“Were you happy when Chris left?”
“I won’t lie to you and say I wasn’t, He was jus too… different.”
“Different is good.” she fought.
“Not always honey.” Carol shock her head in denial.
“If you’d made the effort to know him, I’m sure you would have come to like him. At some point” Zoe pressed.
“Ooh yeah?” Carol tone was so sarcastic it was like she said not in a million years.
“Really mom, everyone has baggage and problems, but they also have some goodness in them. They just need opportunities and someone to help and acknowledge them.”
Carol smiled broadly, her eyes smiled with her.
“You’re such good person Zoe, I just didn’t want anyone taking advantage of your innocence and lovely personality and that boy looked too experienced and kinda cocky.”
“Well that ship has sailed, but I still insist that he was not what you think he was.” Zoe defended then continued “Okay enough about Chris, why did you sneak up on me already?”
Carol pressed her lips, and her face looked like it was in a decision making made. Zoe pursed her lips staring at her mother’s face.
“Before we go to that, is there a boy in the picture these days?” she looked hopeful. It was not a good sign.
Zoe knew that she was up to a lot of embarrassing blushes, when mother daughter talk struck action.
Her eyes rolled over to the open creamy wall where Josh’s portraits had been.
“None. There is no one in the picture at the moment.” her voice was a surprising sad whisper even to her ears.
“Am not worried or anything.” to Zoe that was like saying am very worried “I was just curious, the last time I heard boyfriend complains was like two years ago”
“Mom I know you are worried, don’t be. I don’t like girls. And I just haven’t found a boyfriend yet. I have been preoccupied. With school and work and home but now that I don’t have much on my plate. We’ll get you a grandchild.” she bluffed. In the back of her mind, she wondered why she was being so defensive.
“Don’t say that even as a joke” she urged sternly. “Okay then but please be careful.
Zoe nodded diligently “Yes maam”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you this earlier but I kept forgetting. I was at Joe’s yesterday and he asked me about when you would be ready to work at the dinner”
“Oh, that…well I was thinking September. When the others start collage I start work.”
“Okay, I guess he was trying to figure out whether he should hire someone or not.”
“Then tell him not to.” Zoe smiled thinking, grownups are such babies, and Joe knew it all too well that she was going back there. That must have been an excuse to keep talking to her mother.
“He is a good guy mom, you should go out with him” she thought out allowed.
“Zoe, this is already disturbing. I won’t be sharing dating tips with my eighteen year old daughter so good night” she finished standing.
“Eighteen is adulthood. I have a sound mind mom!” she provoked wistfully looking serious at it, as she watched her standing by the doorway.
“Oh please darling. Sleep tight.” Carol peeked at her with her grip on the knob ready to shut her door.
“Goodnight” Zoe called out to the closing door.
She bent over for her wine, drank a gulp and smiled mischievously “I hope darling teacher doesn’t know about the joints too”.
Zoe took another huge swig which cleared the glass and placed it beside her lamp. She switched off her lights and slipped fully into bed.
She curled up in her covers and begun revising her jawbone with Carol. Outside her window it had begun pelting heavily, she wasn’t able to hear anything else other than the thoughts in her head.
College. That was the most avoided topic of discussion between her and Liz. For them it wasn’t a fun topic that would lead to laughs and cheers. Rather a subject enticing sadness and malaise. They would be separated by it. Just thinking about it felt like someone getting rid of an arm on her body. It may be survivable but too painful and vicious.
How in the world would she live through a college semester without Liz’s tantrums and charms? It would feel awkward without her.
Zoe wondered why Liz hadn’t contacted her until then. Her phone! But how would she if her phone was not with her the whole day, she contorted. Zoe shot up on her bed then jumped out of it to the switch. When the room was filled with brightness, she dashed to her recent handbag and dissipated her essentials on the bed. It was not there. She walked to her dresser, and nor was it their either. The only probability left was her car.
Zoe goofed around her room, returning her handbag to order while trying to decide whether to get her phone in or wait till morning.
With a groan she slid back into bed and her heaving eyes shut. She had been too outworn throughout the day to run around the house for something that can wait another eight hours. She hoped skeptically after Liz’s fumed face obscured her thoughts.
Bolts of lightning and booms of thunder started tearing the sky apart and Zoe’s eyes shot up abruptly with concerns for Zack. Zack had astraphobia, or he was in that particular childhood epoch. Just when she pushed her cover to go check on him he had already knocked down Zoe’s door.
His face was terrorizing and Zoe beckoned him inside her covers.
When morning came, Zoe’s dormant body stretched to active mode. Her hand fumbled for warmth on her bedside and instead, her palm felt the coolness of her sheet. She bolted upright and shot an eye at her wall clock that read nine am. Shit!
Both Carol and Zack had already gone to school. She dragged her feet to her windows and pulled over her curtains.
Monday morning, the thick leaden sky had turned blue and clear. Zoe loved uneventful rainy days. Be it night or day. It was serene to sleep on a heavy pour and wake up to the refreshing odor of misty dust.
After a facial wash up in the bathroom, she walked through the short hallway, past the living room to the kitchen. She found a yellow note pad that Carol uses to scribble to-dos and messages. It read.
