Miss Enchanter
Ophelia’s Story
By Carol Colbert
Copyright 2016 by Carol Colbert
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form without written permission from the author, except for brief quoted passages for review purposes.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or collective memories of people she has known in general, put together to form various single characters, and thus, resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, unless explicitly noted, are entirely coincidental.
Cover by: [email protected]
This book is dedicated to my mom and all of the amazingly strong women in our family. Her sisters, my sisters, and my nieces and cousins.
Intelligent, loving, ambitious take no prisoners, get it done now women, who I am proud to be related to. “Z” might be the last letter of the alphabet, but only because God saved the best for last.
And to Jessica, who can hold her own against us all and whom I am proud to call my daughter in law.
Prologue
The boulders opened and Thelma and Ophelia, in human form now, ran for the opening. Cooper barked and when Thelma turned around to make sure he did not follow them, Cooper nudged the urn hard with his nose and knocked it off of the rock and made it roll down the hill, right to Thelma’s feet. She smiled and waved and then the scene changed as suddenly as it had when the gust of wind first started blowing.
Jim guided Sarah back to the van and Cooper jumped in. The temperature outside of the van had made them so cold that all they could think about was to put their hands up to the warmth of the heater.
Riley finally looked up from her video game. “Can we go home now?” she asked.
“Most definitely!” Sarah and Jim said in unison, neither one even thinking about how they had just left the urn on the rock. They were totally exhausted and their new and only mission now was to get home safely.
Only Cooper and Suzanne were looking out the window at the area they were now leaving. Suzanne had a little tear in her eye and as she looked at her little puppy, she could see one on his cheek as well. “Bye- bye,” she said.
Excerpt From Ghost Cat – Thelma’s Dilemma
Chapter 1
“We are free, we are finally free, and we are home!” Ophelia yelled at the top of her voice as she flung her arms out and danced in a wide circle!
Thelma looked at her much younger cousin and said, “For a moment there a moment I didn’t think that we would make it! We have the red ring and the urn; all survived unbroken. It seems like forever since I was last here.”
“So this is Enchanted.” Ophelia said. ”It is amazing! The snow is so white and the trees are even beautiful bare. Which way do we go from here?”
“The actual Village of Enchanted is this way.” Thelma said, pointing to her right. “We have about five miles to walk. We just have to follow the lake and it will take us right there. It will be so good to be home again!” Thelma said, doing a little happy dance herself.
Thelma and Ophelia started to walk, but then Thelma stopped and turned around. “We forgot the urn!”
Ophelia stopped too and turned. “I’ll get it. I guess I just got so excited to be here that I left poor momma!”
“If it weren’t for Cooper, she would still be sitting on the rock near the expressway. For a little dog who was truly a little dog, he understood quite a bit. I can honestly say I will miss him, I will miss Suzanne as well.” Thelma said, thinking of the little girl who was Cooper’s owner.
“Well, I don’t miss anyone from the other side.” Ophelia said, picking up the urn which contained her one hundred and three year old mother’s ashes. “I hated every minute of living with that old Mrs. Johnson.”
“She treated you well enough, fed you, and kept you warm and safe.”
“Her house felt like a prison to me, she rarely went outside of the house so I never had time to be myself. I had to stay in kitty cat form for what seems like forever!” Ophelia said firmly. “If I even look at any kind of cat food ever again I will just puke!”
“Well, that actually was on you, dear cousin. You were the one who jumped into her car to do some major damage with your cat claws and got stuck in Mrs. Johnson’s car from Tennessee to Michigan. She could have thrown you out when she first noticed you.”
“I guess, but that was a lot of my life wasted on all fours!” Ophelia said. “Oh look – a deer and a woman riding it! Do you think there are other deer around here that we can ride so we won’t have to walk?”
The very large buck deer with the massive rack of horns walked up to Thelma and Ophelia. “Hugo” The woman said to the deer. “I told you we would be late!”
To Ophelia’s surprise, the older lady in the blue dress dismounted the deer and she and Thelma embraced each other warmly. Ophelia stood there and watched as the two older ladies told each other how much they missed each other and had been worried about each other. The lady from the deer then turned to Ophelia.
“Hello Ophelia. It has been a very long time. Welcome to Enchanted, we hope you will be happy here. I am Luna, Thelma’s sister and your mother’s niece. You, Thelma and I are cousins.”
Ophelia looked at the gray haired lady with the kind light blue eyes and very big behind and smiled. “I remember you now – sort of. I was very young when we saw each other last. I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally be here where I belong. I just wish momma could have brought me herself. She would have, but there was this kid named Donald and…”
Thelma and Luna smiled at each other as Thelma took Ophelia’s arm, causing Ophelia to stop talking and look at her. “Ophelia, this is Hugo, he is Luna’s husband.”
“Where?” Ophelia asked, looking around them.
“At your service, madam.” The big deer said and curtsied.
“You married a deer?” Ophelia asked Luna, her eyes wide.
