Chapter 17
Mrs. Rising-Moon & the Fish Dinner
That next evening the sky was quickly turning dark when Maëlle, Paul and his father Bruno, made their way walking along the road from a day spent fishing at the nearby lake.
“Greeting,” the old woman called out to them standing just to the side of the road. She wore a man’s military jacket over an old torn pink satin cocktail dress. “Lord, have mercy, you all caught a load of fish!”
The first thing Maëlle noticed about the old woman was that she had a clairvoyant air about her.
The old woman didn’t wait for an acknowledgment as she walked directly toward Maëlle singling her out. “Young woman, might I have a word with you?”
Maëlle’s head jerked up in surprise when the old clairvoyant looking woman singled her out. She almost jumped out of her skin, at the sound of the soft sweet voice with a lilting southern drawl, that left an in indelibly imprint on the brain. She was sure that the old woman’s voice was surely capable of casting a spell.
“Menfolk have no need of my fortune telling,” the old woman said in her sweet voice, glancing at the men. “That we don’t,” Bruno said, reaching into his pocket and handling the old woman a twenty-dollar bill. “But I’m no fool about snubbing a fortune teller.”
“Thanks, mister. By the way my names Iona Daisy Rising-Moon,” she announced clutching the talisman she wore around her neck.
“Hello Mrs. Rising-Moon,” Bruno chuckled and touched Paul’s arm. “Come along Paul. Womenfolk want to talk in private.”
Maëlle didn’t know what possessed her to stand there and patiently wait, as Iona Daisy Rising-Moon watched until Bruno and Paul were out of earshot. Perhaps it was because the old woman looked like someone who had been born with natural clairvoyant powers and had strange eyes that seemed to look into your soul.
“Well, Mrs. Iona Daisy Rising-Moon, what is it that you want to tell me?” Maëlle curiously asked.
“My spirit rejoices to have been chosen to come to you. I saw you in my dream child,” Iona said.
The moment felt strange. A weird light began to rise around Ms. Moon and Maëlle felt her vision waver and her skin growing warm. Like a mist of blue light carried across the heavens, a scene like a dream appeared and quickly vanished into thin air.
Fighting disbelief and confusion Maëlle shook her head. She thought of all the supernatural tales she’d ever heard and known she must have been having an encounter all of her own. She glances at the old woman Ms. Moon and tried to focus on studying the old woman’s face. She resembled the face of wisdom, prophecy, and something else, Grand-mere Catherine. In shocked disbelief, Maëlle realized she was staring at the old woman’s face and she looked just like Lacey’s grandmother.
“Grand-mere Catherine,” Maëlle blurted out in shock surprise. “Do you have a message for me? Grand-mere Catherine?”
The old woman’s face nodded. “Yes, I have been called to warn you. There is a deceiver in your midst. Here you keep this somewhere close on your body. It will protect you,” she said, thrusting a small strange bag into her hands.
The air was electrifying and charged, and the moment felt strange.
The soft fabric bag in her hand felt like nothing she’d never felt before. Maëlle opened her palm and ran her fingers around it. The color was mesmerizing and unusual she thought as she stared back at it in awe. How could something so small protect her? She wondered.
Finally, she found her voice. “What is this going to protect me from?”
Her question was met with silence.
The old woman vanished.
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