Miss Enchanter - Ophelia's Story

by Carol Colbert

  “In due time dear, you will know everything that we know. But for right now, how are you doing? Do you like Enchanted as much as you always thought that you would?”

  “Yes, I do. Of course, it will be nice when the weather is better and traveling back and forth to the hill and in the Village will be easier. I do need to get back to The Spa before too long though, I have a lot I want to accomplish there.” Ophelia answered her cousin as she took out the bread to make some toast.

  “I’ve always found sitting by the fire on a cold day or evening jumpstarts my thoughts and dreams. It is nice to be alone with your thoughts sometimes. Makes things clearer somehow, don’t you think?” Thelma asked.

  “Funny you mention that. I had time last night to myself in front of the fire and I was able to see things more clearly. I guess I wasted the time though, because my thoughts were all of Mrs. Johnson and Donald.”

  “Everything needs to be sorted out in your mind in order to get a fresh perspective and for you to be able to move on. Did your reminiscing yield any discoveries?”

  “Actually, yes. I always blamed Donald for mom and me not being able to be alone with each other and for not being able to come back here. But now I do realize that Donald only had his father, just like I only had my mom at the time. Neither of us wanted to share our only parent with each other or anyone else. I should have been kinder to Donald after he lost his father in the war, but instead, I was meaner to him and resented him more. I feel badly about that now.” Ophelia said, handing Thelma the plate of toast and some jam.

  “What matters is that you realize it now and that you change your actions so they are not repeated. Looks like you are starting to change a bit in that direction.”

  “How so?”

  “Only a few days ago when we first got here, you walked into the kitchen asking me what was for breakfast and seemed rather taken back that I had not prepared your meal for you. Now look at you, you made yourself some toast, but also made enough for me as well. I’d say that is progress.”

  “I just wish my mother could know how sorry I am for all the grief I gave her about John and his son Donald. I was such a brat back then.”

  To her surprise and before she could stop herself, Ophelia started crying. “Oh Thelma, I miss my mom so much!”

  Thelma put her arms around her cousin. “We know, Ophelia, we know.”

  Ophelia felt foolish. She could not remember ever breaking down into tears before, not even after realizing she was stuck in the car with Adela.

  “Ya think I am starting to grow more mature, Thelma?” She asked.

  “What are you now, about a hundred? I’d say it’s about time.” Thelma answered. “I do know that Luna has several things to attend to today, so why don’t we spend today baking. I can show you several recipes that are relatively simple, but that taste so good. Then tomorrow we can take them into town to the Chocolate Shop and you can spend the rest of the day at The Spa if you want to.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Thank you, Thelma, for everything. I know we are cousins, but I have come to look at you as a mother figure in a way, Luna too.”

  “Oh my! We are all so vastly different when it comes to our personalities. Your mother is a total spitfire. Sexy, adventurous, fun loving, rather demanding and always gets her way. Not to mention she is so totally gorgeous. Luna is more the logical, kind, loving, and everybody’s favorite Granny type. She always knows what to do exactly when it needs to be done. I would say that Luna has the best memory out of all of us, almost total recall. That is one reason why I want all of us to be together when we speak of the old country.”

  “And you? How would you describe your personality?”

  “Grumpy old bitch I supposed, yes, I rather like that description.” Thelma laughed. Now let’s get busy on these recipes and tonight we can have some cookies for our desert after we have our roast beef, mashed potatoes and whatever else we decide to have.”

  “I’m going to gain a ton of weight being here! Thankfully, I now own a Spa.” Ophelia laughed as she ate the rest of her toast.

  Chapter 11

  When Ophelia woke up the next morning she felt relaxed and happy. She looked out the big bay windows of her bedroom to find that the strong wind had finally stopped. Everything had a thick blanket of snow on it and the ice in the trees sparkled in the sunlight.

  She dressed and walked into the kitchen, fully intending on making breakfast for herself and Thelma. When she smelled the coffee and noticed a note on the pot she was disappointed. The note was from Thelma and it said that she would be gone most of the day and for Ophelia to not worry about her and that she would see her tonight.

