LLOYD, PAUL R. (6 page)

“Shhh! Don’t tell anyone.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me. I’ve already
seen Ahlman Brown fly around like a faerie early in the morning.”

“He’s an angel. I’m finished, and
your plate is empty. Let’s head back.”

“Don’t you want dessert?”

“If you admire my legs the way they
are, don’t ever offer me dessert, okay?”

“Speaking of legs, didn’t you offer
a close up inspection back at your place?”

“Don’t get
fresh with me. I only mentioned a drink.”

***

Micah lay on his back in a field of
grass wet with dew. Stars shone above against a black sky. Feminine lips
tickled his right ear as a young girl’s voice whispered, “We’re going to turn
your world upside down.”

He awoke and headed for the
bathroom. He took care not to disturb Denise who snored and grunted on her side
of the bed. She had the covers pulled around herself and over her head to form
a cocoon.

When he returned to the bedroom, a
breeze rustled the curtains. Micah searched the darkness for a ghost in case
one didn’t want him spending the night with Denise Appleby.

As he stepped close to the bed,
Fritz raised his hackles and spit at him.

“Out of the way, cat. You’ll have
to learn to share your mistress.”

Fritz hissed again.

Micah ignored
the lump of blanket that contained Denise and shivered before falling back to
sleep. He didn’t know how long he had been out when he woke again. He glanced
around the dark room. Street light cast an eerie glow on the furnishings. In
the corner near a window, Micah detected movement. A shadow stepped into the light.
Ahlman Brown smiled. He flew out the window with his gossamer wings buzzing
like a freight train followed by whooshing wind.

***

Micah shook his head to clear it.
He placed his hand on the other side of the bed, but instead of Denise, he
found Fritz curled up asleep in the blankets.

“Morning, Fritz.” Micah dressed and
then navigated his way into the hall, down the stairs and to the kitchen.

Micah did a quick freeze. He
relaxed. “Good morning.”

An old woman, gray, wrinkled and
toothless, smiled at Micah and nodded. She laughed.

Micah smiled back. “Where’s
Denise?”

“You want breakfast, young man?”

“Are you Denise’s grandmother?” She
has to be, Micah decided. She’s too old to be her mother.

“I can make my nice johnnycakes for
you.” The woman cackled.

“Did Denise go out?”

The old woman cackled again.

“When Denise comes back, tell her
I’ll see her later.”

“You’ll see her later, young man.
With or without my johnnycakes.”

“Not hungry at
the moment.” Micah gave a lame smile and ambled out the front door.

***

Micah smiled at a woman with green
eyes, bright red hair and soft rosy freckles. “Isn’t Peevy working today?” A
rush of warmth filled Micah’s cheeks.

The green eyes clouded. “She’s in
the back.”

“Hope she stays there.”

“Oh, you must be him.” The girl’s
eyes brightened again.

“You’re not throwing me out are
you?” Micah asked.

“No, I like to judge a person’s
character for myself before I toss him.” The girl wiped at the counter top with
a towel.

“Sounds reasonable. May I have a
large cup of the stuff that burns the hair off your chest?”

The girl appraised her blouse. “Don’t
have any hair on my chest.”

“Sorry, I meant my chest.”

“I know what you meant. This stuff
works so be careful or you could end up with a chest like mine.” The woman filled
a large cup with the house special dark roast.

“Doesn’t sound like the best idea.”

The woman turned around and
straightened her back. “You don’t like my chest?”

“On you it looks great. On me, it
wouldn’t look so hot.” Micah raised an eyebrow.

“If it was on you, we’d both be
hot.” The woman turned beet red and slumped down to the other end of the
counter.

“You want the money?” Micah asked.

The girl returned to Micah. “Oops,
you flamboozled me. That’ll teach me to tease a guy about his chest hair.”

“You may tease me anytime you wish.”
Micah placed a fifty on the counter.

“You have a girlfriend, don’t you?
Or worse, you’re married. No, Peevy would have said if you were married.” The girl
made change for Micah.

“Uhmm, yeah, I… we’ve only had one
date… but yeah… sort of.”

“Guess Peevy is right about you.”

“No, she’s wrong. Please believe
me.”

“Why should I?” the girl asked.

“I could use a friendly face here.”
Micah picked up his coffee.

