Scent of Magic

by Clark, Lori L

  With one touch, Juliette sensed that the woman was so near-sighted she was nearly as blind as a newborn puppy. The glasses she wore were so thick and heavy they had left deep red marks on either side of her nose.

  Francesca came closer and took a deep breath, picking up immediately on the sorrow the woman held inside from not being able to see over two inches in front of her face. With a quick nod at Juliette to indicate she had picked up the need, she hurried behind the counter and pulled out a small cobalt blue bottle.

  “Good morning, thank you so much for stopping by today,” Francesca said. She pulled the glass stopper from the perfume and held it out to the woman. “I’m Francesca, and this is my sister, Juliette.”

  “Hello, I’ve been so curious about this place.” She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “I’m Nancy.”

  “Very nice to meet you, Nancy,” Francesca said. She took the woman’s hand and placed the small perfume bottle on her palm. “I can tell this scent was made just for you. What do you think, do you like it?”

  Nancy nodded enthusiastically. “Very much. It’s quite lovely. I don’t believe I’ve smelled anything like it before. It must be terribly expensive.” She started to hand the bottle back to Francesca.

  “On the contrary, we make all of our perfumes right here. It cuts down on the overhead,” Francesca walked behind the counter and flipped through a pad beside the cash register. She pretended to look up a price, scanning the page with her index finger. “Oh, here it is. This one’s actually just a sampler. I’ll give you the sample and if you like it, come back and I’ll make you some more.”

  Nancy’s eyes widened. “Honestly?”

  “Honestly,” Francesca said. “There’s just one catch…”

  Nancy’s face crumpled. “Catch?”

  “Yes,” Francesca said, winking at Juliette. They’d been through the very same act so many times both women could recite it in their sleep. “You have to tell all your friends to stop in and have a look around, and I insist that you stop back in one week and let me know how the perfume is working out for you.”

  “Yes, yes, of course,” Nancy beamed. “I can do that. Thank you so much.”

  She dabbed a little of the perfume behind her ears and sniffed the bottle one more time before capping it and hurrying out the door.

  Once she was gone, Juliette frowned. “Do you think one week is enough time? Nearsighted Nancy might take a little more than seven days.”

  Francesca waved her sister off. “One week should be plenty. That perfume she took is pretty powerful stuff.”

  “We’ll have to just wait and see, I suppose,” Juliette said. “About that bet…”

  “I know, I know. You won that one. Shall we try double or nothing?” Francesca asked.

  BIRDS AND THE BEES

  Starley went straight home after school so she could check on Poe and Larry. She hated that the pets were left cooped up all day, but there wasn’t any other alternative at the moment. Unless she could convince Francesca and Juliette that Poe would make an awesome conversation piece for The Perfumery.

  Poe sidestepped back and forth on his perch the minute Starley walked into the room. She made sure he had fresh water and filled his bird seed. She opened her palm and showed him a peanut. “What do you say, Poe?”

  “Crows can’t talk,” he said.

  She gave him the peanut and giggled. No matter how many times he repeated that sentence, it never got old for Starley.

  “Maybe not, but you do a pretty good job faking it.”

  Starley went down the long hallway to let Larry out of his crate. He made a beeline for the kitchen, and she followed. He guzzled from his water dish and looked up at her before going to stand by the sliding glass doors.

  She took him outside so he could take care of business and when he finished he waited patiently to go back into the house. He was no dummy. He wanted his afternoon kibble. While he ate, Starley put on her roller blades and grabbed his leash.

  Larry loved pulling Starley down the street and could barely contain his excitement long enough to finish eating his dinner. As soon as he’d snarfed all of his food, he ran over to the front door and patiently stood still while she attached his leash.

  Locking the door behind her, she grinned at Larry and commanded, “Mush!”

  Off they went toward The Perfumery.

  A few minutes later, she coasted to a stop in front of the store and did a double take when she saw a small cluster of women waiting in line at the cash register. She breathed a sigh of relief.