  Ophelia wondered where Thelma would have gone so early in the morning and in such deep snow. There was a fire in the fireplace and a plate of muffins on the table. Ophelia poured her coffee and walked to the front door. There were no wagon tracks indicating that Thelma had gone to the Village, but then the snow might have blown over them. She realized with a start that she missed seeing Thelma this morning.

  I thought Thelma and I were going to take the baked goods we made yesterday to the Chocolate Shop today. Oh well, she must have forgotten. Ophelia drank two cups of chocolate coffee and got dressed. She wanted to go back to The Spa and get back to making plans for it, at least décor wise. When she was ready to leave she went out onto the porch and rang the large bell.

  Within a minute a small sleigh appeared. Ophelia had thought that she would recognize which miniature pony was pulling it. Zippy, Ace, or Caramel, but she couldn’t decide which one it was this morning. They were all so beautiful and well trained. She climbed into the sleigh and took the reins and was pleasantly surprised how quickly the sleigh moved through the snow. The air was not very cold this morning and Ophelia looked around at the woods, lake and bridge in awe. Every time I see it, it just becomes more magical.

  They arrived at the hill and Ophelia walked towards the Village. She could see the snowball forts that the kids had set up the other day in back of the Recreation Center. She walked onto Main Street where she went into the restaurant and sat in the same booth that she and Thelma had sat in on her first visit there. Jill walked up and said “Hi Ophelia, just you today?” And handed her a menu.

  “Hi, Jill, yes, just me this morning. I am starving too. Thelma and I baked a lot yesterday, but we were too tired to sample what we made and then this morning Thelma had already left by the time I got up.”

  “Well you are in luck then, because Thelma dropped off some goodies this morning so you probably know better than I do what we have to offer today.” Jill smiled.

  “Start me off with a big orange juice, then two eggs over easy, one of the English muffins we made and hash browns. Oh, and of course a big mug of coffee, surprise me as to the flavor, and for desert I would just love a piece of the pineapple cheesecake Thelma made yesterday.”

  “Coming right up.”

  True to her words Jill was back in record time with her order. Ophelia thought she would never get used to how wonderful the food smelled in Enchanted and even better, how wonderful it all tasted. Everything fresh and made to perfection. Ophelia was just digging into her hash browns when a pretty young woman stopped at her table.

  “You are Ophelia, right?” She asked, holding out her hand to shake.

  Ophelia took a second to wipe her hand clean and then shook the lady’s outstretched hand. “Yes, I am, and you are…?”

  “I am Isabel, Sebastian’s sister. I make the chocolates for Thelma’s Chocolate Shop.”

  “Oh yes, hi, Isabel, it is nice to finally meet you. I have heard nice things about you and I just love the chocolates you make. I have eaten way more than my fair share of them since I got here. Would you like to join me?”

  “I would, but I have more running around to do before I meet my husband, Nick, I just saw you and thought I would stop by and introduce myself.”

  “I’m glad you did, very nice to meet you and hopefully I will get to meet Nic
k before too long as well. Everyone has been very nice to me since I got here.”

  After Isabel left, Ophelia thought of how many people she has met since her arrival. Sebastian and Catherine, Isabel, Jill, London, Janet, Tom, quite a few people who she looked to be the same age as. If any of them knew how old Ophelia actually was, they would run over each other finding a way out of Enchanted. Actually, Ophelia wondered just how much of a difference it made living on the other side for all of those years. Would it take a toll on her good looks? Her own mother had still been a beauty when she last saw her, but that was a good 50 years ago or so.

  Ophelia stopped in at Thelma’s Chocolate Shop and Catherine was there hugging a little boy of about ten. Cute little boy with blond hair and blue eyes the same coloring as his mother.

  “Hello there young man, you must be Cody.” Ophelia said, holding out her hand for the young boy to shake.

  “Hello, yes, I am Cody, it is nice to meet you.”

