Chapter 21 #2
Tilly laughed, the sound garbled against her folded arms. She popped her dark head up and her red glasses were askew."I just realized baby racoons are called kittens which you can't say."
"They're actually called kits," Eloise replied having done as much research on raccoons as her aching head would allow. "Can I have more of the magic tonic?"
"More won't work faster," Ursula said. "And we probably should be careful with the word magic."
"Right. Because Carol Willoughby is a snoopy crone who we should have hexed," Jen bemoaned.
"Isn't her name Carol Weatherby?" Tilly asked with scrunched eyes.
"Yeah, but my feelings toward her right now mimic how I felt when Kelsea made me watch Sense and Sensibility."
Kelsea chuckled and then made a face that said she regretted the sound.
"I will appropriately praise you for that Austen reference later," Eloise said into the countertop smooshed into her face.
Just then Crystal breezed in. Breezed. Like a light wind. The hungover women watched her with varying looks of awe and Ursula handed her a cup of tea.
"Now, we have quite a pickle on our hands," Crystal said. "Those pictures of us last night are rather damning."
"Yeah, but they were taken illegally," Jen pointed out. Small plates were given to everyone with the coffee cake as well as mugs of coffee that Bess was pouring.
"When did you get here?" Eloise asked looking at the teenager in surprise and a little trepidation as she and the teen had yet to work out Eloise's club bathroom loose-lipped betrayal.
"Between a dreamy detective dropping you both off, and introductions to pregnant Lady Macbeth." Her smile was tentative, a little tight, but it gave her hope.
"Really," Tilly replied in awe. "You've been here this whole time?"
"Mhmm. And I made the coffee extra strong. You may be town pariahs, but even pariahs need good coffee," Bess said and gave Eloise a look.
Eloise raised her eyebrows in question and Bess smiled the slightest in answer. They were going to be okay. Maybe not right now, but they would figure it out.
"Though illegally the pictures may have been taken, that doesn't matter in the court of public opinion and no one knows who took them," Crystal brought them back to the matter at hand.
"We're never going to be able to set foot in town again," Ursula said.
"Do you think we can have Michelle's croissants delivered?" Eloise asked in panic.
"I'll bring them," Bess offered. "But you should also probably stay away from The Black Cat for a while.
We've already had a few customers say they may not continue to support the shop until Shellee comes back.
" Her usually perturbed face had a look of discomfort and regret and Eloise nodded in agreement, a sadness sweeping inside of her.
Then her discomfort slid into a calculating smile as she lifted the hand not pouring coffee into the air with her purple-painted middle finger sticking out. "Or I say, fu-"
The rest of Bess's words were garbled into Ursula's hand. Bess mumbled an apology before Ursula shook her head and let her go.
Eloise watched it all, her heart floating.
There was her best friend mothering an amazing teenage girl.
A teenage girl who would turn into a woman and then one day she would be in her late thirties maybe with kids of her own or not, but she would have people in her life that she loved well and part of that was because of Ursula loving her well.
Then a thought hit her. "Hey, did anyone else have a weird dream?"
"Ohmygosh, a lady in white?" Tilly asked.
Her glasses were still crooked and her hair was matted on one side which was completely emerald green.
One half of her hair was a black sheet, no longer with violet ends, and the other half of her hair was dyed and looked like a curtain of dark green vines that were currently tangled together.
"Did you dye your hair?" Kelsea asked and all the women studied Tilly who reached up to touch her nest of a hair.
She had a confused look on her face that morphed into a look of understandinge when her eyes connected with Jen who also had the same thought process."We hexed it green!" they both said at the same time.
Laughter spilled out of the women as Ursula stood behind where Tilly sat and helped brush out the knots and Jen pulled out a compact from her bag.
Thanks to Ursula's garden tonic, they were all feeling better. Heads were no longer pounding and stomachs were no longer threatening to upset. Still, their bodies felt fragile and their insides bruised, but the worst was over.
"Okay, back to the dream. Lady in white. Chanting. What was that?" Eloise asked. "And she was vaguely familiar."
"I thought it was just a creepy dream with weird melted faces," Kelsea said as she ate her coffee cake.
"Oh yeah, the melted faces. Was that supposed to be us?" Ursula asked.
"One of the faces looked regal as hell, so yeah." Jen drank her coffee and sighed. "Bess, you are an angel. Thank you."
