Angel of Thanksgiving

Angel of Thanksgiving

         Cold grey, the sun has given way to dark ominous snow clouds, suiting my mood. I should be wishing for sunflowers, warm sunny days with picnics instead I’m sheltering under a bridge from the cold. Losing my apartment and my job, my life was pulled a part like the wishbone of a turkey, but it was not a wishbone it was the semblance of a life that I’d tried to put together after my service in Iraq. The day before Thanksgiving, no wonder I was thinking of turkey. Hungry and cold; maybe I’d freeze to death tonight I thought and no one would care. 

      I snuggled into the trestles of the bridge wrapping newspaper as a blanket around me and closed my eyes. I awoke looking into the face of an angel. Her blonde hair tucked under a red wool cap, a black woollen coat en- wrapping her, she offered a man’s coat and hat to me saying, ”Here, stay warm. My name is Jennifer and we’re serving dinner at the shelter .Will you please come?”

       I wanted to say no; but my head nodded and I followed her and the other homeless who had been invited. The dinner was incredible turkey with all the fixings, even my favorite marshmallow yams. When I was done they offered me pumpkin pie. Jennifer offered me shelter for the night and convinced me to stay at the shelter. 

      Jenny saved me that day helped me get the help I needed at the VA and now we have a baby. I was right the first time Jenny was and still is an angel helping those in need and I work long side her sharing my experience to help others .Thank God for people like my Jenny who reach out to those who need it.
©Sheilagh Lee  November 26,  2018

Outfoxed

“Why have you brought me here?” I asked my uncle.

“It’s a beautiful autumn day in the forest; can’t you enjoy it?”

“This is all an illusion. It’s not autumn and the light is all wrong. How long have I been in this room?”

“This is a forest, not a room.”

“Let it go Uncle Damien.”

“You’ve passed the test, Seraphina.”

“How long have I been here?’

“How did you discern that in two minutes?”

I answered by changing the autumn forest to a wintry scene.

“Amazing, but you’re only fifteen who taught you to do that?”

“No one taught me. I’ve been able to enter people’s minds since I was five.”

“Enter people’s minds? That’s how you create the illusion?” Uncle Damien stated looking unhappy

I quickly erased the conversation about how I created illusions from his mind and let him think that the illusion was a fluke.

“I think you need to move in with me so I can teach you how to do illusions safely and simply,” Uncle Damien declared.

I just smiled and nodded. It would make my teen years so much easier to live with Uncle Damien my parents suspected my abilities were much more than they thought and it was becoming harder to fool them. I’d be able to do anything I wanted living with Uncle Damien. Last week I moved in Uncle Damien fooled me. He knew what I was up to all the time I might as well be in teen jail. This was no fun now I'd have to learn the way Uncle Damien wanted me to. 

©Sheilagh Lee  November 19, 2018

Wrath

      Some high school kids called me Zombie girl just because I’d been found three years ago buried in the town dump. With no memories of my life before found I was called Jane. Estimating that I was thirteen years old; the police said no one had reported me missing. Scared for the first year (even though my foster family was nice) I took Taekwondo.

Students chanted at me, “You put a spell on me.”

Waving my arms I chanted that Jahil would be in love with me and then spoiled it all by laughing.

The next day Jahil followed me around like a puppy dog. I told him to stop, but he said, “That’s not an option. I love you.”

I said under my breath, “For you I don’t exist.”

Jahil turned and disappeared around the corner.

“Great work Cassie,” a man dressed all in black said to me.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Your creator, Marcus Blackstone and now that you’ve found yourself; you can do my bidding,”

“Not on your life Blackstone, I am my own person.”

He grabbed at me but I use Taekwondo and took him down. He laughed and said,” When you want to learn to wield your power come see me.

Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke. I haven’t seen him since and I hope I don’t. I remembered how he buried me and left me for dead. Cassie Blackstone came from a long line of witches, he should fear my wrath.

©Sheilagh Lee  November 5, 2018