Thelma cleared her throat. “Why don’t we get back to the Village and then we can have a nice long talk. Ophelia, don’t lose the urn on the way there.”
With those words, Hugo bent down and all three ladies climbed aboard his broad back. Ophelia was very surprised that they all fit quite comfortably. Although there was snow and ice in the lake and on the trees and ground, Ophelia did not feel cold. Not even with her shoulders and arms bare in the blue dress she wore. She bent her head to the urn and whispered “We are home, momma.”
Chapter 2
Ophelia was enjoying their ride to the Village. The air smelled and felt very clean and invigorating. She took deep breaths, filling her lungs with the fresh air. For the last couple of days she and Thelma had to hide under a tarp on the top of Jim and Sarah Gaunter’s van and the night before they had to hide in a suitcase. She could hardly believe it herself when she thought of the events that had brought her here, a place she had always wanted to be.
After all, it was her birthright. Her mother, Gertie, had fallen in love with a man from the other side. He was a widower with a small son named Donald. This man, his name was John Ellis, had gone off to war and although he and her mother had never married, he left his son Donald in her care. It was for that very reason that Gertie could never bring her daughter to Enchanted. Donald would not be able to go and Gertie was not going to leave him.
Of course all this happened years ago in the other side’s time frame. Donald was now an old man of seventy seven. Gertie hadn’t been able to use the boy as her excuse to her daughter in many moons. Truth is, Gertie always expected John to come back from the war, but he never had.
Ophelia had been rebellious and had run away from
the home Gertie had made for them on the other side, many times. She did miss her mother, very much. She regretted all the arguments she had with her mother all those years, but she never regretted wanting to come to Enchanted.
Ophelia knew that Enchanted was a place where her people lived. She always knew that, and in fact, once when she was very little her cousins Thelma and Luna came to visit them. That was before her mother met John and brought that awful Donald into their home.
Ophelia looked up when she heard the bells. Many bells ringing which were pleasant to the ears although not playing any tune that she had ever heard of. She could see the quaint Village ahead of them. Little shops and very ornate lampposts on the streets. There were people walking around and Ophelia noticed that they seem to all be smiling.
“How does it feel to be home, Thelma?” Luna asked her sister.
“Not another word until I am totally filled up!” Thelma said. Ophelia did not understand what Thelma meant, but apparently her sister Luna did. The big deer stopped in front of a little store front that had big bright lights spelling out “Thelma’s Chocolate Shop.”
The three ladies went into the store as the deer walked around to the back of it. The store appeared to be closed at the moment. Everything was put away for the evening and the blinds were drawn on the front windows. Thelma immediately went to one of the large coffee makers and proceeded to make coffee. Luna went into the kitchen and came out with a large tray of goodies, mostly made out of chocolate although some were pastries with chocolate filling.
Ophelia sat down at one of the tables and watched her cousins busy themselves. When the coffee was made, Thelma carried four big coffee mugs to the table. Ophelia heard a noise coming from the kitchen and she saw a very nice looking older man walk in, very distinguished, very tall. She was wondering if she should tell the gentlemen that the shop was closed, when he sat down at the table and held out his hand to her.
“A proper introduction is in order here. I am Hugo, Luna’s husband. It is very nice to finally meet you, Miss Enchanter.”
Ophelia wasn’t sure why she felt so surprised by this turn of events. After all, hadn’t she spent the last how many years as a feline? “Very nice to meet you, Hugo, you can call me Ophelia.” She said. “Was it just for our transportation that you were a deer?”
Luna answered for her husband. “No dear, you see, things are very different here in Enchanted than they are on the other side. Hugo is very often in ungulate form, it suits our purpose.”
“But this is Enchanted, isn’t everyone, well, like us?” Ophelia asked, taking a sip of her coffee and then exclaiming “This coffee is out of this world!”
“Thank you, it’s made from the finest chocolate and coffee beans. Ophelia, we are not sure how much Gertie told you of our Village, but we actually have all types of people here, many who do not share our special abilities or powers. People who are just regular human folks who have lost their way in life in one way or another and they find themselves here and we help them.” Thelma said, pouring her and Luna another cup of coffee.
“I don’t get it, then how is this place any different than Tennessee or Michigan or anywhere else? Don’t tell me that I have to turn back into a cat, because I swear, I won’t do that again!” Ophelia said, defiance in her voice.
“I was afraid of this.” Thelma said. “I wish we would have had time for me to go over everything about Enchanted with you before we left, Ophelia, but there just was not time.”
“You mean I really do have to be a cat again?” Ophelia looked as if she might cry or at the very least jump up and run.
“Of course not, dear.” Luna said. “Thelma was in cat form when a mother and son came into Enchanted. Her name is Catherine and she actually manages this Chocolate Shop for Thelma. She and her son lived in Thelma’s house.”
“Lived? They moved already?” Thelma asked.
“Time moves differently here in Enchanted. Catherine was given the job of running this shop and she and her son lived in Thelma’s house under the pretense of taking care of her cat.” Hugo said.
