Morning Magic

by Meriam Wilhelm

  “We’re done for today. We’ve got no power. All of the plans and renderings were in the portable trailer. No telling where that ended up,” the foreman continued. “We’ve got two overturned trucks that we also need to take care of right away and the waves washed away any of our ground markers. We’re still looking for a couple of cement mixers.”

  As the workman began to gather the foreman went on, “I can’t remember ever seeing a storm like that before. Tell the men that there is no for work today and to check back with me about any future schedule. We are back to ground zero at this point. The old man is furious with his kid. Threatened to fire him for choosing a spot that wasn’t safe. I feel sorry for the kid……. Like he can control the weather.”

  “Yeah,” said another workman, “not really fair since I overheard the kid and his dad fighting last week. The kid wanted to move the hotel to a different site and his old man wouldn’t even consider it.”

  Jonathan had wanted to move the hotel site? Where did he want to move it to? Why hadn’t he ever told me that? Had I even given him a chance to tell me?

  Getting back in my car I drove along the beach. The city trucks were all out collecting the palm fronds that littered the street. The power company guys in hard hats and vests were directing people away from dangerous fallen power lines.

  The trucks that normally spend their mornings cultivating the sands were now up on the walkways pushing mounds of sand off each walk and bike pathway. This was going to cost the city a lot of overtime. Harmony was going to be mad, especially if she found out who was responsible for this mess.

  I headed past Constance’ shop and noticed that her big pickle sign was barely hanging on, dangling from a hook. At least there didn’t appear to be any other damage there. I’d have to check back in with her.

  I pulled into my parking spot and was surprised to find one of the windows on my French doors cracked; apparently from the wind. And there was Gail, quietly sweeping up the mess.

  “Phone lines are down and we don’t have any power,” she said, greeting me with a knowing look. “That was quite a storm we had last night, wasn’t it Olivia? I don’t think that we will be having much business today, do you?” she asked pointedly.

  Not answering her I walked past my shop and into Gino’s bakery intending to buy a couple Danish. Maybe a little something sweet would make the morning look a little better.

  “Sorry, Olivia. I wasn’t able to do any baking this morning. No power. Was that a crazy storm or what? I can’t remember a storm like that in years,” she said, sweeping the sand out of her storefront.

  Returning to my shop I offered, “I’ll call the glass man to get that door fixed. Did we have any other damage?” I asked.

  Shaking her head, Gail moved to the back of the store and pulled down the class roster. “The one good thing is that today’s classes don’t require any sewing machines. But I’m still not sure that anyone will show up. I hear that there was damage throughout the city and our students may need to stay home to fix up their own places. We need to either give refunds or offer make-up classes, don’t you think?” she said looking directly at me.

  I told her to do whatever she thought best and headed out the front door. Over the next two hours I walked the town talking to people who were either busy cleaning up, waiting for workmen to arrive or thanking God that their homes had not been damaged.

  I ran into Mr. and Mrs. Schultz, who had gone over to Starbucks at Old Moon Beach and purchased large cardboard carafes of hot coffee and hot chocolate. They had set themselves up a table on our corner and were offering fresh coffee or cocoa and bagels to anyone in need. Bottles of water had been brought in by one of our neighboring markets and Mr. and Mrs. Schultz gladly handed them out.

  “Hey neighbor, just checking to make sure you're okay?” Mr. Schultz asked. “Saw you in that pretty white nightie last night looking like you were mad at the world.”

  “I told him to stop staring at you and go to bed! That man’s got no sense,” Mrs. Schwartz continued. “You didn’t have any damage did you Olivia?”

  “No, no, I’m fine. That was sure nice of you to go and get coffee and stuff for everyone.”

  “That’s what good neighbors do. You help out when you are needed. Want a bagel? A cup of coffee?”

  I declined both and headed off towards the center of the city. City council members had donned their council T-shirts and were manning brooms up and down the block, helping people to sweep mounds of sand out of their homes. It was amazing just how far into the city the beach sand had actually blown. I hunted around for a few minutes, but saw no sign of Harmony among the council members. Part of me was relieved to not have to face her too.

  If I hadn’t known it before, I knew it now. This was what New Moon Beach was all about; neighbor helping neighbor. I was just sorry that they needed to help one another because of some dumb spell that I had created. What had I been thinking? I guess that I didn’t know what a strong spell I had actually cast. I would need to be far more specific when casting my next spell; if there was a next spell.

  Turning back towards my shop I found our local New Moon Beach Fire Department and paramedics offering support to anyone who had been injured the night before. Thankfully, most people had only suffered minor cuts and bruises. I suddenly remembered Jack, the security guard, and felt sick. I would need to send him some cookies or something.

  Looking into Constance’s shop, my heart split in two when I saw one of the paramedics helping her to navigate about on a pair of new crutches.

  “Constance,” I yelled. “What happened to you? Are you alright? Oh, I am so sorry!” I said with tears spilling down my face.

