A Charming Wish (5 page)

“
Speaking of feathers, do
you know Kenny, the supplier of my smudging grass?”

“
Yes, I know Kenny.” Raven
turned to see the new customers coming through the door. “He
delivers my secret ingredient for your June’s Gems. As a matter of
fact, he’s been late on his deliveries lately and I’m not happy
with him.”

She reminded me of the delicious box
of treats I was holding in my hand. I sat down at one of the café
tables waiting for her to finish up with the customers.

Sigh…
the smell of delicious chocolate seeped through the creases
of the box, making my stomach growl. With anticipation, I opened
the box. If there was ever a time I needed a Ding Dong it would be
now, and a June’s Gem was the closest I was going to get until I
drove into Locust Grove.

While Raven helped some of her
customers, I chomped down on my treat and tried to figure out how I
could channel Kenny to give Belur back to him. Belur had caused an
awful stir with Madame Torres. She didn’t want him around and I
certainly didn’t have time to babysit another spiritual guide in my
life.

“
What is that all about?”
Raven interrupted my thoughts. “You are devouring that Gem and that
means you are stressed.”

I pulled on her apron so she had to
bend down to my chair, and I whispered, “I think I have Kenny’s
genie.”

I knew if I told Raven, I could trust
her. I had to tell someone before I exploded.

“
A real, live genie?” She
sat down, looking out the window while rubbing her hands together.
“I’d love a real, live genie.”

“
No you wouldn’t.” I stood
up, shaking my head. “He’s clumsy and would have flour all over
this place. Besides, he really doesn’t belong in Whispering Falls.
He needs to go back. He’s going to be gone by the end of the week
if I have to drive him to wherever he belongs.”

“
If he isn’t, I’ll take
him.” She didn’t blink.

I put my hand on the front door of the
shop, and then turned around to find Faith and Raven staring at me.
“Wait until I get my hands on Kenny for slipping that genie into my
bundle like that!”

I stormed out of the shop and down the
street. Isadora Solstice, owner of Mystic Lights, was how I first
found out about Kenny when I moved to Whispering Falls, and he
showed up at A Charming Cure for payment when I had no idea who he
was.

She was the village council leader.
Surely, she’d know how to get in touch with him.

Chapter Six

“
I’ll be right with you,”
Isadora, Izzy for short, chimed from the back of the
shop.

It gave me an opportunity to look
around at all the fancy light fixtures and designs she had recently
stocked on the floor. There were many different styles. Anything
you could imagine and beyond could be found in Mystic Lights, even
crystal balls.

That was how I acquired Madame Torres,
or rather she found me. A crystal ball picks their owner, not the
other way around. Sort of like cats.

The first time I walked into Mystic
Lights, Madame Torres lit up the shop like fireworks on the Fourth
of July. It was the most spectacular light show I’d ever seen. At
the time, I didn’t realize I was part of this entire spiritual
world, but everyone else in Whispering Falls knew.

Izzy came to my home in Locust Grove,
looking for a homeopathic curist to open a shop in Whispering
Falls, only I had no idea she was looking for me.

“
June dear, I’m so happy
to see you.” She shuffled from the back. Her normally perfectly
groomed A-line skirt was wrinkled and her pointy-toed shoes were
more tarnished than usual. “I’ve been meaning to stop by and talk
to you about the village council meeting tonight.”

Tonight?
Damn! I had forgotten.

“
In light of the newspaper
article, I’m afraid you are going to have to do a protection
smudging ceremony.” She tapped the pads of the fingers together.
“And another little favor.”

“
Yes, we will get to that
favor in a minute.” I held my finger in the air to stop her. There
was never a better time to ask about Kenny than now. She brought up
the smudging ceremony and he was who I got most of the bundles
from. “How can I get in touch with Kenny?”

Izzy pushed her long blonde wavy hair
behind her ears and her naturally pink skin turned abnormally pale.
She stepped forward, curling her arm around my waist. “Don’t you
worry about him. He blows in with the wind as you need
things.”

