by Debora Geary
Freddie’s eyes lit. “You gonna introduce me to this Caro?”
And have the people in her life ganging up on her? Not likely. “She’s old and ugly. Not your type.”
“Girlie, I looked in the mirror this morning.” Freddie laughed long and hard. “I know an old and ugly face when I see one.”
Lizard grinned. “Maybe you’re not her type.”
“How could a woman resist Freddie?” He shook his head sadly. “But my wife says I’m not allowed to have a type that isn’t her. Forty years she’s been keeping me in line.”
Lizard was pretty sure that was why Freddie was one of the most content people she’d ever known.
“So why you riding today?” He eyed her journal. “That what I think it is?”
“Yeah.” She glanced around at the empty bus. Even her toenails were nervous. “I did what you said—I wrote a poem that didn’t have so much of me in it. I might read it for you.” She glared at him. “If it sucks, you better tell me the truth.”
Freddie’s laughter rolled again. “I ever told you anything else?”
Nope. Not ever. She paged open her notebook. Sheer perversity had made her write it in the middle. “It’s kind of long. Let me read it through to myself first, okay?”
“Take your time, girlie. There’s never been anything but time here on Freddie’s bus.”
“I don’t know what it’s called yet.” And that bothered the hell out of her. It usually meant the poem wasn’t finished. She’d probably have to call it something stupid just to be able to hand it in.
Lizard stood up and faced the rear of the bus. The friendly ghosts of warm, safe hours in those seats stared back at her. Comforting—and demanding. It was time to start. Time to say her truth.
She took a deep breath around the choking tangle in her throat and began, not needing to look at the words. She never did. Once she’d written them, they were burned in her soul.
Four walls and a door,
A window or two and fancy names for rooms
that are really just meant for sitting and sleeping.
People mortgage their souls for those four walls and a door.
Okay, she wasn’t going to die. Puke maybe, but not die.
“It’s a home,” they say.
“Our children can grow up here.”
Kids don’t need four walls and a door
unless a whole lot of other stuff in their lives has gone wrong.
“We’ll have made it,” they say.
“We’ll be homeowners.”
You can own a house. You can’t own a home,
although there are a whole lot of people making money
off the promise that you can.
“It will make us happy,” they say.
“We really need more space.”
Space never made anybody happy,
even a million-two’s worth of emptiness.
“It’s in our budget,” they say.
“And it’s got double sinks and a really big closet.”
If your neighbors are mean, the double sinks won’t matter.
And life is better out of the closet.
Frack. That line was a lot naked, but if she stopped now, she wouldn’t finish.
“It’s meant to be ours,” they say.
It’s four walls and a door
and all the mystical crap in the world can’t change a house into anything else.
Home isn’t what you buy.
It’s how you live.
Lizard looked up, knowing Freddie could see her in his mirror, and willed herself the guts to get through the most important part. “This next part isn’t written down. But I wanted to say it.” Even though it didn’t have any damn clothes at all.
My home doesn’t have four walls and a door.
“It’s a bus,” they’d say.
“Just a way to get from one place to the next.”
And they’d be wrong.
Homes come in every kind of shape. Even a bus.
She couldn’t turn around. She couldn’t breathe. And then some totally rude guy behind the bus started leaning on his horn, and Lizard realized the bus was stopped. In the middle of Main Street.
When she spun around, Freddie was still in his seat, his big hands still holding the wheel. And his face was drenched in tears.
Crap. She knew what it was called now.
Freddie’s Bus. And the last lines would have to get written down. He deserved it.
~ ~ ~
Elsie cranked the volume on her iPod speakers. Operatic passion screamed through the house, stoking the fires of her restlessness.
She needed to do something—and she had no idea what.
But it needed to be bold and daring and reckless and crazy. Apparently she hadn’t totally burned off all her feelings in Vero’s music room.
