the side of the box and started to chant a short prayer for Anvil.
“Yesod, goddess of both life and death, please guide the young boy Anvil Farnhum on his transition from this life to the next. May he find solace in your arms and may his family and friends both weep with tears of joy and of sorrow for his loss. Safe journey young Anvil, may you be guided well.” As Mrs. Cobb finished the prayer with the words “Blessed be.” she lit the candle and sprinkled some of the Cypress over the flame as a tribute to Yesod and for Anvils safe passage into the unknown. She took a deep breath and turned to go back inside. She paused for a moment, looked back at the flickering candle, and entered her house. She went back up the stairs and returned to her normal daily routine.