She walked me back to the door and
opened it with her free hand.

“
We will see you tonight
at the ceremony.” She winked and sent me on my way.

“
Wait!” I put my hand in
the air. “What was the other favor?”

“
Oh,” Izzy’s mouth formed
an O, and then she smiled. “We will discuss that a little
later.”

Before I could protest, the air was
filled with Faith.

“
Good afternoon,” Faith’s
voice boomed through the air, making me pause. I pushed the door to
Mystic Lights open as Izzy pushed back from inside the shop. I had
more I needed to ask her. I had to get in touch with Kenny and she
was my only hope. Faith continued, “I wanted to make a quick news
bulletin that is sponsored by Mystic Lights. Be sure to stop in for
a crystal ball tune-up or a new light fixture so you can perform
your magical gifts in the bright light.” She cleared her throat.
“In light of the recent news, a smudging ceremony will be held at
dusk at the Gathering Rock. There will be an impromptu village
meeting following. All need to attend.”

I pointed to the sky above me and
continued to push with the other hand. “Did you hear that?” I
questioned Izzy.

Her hair was flinging side to side as
she bore down on the door handle to keep me out. “Hear
what?”

“
Let me back in.” I
grunted.

“
June, I’m busy
today.”

“
Did you hear the
announcement about the smudging ceremony from the paper?” And by
paper, I meant Faith.

“
Oh, no. I don’t
subscribe.” When I let my guard down, the door slammed in my face,
I could hear the clink of the deadbolts locking one-by-one down the
door, followed by the clacking of Izzy’s shoes.

Yes, there was a storm brewing. And
I’m not fully convinced it all had to do with Belur.

“
Shouldn’t you be
working?” I turned around to find Petunia questioning me. She had a
long stick with a wire hoop on the end of it. Her soft brown hair
sat atop her head in a messy knot. A few feathers that stuck out
reminded me of Kenny.

“
I am.” I bit my lip.
“Sort of. Listen, I’m doing that smudging ceremony tonight and I
was wondering if you knew how I can get in touch with Kenny, the
guy who brings my bundles to me.”

Just then, the big ostrich ran across
the road and back toward Petunia’s shop, Glorybee.

Petunia darted off, shouting behind
her, “Damn thing! He continues to get loose and I’m going to have
to pluck him! And no! I don’t know how to get a hold of him. Ask
Izzy!”

“
I did.” I ran behind her
toward the Whispering Falls sheriff’s department, holding my arms
straight out just in case I got lucky and got a handful of
feathers. “I need one of those feathers!”

We had the ostrich pinned between us
and the sheriff’s door was behind him.

“
Do not look at his beady
little eyes,” Petunia’s hands were out as she stood inches from the
bird, ready to pounce. Slowly, she swayed back and forth as if she
was about to launch, but I knew it was now or never.

I leapt toward the feisty bird,
grabbing a whole lot of nothing and falling to the ground. The bird
took off and Petunia jumped over me.

“
What did you do that
for?” She screamed, as she twirled the big stick over her head,
trying to rope him like a bull-roper would rope a bull.

The ostrich and Petunia show was much
more fun to watch as she swung her stick in the air, hoping to get
the metal loop around the big bird’s neck, but to no avail. The
bird did a couple quick side-steps and Petunia lost him.

“
What was that?” a voice
asked behind me.

I jumped up as Patience Karima scared
the living crap out of me. There was a deep-set curiosity in her
eyes.

“
It’s one of those stray
animals that the paper had reported. Somehow, we are getting an
abundance of strange animals, including that ostrich.” Off in the
distance, we could see Petunia flailing the stick in the air as
soon as she was close enough to wrestle the feathery creature. He
was much quicker than she was.

Petunia darted to the left; the
ostrich darted to the right. Petunia’s messy up-do began to fall. A
Blue jay flew right out of her hair, leaving a trail of twigs to
follow.