She looked around the four walls of her bedroom. Everything was neat and tidy. Organized, efficient Elsie, never a problem, the child who always picked up after herself and hung her clothes in color-coded order.
She was so done with that.
In two steps, Elsie was at the door of her neatly hung closet. The yellow dress could stay, and the jewel blue skirt, and the red shoes that were the most agonizingly beautiful things she had ever owned, and a few of the other pretty things from her shopping spree.
The rest was going to Goodwill.
And then the soprano on her iPod hit a deliriously high note and something inside Elsie snapped. Something beyond reckless. An idea, pure insane temptation, pierced her soul.
The old Elsie shrieked in terror and tried to run for the door. The new Elsie told her to shut up. Singing along with the soprano, hopelessly off-key, she pulled clothes out of her closet in deranged abandon.
Summer was a lovely time for a bonfire.
“Holy crap.” Lizard’s voice happened to catch a momentary lull in the music—otherwise Elsie might never have heard her. “You moving out?”
Elsie froze—and then the soprano’s voice chased to the heavens once more. Maybe insanity would be more fun with a friend. “Got anything you want to burn?”
Lizard jumped back, cracking her head on the wall. “House fires are a really bad idea. Really, really bad.”
She was insane, not suicidal. “No, we can use the fire pit outside. I don’t think Caro will mind.”
Lizard stared. “You’re going to burn all your clothes?”
“No.” Elsie stroked the yellow dress hung carefully off to the side. “Only the ones that don’t fit anymore.” She could feel all the passion Vero spoke of. Building. Flaming.
“No sparking inside.” Lizard grabbed half the mountain of clothes. “We’re so going to get evicted if you burn the house down.”
Elsie looked at her fingers, edgy lightning dancing from their tips. And rejoiced at the blaze inside her.
“Don’t make me kick you in the shins.” Her roommate looked awfully tough. “Clothes. Outside. Now.”
Fine. Elsie scooped up what was left of the pile and headed down the stairs and through the kitchen. Nothing stopped her triumphant march until she tried to go through the back door and got stuck, wedged in by her own mountain of clothes.
Lizard got them unstuck by the most expedient of methods—a foot on Elsie’s butt. Which got them both through the door—and heaped in a pile on the back lawn.
“I’m a fracking genius,” said Lizard, a really prim button-down shirt hanging from her ear.
Elsie started to giggle. That was the shirt she’d worn for volcano making. “We need to borrow a teleporting witch.”
“I’m already a delinquent.” Lizard got to her feet and started collecting clothes. “Let’s not corrupt anybody else. Bonfires are probably illegal in city limits.”
Illegal? Elsie felt her newfound recklessness melt.
Lizard looked up sharply and then rolled her eyes. “Good grief. Only a little illegal. Hang on, I’ll be right back.”
She was back in less than two minutes—just lon
g enough for the last remnants of Elsie’s courage to entirely flee. And then she heard the music again. Opera, booming from the kitchen window.
Lizard stepped out the back door. “That’s as loud as it gets, so do whatever sing-y thing you do that makes your head feel all brave and crazy.”
Elsie didn’t have to do anything. She could feel the flames unfurling in her belly to the beat of the music. She held out her hands as Lizard dropped another armful of clothes in the fire ring. “Stand back.”
Her roommate jumped of the way with impressive speed. Elsie let her power free, a bolt of lightning streaking from her fingers. And watched it land in the clothes and smolder a moment before it died.
“I think you’re going to need a little more juice than that,” said Lizard dryly.
She didn’t have a lot more. Clearly bonfires weren’t as easy as they looked. This time, Elsie focused, remembering all her fire training. The second attempt was better—there were actually a few flames before everything fizzled out again.
Her heart pelted against her ribs in frustration. How could you rage against the world when you couldn’t even get a fire started? Channeling the need clawing inside her, she aimed one more time.
~ ~ ~
Jennie felt determination from Caro—and then a thunderbolt of power blew past her cheek and Elsie’s bonfire whooshed into flame.