  Starley had been worried about Prosperity. She couldn’t figure out how or why Francesca had chosen that town, of all places, to open up another shop. Over the years, she’d learned not to doubt any decision either of her older sisters made.

  Juliette looked up as Starley skated inside and gave her a wink.

  Starley never fiddled with the perfumes, about all she knew about the different scents was that some of them smelled better than the others. She sat down and slipped out of her skates and put on the sneakers she’d draped around her neck before putting Larry in the playpen they kept for him in the back room.

  A steady stream of customers kept the ladies busy straight through until six when they flipped the orange and black sign to closed. Francesca hooked her elbow with Juliette, and Juliette did the same with Starley, and the three of them did a little rendition of ring around the imaginary rosy right there in the middle of the store.

  They tidied up by straightening the bottles and Juliette pulled the cash from the drawer with an enormous grin plastered across her face.

  “A smile that wide can only mean one thing,” Starley said. “Profitable day?”

  “Indeed, a very profitable day,” Juliette said.

  Starley slung her rollerblades over her shoulder and went to get Larry.

  The women practically skipped with joy all the way home.

  “Epic opening day,” Francesca said with a breathy sigh. “Just epic.”

  After dinner, they finally got around to asking Starley about her day at school, and Francesca asked, “How was school? Did you meet anybody interesting?”

  For some silly reason, Starley felt her cheeks grow warm with an uninvited blush. “There are some interesting teachers. I made a new friend. Her name is Rue. I think I’m going to like my classes. Oh, and a boy flirted with me.”

  “That’s nice,” Francesca said. When the last part of Starley’s statement sunk in she spun around from doing dishes. “Wait. What? Did I hear you right? Did you say a boy flirted with you?”

  Starley bobbed her head up and down.

  Juliette draped the kitchen towel over her shoulder and leaned against the counter. “Was he cute? What’s his name?”

  “He’s okay,” Starley said with a shrug, trying hard to keep the butterflies from waging war inside her stomach. “His name is Beau Byrd.”

  “From the sparkle in your eye and the color of your cheeks, I’d say he’s more than okay,” Francesca said.

  Starley smiled. “Yeah, he really is.”

  “Well, are you going to tell us anything else about him, or do we have to guess?” Juliette asked.

  “There’s not much to tell,” Starley said. She tucked her hair behind her ears and added, “yet.”

  Francesca’s eyes widened. “This calls for a new perfume. Starley needs a special perfume, wouldn’t you agree, Jules?”

  “Definitely,” Juliette said.

  “Stop it, you two. He was probably just being nice to me since I’m the new girl. If he even remembers I’m alive tomorrow, we’ll discuss the special perfume,” Starley said. She peered into the window of the microwave and stared at her reflection. Tipping her head this way and that, she asked, “Juliette, do you think you could show me how to put on a little makeup?”

  Francesca dropped a glass, and it shattered into thousands of tiny slivers on the kitchen floor. “Oh, my stars. Could it be our little sister is finally growing up?”

 
Starley rolled her eyes at Francesca’s theatrics and looked at Juliette for an answer.

  “Yes, of course,” Juliette said. “It’s just a little mascara and blush, Frank. When she starts begging us to take her shopping for clothes … then we’ll talk about the birds and the bees.”

  Starley’s mouth dropped open and her ears burned. “That’s not even funny, you guys!” She ran from the room, too embarrassed to breathe.

  LET THE MAGIC BEGIN

  People often believed that The Perfumery was either a blessing sent from above or the work of the devil himself. There were the select few who didn’t care how it worked; they just knew it was no less than miraculous and who were they to judge.

  The non-believers were often small-minded individuals who saw everything as either completely black or completely white. There was no such thing as gray, and anything unexplainable that didn’t fall under the label of good had to be bad.