“You must really like walking on all fours, Thelma. So, they did not know that it was really you? Where did they think you were that you couldn’t manage your own business or live in your own house? Come to think of it, why would you give them your house to live in?”
“They have not actually met me as Thelma. Catherine and Cody had no money at all. This shop gave her a purpose and a means of supporting them. Her son attends the school on the next corner, and my house gave them a roof over their heads.” Thelma said.
“Hum, what are you not telling me here?” Ophelia said. “This looks like a pretty big place, why couldn’t they get their own place to live?”
“Because the third reason they are in Enchanted was so Catherine could meet Sabastian and fall in love. Catherine needed a husband and her son Cody very much needed a father.” Luna explained.
“So you two are like matchmakers? Who do you have picked out for me?” Ophelia asked.
Luna, Thelma and Hugo looked at each other.
“Oh come on now, are you saying that you brought me here, but that I am not supposed to ever get married or have a boyfriend? That does not sound so enchanting to me!” Ophelia said.
“All in good time, dear. You see, everyone here has a purpose that they must fulfill and that is their true reason for being here. Only then can they find true happiness.”
“Then what? Are they allowed to leave but first you wipe their minds and memories clean so that they don’t remember this place, or what?” Ophelia asked as she finished her chocolate coffee.
“Actually, Sarah, Jim and Mrs. Johnson will not remember you or Thelma being there at all. However, the little girl, Suzanne, and Cooper her puppy, will carry you with them in a special place in their hearts. One day Suzanne will join us, but I am getting ahead of myself.” Luna said.
“All this is making my head spin and by all this I am not just talking about all this great chocolate and chocolate coffee I am consuming!”
“We know that it is a lot to take in, but I promise you, things will work out just as they were meant to be.” Hugo said.
“Thelma said something like that to me when we were stuck in that suitcase just last night. So, what do I tell people here? Who do I say I am?”
“You are our cousin, Ophelia of course. Now, a great many people had been told that Thelma was traveling overseas. That led the way for a reason why her house was empty and why the cat, we called her Twinkle, needed someone to watch her. You will be staying with Thelma in her house and we will just say that you returned from England with your cousin Thelma, that is, if anyone asks, which I doubt they will.”
“What about that woman and her kid, are they going to be living with us?”
“Oh no, Catherine and Cody are happy and living with Sebastian. They were married about a year ago. Sebastian’s sister Isabel has married a fellow she met here as well and they have been married for about four months now. So you see, everything works out the way it is supposed to and you should be quite comfortable in the house with Thelma.”
Ophelia wasn’t so sure. She had just gotten out of living with an old lady and although she liked her cousin Thelma, she was yet another old lady.
“I know you must have a lot of questions, dear.” Luna said, watching Ophelia very closely. “But just take your time and don’t try to figure out everything all tonight. You have all the time in the world for that. Now, what do you say we go over the hill and get some sleep?”
Thelma quickly cleaned up the Chocolate Shop of their dirty cups and plates and they walked outside where in a puff of green their four legged hoofed transportation was back. The deer slowly walked down the main street and then started the climb to the top of a hill.
Right before the top, Ophelia noticed a tall pole which had a silver rope attached to it. Thelma pulled it and Ophelia heard bells again, only not as many or as long as when they had arrived into the Village.
“Is this what I heard before when we first got here?” She asked no one in particular.
“Bells, yes, the same ones, no. Those were bells welcoming us back to Enchanted.”
As they walked down the other side of the hill, Ophelia’s breathe caught in her throat. Everything she had seen thus far had been very inviting and beautiful, but what was before her eyes now was truly phenomenal. She did not have the words in her vocabulary to accurately express the beauty that she saw before her.
She could still see the lake, but there were also woods and a wooden bridge over a creek with deer drinking from the cold water. In the distance she saw a very large house with a wraparound porch and a thatched roof. At the bottom of the hill was a miniature pony with a beautiful long cream colored mane of hair. It was hooked up to a large wagon which had bales of hay in the back of it.
The women climbed down off of Hugo’s back and walked over to the wagon. “Oh Caramel, I have missed you so much!” Thelma cried, giving the miniature horse a big hug.
Hugo did not return to human form, but he walked next to the wagon and it looked to Ophelia as if he and the horse were carrying on a conversation. When they arrived at the house, which looked twice as big up close as it had from the hill, Thelma got off the wagon and said “We will see you and Hugo tomorrow then.”
“Ophelia,” Luna said. “Would you mind very much if Hugo and I take Gertie’s urn to our place? Just for now, until we can have a proper ceremony.”
Ophelia, asked what kind of a ceremony did she mean, then she paused to think for a moment. “Mom told Donald that she wanted her ashes to be spread out on that expressway where we entered here, where the rocks parted to let us pass. According to her ward, that Donald I told you about, according to him, it was my mother’s last wish to be there and she was very clear about that. Is that what you mean, by having a ceremony? Will we be going back there?”
Miss Enchanter - Ophelia's Story Page 1