  “It’s okay, Olivia. I just sprained my ankle falling off that stupid stepladder when I tried to reattach my pickle sign. No big deal. That storm was really something, wasn’t it?” she asked before recognizing my tears, giving me a strange look and beckoning me to come closer. Whispering into my ear, she said, “You’re sorry? What are you sorry for, Olivia?”

  “I just meant that I was sorry to see that you had hurt yourself,” I offered. “Was there any other damage to your shop?” I asked looking around.

  “No. And for some reason I still have power. So I think that I am going to be very busy today. How about your shop, any damage?”

  I explained about the front door and lied saying that I had to get back to meet the glass man. I felt so guilty that I could not bear to see one more person.

  But I didn’t return to the shop. Instead, I found my way to a bench by the beach. How had things gotten so out of hand? All I had wanted to do was to get Jonathan to put his stupid hotel somewhere else. I loved my town and the people who lived here. I loved my shop. And sadly, I had to admit that I still loved Jonathan. I made a major mess of everything. And now I had to figure out what I was going to do to make it better.

  “I thought that I might find you here,” said a most unexpected voice. “When I heard about last night’s storms and how all of the hotel equipment had been blown away, I knew this mess had to involve someone other than Mother Nature.”

  Turning my eyes into the glaring sun I saw the outline of my father standing there. “I warned you once before about being more careful with your magic, didn’t I?” he asked.

  “Listen dad, if you are going to rip me apart go ahead. I already feel bad enough about what a mess I‘ve made,” I said.

  Sitting down next to me, I heard my father take a long, deep breath and I just knew that he was about to blow. But he didn’t. He didn’t say anything at all, he just sat there.

  The ocean breezes had begun to pick up and I tucked my jacket closer around me as if I could shield myself from not only the wind but also from my father’s coming condemnation.

  “Where to start?” he said more to himself than to me.

  Choosing to think that he meant me, I plowed my way in. “I made a big mess of things, dude. All I wanted was to make sure that Jonathan and his dad and MaxDon Corp would
not take my store away from me or my friends. Instead, I caused a lot of other people a lot of pain. But you already know that.”

  “Magic cannot always be controlled, Olivia. And once you let it out, it does as it will,” he said. But this time, his voice was not cruel, it was resigned. “I’m starting to think that I did not do a very good job teaching you girls the right way to use your magic,” he said.

  “How could you have taught us anything, dad. You were never around,” I said sadly. “Poor Mrs. McIntyre had no idea what to do with three young witches. In fact, I think we scared her!”

  Shoving himself upward off the bench with a start, I presumed dad would begin to yell at me or storm off. My father is a very powerful witch, and when he is angry or upset he vibrates energy. As a kid, I knew exactly how far I could push him by how much he vibrated. As I waited anxiously, I realized that I wasn’t feeling any of that. The only thing that he was radiating was sadness. Could that be right?

  “Olivia, raising three girls on my own, all of whom were witches, was not an easy thing to do.”

  “Do you think that it was easy for us?” I asked in a harsh voice. “I know that you and Harmony have something special going on, but for me and probably Constance too, we had no mother AND no father. We only had Mrs. McIntyre and you were always disappearing on all of us.”

  My father stood there silently for a long time and I was starting to worry that I might have pushed him too far with all of my honesty. I wasn’t sure how much he would take. And I also wasn’t sure if I really cared right now.

  “I’m sorry, Olivia,” he said quietly sitting back down next to me. “With your mother gone, I was lost and I was angry. I didn’t want to be a single dad raising three little girls. I wanted my wife back,” he said, looking out at the ocean before continuing. “And when the sadness dulled, I just held on to the anger. It kept me from feeling anything else.”

  To say that I was surprised is such a stupid understatement. Here sat my father, the man who ruled with an iron fist when and if he was even around. The man who seemed to care for no one but himself; had I been wrong about him all along?

  “For years I have let the anger wrap itself like a mantle around me,” he continued through gritted teeth. “If all I let in was the anger, I didn’t have to feel the guilt or disappointment that I should have felt from not being a good father. And when you are angry all of the time, people fear you, walk away from you and don’t want to be around you. My anger was a buffer protecting me from feeling anything else.”

  “Wow, that’s sad,” slipped out before I wanted it to.

  “I did keep tabs on you girls whether I was here or away. I always knew where you were and what you were doing, even though you never knew that.”

  “Yeah, I just figured that out when you floated into my spell a couple of weeks ago; unasked of course. Here I am trying to gather some important information and I look into the mist to see you looking back at me with those big black eyes of yours. One heck of a way to keep tabs,” I said.

  All of a sudden my father began to do something that I had rarely seen him do before. He laughed. Well, he didn’t just laugh, he bellowed. I was shocked. What could I possibly have said to get such an unusual reaction from a man I had never seen smile, let alone laugh?

  “That was my Astro-answering machine you got,” he said continuing to laugh.

  “Your what?”

  “My Astro-answering machine. I have been worried for quite a while that you, my young one, had begun playing with your magic just a little too much. You don’t know enough about your talents to be playing around with spells. So I created my own ward so that every time you or your sisters used magic to call up a spell, I would be notified. It’s not really me, just an image of me. And when that happens, I get a telepathic message that you are messing with magic. That’s why I came back to town.”