  “Such a polite young man, it is refreshing. Hi Catherine, I thought I might catch Thelma here.”

  “She was here earlier, but that was quite a while ago, sorry.” Catherine said.

  “Oh well, I’ll take a big cup of chocolate coffee to go, please. Throw a couple of those chocolate raspberry truffles in a bag for me as well.”

  Just then a rather funny looking old man opened the door to the shop. He had on a big green hat and wore a green necktie. He looked like someone out of a cartoon.

  “Come on, Cody, we can’t be late getting back. Hi Catherine, hello, Miss.”

  Cody said goodbye to the women and ran out the door with the funny old man.

  “Who was that?” Ophelia asked, not wanting to add more just in case the funny old man was Catherine’s father or father in law.

  “Oh that is Mr. Lucky. Luke Lucky. He is a teacher at the school and I don’t know if you have met her yet or not, but he is also Jill’s father. Jill is a server at the restaurant in town.” Catherine said, handing Ophelia her coffee to go.

  “Interesting man. Well, I should be on my way. I had a very big breakfast just now and yes, I have met Jill a couple of times, she and her boyfriend Tom in fact.”

  “Nice couple.”

  Ophelia walked slowly to The Spa, drinking her coffee and eating the candy. Tom and Jill are indeed a nice looking couple. As were Sebastian and Catherine and no doubt Isabel and her husband Nick, whom Ophelia had yet to meet. So far it had not crossed her mind to ask if there were any men there in Enchanted that were like her family. So far she only knew of one, Hugo, who was not only Luna’s husband, he also seemed to prefer to stay in deer form.

  Ophelia had yet to discover any type of night life in Enchanted. She wondered if it weren’t the type of Village that rolls up the streets at night and everyone goes to bed when the streetlights come on. She had to laugh at herself over that thought. This is one place where the streets just might actually, physically roll up if certain people wanted them to.

  Chapter 12

  Ophelia looked in every store front window she passed. It was a beautiful day and after that big breakfast, and the chocolate candy she had just consumed on her walk, she felt no desire to be in a rush to go anywhere. She was enjoying the sunshine on her face and how the sun made the colorful storefronts shine as if they had just been freshly painted. She looked up at her own building and again rethought her idea of changing the color scheme. The building was bright red and on the other side some might mistake it for a Chinese restaurant before noticing the sign. It certainly was ornate, she loved the outside as it was, and perhaps a new, larger sign might be in order.

  There was a hotel further down on Main Street and although, well, how Thelma had put it was “although it is a controlled environment.” She had told her, “We get a lot of business at The Spa from there.” The Spa was located on, what else? Spa Avenue.

  As Ophelia was walking into The Spa, London was walking out. “Good morning, London.” Ophelia said, noticing how in a rush London appeared to be.

  “Good morning, Miss Enchanter. I was just going out for coffee, I hope that is O.K. I shouldn’t be gone long, I got here early and have not taken a break yet.” London hurried over her words trying to explain why she was walking away from her job.

  “Of course it is, in fact, one of the changes I am going to make here is to add a little coffee area so you won’t have to go outside of the building to get coffee or tea. I believe our customers will appreciate not having to go out in bad weather, having the coffee area inside will be good for the staff as well.”

  “That will be nice. Excuse me then.” London said walking away. There was something about that woman that Ophelia just did not quite trust. Ophelia walked into The Spa and again was stuck over the beauty of the portrait of her mother. Everyone mentions how much I look like you, mother, but your beauty is perfection, no one could ever be as beautiful as you.

  Ophelia continued into the office and was passing the room that had the swimming pool and hot tub in it when she thought she saw a familiar head of hair in the hot tub.

  “Thelma?”

  “Hi Ophelia. You taken a crack at this hot tub yet since you’ve been here? It is fantastic, does a body good.” Thelma cooed.

  “No, not yet, but it sure is tempting, especially on a winter day like today. I’m sorry I missed you this morning, you were up and out early.”

  “Yes, Luna and I and…..Luna and I had things to do.”