  Even the people who benefited from Francesca and Juliette’s little shop of miracles couldn’t explain how it worked or what had happened. Back in the days when they burned witches at the stake, it was typically for unexplainable things thought to be the work of something evil and otherworldly.

  The women had worked many miracles over the years, but as with anything in life, there were no guarantees. Sometimes, things didn’t go exactly as planned. The instances of failure were few and far between, but there were times when something went haywire and the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen, happened.

  Francesca and Juliette were revered for the things they did right. Unfortunately, it was the mistakes that people remembered. Goof-ups were the reason they had to leave town in a hurry. Maybe witches weren’t burned at the stake anymore, but facing daily scorn wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, either.

  The Duchesne sisters got most of their business through word of mouth, and it was vital they did everything in their power to make sure The Perfumery clientele was one hundred percent, completely satisfied.

  With each passing day, more and more women — and a few men — trickled into the little shop, and business slowly began to pick up, and when Nearsighted Nancy breezed through the front door, out of breath and wearing a mile-wide smile, Francesca was pleased as punch.

  Francesca glanced up from the crossword puzzle she was working, and her eyebrows shot up when as she recognized her latest customer. Judging from the sparkle in the woman’s eyes, and the bounce in her step, Nancy had returned for more perfume.

  “Good morning, Nancy.” Francesca smiled warmly and came out from behind the counter to greet her.

  Nancy threw her arms around Francesca and pulled her into a tight hug. “I’ve come back for more of that perfume. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that stuff was pure magic in a bottle.”

  Francesca extracted herself from Nancy’s grip as politely as she could. “Oh, what makes you say that?”

  “Well, you might think this is darn near the craziest thing you’ve ever heard,” Nancy started. She lowered her voice, and her eyes darted around the store to make sure no one was within earshot to overhear her wacky confession. “I got out of bed the other morning and made my way all the way downstairs to the kitchen before I realized I didn’t have my glasses on.”

  “Is that right?” Francesca said.

  “Yes, and, well, you saw how thick my lenses were. I am — was — nearly legally blind!”

  “That’s wonderful news!” Francesca laughed, to downplay what she already knew. “Have you been to the optometrist?”

  Nancy waved her hand in the air and frowned. “No, that old coot. I know what I know, and I know I can see better than … well better than I ever have in my whole life.”

  “And you think the perfume sample Francesca gave you had something to do with that?” Juliette asked as she came out of the back room with a stack of boxes filled with empty perfume bottles.

  “Oh, it had to be the perfume! It’s the only thing it could be,” Nancy said matter-of-factly. “Anyway, that’s why I’m back. I’m afraid that if I run out of that miracle in a bottle, I’ll revert to Nearsighted Nancy.”

  Francesca tapped her finger against her lips and went to the glass enclosed shelves that lined the back wall. She reached for a larger version of the cobalt blue bottled sampler Nancy had walked out with the week before.

  “Ah, here we are,” Francesca said, handing the bottle to Nancy.

  Nancy held the bottle tenderly, reverently, almost. “How much do I owe you?”

  “This one’s seventy-five dollars. I do have a smaller bottle for fifty, if that would work better for you,” Francesca said.

  Nancy dropped the bottle into her open purse and pulled out her wallet. She plucked out a one hundred dollar bill and handed it to Francesca. “No, I don’t want the smaller bottle. I can’t afford to ever want to run out of this stuff. You have no idea what it’s like to be able to see something without having to be right on top of it.”

  Francesca handed the money to Juliette so she could ring up the sale. Juliette handed Nancy her change and thanked her for stopping by today.

  Nancy turned to leave, but before she got out the door, she spun around and said, “I’ve got a book club meeting tonight. I’m going to be sure to tell all the ladies to be sure and stop here first chance they get.”

  “Why, thank you, Nancy. That’s awfully kind of you,” Francesca said. “Juliette and I appreciate that.”

