Pumpkins and Potions

by Tegan Maher

  “She’ll be fine. Give her a minute.”

  I got one eye open and immediately regretted it when I found Juliana less than two inches from my face.

  “Get away from me,” I said.

  She jumped back. “She’s alive.”

  My mother was behind her with back turned. “I told you she’d be fine. These things happen.”

  I rubbed my eyes, desperate to get my bearings and ex-communicate myself with this family.

  “Beatrice,” Mama said in a low, calm voice. “Can you see me?”

  I could, but I wanted to see how this played out before I committed to anything.

  “Hello?” Juliana waved her hands above her head. “How many fingers do you see?”

  I scanned the room. There was no sign of Tommy.

  Juliana waved her hands for several seconds before she whined.

  “This isn’t about you,” I said.

  “There’s my beautiful girl,” Mama said as she approached and cupped my face in her hands. She kissed both of my cheeks and my forehead. “Thank goodness. That was a close one.”

  That’s when I knew she’d done something.

  “What did you do?” I asked.

  She pulled away. “Nothing.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Our friend did.” She tilted her head to the side to give me full view of a body on the ground in the foyer.

  I screamed.

  She covered my mouth with her hands. “Don’t do that. Someone will hear you.” She laughed a nervous laugh. “He’s fine. He fell asleep.”

  I felt a sharp pain in my upper back. “What is that?” I reached back, but my mother blocked my hand.

  “Don’t touch it,” she said.

  “Don’t touch what?” I touched my shoulder. I outstretched my fingers and touched a sensitive spot on my back. “What is that? Did I get shot?”

  Juliana laughed.

  “No. Why would you think that?” Mama grabbed my hands and covered them with hers. “It’s nothing. It will go away in a minute.” She lowered her voice. “As soon as we figure out which spell he used.”

  It took a second for her words to register. “Tommy put a spell on me?”

  “Not exactly,” Mama said.

  “What does that mean?” The room spun as I tried to make sense of what she said. Pictures swayed from side to side. Juliana had two heads. And the body in the foyer crawled out the door. “I don’t feel well.”

  “Catch her!” Mama yelled as my wobbly knees gave way. “Watch out for that vase!”

  Juliana wasn’t athletic, but the way with she slid across the room to break my fall made me regret everything I ever said about her.

  I landed with a loud thud on top of her.

  All the breath left her body. She gasped for air as I watched the ceiling fan spin out of control.

  “Give me your hand,” Mama said. “Let’s get you to a seat before you kill your sister.” She pulled me up and walked me to a chair.

  “What about Tommy?” I asked, pointing to the foyer. “He left.”

  She did a double-take. “I’ll kill him.” She rushed out of the room, then returned to grab the grimoire.

  Juliana was still gasping for air.

  “Get up, Juliana,” Mama said. “Fill your sister in on the details.”

  She did an Army crawl across the room and pulled herself up by grabbing the desk.

  I watched with amusement because she was so dramatic and not the brightest bulb in the box. Her first attempt failed when her arms gave way and she landed face-first on the floor. The second reminded me of a scene from the I Love Lucy Show when Lucy was drunk and wobbled about. Juliana forced herself to a squatting position, which made the scene hilarious.

  I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. “What’s that?”

  She followed my gaze. “What did you see?”

  “If I knew the answer to that question, would I ask you what it was?” Sometimes, she was as thick as a two-ton block of cement. I saw the movement again. This time, I knew who it was. “Come here, Marlon Brando.” I clapped my hands to get the cat’s attention, but as usual, he didn’t listen.

  “He never listens to you,” Juliana said. “You need to put them in a kennel or something.”

  I gasped. My cats were my babies. “How dare you! They’re family.”

  She shrugged. “So am I, but you don’t let that stop you from locking me in places.”

  “Marlon Brando,” I said in the sternest voice I could muster. “Give me that.”

  He had a red envelope sticking out of his mouth. It was only a matter of time until he ripped it to shreds.

