The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry

There’s a little white house down the street from us. It sits back off the road a little further than the rest of the houses, nestled among a riot of rose bushes.

The roses bushes around other houses are tidy and ordered, their blooms somehow know the perfect place to position themselves and lend a royal effect to the gardens, but the rose bushes around the little white house are irreverent and wild, the canes arching in unpredictable directions and the blooms defy any order at all.

I walk Lucy down past the little white house all the time. Like Mrs. Shunners house, there are never any signs of life, but, unlike Mrs. Shunners house, it has a welcoming aura about it, even with the masses of thorny rose bushes all around it.

This morning I grabbed the leash and headed out the door with Lucy (she gets so excited).  I let Lucy take the lead, she has a predictable path that she likes to take when we go for a walk: past Mrs. Shunners house, down the street past the little white house, around the corner at the gigantic elm tree. We make a large circle, cutting through the block using an ally half way down the street.

I always hesitate at the border between our house and Mrs. Shunners. The emerald guard placed protection charms in the flower bed to keep our property safely hidden from Mrs. Shunners prying eyes and I feel a slight tug when I break the energy field as I cross over the invisible line of safety.

A cold shiver ran down my spine  as we passed the little blue house. I know what the inside of that house is like, and every time I pass it, it feels like it is calling to me, trying to pull me back into its evil interior.

My head felt like it was swimming in a gray fog and the sunlight began to fade. “Lucy, wait, I have to sit down for a minute”. I started to sit on the front steps of the house to regain my balance but Lucy tugged insistently on her leash, staring at the front windows and growling softly under her breath. Feeling unsteady on my feet, I let her pull me quickly past and continued down the street.

As soon as we got past the far boundary of the house, all the fogginess disappeared. I glanced quickly around at the front door to make sure that no one was following and tried to shake off the gloom that had draped itself over me. When I was satisfied we were beyond Mrs. Shunners reach, I turned my attention back to Lucy and our walk.

I hadn’t realized it but we had crossed to the other side of the street and were standing right in front of the little white house with the unkempt roses. A petite woman with bright white hair was standing in the driveway, smiling at me.

She was wearing a straw hat with a large floppy brim that shaded the sun from her eyes, she was holding a silver goblet in both hands. She held one out to me as we got closer. “You look like you could do with a nice cold glass of  lemonade.” She smiled at me again and gave the cup a shake. “Come dear, it will do you good.” She had a familiar aura about her and I somehow knew she was a good person, so I took the cup. “Thank you, I guess I do feel a little lightheaded.”

She turned her attention to Mrs. Shunners house up the street and a shadow crossed her face. Her bright green eyes smoldered black , just for a moment, then she smiled at me again. “Come, sit down with me in the shade until you finish your drink.”

She lead me to a little table under an Oak tree. Lucy sat at my feet, contentedly watching a robin hopping in the grass as it looked for worms. Sipping  at my lemonade, I watched the little woman across from me and wondered again why she felt so familiar. “I don’t think I have ever seen you before, have you lived here long?”

Her smile gave her face a timeless quality and it was hard for me to tell exactly how old she was. She looked like she was thoroughly enjoying my company. “Oh yes dear, I have lived here for quite a while. I usually keep to myself, I’m rather a private person you see.”

“Oh, I can understand that! Life can get hectic sometimes…”  Before I could continue, two streaks of color shot past my head and stopped just behind my new friend. Arial and Cythia hovered over her head with their feet almost touching her hair, nervous looks on their tiny faces.

My mouth dropped open as I watched them. Without looking, the little woman reached up and patted her hair. I could swear that she flipped her fingers in a nonchalant way, indicating that the two faeries should shoo. She saw the look on my face. “What is it dear?” I tried to regain control of my dangling mouth. Was it my imagination, or did she know that they were there?

I quickly drain the last of the lemonade and stood up. “Thank you for the lemonade, you have been so very kind, but I really must be getting back now.” It sounded to me like I was stammering. The two faeries refused to leave, they kept hovering nervously over us and I felt like I had to rush off, if for no other reason than to keep this sweet woman from noticing their presence.

“Oh, alright. I hope I haven’t offended.” She stood in the shade, wringing her hands together. Arial and Cythia were frantically swinging around my head in an attempt to get me to go home. I turned back, I couldn’t leave this sweet little lady thinking that she had done anything wrong.

I took her hands in mine. “No!, not at all! Oh please don’t think anything like that. I am so glad you were here, your company was just the thing I needed, and that drink, I don’t know how you make your lemonade, but I feel wonderful! Would it be alright if I came by another visit?”

The worry left her face and she smiled as she hugged me. “Please drop by any time dear. I understand, you run along now. You young people are always on the go.”

I started up the street with the two faeries flitting around my head and realized that I didn’t know her name. I turned back one more time, the faeries gave loud heavy sighs of frustration. “I don’t know what to call you.”

“You can just call me Lilly.” She smiled and waved goodbye. As I started up the street, I heard a loud pop and when I looked back, she was gone.

I walked Lucy up the street on the opposite side, across from the Shunners house.

© Tami Ruesch, The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry, 2009.