Witch Clan: Matriarchs, John Stormm [great reads txt] 📗

Paying quickly at a cashiers desk, out of sight of the soda fountain, she slipped back up to the counter with the kids. Palming three dollars to Leona, she gave her the directions to the ladies room along with a conspiratory wink and her granddaughter did some quick shopping of her own. They had a splendid afternoon together. Shopping done with Johnny none the wiser, they caught a city bus and got off down the block from her home. Willard had gotten something and was busting at the seams to show her what it was. He had splurged and bought Johnny a Handy Andy Tool Kit complete with a wooden tool box. It had a selection of real, metal, child sized tools. A claw hammer, a ball peen hammer, a saw, pliers, crescent wrenches, t-square, level, tape measure, screwdrivers and the works. Remembering Johnny's craftiness making the little piskie broadsword with a nail and a rock, she gave her approval. This might be his best gift yet. She could imagine the projects Willard and his grandson would begin in the back section of the yard where Johnny had his fort and Willard kept his saw horses. This would also open up some ladies time for her and Leona. This man just had a knack for doing things that complemented her efforts.

* * *

Johnny was not only surprised by his party, he was shocked that it was his birthday. He had absolutely no notion of time passing. He was overwhelmed at the attention he got. He didn’t seem to know if he should cry or do his little dance. She had to assure him that this wasn’t the kind of party where he got told someone would be leaving him, but reminded him that Leona was only here for the summer and would leave in a couple weeks to return again next summer. The backyard was filled with balloons, and tables set with punch, soda pop, cake and treats of all sorts.

Geraldine had brought her hoard of children and grandchildren, and they brought a record player and a stack of 45 rpm records. The older girls taught Johnny all the latest dances and he entertained them in return by mimicking their favorite artists. Leona had never met Negro children before and was a little taken aback at first. But the enthusiasm the Smith children brought with them was so infectious that by the second song, Leona was unabashedly in the thick of it all. Emma, Willard, Geraldine, her daughter Essie and old Ian, all sat in the shade of the pear tree and kept cool with lemonade and paper fans.

“I used to cut quite a rug in my day,” Ian remarked to the children's dancing.

“I’ll just bet you did,” Geraldine said. “But tell me. If the mens in your country wear dresses like that, whats the womens wear?”

“Why, they wear longer dresses, of course,” Ian said with mock indignation and they all laughed.

Emma called everybody forward to the tables and she opened Johnny's cards and read them to him. Old Ian's card held a hefty silver dollar, which was downright extravagant for the frugal Scotsman. To Johnny, this was a treasure piece like the "pieces of eight" or a gold doubloon to be stored in his personal treasure crock. He hugged the stoic, elderly Scot with his usual, unbridled affection. Was that a tear at the corner of those wizened blue eyes?

Leona's gift consisted of a composition book for his craft notes, his name written in runes on the cover. As he went to hug her, she discreetly made their "witches honor" sign so he knew what kind of notes went in there. Included in the box were a coloring book, some colored pencils and a box of crayons.

"What kind of writing is this?" Geraldine asked, examining his notebook. Ian squinted at Johnny's notebook a moment and then his eyes widened in recognition.

"I've not seen the likes of these since I was a wee lad back in the Orkneys," he said. "These are called runes, the ancient writing of the Celtic people. How does such a bonnie lass come by the knowledge of these?"

"I'm learning our ancient history in private school, Uncle Scotty," Leona said proudly.

"Ye do us well, lass," Ian said with a smile. "It must be a fine school, indeed. I had thought that such things would become lost to time before my days ended. Which won't be anytime too soon as dying is far too expensive these days."

"If you wait another fifty years," Essie said with a laugh, "you can probably take advantage of a turn of the century grave clearance and get yourself a real bargain."

"Aye, lass." Ian winked. "Now that would be worth waiting for. I guess I‘ll get comfortable as I will be here a while."

Johnny was thrilled with his gun and holster set. Willard went inside and grabbed Johnny’s cowboy hat and put it on him as he buckled on his gun belt and tied down his holster like a wild, west gunslinger. His little fingers were too small to properly twirl his cap guns, but his hands were lightning fast as he snatched both guns before they could hit the ground when they flew out of his grip trying to twirl them. The crowd “ooohed” appreciatively as he holstered his guns and tucked his thumbs in his belt proudly for pictures. The finishing touch to the presents was Willard’s tool set. The boy’s eyes lit up and a million potential projects seemed to cross his mind in the moments he examined these.

"Take care of those, boyo," Willard said, "and tomorrow I'll show you how to use them out in our work area." He nodded past the back hedge row.

There was a little reluctance to not start a project right now, but the rock and roll was playing and a small sea of happy brown faces were moving to its rhythm and little Johnny’s pagan soul just had to dance its joy of living to the cosmos.

Somehow, in all this modern rock and roll, a mix of a particularly heathen drumbeat was playing and the six year old imp began leaping and whirling in a circle as the other children watched and then joined in. Stepping along the circle with the rhythm, they stomped their feet, shook their shoulders, wiggled their fannies and resumed the circle dance. None of the children were watching Johnny now, but all of them were caught up in the dance as if they had done it all their lives.

“Where do you suppose he learned a thing like that?” Willard asked.

“Why, all the kids are doing it these days,” she replied and hugged him.


Ouch!

The third weekend in August came all too soon. Along with it came Evelyn and Ralph, who came for Leona. They had a long drive back to Cleveland and plenty of back-to-school shopping of their own to catch up on. Evelyn was thrilled to tell Emma how well things were going with her marriage these days and thanked her for her sage advice. She didn’t really credit herself for Evelyn’s epiphany at the start of summer. Her daughter had wanted to talk to her about marital problems, and as she discussed the relevance of the Threefold Law on an entirely different issue, the proverbial light bulb came on. It was delightful to see her daughter and Ralph acting like teenaged sweethearts again. Without hearing the whole story, at Leona’s request, Evelyn conveyed her pleasure with her daughter’s progress over the summer. It seems her daughter had been entertaining the notion that Leona might become the clan’s next matriarch in the years to come.

"Leona isn’t adept as Johnny," Emma told her daughter.

"Perhaps, but certainly there is no way he will be allowed to hold any position of power within the family. Leona, however, might just grow up to become quite the witch in her own right and likely the best choice for a future matriarch," Evelyn declared.

"We will just have to wait and see," Emma replied evasively.

It was hard to say goodbye for the school year, and Johnny was more than a little sad to see his cousin go. His Uncle Ralph shook his hand. His Aunt Evy patted his head and Leona hugged him fiercely, bussed him on the forehead and made him promise to keep some of her things for her until she returned next summer. He was trying hard not to cry, but he managed to hold two fingers below his eyes and nod a yes.

“We are witches of the blood,” she whispered to him, and he stood erect and proud as her father’s car pulled away from the house.

* * *

The school year began and Johnny was excited about his second year at Public School #14. He did well in his studies and Emma copied out his report cards to send to Lorry. She was due to have her second child some time in February and wrote regularly and was always sure to include a special letter for Johnny. He, in turn, would send his letter to his mother back with hers. A heavily edited version of the summer vacation was included in her letters to California.

By Christmas time, the letters Emma dreaded most to see, had arrived. Lorry and Dave were doing fine and had just moved into their own house in Riverside. The area was experiencing an economic boom and houses were popping up everywhere like weeds. The new house was a