Morning honey,
We’re off to school, will be back by midday.
Mondays were not very busy for Carol; she had fewer classes than most days. Zoe threw the pad into the dustbin then grabbed her car keys from the key tray and dashed to the garage.
She got inside the vehicle and searched shortly for her phone. The iphone was lying beside the steering gear. She pressed the power button and nothing. Dead.
“Great!”
Back to her room, she plugged it on a charger then walked back to the kitchen for a bowl of cereals.
She walked into the sitting room with her bowl clenched to her chest, went straight to the TV and then switched it on. Dropping on the couch she nudged the remote controller searching for a captivating channel and landed on her favorite sitcom.
The humorous distraction was an excellent idea. She cracked her ribs throughout her cereals until she decided she had no more ribs to dispose.
Zoe placed her bowl on a coffee table and advanced to her room for her phone. She threw herself on the bed and switched it on while it was still plugged in. Her face transformed from humor to a look like she had tasted a lemon.
She found an enervating amount of notifications. There were fifteen missed calls of which 14 were from Liz and one from Chris. That only stated desperation, boredom and anger. Then eight messages, of which six were from Liz, another one from network services and a surprising last from Chris. She decided to start with the surprise then angry ones from Liz.
Hey beautiful, cal me back.
That was unmistakably Chris; he always called her beautiful. She tried his number but he was not available. Judging from the text, there were no sighs of urgency. So she moved on to the bitter ones.
Hey, why did u rush off so fast. Call me ASAP.
Woke up with a brilliant idea.
Xoxo
Kiddo, what the hell are you up to,
Pick up ur stupid 4n.
Tolerable okay
Ooohh Zooeee… where aareee yoouu..
U r beginning to piss me off.
Diluted anger
I swear if you don’t pic up this minute,
I will come over and smash your stupid ride.
Passionate anger enticed with a bluff
Zoe Zackary Brown. R we playing games?
I promise that I can be mean too you know
Verrry verry mean.
Cooking vengeance
Holly crap, I need help… am in deep shiiiit.
This is serious, call, text beep whatever dammit.
The last one was a grenade and she dialed Liz’s number before she was able to finish the whole text. Three beeps and it went to voice mail. Zoe became worried and filled with apprehension. She dressed up fast while hoping it was some exaggerated dirty joke or nothing direful. She scuffled to her car, with keys on one hand and her phone on her ear still trying to reach Liz. Still nothing. She found herself cursing a lot after every voicemail begun.
Zoe began reasoning what was the worst thing that could have happened to her? The last time she got a similar message from her was when she tried cooking and almost got herself cooked in the mix. Then again was when she caught Dennis cheating for the first time. She had been too heartbroken she couldn’t trust herself to drive. The more Zoe thought of ugly possibilities the faster she raced her car.
She was nowhere near a freeway and she was already hitting 70mph.
Just when she was about to en route Liz’s street, she heard police sirens wailing annoyingly behind her. She was getting pulled over.
“Oh no. Shit.” she grimaced. Stepping on her brakes she peered at her rear view for the police officer in charge of her first violation. He had to know that it was her very first violation.
He was a mid-height heavyset man. He looked serious in his uniforms and a pair officer shades to match it all up. Please be having a good day, like a pay day or a new born. She prayed silently.
She rolled down her windows and waited meekly for judgment.
“Excuse me miss, hand over your license and registration.”
“Am so sorry officer, please… you got to forgive me. This is my very first violation. I didn’t mean to speed” she defended herself while handing him her license. “I won’t do it again, I promise.” Zoe begged as she watched the man remove his glasses. Taking a good look at him, he was in his late forties or early fifties.
His expression changed remarkably from grave seriousness to utmost admiration. Zoe face creased in confusion.
“You are Zoe Brown?” he was both hopeful and excited, which was a good sign for her.
“Flesh and blood.” she answered still not understanding his excitement.
“So you really are-” he hunched a little bit and whispered as if there was someone around who’d hear him. “The Channeler?” he whispered the title with so much grace.
“Are you a wizard?”
“Yes, my daughter is Gigi Turnpod. That is how I got to know about you, you are Zoe Brown right?” he rechecked her license, and gave her a scrutinizing glare.
She weighed her options and hoped she was not being naïve by believing him. At least they had the same color of hair.
“Y-yeees.” She stammered.
He looked suspicious and disappointed when he realized there was no chain on her neck.
“But where is the chain?”
“I forgot it at home, please forgive me officer. I am rushing to see a friend who needs my help.” she gladly took advantage of her insane situation.
“Be careful next time you may not get so lucky,” he warned and “It’s an honor to personally meet you” he added insisting on every word.
She was not sure what she should answer to that, instead she smiled and said
“Thank you so much officer, tell Gigi am doing my best” she delivered another of her many white lies while releasing her brakes.
“I was just compensating for his kindness.” she said judging herself condescendingly.
When she skidded away toward Liz’s street, she watched as Mr. Turnpod observed her leave and queries were flooding in her head. Is everyone a witch in this town? How many witches are there in Doomsberg? How blind are the ungifted to the unprecedented side of the entire county? Or is the notion simply oblivious to the people.
