Hocus Pocus Baby

by Scarlett Cantrell

  Because he'd been raised with manners, when Dillon took his first bite and tasted the dry, bland mashed potato and the rubbery lamb, he gulped the mouthful down and forced a smile, even throwing in a thumbs up to his blonde mother as she watched him expectantly.

  The same could not have been said for Megan, however. Even though Leanne turned the spoon into an airplane for her, the moment she opened her mouth (rather reluctantly) and let the food in, it took only a couple of seconds for her to spit it out again.

  'Megan, no!' Leanne scolded, pointing a warning finger at her daughter. She tried again with another “airplane” but this time, instead of opening her mouth, the baby shook her head defiantly.

  'When did she learn to do that?' Leanne asked, perplexed.

  Dillon shrugged. He wished he could do the same with his own meal.

  During another attempt to get Megan to open her mouth, they heard Melissa at the door. When she appeared in the dining room Megan took one look at her and stretched out her arms, whining desperately, trying to get her dark-haired mother to save her from the awful food.

  'You cooked?' she asked incredulously, lifting the baby from the highchair and casting a dubious look at the plate.

  'Why does everyone keep saying it like that?' Leanne grumbled.

  ***

  Melissa became extremely vocal about her dislike for Leanne's cooking. She ate all of it, though, because she was hungry and tired and couldn't be bothered to make anything else.

  “It's almost inedible.”

  “I wouldn't give this to my worst enemy.”

  “You fed this to our children? I should have you locked up for child cruelty!”

  So busy with her insults, she failed to notice how quiet Leanne had become. Dillon noticed, and so too did Megan. It was hard to ignore their blonde mother's silence, and the way she sat around the table with her eyes closed, taking every insult Melissa threw at her, and not fighting back.

  'We're not all accustomed to eating like homeless people, you know...'

  At once, Leanne shot up from her seat. 'Dillon, take your sister upstairs.' Her voice came out deep, hostile; Dillon didn't need to be told twice when she spoke that way. He picked up his sister and hurried away before the fireworks started.

  'I'm tired of playing nice with you.' Leanne narrowed her eyes at Melissa, her grip on the table so firm her nails dug into the wood. 'You're nothing but an evil bitch! You don't have a nice bone in that wicked 400-year-old body of yours!'

  It was Melissa's turn to get up. 'Now you wait a minute–'

  Leanne knew her own strength, and she knew that, under normal circumstances she never could have turned the table over. But in her rage she felt stronger than ever, and so over went the table and all the dishes.

  'Shut up!' she screamed, face now scarlet, fists clenched. 'You always have something to say and it's always nasty. Because you're a nasty person, Melissa. I've tried to make this work with you for the sake of our kids, but I can't anymore. You're a monster!'

  When Melissa finally looked up at her, after tearing her eyes away from her overturned table, Leanne's face was so distorted with anger that she was hardly recognizable.

  'Violent outbursts while my children are in the house? Very classy.'

  And then they really started to argue. It was an argument to end all arguments; dirty laundry came out that both women assumed had already been washed! As each woman raised her voice to outshout the other, neither of them heard their daughter crying upstairs. Nor did they hear the rattling windows or the howling wind gathering outside the house.

  'I regret you!' Leanne screamed, tears streaming down her face and adding to her fury. She hated crying in front of Melissa – the dark-haired woman considered it a weakness. 'And I regret all of this. I wish I'd never met you that night at the bar.'

  Melissa took a sharp breath. The look she gave Leanne was one of betrayal. 'You regret our daughter?'

  Now that the shouting had stopped, the full force of the storm could be heard.

  'Don't put words in my–' Leanne started, but Melissa's shrill cry cut her off.

  'My greenhouse!' She shoved past Leanne and hurried to the window, peering into her garden, only to see that her beloved greenhouse had collapsed; plants and broken glass littered the grass.

  Dillon appeared at the doorway with his screaming sister. Leanne looked from the baby to the remnants of Melissa's greenhouse then back again, knowing instantly that she had her daughter to thank for the demise of the glass monstrosity that had taken up so much space in the garden.