  “I had a big breakfast at the restaurant and I met Isabel, she seems like a very nice lady. Then I went over to the Chocolate Shop to see if I could find you there. I met Cody and a rather odd fellow named Mr. Lucky. Glad you are here. Maybe I will try the tub. Do you know if there are any bathing suits around here?” Ophelia said, not being able to resist the hot bubbling water. “I was in the pool the other day, but I don’t see any swimsuits now where I found that one then.”

  “Yes, Luke Lucky, he is one of the teacher’s at the school and he is also Jill’s father. In the office there is a locker with everything in it you could need.” Thelma told her. “Everything O.K. at the shop when you were there?”

  Of course there is. “Yes, everything at the shop is fine. I’ll be right back.” Ophelia said. Ophelia walked into the office and selected a hot pink two piece swimsuit, matching towel and flip flops and then walked back to where Thelma was.

  “Look at you, you certainly are your mother’s daughter.” Thelma said approvingly.

  Ophelia stepped up to the hot tub and lowered herself down into the hot whirlpool. ”Ohhh, wow, don’t expect me to get out of this any time soon. Oh my goodness I didn’t know what I was missing.”

  “Been a long time since you have been in hot tub?” Thelma asked.

  “Yeah, like never in my life before. I have never even heard of this thing before the other day. Thelma, is it real, or is it the ecstasy of thaumaturgy? This place would no doubt have a booming business even if this were the only service we offered. I had a massage from Ashton the other day, but if I got one now after being in the tub here, I would no doubt melt like butter and sleep for the rest of the day and night. We should have one of these installed at home.”

  “It is real and available everywhere, on both sides. As for having one at the house, no. Have to have a reason to get up and get moving. If we had one of these at the house we would find it almost impossible to get anything done that could not be done inside of one of these babies.” Thelma said, smiling.

  “Would either of you ladies like a pedicure when you are finished with the hot tub? Is there anything at all I can bring to you, perhaps a bottle of water?”

  Ophelia looked over to see an attractive middle aged lady with short blond hair and a friendly face which looked a bit familiar.

  “No thank you. Ophelia, this is Janet, or have you two meet before?”

  Ophelia said “I believe we have. I think it was Janet who gave me a pedicure the first time I came in here, a few days ago if I am not mistaken. Hello, Janet, I am
afraid I was so relaxed and at the same time had so much on my mind, that I wasn’t much of a conversationalist that day.”

  Janet smiled and Ophelia noticed what a warm smile she had. “Yes, that was I. Let me know if you would like a pedicure, manicure, or whatever, I will be here all day. Nice to see you both again.” Janet said, picking up a couple of wet towels from the pool area and walking towards the room where the washers and dryers were kept.

  “What a friendly lady.” Ophelia said. “I think The Spa is fortunate to have her. Has she been here for a while, or is she one of the newer people in town?”

  “Janet has been here from the start.”

  “Then, she knew my mother?”

  “Yes, she did. Janet is a great asset to The Spa and someone you can trust one hundred percent.” Thelma said. “I think I will get these toes done before heading back home, excuse me, Ophelia. I’ll find you to let you know when I am leaving. You sit and soak as long as you wish. Along with fireplaces, hot tubs are an excellent place to relax and think.”

  Ophelia put her head back onto the built in pillow and allowed the swirling warm water to massage her tired neck muscles. She wasn’t thinking of anything in particular, but then something Thelma said struck her. Wait, she said Janet has been here from the start and knew my mother. Janet looks about forty years old. Thelma also said she can be trusted one hundred percent. Does that mean Janet is one of us? I can’t just go up and ask her that. I swear, Thelma and Luna should have given me written descriptions and an instruction book on who is who around here.

  Ophelia was just finishing getting dressed when another thought hit her. She put her shoes and coat on and then walked into the hallway where she had first come into the building. She again looked at the painting of her mother, but then there it was, two paintings down was the most beautiful painting of a waterfall that Ophelia had ever seen. Beautiful – and still wet.