  “I didn’t see you when I cast the spell to hurt Jonathan and his dad,” I said sadly.

  “I am still not sure how that one got past me,” he said shaking his head. “There is a lot of good in magic, Olivia. But you can cause a lot of harm when you use it incorrectly as you did last night. I thought by popping into your previous spell I had discouraged you from trying again. I guess I was wrong and so were you.”

  Chapter 15

  It was dark by the time my father and I finished talking and I felt as if I had entered a different dimension. Where had this person been my entire life? Why had it taken him so long to let me know him? Had I asked too much of him? Had it been my fault all along? Had I pushed him away?

  As much as I had learned this afternoon, there were still so many questions roaming through my head. I was exhausted, more exhausted than I think I had ever been. But a door had been opened and I wasn’t going to be the one to shut it anytime soon.

  I returned to my shop disappointed to find it all buttoned up with a note on the door from Gail.

  Olivia—

  Since we had no power I decided to take the rest of the afternoon off. Went to go and get a drink with Larry. Feel free to join us at that new martini bar you wanted to go to the other night. They have power and I need a drink.

  I’m not mad at you.

  Gail.

  The martini bar, huh? No, I thought that maybe this was a good opportunity for one tired witch to travel home and do some thinking. Gail and Larry would be fine on their own. Maybe better than fine, I thought as I smiled.

  Jumping in my VW I headed home to find Miss Cassandra pacing the floors.

  “Olivia, this was an exceptionally long day to be left home alone. Did you ever think that I might be hungry… or worried about you?” she asked, jumping up on the counter to look at me eye to eye.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I guess that I did forget to feed you this morning, but I had a lot on my mind,” I said as I opened a can of white chicken breast. I figured that I would give her the really good people food since I had completely forgotten about her all day and was probably in need of her forgiveness.

  “Thank you. But don’t think that this makes up for leaving me home alone all day long. There were people knocking on your door all day long. And, of course, I couldn’t open it up to see what all the drama was about.”

  “The drama is over for now, at least I think it’s over,” I said as I stretched out on my couch. But once again, I’d been wrong, oh so wrong. I had barely extended my legs all the way out on my couch when I heard my sister Harmony banging on my front door.

  “Olivia, I know that you are in there. Open the door or I will open it for you,” she shouted. Before I could even move a muscle I saw her image race around to my large bay window, stop and stare right in at me.

  “Get off that couch, I want to talk to you,” she said banging her hands on the window.

  Before she could break down my windows I got up and walked around and opened the door. I moved over to my coffee pot, filled the carafe with water and added three scoops of Hazelnut coffee before flipping the machine on. This was going to be one long conversation and I wanted to be prepared with massive quantities of my Hazelnut brew; to which I had also added a soothing spell in case I needed any help to calm my sister down. Don’t tell on me; it was only one minor spell.

  “Come in Harmony, won’t you,” I said somewhat sarcastically. Before I even got the first cup of coffee poured I sensed that my other sister had also arrived at my door. With a wave of my hand, I opened the door for Constance.

  “This should be good,” spouted off Miss Cassandra as she moved to the book shelves above the couches where the three of us now sat. I waited and waited until Harmony finally burst open like a ripe melon.

  “Well, do you have something to tell us about?” she shrieked setting the hair on my neck up on end.

  “Is there something that you’d like to share?” added Constance softly in contradiction to her overly dramatic sister.

  “I have something to share,” said Miss Cassandra started. “Olivia left me home, alone and without food al
l day long. My stomach has been growling all day long. I feel weak. I don’t know how I can be at my best when I’m treated so poorly.”

  Not caring to hear what she had to complain about both sisters yelled, “Scat” at the same time. However, not surprisingly, Miss Cassandra remained where she sat. She had no desire to leave her prime viewing location.

  “Okay, okay. Yes, I have something to confess. You know how much I love New Moon Beach. And you both know how hard Gail and I have worked to get our new shop up and running. Right? And Constance, I know how much you love your store too!” Neither sister responded.

  “Well, when I found out that Jonathan had lied to me and that the hotel not only had a name - The Bella Vista Hotel, but it also had a location - at the end of the Esplanade I was ticked. And then when I heard that they wanted my shop out of the way in order to make room for the hotel I got even more upset. I don’t know if you know this or not Constance but they may want your shop too,” I said breathlessly. Although she said nothing, Constance’s eyes held steady on Harmony for just a moment longer.

  Both sisters remained silent, leaving me twisting in the wind. “Well, anyway, I decided that I would create a spell that would discourage Jonathan and his dad from putting the hotel where they wanted it. I thought that if I blew every bit of it away, they would be forced to start over somewhere else.” I was struggling to speak calmly and to hold back the guilty tears that threatened to flow.

  “I never meant for anyone to get hurt. And I sure didn’t mean for my spell to involve anyone but Jonathan, his dad and The Bella Vista Hotel. No one in New Moon Beach was supposed to get hurt. Oh, and Frank the security guard, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” I added.