  ***

  At the hour of midnight Leanne planted a lingering kiss on her sleeping daughter's forehead, threw her duffel bag over her shoulder and headed downstairs, on her way out of the Rowe Mansion.

  'You finally succeeded in turning my daughter against me.'

  Leanne jumped. She couldn't see Melissa in the dark entrance hallway, until the light came on. Melissa stood there in her nightgown, arms folded across her chest.

  'You did that all on your own. Serves you right. You're the only person who liked that greenhouse, anyway.'

  'Back to your parents' little shack, I see?' Melissa looked at the bag on Leanne's shoulder.

  Leanne hesitated before saying, 'Florida, actually.'

  The smirk on Melissa's face soon vanished. 'When were you going to tell me you were leaving?'

  'I tried, but then you pissed me off and I decided you didn't deserve to know. Besides, I'm “no one important”, I didn't think it mattered if I left.'

  'So that's what this is all about. I hurt your feelings and now you're walking out on your children. Wow! And while they're sleeping, too. Coward!'

  Leanne contemplated defending herself and her decision, but sighed. 'You drove me to this. Remember that when our children ask why I left.'

  'Yes, I'll be sure to tell them that their mother walked out over a simple misunderstanding...'

  ***

  I'm never going back. I'm never going back. I'm never going back.

  I'll go back in the holidays to see the kids. I'll go back to see my parents. I'll go back if I don't like Florida...

  Leanne had been driving for exactly two hours when she slammed her foot on the brake, pulled out the picture of Dillon and Megan from the glove compartment, took a deep breath, whipped her car around and headed back to Verbena. Back to her home, back to her family...

  ***

  Silence and darkness greeted her when she let herself into the mansion. Thankful that Melissa hadn't locked the door from the inside, she crept up the stairs and back into her room. She didn't know why, but she'd expected it to have changed in the four hours that she'd been gone. Well, in some ways it had. A thick brown envelope that hadn't been there when she'd left lay on her bed. She dropped her bag on the floor, picked up the envelope and slipped the papers out. Her eyes scanned over the first page of the document. She let out a choked breath. Flicking through the pages, her vision became blurry as the tears welled in her eyes.

  It was four in the morning, but that didn't deter her. She dropped the papers, dashed from her room and barged into Melissa's. Melissa switched on her lamp and sat up. She didn't look as though she'd just woken up, she looked as though she hadn't been to sleep.

  Leanne stood by the door, staring at her with watery eyes. 'How did you know I'd come back?'

  'I know you inside out,' Melissa responded, devoid of her usual smugness.

  Leanne slowly padded into the room. 'I bet you also know why I was furious with you, why I took your comment so personally.'

  Melissa nodded, but looked away. 'We're not ready to talk about that yet.'

  Leanne sat beside her on the bed. 'Because we still hate each other?'

  'Because we still hate each other,' Melissa affirmed. It didn't matter that there was no animosity in their words, no feeling in the word “hate”.

  'Okay,' Leanne nodded. 'But we will talk about it some day?'

  'When we no longer hate each other, yes.' />
  'Okay,' Leanne said again. 'So, Dillon and Megan Rowe-Evans...' She gave a lop-sided smile.

  'There are still a few legal issues pertaining to Dillon's adoption, to make you his legal guardian again, but apart from that you just need to sign. So next time you see Peter don't forget to thank him.'

  'And you.' Leanne turned to look at Melissa, her eyes filled with gratitude. 'Thank you.'

  'Now I hope you feel terrible for insulting “that attorney guy”.'

  'Oh, I do, but that's only because I know he wasn't trying to weasel his way into my family.'

  'How do you know he wasn't trying to do that?' Melissa asked, intrigued.

  'Megan would have found a way to get rid of him if she saw him as a threat. That and I've just seen his handwriting...' Leanne said matter-of-factly, heading to the door. 'The man's as gay as Christmas!'

  A Day of Firsts

  'Absolutely not!' Melissa shook her head vehemently. 'There's no valid reason to have one there.'