  As soon as No Longer Nearsighted Nancy had disappeared around the corner, Juliette held her hand up for a high-five. “Another satisfied customer.”

  HEART OF THE MATTER

  It was a slow morning, and Francesca spent a lot of time poring over the spell book getting fresh ideas. Generally, the pre-made perfumes on display were what she liked to think of as being one-size-fits-all. A few of them had been specifically formulated for things like acne, or indigestion, but love potions seemed to be the most popular. Without knowing the details of a person’s situation, it wasn’t always easy to get the precise mixture necessary to solve their problem.

  Sometimes Francesca picked up the scent of a lonely man or woman who claimed to want romance in their life, but as soon as she got a good whiff of the energy surrounding the person, she saw the real issues beneath the surface. People often claimed to be lonely and that they wanted a person in their life, but most of the time, they were never going to get it without first dealing with the underlying issues going on.

  Francesca knew instinctively whether the customer truly wanted love, or if they just thought they did. With one whiff, she knew if someone was destined to sabotage love due to some deep-seated issue or issues. Sometimes, people just needed a dog to keep them from being alone.

  She looked for something she could sprinkle around the entrance to help attract more paying customers. So far, they had built up a pretty good business, and what Francesca sought was to keep it that way.

  She put some business drawing oil on the sidewalk outside the front door and went back inside to wait. She slid onto the stool behind the counter and took out her crossword puzzle to work.

  It wasn’t long before the bell over the door jingled, and an attractive woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties walked in.

  Francesca smiled politely and asked, “Is there anything special I can help you with today?”

  “I’m just looking,” she said.

  Francesca stepped close enough to pick up on the woman’s scent and sensed that she was low on energy, but as far as she could tell, no disease clouded her aura.

  “I’m Francesca,” she said and extended her hand. “And you are?”

  “Elizabeth. But you can call me Lizzie,” she said.

  “Lizzie, I think I have something over here,” Francesca said, walking toward glass case on the back wall. She reached for a pewter encased vial on the shelf and handed it to Lizzie. “Tell me what you think.”

  Lizzie pulled out the stopper and inhaled deeply. It was a pleasant orangey-ginger scen
t that made her eyes pop open a tiny bit wider. “This smells almost good enough to eat. What is it?”

  “It’s just a little energy in a bottle,” Francesca said, smiling. “External use only.”

  Lizzie sniffed again. “This is great. I’ll take it.”

  “Sure. I’ll ring it up for you,” Francesca said. “Do you want a bag, or would you like to put it in your purse?”

  “I’ll take it with me. I want to go home and take a bath in it right now,” Lizzie said.

  Francesca watched her leave the store with a lot more energy than she came in with. It was this part of her job that she loved.

  WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING

  Starley started seeing the strange creatures with increasing frequency. She didn’t understand what it all meant and thought maybe she might be going crazy. If seeing people with feathers and horns was the extent of her sixteenth-year gift, she decided she’d gotten the short end of the stick. What the heck good could that possibly do her? She hadn’t bothered to tell her sisters about the weird visions. What would she say?

  Rue had told her to chill, adding that once she got used to seeing the strange beings, it might actually come in handy.

  “Yeah, think about it,” Rue said one day during lunch period. “A boy asks you out on a date. He’s got a bad reputation for being an octopus, and you wonder if you can trust him. You climb in the car with him, and if he looks like a normal dude, you’re good. If he suddenly sprouts extra arms, then you’re probably better off not going.”

  Starley’s eyebrows pinched together. “You’re weird.”

  “Takes one to know one,” Rue said with a giggle. “Besides, you know I’m right.”

  “No, I don’t know that, at all,” Starley murmured. “So far, I’ve only seen it work on grownups. I’ve yet to see another student morph into anything weird.”

  “That’s because you’re still a newb. Trust and believe, it’ll happen,” Rue said.

  “You’re telling me you’ve seen kids our age do that … that … whatever that thing is?” Starley asked.