Lauren, coming in the back gate, dove for cover. Moments later, she climbed out from behind the rose bush, cursing. A little warning on the lightning bolts next time, maybe?
Thought I’d give them a hand. Caro settled back down on the back porch swing. Girl’s not much of a fire witch, but she’s got a big heart. Deserves a bonfire.
Jennie glanced over at Jamie, who sat cuddling a now-smiling Nat. “Caro’s not the only witch helping out. Nice assist on the music volume. You put a training circle up?”
He snorted. “A feisty fire witch wants to burn things—what do you think?”
She thought this night was about to get pretty riotous, even by Witch Central’s very permissive standards. Oddly enough, her pendant had been really silent—they were all here thanks to a text message from Caro. The get-off-your-butt-and-get-over-here kind.
“What are they burning?” Lauren squinted in the direction of the back yard.
Jamie grinned when she stabbed his direction with a thorn she’d just plucked out of her shirt. “Clothes.”
“Ah.” Lauren nodded in satisfaction, clearly having mindscanned. “The stick-butt-Elsie wardrobe. Nice.”
“Things that don’t fit anymore,” said Nat softly, eyes bright with pleasure and reflected firelight.
“Could have just given them to charity.” Caro pulled out her knitting. “That fire’s going to make a real mess of my back yard.”
Jennie was well aware that anyone trying to put out the bonfire would have to get through Caro first. If anybody understood the ability of fire to burn away the unneeded parts, it was their knitting witch. “I’m sure we can find you a volunteer cleaning crew.”
“Nuh, uh.” Jamie grinned and competently mimicked his four-year-old nephew. “Witches who play with fire have to clean up their own mess.”
Caro snorted, obviously recognizing one of her favorite training mantras. “Let the girls have their fun first.” She looked over at the fence line again. “Seems like they’re getting into the spirit of things.”
Jennie looked—and felt her heart catch. Her two students, heaping clothing onto the flames. Elsie singing at the top of her lungs, a look of wild glee on her face. Lizard was scowling, but lines of fiery poetry stormed in her mind—and she was stoking her roommate’s precarious bravery.
The girl’s got a light touch. Caro nodded in approval. I didn’t know she could project. Reading emotions was fairly easy for most mind witches. Modulating them in others was tricky—and fraught with ethical issues.
Neither did I, said Lauren, pride written all over her face. She’s had plenty of opportunity, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen her try.
Jennie was feeling some of that pride herself. “One thing that’s never been in doubt is Lizard’s ethics.” And stoking the bravery of a fire witch on the rampage, even a weak one, took some serious chutzpah.
Jamie sat drinking a beer he’d ported from Caro’s fridge. “So what brought this on? What got into Elsie?”
Singing lessons, thought Jennie dryly. She needed to have a little chat with Vero. And it wasn’t just Elsie. Lizard might not have started the bonfire, but her mind was churning as it watched the flames. Something was moving in their delinquent fairy too. “She wouldn’t have gotten it done without her roommate, though. They’re feeding off each other over there.”
“Of course they are,” said Nat softly. “They love.”
~ ~ ~
------------------------------------------
To: [email protected]
From: Jennie Adams
Subject: Re: Watch for the tempest.
------------------------------------------
Dear Vero,
Oh, the tempest has arrived. Or rather, the bonfire. You would have been very impressed with the twenty-foot flames doing away with all the outward trappings of the Elsie who first came to us. Suits, shoes, even a very ugly black briefcase.
And I should perhaps be embarrassed, but I cheered mightily when notebooks and file folders hit the flames too.
All done with the glorious vocals of Veronica Liantro streaming into the night. You literally sang the oxygen into Elsie’s fire. A luminous performance.