  'Every child needs a clown at their party. She'll love him,' Leanne enthused.

  It was approaching midnight in the Rowe Mansion, and the kids were fast asleep. They'd both been sleeping since 8pm, which was about the time the disagreement over the clown had begun. The two women would come to a mutual agreement, but then five minutes later, after further deliberation, one of them would bring up the topic again.

  'There will be plenty of other things to entertain her; the clown's unnecessary.'

  Melissa had, by then, made every possible argument against having one, and now she'd come full circle. 'Besides, she's afraid of them.'

  Leanne looked at her suspiciously. 'She's afraid of them? I think it's you who's afraid.'

  'Don't be ridiculous!' Melissa jeered, tossing her hair. 'I'm Melissa Rowe.'

  'Yeah, and you're afraid of clowns!'

  It was Melissa's appalled expression that sent Leanne into a laughing frenzy, stopping only to hum the famous circus music then continuing with her laughter, encouraged by Melissa's scowl.

  'So immature,' Melissa griped.

  When Leanne had regained her composure, wiping the tears from her eyes, she said, 'If you're not scared, prove it. Say yes to the clown.'

  After a moment's hesitation, Melissa sighed. 'Suit yourself.' She was fed up with the stupid clown argument, fed up with planning the stupid party, and fed up with Leanne's stupid face! She wanted nothing more than to collapse on her bed for the night. 'But you're cleaning up the bloodbath that ensues when our daughter gets her hands on that clown!'

  Leanne waved a dismissive hand. 'What bloodbath? What child doesn't like clowns?'

  ***

  The labor was distributed according to who Melissa deemed responsible enough to handle what. Dillon, for example, was in charge of setting up the games and locking away his brunette mother's expensive trinkets and ornaments. Keith had been tasked with decorating, and Janice had been left to deal with the entertainers. She'd just spent the last half an hour conversing with the man who'd brought the donkeys, trying to explain to him that Melissa had forbidden them from eating her grass. He didn't speak a word of English, though, so that conversation proved difficult.

  Melissa, naturally, had been left to do all the cooking and baking, a job she undertook whilst complaining incessantly, yet whenever anyone offered to help she told them to leave her alone, informed them that they were incompetent and that she didn't want anyone's filthy hands in her kitchen!

  'Well, what do you want me to do?' Leanne sulked, as she watched Melissa working diligently on a selection of pastries that she'd made from scratch. Her hand still stung from the slap she'd received from Melissa when she'd tried to steal one. 'You've given everyone else a job.'

  'You have the most important job of them all,' Melissa said, not taking her eyes off the platter.

  'Oh yeah? What's that?'

  'You get to dress the birthday girl.'

  ***

  Leanne wasn't sure about it being the most important job, but it was certainly the most troublesome. The baby didn't pull her usual stunt of creating an endless supply of bubbles when she bathed her, so Leanne thought she was safe from the Magic Baby Antics. But when she dried her and put on her nappy, off she went, running away as fast as her tiny little legs could carry her, giggling as she dodged her mother, moving at speeds only a magic baby could pull off.

  'Megan!' Leanne groaned. 'I need to get you dressed. Your party's starting soon.'

  When Leanne finally scooped her up, the baby tried to wriggle out of her arms. And when she tried to put on the pink dress they'd bought for the party, Megan wouldn't let her.

  'Melissa!' Leanne said, trotting into the kitchen with the unclothed baby. 'She won't let me dress her.'

  'One thing,' Melissa growled, shaking her head. 'I asked you to do one thing, and you couldn't manage it.'

  Keith was hanging birthday banners in the room. 'We're out of tacks. And the balloons still need to be blown up.'

  Janice slouched into the kitchen, shoulders sagging as though she had the weight of the world on them. 'Melissa, one of the donkey's is eating your rosebush.'

  Dillon was the last person to traipse into the kitchen, coming to bear more bad news. 'Mom, we forgot to get the candy for the piñata.'