The girl placed her hands on her
hips. “I can be gracious to you as a customer, but I’m only here three days a
week. Don’t expect me to get sociable when you already have a girlfriend.”

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to mislead
you. I… I don’t know… I enjoyed the banter… didn’t mean anything by it.” Micah
backed away from the counter.

“Stay on the up and up, okay?” the
girl asked.

“It’s a deal,” Micah said.

“What’s a deal?” Bob came up to
Micah from behind.

“The redhead and I have agreed to
be friends,” said Micah.

The girl’s eyes sparkled. “The
redhead has a name, buster.”

“Yeah, so does the customer. I’m
Micah Probert.”

“Yeah. Peevy told me about you, remember?”
The barista ran a hand through her red locks.

“And your name is?” Micah asked.

“I don’t give my name to perverts.”
The redhead backed away from the counter.

Micah shrank about two inches from
his six-foot frame. “Aren’t you supposed to judge me for yourself?”

“I am, but I don’t want you to
think you haven’t already been judged in a court of law. I can’t ignore that. Imagine,
a pervert with a girlfriend.” The barista grabbed a towel and wiped the
counter.

“Bob, I don’t feel welcome anymore,”
Micah said.

Bob pointed to the redhead. “Don’t
pay any attention to Barbara. She gives everybody a hard time.”

“Barbara, keep away from that man person,”
Peevy entered from the back.

“Too late, Peevy.” Barbara
continued wiping the counter.

“You sold him coffee?” Peevy asked.

“Yeah. Sorry. He flamboozled me. Said
he loved me.” The redhead glanced at Micah.

“I did?” Micah stared back.

“Said he wanted to hop on my chest.
Your boyfriend’s a real perv, Peevy.” Barbara backed up.

Peevy said, “No way, no boyfriend,
no how. And that perv’s not my boyfriend anymore. Not since he raped my sister
twenty years ago.”

“I’m out of here.” Micah headed for
the door.

Bob took hold of Micah’s arm.
“They’re giving you a hard time, Micah. Come have a seat over here by the
window and ignore them.”

Micah stretched out in the seat. He
picked up his morning coffee and sipped.

Bob waited until Micah relaxed a
bit more. “Did I hear you say you had a date last night? Fast work for a new
guy in town.”

“Guess I got lucky.” Micah grinned.

“First date and you got lucky?” Bob
stared into Micah’s eyes.

“Not what I meant.” Micah put his
hands up, palms out.

“You didn’t get lucky? Bummer.” Bob
shook his head.

Micah placed his coffee on the
table top. “I got lucky. But I meant about meeting the lady next door. I spent
the night at her house, if it’s any of your business.”

“Did you say next door?” Bob asked.

“Yeah, why?” Micah asked.

“You’re fixing up the house just
north of the new office building, the one they built brand new to look like
it’s a hundred years old, right?” Bob asked.

“I guess so.” Micah shrugged.

“Who did you say you went out with
last night?” Bob asked.

“I didn’t. Her name’s Denise
Appleby.”

The two females behind the counter
spat out mouthfuls of latte. Bob doubled over with laughter.

Micah’s jaw dropped. “What’s so
funny?”

Bob shook his head and gazed at the
girls. “How old did you say the lady was that you entertained?”

A round a giggles from behind the
counter.

“Late twenties I guess. I got
intimate with her, not personal.”  Micah shrugged.

Another round of laughter from
behind the counter.

“That was last night?” Bob’s
eyebrows lifted.

Fewer giggles from the women.

“Yes,” said Micah.

“How old was she this morning?” Bob
asked.

Micah took a sip of coffee. “Didn’t
see her yet this morning. She was out.”

“I’ll bet. Was anyone else in her
house this morning?” Bob asked.

Micah rubbed his chin. “Yeah. Some
old lady. She may have been her grandmother.”

Peevy fell on the floor while
Barbara held her stomach as she bent over. Both girls roared with laughter.

“Wasn’t her grandmother.” Bob
laughed.

“So.” The heat rose on Micah’s
face.

“You haven’t a clue why the ladies
are laughing their butts off back behind the counter, do you?”

“They’re weird?” Micah asked.

“You do realize Denise Appleby is a
hag, don’t you?” Bob asked.
            “A witch? In this day and age? I don’t think so. She does kid
around about spells and things, though.” Micah took sip of coffee.