It was Elsie’s bravery shining in the firelight tonight—but she didn’t do it alone. One blonde fairy stood at her shoulder. It was Lizard who brought the music outside. Lizard who gently nudged the mental embers of Elsie’s bravery. And Lizard who gave us all a bad case of the giggles when she made Elsie go dig up the contents of her underwear drawer too. Ah, bra burning. That does bring back memories :-).
I personally think the bras were an excuse. Something else white slid into the fire along with them, and I’d lay money it was the bandana Lizard wore the day she arrived.
Elsie wasn’t the only witch shedding old skin tonight, even if Lizard did it much more quietly. We await the morning with interest.
Much love,
Jennie
Chapter 21
Lizard sat down at her kitchen table and tried not to feel like she’d left her kidney with a stranger. Handing in her poetry journal had nearly killed her. Not handing it in and facing Freddie’s dark eyes would have been worse.
And a tiny voice in the back of her head kept insisting that’s why she’d written Freddie’s Bus in the first place. Because she wanted the world to know she was a poet, and his belief in her was the only damn thing on the planet that could have forced her to go public.
Yeah. Lizard Monroe, poet laureate. That seemed likely.
And man, her head hurt. Sometime last night, possibly before the bra burning and her crazy decision to actually hand in her journal, they’d consumed some very bad wine. Or maybe some good wine that tasted bad thanks to the mind magic—she’d never been good at using power while drinking.
Not that she’d been convinced a backyard bonfire was the smartest idea of all time, but it was one of those things you pretty much had to finish once you’d started. Kind of like handing in poetry journals. Halfway didn’t count.
“Morning.” Josh walked into the kitchen holding out a box. “Don’t shoot—I brought donuts.”
What, was there a sign on their front door saying “Come on in, we don’t mind?” Lizard started to scowl, and then remembered that was a totally ineffective tactic on this particular annoyance in her life. Instead, she pasted a grin on her face and grabbed the box. “How totally lovely. There are going to be ten half-naked women here soon, and I’m sure they’ll be thrilled the donut shop delivered. Thanks, goodbye, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Josh gaped. Then he gr
inned. And then he busted up laughing. All without actually letting go of the box of donuts.
Dammit, she was not playing tug-o-war over baked goods. Lizard let go of the box and stomped to the window. “Why are you here—did you lose your keys or something?”
“Nope.” He opened the donut box on the counter and took out something that made her traitorous stomach growl. “I wanted to talk to you about an investor meeting.”
“A what?” Lizard grabbed a cruller. Any sentence with “meeting” in it definitely deserved a donut.
“For the neighborhood-mapping project.” Josh reached for a napkin. “I’ve got some investors interested in talking to you.”
Okay, her head was going to officially explode. “Why do they want to talk to me—can’t you just show them the demo?”
He paused, hand stuck in the donut box. “We talked about this when you came to the office. People don’t just hand over a few hundred thousand dollars because they saw a prototype. They want to see who’s behind the idea.”
Her brain had stopped dead at “a few hundred thousand dollars.”
Josh was back on his donut-seeking mission. “You’re the creator, and you have great vision for where the project should go. Sit, talk with these guys for a bit, and you’ll be funded.” He grinned. “Then you hire us to execute.”
Yup. Still stuck. Lizard blinked and tried to unglue her fried circuits. “What the frack do you need hundreds of thousands of dollars for?”
“More than that. About three million, I figure.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a computer. “Here are some estimated start-up costs, sales projections, stuff like that. We’re good at that part, but you’re the ideas girl, so they’re going to want to talk to you.”
She’d never realized eyes could actually bug out of your head. “It’s just freaking maps. That I do on a computer in my spare time with free tools anyone with an Internet connection and a brain can use.” The numbers in the spreadsheet were mesmerizing, in a totally sick way. “Where do you find stupid suits who want to pay you lots of money for something anyone can do for free?”
Josh rolled his eyes and slammed the donut lid shut. “Okay. Then I’ll let you make your own donuts and take these away with me.”