  “Why did you give the cats first and last names? It’s ridiculous.”

  I didn’t care what she thought of the cats’ names. They were mine. Their names were fine.

  “I won’t have this argument with you again,” I said as I tiptoed to Marlon Brando, to coax him with a soothing voice. “Come here, handsome boy. Look at you, good boy.”

  Juliana lunged for him and snatched the envelope out of his mouth. “That’s how you deal with terrible cats.”

  Marlon Brando flew out of the room.

  “Wait!” I swung around to face Juliana. “Why did you do that? Who knows when he’ll come back?”

  “He’s a cat,” she said as if it was a revelation. “They love to be in the wild.”

  I ran to the door.

  My mother was on the porch swing. Marlon Brando was curled up at her feet.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. “Where’s Tommy?”

  She took a deep breath.

  “Did he leave?” I asked as I looked at the front yard again. “What happened to all the officers? Where did they go?” It occurred to me that Jonah was still inside the house. “What did you do?”

  Juliana ran out the front door, a piece of paper in her hand. “Look at this! This is what he’s up to!”

  She stopped short when she saw us. “Mama? You’re here?”

  “I live here. This is my house.”

  Juliana looked at me, an eyebrow raised. “Where’s Tommy?”

  I looked back at my mother. “Mama?”

  She smiled a wide, ready-for-the-camera smile. She scooped Marlon Brando into her arms. “He’s fine, girls. What do you think I am? I’d never hurt him.”

  Juliana still had her arm outstretched with the paper in her hand.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “You tell me.”

  I took the paper from her. “What is this?”

  “Read it, Bea. It’s for you.”

  “What?” I scanned the text again. My name wasn’t on it, but it read like the other letters I received for my column. Someone, a man I presumed, asked how to tell a woman who wouldn’t give him the time of day how much he liked her. “Where did Marlon Brando get this?”

  Juliana sat next to our mother. “Who knows?”

  “Did he find that here?” Mama asked.

  I shook my head. “It goes to a P.O. Box. I pick it up on my way into work every day.” I shook my head. “And guess what? I didn’t make it to work yet today. Not only did I miss an important deadline, I’m sure they’ve fired me by now.”

  “They didn’t fire you,” Juliana said. “You have more job security than anyone. No one wants to read thousands of sappy letters and tell people how to fix their relationships. That’s so 1970.”

  “I wouldn’t know anything about that. I wasn’t here in 1970,” I said with a smirk.

  “Neither was I, but I heard…” She let her words trail off as she looked at something to her left.

  I followed her gaze. “What now?” My breath caught in my throat.

  Tommy’s car pulled up in front of the house… with him behind the wheel. He honked and waved before stepping out of the car to open the trunk.

  “What’s he getting?” My mind went to dark places. “A gun?” I panicked and threw myself on the ground as I yelled for Juliana and my mother to do the same.

  Neither budged.
>
  “Run!” I yelled.

  Again, neither moved. Instead, they laughed.

  “This isn’t a game. He’s here to kill us,” I said as every hair on my body stood on end. This was how I died. Cowering on my front porch as a madman and my family stood by, amused by my fear.

  Tommy’s heavy footsteps bounded up the stairs.

  I felt my soul leave my body. “Please don’t kill me.”

  “Hey ladies! I’m so glad I found you,” Tommy said. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “No!” I yelled.

  Mama and Juliana burst out laughing.

  I twisted to look at them. “What’s so funny?”

  Mama couldn’t stop laughing. “I… can’t.”

  Juliana squatted and grabbed the back of my shirt. “Get up. It’s okay. He doesn’t remember a thing. No one does.”

  I moved at a snail’s pace. “What are you talking about?” I hopped to my feet and pointed at him as he fiddled with something behind his back. “He’s got a gun.”

  “Beatrice?” Tommy held out a hand to me. “Do you need help?”

  I gulped.

  “Relax,” Mama said.