  A brief moment of silence passed where everyone looked at Melissa, waiting for her to solve all of their problems. The calm before the storm. Then...

  'Everyone out!'

  It came like a roll of thunder; some of the dishes rattled. She had a strange way of making the cookie cutter (shaped like a gingerbread man) in her hand look like a weapon. Everyone blinked at her, unsure of their next move, afraid that if they moved at all she'd use the cookie cutter on them.

  'Guys, I think we should do as she says.' Janice ushered everyone out, leaving Melissa alone to mumble to herself about how much she despised parties, people, decorations, games, Leanne...

  The door bell rang.

  'That will be the clown,' Leanne said, excitement raging in her voice and her every step as she bounded to the entrance door.

  She could hardly contain herself when she pulled it open. She took one look at him in his full clown gear, looking as expensive as he cost, and grinned as he squeezed his huge red nose in greeting, causing it to beep. This was the very thing that got Megan's attention. She'd been busy trying to see what Dillon had in his hand, but upon hearing the beep, she turned to see where it had originated from. When she finally saw the clown, she screamed! And before the clown knew what was happening, his feet rose off the ground as he ascended into the air. He rose higher and higher, fear mounting as the distance between him and the ground increased, until finally he was hurled to the opposite end of the driveway. He landed with a bone-cracking thud on the concrete.

  'Oh my God!' Janice exclaimed, hand over her mouth. When she saw that the clown wasn't moving, she ran to his rescue, dragging Keith along with her.

  Melissa appeared by Leanne's side and took the wailing baby from her, while shooting Leanne an “I told you so” look.

  Leanne watched in open-mouthed wonderment as her parents attempted to bring the clown back to consciousness. 'I guess she really doesn't like clowns.'

  ***

  After Melissa had succeeded in getting Megan dressed (she'd had to use The Voice on her more than once, to let her know she was in trouble) she handed her over to Janice while she went to get herself ready.

  'People have started arriving,' Leanne announced, upon entering Melissa's bedroom.

  'Well, you'd better get dressed.'

  Leanne frowned. 'I am dressed. What's wrong with what I'm wearing?'

  Melissa stopped applying mascara, slowly turned to face Leanne, gave her what was possibly the longest, seemingly eternal once-over, starting from the unruly hair, past the shabby black tank top, down to the faded denim jeans, and ending on the scuffed army boots that were caked in dried mud.

  'You look like the criminal cousin no one invites to parties. The cousin e
veryone pretends isn't a part of the family! Now go and change.'

  'I don't have anything fancy to wear.'

  Melissa groaned dramatically, threw her closet open, and flicked through her clothes until she came to a white dress. It still had its tag on.

  'Cheap, tacky, comes off easily... I'd say this is perfect for you!' Melissa held up the dress at Leanne's neck.

  'You bought this for me?' Leanne said, stunned, not by the insults, but by the gesture. 'Sweetheart, you shouldn't have.'

  'Just take the damn dress.' Melissa shoved it at her, embittered by the term of endearment Leanne only ever used to infuriate her.

  And when Leanne took the dress from her she thought that would be the end of it, that the blonde woman would leave her alone to finish doing her make-up. So the last thing she expected to see was Leanne whipping off her tank top, her jeans and her boots in the middle of her room.

  'Can't you do that elsewhere?' Melissa grumbled, yet had been unable to peel her eyes away.

  'I thought you'd be used to me taking off my clothes in your room.' She smirked to herself, knowing full well what she was doing to the woman.

  Then something caught her eye in the closet, concealed between two of Melissa's least favorite suits. Of all the times she'd sifted through the closet she'd never stumbled upon this before.

  'What's that?'

  'Nothing.' Melissa hastily slammed the closet shut, her cheeks crimson.

  Leanne grinned. 'Is that–'

  'No, it isn't!'

  'You still have one! I thought you got rid of them when you stopped practicing magic.' Leanne's eyes sparkled in exhilaration.

  'Forget you saw it,' Melissa warned, but with the type of weakness that went with knowing that her warning fell on deaf ears.