he is occupied, I’m being led by Cybelle still holding Mindy.
“Girl,” she says, “what are the chances that someone from a dream shows up! And here in our place of business!”
“You know?” I say to her, and then I tell her about the two incidents with the book on the shelf.
“Really?” she says. “Hmm, let’s find out more about our visitor.”
We both walk together. We hear one of the two women speaking to him and asking questions. He tells them, yes, his family was originally from the Solomon Islands from the city of Auki, and that his family moved to the United States, and they became citizens in 1969, and that he was born here. That he attended Morehouse College but then transferred to New York State College to become a detective. He tells them that he lives in the woods outside of Brisbane.
Serena calls to him to pick up his order, and he pays and picks up the bag and coffee, and he turns to leave. We meet each other’s gaze. He nods to me and Cybelle and says goodbye to the two women, and he leaves.
Cybelle, Serena, joined by Tom, look out the door as he gets in his car, and then they turn and look at me. The two ladies are at the back part of the library now.
Cybelle says, “Looks to me, there are going to be more of your dream than meets the eye! And he looked at you more attentively than the other women who were here. Plus, he said he lives outside of Brisbane in the woods, the cabin.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “And that his family was originally from the Solomon Island from which the book on that subject fell twice from the shelf and opened to the same page.”
“Uh-oh, this is going to be interesting!” Serena adds, “I definitely would like to see how it develops.”
“Really!” says Tom in agreement and gives me a wink.
They all laugh. Then the talk shifts more toward the pre-Mabon event at the Mason Mansion.
The Mason Mansion is a place where the local pagans or any group can meet. It is a safe and quiet place and the perfect place for the witch’s ball at Halloween. But for now, this event will start up all celebrations after it. It is a very fancy dinner event and is a time for dressing up in your finest clothes. With dinner and dancing and prizes and if you wanted to speak at that event, it would be a great window of opportunity. But you have to prove you know what you are talking about, if not, the folk attending there will eat you alive so to speak. Plus, uplifting company is always attractive. Also, I must get a new outfit, and the best place to shop for that is Janette’s Consignment store.
The next few days, invitation mail and e-mails of the event came.
Tom is gathering notes for the event. He finds a spot and gets a room there.
Very good, I thought.
Serena is trying to decide whether she should go to her hairdresser or do it herself or if she wanted to have her hair long and straight or curly.
My brother, Keith, drops by and is added to the excitement. I laugh as my brother and his wife are arguing about his having to wear a tie. He hates ties.
All the while looking at us crazy humans are our cats, if only they could talk.
In my mind, I know what I want—a blue dress, royal blue if I could find it. Also, my thoughts are on the event and a plan for a quick escape via Dresden, I will have to have him wrapped in a cape. Might be hard for me to explain carrying around a broom. Or maybe I can say he is part of my ensemble. No, I will keep it hid. I love those events, but after a couple of hours, I am usually ready for home. And a quick flight out of there is in order.
My mind wonders on the detective, wishing he could be there, but that is just impossible. He is not a pagan or witch, so he would not be at such an event. Thinking about him makes me warm in the face, and my heart flutters in excitement at the thought of him. I shake it off, saying, “How silly of me.” I sigh, but I know I will be around good food and company.
Later on that night, two creatures of the night and myself take a flight on my broom. It is partly cloudy with the moon in waning gibbous. The stars are bright and not a soul out. Jade and Triton are relaxing in the basket, looking and enjoying the view. I relax also, enjoying the gentle breezes and being thankful for this quiet moment. We go flying over dark woods. I lower the broom and see our reflection over a very calm Lake Poe. To me, there is no greater joy and peace for this witch could ever have. I thank the one who gave me this gift of flight. I maneuver my broom to the right, and down I stop at the road and look both ways. No traffic coming. We head toward the suburbs and over roofs then through the alley. My backyard has tall trees, so I fly over the gate and down flying over one of my trees whose limb is laying down. And we gently land to the ground. I carry the cats to the porch.
I speak to the house, “We are home.”
The door opens. We all step into the house. The door promptly locks. I get my two charges their snacks for tonight. So while they are occupied with that and the litter box, I get things ready for tomorrow and for bed. I do my last inspection. I call out to secure and lock down the house. And walls and shields appear with yellow glowing sigils of protection, and the sounds of locks clicking can be heard. I walk to the bedroom with the kitties running and jumping on the bed to get to their favorite spots. I turn on the alarm and out with the lights. To sleep and dream and, boy, do the dreams come.
* * * * *
All right, Ned, I am going to need for you to calm down! I saw her! The woman in my dreams today! Who would have ever thought that would happen? She is even lovelier in person, and I can’t believe I was too nervous to even speak to her. But now she is real and not just in my dreams. What to do now? And how do I approach her? I can’t just walk up and say, “Hi, my name is Ned, and I have seen you in my dreams. Thought it would be nice for us to have a conversation?” Nope. But she was lovely with those brown eyes and, and smooth warm cinnamon skin and long wild jet-black hair. And she seems to like cats too. I saw her petting one. That’s great since I have a cat of my own. So tired of dating women who are afraid of cats or hate them or any kind of animal for that matter. Would like someone more nature loving. Plus, those dreams of her are hard to forget.
Each time I see her in my dreams, the wind is either blowing gently or they become a strong gale. Sometimes tornadoes and whirlwinds are in the background behind her. Or other creatures such as butterflies, moths, and dragonflies fly around her. Birds of all kinds and then there are cardinals. Always the cardinals. Sometimes I only see their feathers falling, but they are always nearby or right in front of me. The ones in my daily life like visit my bird feeders more and more. I have never seen so many! At other times, she and I are running, being chased by dark ones with cardinals flying ahead of us. There are loud booming noises, and we are running to my car. And why do I keep seeing a door? She and I are looking at it. And I see two angry cats, and they are at the door as well.
Strangely in my dreams, the cardinals have human speech asking for help and for me to find them and save them. They cry for justice, haunting me. I know all this has to be tied to the case I am working on. Then there are faces, grim faces in the dark and graves. And when I am not dreaming of cardinals, I dream of her, that lovely hair and dresses always blowing in the wind or when she is with me.
In a quiet place in my cabin, I am holding her close, or she is either standing at my door smiling. Sometimes she is lying next to me in a loving embrace or sitting on me, wearing nothing but a large black hat. I see fire burning in her eyes with a smile on her face that makes my body tense with joy. I see her walking around my cabin. Enjoying the wind blowing, but sometimes, I see her on a porch that I don’t recognize all in my