  “What?” That’s the last thing I wanted to do.

  “You’re such a coward,” Julian said. “I told you, it’s fine. He remembers nothing.”

  Mama cleared her throat. “Stop talking. Juliana, take your sister inside before she hurts herself.”

  Tommy revealed what he had behind his back.

  “Flowers?” I said.

  He nodded. “Yes, what did you think I had?”

  I didn’t want to tell him what I thought.

  Juliana pulled my arm. “Ignore her, Tommy. She’s not all there.”

  I glanced at my mother. She winked at me. “Am I asleep? Is this a nightmare?”

  “Who are the flowers for, Tommy?” Juliana said as she held the front door open for me. “Are they for me?”

  Tommy blushed and looked at our mother.

  She gritted her teeth.

  “You wrote that letter?” I asked.

  He looked at his feet. “Yes.”

  “You want to date my mother?”

  He blushed a deeper shade of red/ “If she’ll let me.” He looked at her. “I heard there’s a big Halloween shindig tomorrow. Do you need a plus one?”

  Her face contorted into an expression I’d never seen before.

  I chimed in to stop this nonsense, “No, she won’t go with you. She doesn’t date.” I slammed the door shut and walked over to him. “Why are you here? Didn’t you get kidnapped?”

  Juliana and Mama gasped.

  “What? Who would want to kidnap me?”

  I remembered a line from the letter. How had I missed it earlier? The answer to our problems was right under my nose.

  “Where’s that letter?” I asked.

  Juliana handed it to me.

  “You wrote this?” I knew the answer. “Why?”

  Tommy looked taken aback. “Yes. Yes. I wrote it. I thought we already established that fact.”

  I shook my head. “Unbelievable.”

  He looked at my mother. “I didn’t mean for it to happen like this.”

  I wasn’t done with him. He had questions to answer before I let him anywhere near my mother again. “What did you mean by this?” I pointed to the line.

  He shrugged.

  Mama lifted a brow. “What does it say?”

  He snatched it out of my hand before I could show it to her. “No, don’t. I’ll explain.”

  “No, please let me.”

  Mama reached over and pulled the letter out of his hands. “Let me.” She scanned the page. “Where is it? What am I looking for?”

  I scooted past Tommy. “It’s right there. The line about how he’d go to any length to ensure you never had to spend another day alone.”

  She rolled her eyes and handed the letter to him. “That’s your idea of romance?”

  He crumpled it up and shoved it into his pocket. “No one ever said I was a poet.”

  Juliana and I groaned.

  Mama shot a glare at us. “Let the man speak.”

  I lifted a brow. Since when did she want to hear anything he had to say?

  She gave me a pointed look.

  Tommy straightened his shoulders. “Okay.” He laughed a nervous laugh. “Okay…”

  “You said that already,” I said. Mama cleared her throat. “Sorry, go ahead. Finish what you have to say.”

  “I don’t know where to start,” he said.

  Mama shifted where she stood.

  He retreated as if she’d attack him.

  “Stop that. I won’t do anything to you.” She approached him with slow, methodical steps like an animal approaching its prey. “Start at the part where you thought it was a good idea to break into my home to steal a recipe.”

  Tommy gasped.

  Juliana and I exchanged glances.

  “What recipe?” Juliana asked.

  I turned my attention to Tommy, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here with us. “You broke into our home? For a recipe? Why commit a felony to get it?”

  He stared at his feet as he spoke. “I was desperate.”

  “Wait. Which recipe did you steal?” Juliana wouldn’t let it go. Did it matter? We swore we’d never use our magic on him. Yet, here we were, witches who wouldn’t know couldn’t lead ordinary lives if someone offered them all in the money in the world.

  “Stop that,” Mama said as she nudged me to the side. “There’s no time to mull this over. We have to act. Now.”

  “Act how?” I always felt like Mama and Juliana had a secret language. I never understood what they meant.

