Gertie's Choice (6 page)

“Not really. I was sitting
on the bench and noticing young men in a sort of uniform walking
into the building across the street, girls too, only they were not
wearing uniforms. I walked over to look into the
window….”

“Why would you do
that?”

“I wanted to see what was
going on in there and I could hear this music every time someone
opened the door to that building. I was looking in the window, or
trying to, when John came out and invited me in, so I
went!”

“I see. What did you tell
your young man friend about yourself?”

“Nothing beyond my name, I
mean it too! I was so busy looking at everyone and trying to figure
out what was going on, that I mostly let him talk. It was hard to
hear over all that loud talking and music and dancing and smoke.
When he left the room to use the water shed, I left.”

Janet let out a sizable
breath. “I guess no harm was done, but you stay away from that
place and places like it. It sounds like the Alehouses they had in
the old country and you know how men act when they get a bit of an
ale pint in their guts. Ashton will meet the trucks tomorrow, you
can stay here.” Janet said holding out her hand for the ruby
ring.

Gertie handed over the
ring and said “You were much more fun in the old country, your
attitude seems to have changed along with your name. Why do you
think that is?” Gertie asked. There you were second cousin to the
king, here you act as though you were the queen!”

“Hugo is growing up and
one has to be responsible. Besides, going through the transition
has changed me. I have aged and do notice that Luna and Thelma seem
to have aged more rapidly than I would have expected them to as
well. You, however, have remained young and beautiful. Your
daughter’s birth delayed so long. There have been so many changes
and we do not know what the future will bring to any of us. We must
be mindful of that, Gertie. You can’t be talking so much to people
on the other side of the mountain. What if your young man would
have followed you back to the mountain today?”

“He didn’t. I told you! I
left when he left the room. I had a good head start and I walked
with purpose. No one saw me.”

“Still, I think it wise
that you stay close to home and watch the children until all of the
work is done across the hill. We can’t have anyone recognizing you
that is on the work crew.”

“So what if they do? Just
give them more coffee!”

They heard a banging on the
front door and they jumped up to go investigate. “Hugo!” His mother
said. “I don’t understand why you continue to be in animal
form.”

“It just seems easier for
me this way. I suppose you should have made sure that I was my
regular self before we went through the lightening tunnels and
landed here.” Hugo said.

“I guess maybe it is my
fault, son, but you could try harder too.”

“It is fun being like
this. I can run faster and not have to put on the clothes that the
people here wear. It all seems so confining. Besides, Luna and
Thelma like riding on my back, it is fun for all of us.”

Gertie and Janet just
rolled their eyes at each other.

Chapter 9

Gertie fully intended to
cajole Cindy and Ashton into letting her go with them to the
Sometimes Pass to meet the trucks with supplies. However, she woke
up too late. Ophelia had been very needy the night before and
Gertie had not slept well. When she did sleep, she found herself
dreaming of the tall man named John and of how much she wanted to
dance with him. He had asked her to, but that would entail him
putting his arms around her and that scared Gertie very much. She
wanted so much to go back over the hill and through the mountain
cave pass, back to the town where he was.

She was playing with
Ophelia in front of the fireplace later that day when Thelma and
Luna walked into the room. Gertie looked at them and then realized
what was so different about them. Both girls had grown and aged
seemingly overnight. Poor Luna, her backside was even larger now.
Gertie said a silent apology to her sister.

“Taste this, Aunt Gertie.”
Thelma said, holding out a cup of coffee. Although their special
brand of coffee worked on the minds of the mortals, they all knew
that to those like themselves it was just a very delicious
drink.

Gertie tasted it and her
eyes lit up. “Thelma! This coffee is fantastic! What did you do to
it?”

“She put chocolate into
it.” Luna said, thinking she was telling on her sister.

“Then we must always put
chocolate in it from now on.” Gertie said. “I have never tasted
anything so wonderful in my entire lifetime!”

“Yea, and you are old!”
Thelma said.

“I am very old, but not too
old to take a stick to your backside.” Gertie said.

Luna laughed and told her
aunt that Thelma deserved it. Thelma said to her sister “Aunt
Gertie would have to take an entire tree trunk to your backside,
Luna!”

“Girls, stop it. You are
sisters, you should always get along.” Gertie said, the irony of
what she was saying was not lost on her. If she could only be as
lucky to have her own sister Ophelia here with her she would treat
her much better than she had in the forest.

They heard a noise outside
and the four of them went onto the large wraparound porch. There
were three wagons, each full and each pulled by a miniature pony.
As they watched, two of the ponies turned into human
form.

“Cindy, Ashton! In pony
form again, how were you able to do that?” Gertie asked.

“It is not so hard, we
only recently thought to change forms again like we had when we
left the old country. It saves us much work when we can pull the
wagons in this form and an added plus is that when the men were
helping Janet load them up, we could listen to what they were
saying when they did not know we were listening.

“What did they say that was
so interesting?” Thelma wanted to know.

“Well, nothing that I could
understand really, but that does not mean that they never
will.”

All of them began carrying
the supplies into the big house and the overload was taken to the
less grand house that had been built just down a short path behind
the larger house. This took them quite a while as the wagons were
fully loaded.

“Oh, I did hear one thing
you might be interested in, Gertie.” Cindy said. “They were saying
how they would be finished with the building in town that would be
your Spa building soon. Apparently, they even have the swimming
pool in and all of the rooms are going to be carpeted today, it
will be opened soon. That should be good news to your ears.” Cindy
said.