She got to Liz’s driveway with a dubious mind but was relieved to see Liz’s car parked in their garage. She walked to the main door but sadly after trying out the large brass knob and a number of knocks, there was no response.
“Great! now what?” She looked at her phone and dialed Liz. She was marking her tenth dial and this time desperately wishing to hear the owner’s crazy voice. It was still in voice mail and she was running out of choices and had to end up with leaving a message.
“Liz I’m outside your house worried sick, will you please call me as soon as you get this.”
Halfway back to her car, Liz called her back. She stopped and slid her display immediately.
“Payback is a bitch huh.” Liz jeered in between chuckles. Zoe signed in relief and a smile crept on the corner of her lips. She continued walking to her car.
“Oh I will so kill you. You didn’t have to write such a scary message. You almost cost me a speeding ticket plus my license.”
“WHAT! Ya got pulled over? Aaaaaawww!’ she faked a pity cry “Oh am so not sorry. Those are things we do for love.” She laughed annoyingly “And about the message, wait” she heard her talking to her mother and telling her she would be back in a minute. Zoe was blatantly puzzled as she settled into her car.
“You’re hanging out with your mom” she sounded less surprised than she really was.
“That was the emergency you fool, I needed you to come save me from the nightmare.”
“What are you doing and where are you?”
“I’m in town. We are bonding and…frankly speaking, it’s really not that bad.”
“Wow, improvement you two…That is really awesome Liz, don’t screw it up.”
“I never screw it up, she is the busy boss not me. You know it’s really something that she had to leave her office today to spend time with dear daughter here. I can’t help but give her credit for that, which is absolute sacrifice for her. Not yet mother of the year, but we getting there.”
For Liz’s sake she hoped Margaret would not disappoint her. She could feel the joy in her voice.
“Haha, I can’t believe my ears. So what are you two beautiful Donaldsons doing?”
“It gets better; she is letting me choose places and everything. I seriously think she has a new shrink.”
“What are you making her do Liz?” Zoe cried, all sorts of nasty ideas coming to life.
“Haha, lots. Like we are now shopping, which she is enjoying. We may go bowling, which she hates and best of all am planning on making her eat at Alexandro’s, which she despises.”
“You are out of your mind. She will not eat greasy stuff, not the Margaret I know.”
“Oh you may never know. Apparently today her box of surprises is on the loose.”
“You’re right. Guess you are in for a lot of treats today.”
“You can say that again. So how did you make an officer let you pass?”
“I have a box full of surprises too Lizy love” she said sub textually.
“Huuh! Nooo. I can’t believe you flirted your way out of a ticket, you are such a bad bad girl Zoe Brown” Liz emphasized each word with a lot of sassiness.
Ok. So I think I should roll with this, and it is not my lie this time.
“A girl got to do what a girl can do” she fueled her subtext.
“Oh, we have a lot of catching up to do. Mom is calling me, call you later.”
“Good luck sweetie. Call me when you need real help next time.”
; She drove away still amazed by the glorious and unbelievable details. It was rare enough for Liz and her mother to stand each other’s presence in a room, let alone spend the whole day doing stuff together. She wished that she was around them just watch this incredible bonding time. It had to be a total entertainment. They were just incredibly different. Margaret was all about serious while Zoe was sure the word didn’t exist in Liz’s lexicon.
She slued her thoughts to people on the streets and whatever was eye catching.
Zoe peered through a couple of local stores and her eyes were pulled in by a new advert on the local bookstore she often frequented.
She had just completed her novel and had no doubt that she needed another time consuming plus captivating distraction like a dosage.
The owner of the bookstore was a good friend of her mothers’ and as a result they automatically become acquainted. Sandy Ching and her mom had gone to one collage. She had three boys, all of whom were in high school.
A doorbell rang as Zoe launched her presence in the bookstore and Sandy’s small china eyes that were initially absorbed in a book with tiny glasses clinging to the flat nose abruptly veered to the door. She smiled warmly placing the book carefully, not to lose her page.
“Hello dear, My! you are a rare one.”
“Hello Mrs Ching, not really, the last time I came, I found Mr. Ching.”
“Oh, he must have forgotten to tell me. I saw Carol last week, the one I haven’t seen for such a long time is Zack, how is he?”
“He is good, how are the boys.”
“Good to know. The boys are just being boys, complete headaches.”
She chuckled politely “I can only imagine. Well I see you have a number of new titles.”
“Yes I do. And you are in luck, because I stocked in this weekend, so there is a lot of new treasure you could hunt.”
“That’s awesome, lemme look around.”
“Go ahead dear.”
The store was not very large in size, but had always been able to yield her demands. She lingered on the Romance fiction segment, surveying through the newest titles until her eyes took notice on the religious, spiritual and necromancy section. Obviously she had never held interest on the segment until then. She did even know it existed until then. She restored a harlequin novel back to place and her eyes feasted upon the few but eye catching titles. Witchology Explored by Xavier Xavier, The old religion by Marylyn Baker. Wicca, Journey with the positive sorcery by Gwen Evans.
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