  She grabbed Tommy’s arm and pulled him behind her. “Come on. Let’s take this show inside before the neighbors hear us.” She looked over her shoulder toward the houses across the street and gave a pageant wave like the diva she was. “There. The shows over.”

  I looked at the house across from us. The curtains were drawn. There were no cars in the driveway. “There’s no one there.”

  She motioned for me to follow her. “Wrong. Someone is always watching. Don’t forget that. One slip up and they’ll expose us to the world.”

  I cringed. “Can you please not use the word expose?”

  She pulled Tommy and I into the foyer and stopped to close and lock the front door.

  “What about me?” Juliana said as she rushed to the door. “You can’t leave me out here.”

  Mama held her index finger up and said, “It will only be a minute. I need you to watch to make sure no one steps foot on the property.”

  “Why?” Juliana said. “What are you going to do?”

  Mama let out an exasperated sigh. “Me? Nothing. Beatrice? Well.”

  My breath caught in my throat.

  She smiled at me. “Follow me into the study. We need to talk.”

  Tommy and I exchanged glances.

  “What about him?” I asked.

  She locked eyes with him. “He won’t go anywhere, will you, Tommy?”

  He swallowed hard.

  “Mama?” I started.

  She shook her head and motioned for me to follow her. “Now, Beatrice.”

  I looked at Tommy.

  He shrugged.

  She turned around and placed her hands on her hips. “I gave you a directive. I expect you to follow it.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “Fine. I’ll spell it out for you.” She unlocked the front door to let Juliana in, and signaled for us to follow her into the living room. “Sit.”

  We did as she asked.

  “Tommy set this whole thing up.” She glanced at him. “He wasn’t kidnapped.”

  “I figured as much,” I said.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I’m not done,” Mama said.

  “Why do the police think he was kidnapped?” I asked.

  She deferred to Tommy. “Tell her.”

  He gulped. “I… I… may have le
d them to believe I was.”

  I gasped. “You remember what happened?”

  He hung his head.

  “Did you set us up? What did we ever do to you?” The hurt in my voice surprised me. I didn’t know him, yet, his actions stung like a betrayal. “What kind of monster are you?”

  His head jerked up. “I’m not a monster.”

  “Oh, that gets you riled?” Juliana chimed in. “Forget about the SWAT team. Overlook the fact that Jonah is frozen stiff in the den because of you. Let’s focus on how you’re not the monster we think you are. That will solve everything.”

  He avoided eye contact with us. “Something happened. I don’t know what, though. It’s like I can’t remember.” He tapped his knuckles on his head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with my head this morning.”

  Juliana and I looked at my mother, who had a smug grin on her face. She knew. We all knew.

  “Who’s going to tell him?” Juliana asked.

  I shook my head. “Not it. I have enough problems as it is.” I replayed the day’s events in my head. What had I missed?

  Mama paced back and forth. “Why would she kidnap you, then let you go?” She stopped and looked at Tommy. “Did she say anything to you?”

  “Who?” I asked.

  Juliana and I exchanged glances.

  “You know who did this?” I asked.

  “Well?” Mama asked.

  Tommy’s voice shook as he spoke. “I don’t know her name. She never mentioned it. She didn’t say much at all.”

  “A woman kidnapped you, then let you go?” I asked for clarification.

  He nodded.

  “What did she want?”

  He shrugged. “She never said.”

  “Did she say anything to you?”

  He closed his eyes. “Nothing significant.”

  “I have a question. How do you remember what happened?” Juliana asked as she locked eyes with my mother.

  Mama grinned.

  Tommy leaned on the wall to steady himself. “I remember fragments. Have you ever had an out-of-body experience?”

  “Nope, can’t say that I have,” I said.

  Mama chuckled.

  “That’s what it feels like. I can see some of what happened, but it’s like I wasn’t even there. Like I wasn’t an active participant,” he said as his emotions got the best of him. His hands trembled. His shoulders hiked up to his ears. His brows furrowed. “She said she’d kill me if I told anyone.”