The ladies sat on the floor
catching their breaths.

Bob waved a finger in Micah’s
direction. “Not a witch, a hag. There’s a difference.”

“There is?” Micah asked.

Bob sipped his coffee before
placing his cup in front of his place at the table. “Today’s witches are what
we call Wicca. It’s a type of modern pagan religion. They worship what they
call the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine. Their religious practices
include some ancient pagan practices and what we think of as witchcraft or
magic, such as casting spells and that sort of thing. But Wiccans claim they
are not devil worshippers and that they work spells or charms only for good
purposes. It’s against their beliefs to cause harm.”

“So they are not evil?” Micah
asked.

Bob leaned back in his chair. “Since
I’m a Christian, I believe they are at best misguided. At worst, they are
worshipping false or non-existent gods. I believe their intent is good, but
they’re missing the love and salvation offered by the one, true savior. And
they are not worshipping the one true God of the universe.”

“In other words you’re prejudiced
against anyone who disagrees with you, right?”

“You have to understand, Micah,
religion is a zero-sum game. All religions can’t be right, and they don’t all
worship the same god or gods.”

“Why can’t you just be tolerant?”
Micah asked. “There must be many paths to the afterlife.”

“I can see we’re not going to agree
on religious beliefs any time soon. My point was simply that Denise Appleby is a
hag, not a witch. It’s a distinction her coven made before it broke up. They
didn’t like to be confused with Wicca. Denise is a servant of Satan, Micah. By
the way, you didn’t eat or drink anything she touched, did you?” Bob asked.

“She baked some muffins. Do they
count?” Micah asked.

Another round of tittering laughter
from behind the counter.

Bob pointed a finger in Micah’s
face. “Do you have feelings for her you can’t explain?”

“I like her enough, why?”

“You like her or do you like her a
whole lot?” Bob kept the finger in front of Micah’s nose.

“Guess it’s closer to the whole
lot.” Micah raised an eyebrow.

More female laughter, this time in
the rip-roaring category.

Bob stood and ambled around the
table. “She put a potion in those muffins. Think. Did you have feelings for her
before you ate one of her muffins?”

“Not that I remember.”

The laughing became louder.

Bob placed a hand on Micah’s
shoulder. “You’ve been the victim of a love potion from a hag who’s about a
hundred years older than you think she is.”

Micah shook his head. “Wouldn’t
that make her dead for at least twenty or thirty years?”

“She’s a hag. The woman you spoke
to this morning, the old lady, is Denise Appleby.” Bob headed for the counter.

“But she graduated Ulysses S. Grant
High School about ten years ago. Peevy’s stepdad recognized her as a former
student.”

Bob spun around. “Think about it. She
has the ability to appear young and innocent. She goes to school so she can
make it with teenage guy hunks. Like you, they don’t realize she’s about a
hundred and twenty or thirty years old. When she needs a parent to show up at
school for parent’s night or for other reasons, she arrives as a little old
lady. Or she appears about forty or forty-five, like she is the mother of a
teenager. As the years pass, she lets Denise Appleby age at the pace of her former
high school peers. That way she avoids suspicion.”

“How do you know this?” Micah
asked.

The girls roared with laughter.

“I was a height-challenged teenaged
guy hunk. You’re not the first one to succumb to Denise Appleby’s charms. And I
do mean charms. Why do you think you fell so hard and so fast for her?” Bob sat
back down.

“I wouldn’t say I fell hard. It was
natural. We had a fun time.” Micah shrugged.

Bob pointed up. “Think about it.
You had a right fine romp last night, didn’t you?”

“I felt good this morning,” Micah
said.

“Until you ran into her grandmother?”
Bob headed for the counter.

Micah scratched his chin again and
took another long draft of coffee. “She prattled about the kitchen and asked if
I wanted to try her johnnycakes.”

More teetering laughter from the
floor behind the counter.

“How did you feel when you encountered
her grandmother?” Bob snagged two paper coffee cups.
            “Ill.” Micah’s face turned a light green.

The laugh-o-meter behind the
counter exploded.

“That’s because your body recognized
her as Denise even if your mind didn’t.” Bob pointed a finger at Micah. “You
had sex with the oldest woman on the planet, a hag as wicked as any from the
middle ages.”