“It is.” Gertie
agreed.

“Can I ask you a question,
Aunt Gertie?” Luna inquired.

“Of course, what is
it?”

“If we are not supposed to
let people know about this place, why are you making so many
buildings that will need many people to take care of them?” Luna
asked.

“A very good question,
Luna. Across the lake and over the hill is a vast amount of land
that we are developing into a Village. We call it Enchanted. The
Village will continue to grow, we will even have a school there. A
select group of people will come into and out of the Village over
the years. The Village will be open to anyone when it is finished,
to anyone coming through the Sometimes Pass for a number of years.
This will help us replenish our funds. No one will be able to see
over the hill, there will be no way for anyone to get to this side
of the hill and lake. Then, some will stay, some will leave us, but
everyone who comes to Enchanted will have a need that we will
fulfill. Everyone has a purpose.”

“What is our purpose, Aunt
Gertie?” Thelma asked.

“You and your sister Luna
will eventually take over the entire Village of Enchanted. This
part here where we now live, has its charm and magical properties.
Only a very few outsiders will ever be allowed over the hill and
around these houses. Now, further into the woods behind the houses
is an area where no one will ever be allowed to visit,
ever.”

“Not even me and Luna and
Hugo and Ophelia?”

“Hugo and Janet will live
there and see to things there. But no one will visit
them.”

“What is there? What does
it look like, does it look like this place?” Luna wanted to
know.

“I can’t tell you, I have
not seen it myself even. But we have farms and crops and the
weather there will always be perfect to tend to our needs year
round. We grow the coffee beans there as well. It is a very sacred
place and must be protected. You cannot see it by land nor by air.”
Gertie said.

“What do you mean, by air,
Aunt Gertie?” Thelma asked.

“I heard the young people
talking in the town over the mountain. They have these machines
they call aircraft and people sit inside them and these aircrafts
can fly.”

Thelma and Luna laughed,
that was the funniest thing they had ever heard of. “You mean like
the birds, Aunt Gertie?”

“They do have wings. I
learned a lot today about stuff like that. They are able to carry
people and you can fly and get somewhere a long distance off much
quicker than you could ever walk, or go by motor vehicle, which is
something they also have. Aircraft can also be used to drop
bombs.”

“What is a
bomb?”

“A sort of fireball, I
believe. There are men who fight others and they use the bombs to
destroy their enemies.” Gertie said.

“Seems like it would cause
everything and everyone to catch on fire as well. Does not sound so
practical to me.” Thelma reasoned.

“I don’t know how that
works, really. There are many things in this new world that are
fascinating to me. Janet wants to keep us the way things have
always been. I want to learn more and do more and dance more.”
Gertie said.

“Will our mother and
father be able to fly an aircraft and come find us someday?” Luna
wondered out loud. Everyone looked sad and Gertie put her arm
around her. “I don’t know. None of us know what the future will
bring. Come on, Luna, let’s go help Thelma make up some more coffee
flavors.”

Chapter 10

Several days later when
Gertie woke up she was determined to find a way to see John again.
She did not understand why before they retired to their beds the
other night Janet told her not to fill Luna and Thelma’s heads with
talk of what was beyond the mountains. She had argued with Janet
and told her that they needed to know what was going on in the
world beyond the knowledge they had gained thus far. Janet had
argued the girls need to be protected and that talk of bombs and
flying machines only confused them. She wanted them to remain
untouched by the outside world.

Gertie knew that there was
to be another delivery today and that it would be Ashton and Cindy
who were going to the Sometimes Pass to meet them. Gertie put on
the bright red lipstick she had bought in town and paid special
attention to the clothes she picked out to wear.

Gertie took her daughter
with her when she went over the hill to check on the progress of
the Village of Enchanted. She was pleased to see that The Spa was
sufficiently finished for her to be able to stock her merchandise.
Janet had given her many paintings that she had created and Gertie
happily spent her morning hanging up pictures and putting the oils
and lotions on the shelf.

She was amazed at the
speed the Village was growing. There was a restaurant and a bakery
already completed and work had started on a school. Gertie did not
see the reason for all of it, however. Why make Enchanted look like
a modern Village if Janet was so opposed to learning the ways of
this new land? She knew it was all possible because of the gold and
gems that Janet had taken from the Palace of her second cousin, the
King, but did that give Janet the right to put herself in charge?
Gertie also knew that she could have just said a few words and
produced a bit of blue fog and done almost as well.

While Gertie and her
daughter were in The Spa, Gertie tested out her theory. She spun
and chanted and in no time her spa was covered in a bright red
paint and a flocked red wall paper. “Now it is done! “ She winked
to her daughter.

She and Ophelia walked to
the Sometimes Pass and they watched as the trucks made their exit.
Each of the drivers holding a large mug of coffee. She ran over to
where Cindy was standing.

“Cindy, I have to go back
into the town, could you take Ophelia back to the house? I should
be gone most of the day, so don’t worry about me.”

“Of course, but here, take
the ring, you will need it to get back.” Cindy answered, not
questioning Gertie’s words.

Gertie kissed her daughter
goodbye, promising to be back by the time she went to bed. Gertie
then called out to one of the last trucks leaving to ask if she
might get a ride into the town with him.

Gertie hoisted herself up
into the seat of one of the semi-trucks. “Thank you, sir, for the
ride. It is a pretty long walk into town, so I greatly appreciate
it.” She told the man.