Petunia plopped on the ground as if
she had given up. The ostrich stopped, focusing his beady eyes on
her as though they were playing a game. His feathers gleamed in the
sunlight, dancing in the wind, teasing me as if someone was eating
a Ding Dong in front of me and didn’t offer me one.

“
I see that you have a
fresh soul to bury.” I said to Patience as I pointed toward the
hill at the end of Main Street where Two Sisters and a Funeral was
located.

The spiritual world believed that if
you kept your dead on the outskirts of the town, it would send
their souls out into the world and not into the village to be stuck
in the in-between. Petunia was all too familiar with the in-between
souls, as they come back as animals. But not these strays. They
were plan ole animals that apparently showed up
overnight.

“
Mmhmm.” Patience was
aloof. “Constance wants me to go to A Cleansing Spirit Spa to get
some natural nail polish. He has a lot of tobacco stains that we
can’t seem to get clean. He was a tobacco farmer. So, best we can
do is cover it up.”

“
He obviously isn’t
local.”

“
Naw.” She shifted her
plump hips to the right, leaning a little closer. “It’s only a one
person viewing. That’s it. No funeral. Nothing. They didn’t have a
lot of money, but we are desperate. We jumped at it since you’ve
been taking all the business.”

“
Now listen here,” I shook
my finger in front of her face. “I didn’t do any such
thing.”

“
Patience!” Constance
called out from the front entrance of The Gathering Grove Tea
Shoppe and tapped a finger on her nails. Her eyes lowered, giving
me a glare to remember. “The polish!”

Patience didn’t need to hear anymore.
She scurried off without another word and Constance disappeared
back inside The Gathering Grove.

“
Why aren’t you working?”
Oscar Park sauntered out of the police station looking mighty
handsome in his blue Whispering Falls sheriff uniform, his sorcery
wand sticking out from the baton holster. His crystal blue eyes
clung to mine. He had two cups of coffee, one in each hand. “I got
you a coffee and stopped by to give it to you.”

I took it along with a
kiss.

“
You aren’t going to
believe, the strangest thing happened,” I took a sip, “but I can’t
talk about it now. Not only do I have to get ready for the smudging
ceremony, I have to find out how I can get in touch with
Kenny.”

“
Who’s Kenny?” Oscar
asked, showing a little bit of his jealous side. Which I didn’t
mind because it was kinda of cute on him.

“
He’s that Native American
who delivers all of my bundles. You know,” I waved my hand in the
air, “the one who blows in with the wind and out with the
breeze.”

“
Vaguely.” He smiled. I
looked away in a desperate attempt to resist the captivating grin.
There was no time to play boyfriend, girlfriend. I had to get Belur
out of Whispering Falls and fast. “I can see other things are on
your mind. I will see you later tonight.”

He nodded toward A Charming Cure. I
glanced over. There was already a line six customers deep. Trying
to find Belur’s real owner was going to have to wait until after
work…after the smudging ceremony.

Chapter Seven

A Charming Cure was busy. As soon as
one customer left, another customer walked through the door. One
after the other, they filed in, picking up the bottles, reading the
labels and placing them back on the table.

They seemed to know what they wanted
and my intuition didn’t go off like an alarm, which told me that
everyone was in tune with their souls and real needs. That made a
good day for me.

Every once in a while, I’d glance out
the shop’s front windows to see if Mr. Prince Charming was anywhere
around, but I didn’t see a flitter of a white tail anywhere. He
knew I would pester him about the new pendent charm, and I
will.

With a little time between each
customer, I had to make a potion for Faith. I had a lot of concern
over her lack of accuracy in her spiritual readings from her gift
of clairaudience. Since I encouraged the Mortimers to move to
Whispering Falls, I felt somewhat responsible for them, especially
Faith. I felt a little pressure to make sure she started getting
her readings as accurate as possible. Especially if she was going
to have the whole community up in arms.