Bess smiled as she sat next to Eloise, still tentative, but the sweet moment was not lost on her. Lady Macbeth got up on her back legs and lifted her arms in the air.
"Could you pick her up? I don't think I should bend yet," she whispered to Bess who scooped up the raccoon and placed her in Eloise's lap.
She snuggled into Eloise like she was a human beanbag chair facing the women sitting around like she wanted in on the conversation.
When her little raccoon hand reached for the coffee cake in front of Eloise, she swatted it away gently.
"What do you think it means?"
"Does my hair look terrible?" Tilly asked running a hand over the green side, which was wavy instead of a tangled mess thanks to Ursula's nurturing.
"Honestly?" Jen asked. Tilly nodded with fear in her eyes. "It looks fucking fabulous."
"Why can Jen cuss?" Bess's question made Ursula roll her eyes.
Jen raised her eyebrows and said, "Because I pay taxes."
"Preach."
"Hey, I pay taxes from working at The Black Cat," Bess argued.
"Baby, do not take this the wrong way because I want you to stay young and bothered by other, more important things, but you pay taxes in the same way that men in the fifties did housework."
Bess screwed her mouth to the side and sighed as Ursula wrapped an arm around the teenager kissing the top of her head with a laugh.
"Hey, I don't know about you ladies, but I don't want to hide," Eloise interrupted, looking at the newest article on her phone.
There was one grainy black and white picture of women with raised arms, and what they knew would be bundled sage in their hands, the smoke white against the black backdrop of the forest. "I know the court of public opinion is weighty, but we have done nothing wrong.
Someone is setting us up, and hiding from the town.
I'm not going down for them." She shook her head and looked up into all eyes looking at her intently.
"What do you have in mind?" Jen asked.
"Town hall meeting," Tilly said. "Tonight. Let's go, show the town that we are here and we're not a threat or backing down."
"Yeah," Kelsea and Jen agreed.
"I like it," Ursula wiggled her eyebrows. "I've never been to a town hall."
"They're fairly boring, and it would absolutely make a statement. But can we take a nap and read all day and not make any sudden movements to gear up for it?" Jen pleaded.
"Ohmygosh yes," Eloise said, slumping to the island. "Let's take care of these old busy bodies then get ourselves ready and meet up for dinner?"
"Town hall is at seven."
Everyone agreed and separated to sink into their days full of warm tea, reading and naps. Some took bubble baths and others took slow walks in the sunshine. They regenerated from the night before and then got ready for a night out to show the town they were there to stay.
Town halls in Salem were, to Jen's point, typically a boring affair.
Held in the library after hours, ladder back chairs set up on the first floor to accommodate the usual fifty people who always made room in their schedule.
Six women walked tall, side-by-side, to the door where Kathy Redding was handing out the evening's itinerary.
She slowly looked them up and down, holding the stack of paper firmly to her chest.
"Hello Kathy. Lovely to see you," Crystal said with a gentle smile.
Kathy's responding frown and narrowed eyes let them know what she thought. Anyone was welcome here, and as they were all residents she couldn't turn them away. But she did lift her chin and in a small defiance said, "No cats allowed. Or raccoons," she added, her frown deepening.
Eloise put two biscuits on the ground underneath one of the red benches for the creatures.
Lady Macbeth had been in her life for less than a full day and the raccoon had already become attached to her.
She'd spent part of that day napping on the back patio with a large, floppy hat on and a blanket tucked in around her legs.
Lady had curled up where Eloise's legs had rested on another chair, and when she woke some time later, with her skin deliciously warmed by the sun and the smell of buttercups blooming, she smiled when she saw the pregnant racoon asleep at her feet with one, black hand gripping her toes.
She hesitated leaving Lady Macbeth but then Sulphur curled up and Lady followed suit, understanding which animal was in charge.
Kathy clutched her cross necklace and passed them each a paper reluctantly, trying her hardest not to touch any of them.
"We're not vampires, Kathy," Jen said pointing to where the woman was holding dear her necklace.
"Though if I ever meet one, I will be sure to introduce you," Tilly teased.
Kathy stared wide-eyed at them as Eloise lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers toward Kathy drawing a gasp from the woman. Ursula bumped her shoulder, whispering to their small group, "Was that necessary?"
"Yes," Jen whispered back.
"Good point," she replied with a half-smirk.