THE WITCH AND THE TEA PARTY (A Rachael Penzra Mystery) by Elizabeth Shawn Read Free Book Online Page B

looking for a tea cup or mug to buy, you’d have had to dig amongst old irons, jars, pot covers, an alarm clock, etc. People gladly do it, always looking for that special find. I have to admit that I’m one of them. The back building is huge, with narrow trails weaving in and out amongst the tables and piles of filled boxes. Here and there are shelves, from floor to ceiling. Some things are out on display. Many more are in over-flowing boxes. The shop itself isn’t the big area. It’s the partition added on (before building permits and such nonsense came into being) the back. Lighting is at a premium, although there are numerous fluorescent, often flickering, lights hanging here and there from the ceiling.
    “We’ll let them sit or wander, whatever they want to do,” Dora explained. “I’ll be ready to ring things up if anybody sees something she wants.”
    “Is it going to be all women?” I asked, although I knew that Dora tended to use the feminine whenever possible. I assume, mainly because she’s a preacher’s daughter, that she still refers to God as He. On the other hand, I’d never place even a small bet on it.
    “Oh no,” Moondance assured me, as she directed the hapless David where to find buckets to fill with the water that he was expected to lift and empty into the urn for them. They hadn’t quite hopped on the equal rights band wagon. It was okay for voting or anything they wanted to do, but the male of the species was definitely expected to handle any heavy work. “The numbers will be even, I’m sure. After all, it is a dinner party they’re coming from.”
    I wasn’t sure that the old etiquette rules still held about alternating the genders at a formal table, but often that’s the way it is, if for no other reason t han that the world still more or less revolves around couples. I think I was being sexist in expecting that most of the partiers would be women. I’d like to think it’s because women are more interested in things like fortune telling because we’re more open to new and esoteric ideas.
    “It certainly looks good,” I told them, meaning every word. Dora had lowered some ancient blinds over the front windows for privacy. The dusky light added to the general aura of fantasy. The flickering lights, the black paint they’d put on the outside of the fortune telling booth, the rich red velvet they’d hung for a door, all set in the strange oddments of the store itself, really gave the place a look of the possibilities of magic happening. Even the gurgling of the coffee urn mingled with the vaguely Native American New Age music they had playing seemed to promise an adventure outside the box. I found myself seeing movements from the corner of my eye. It was surely only the flickering lights, or even movement made by Dora’s pet rat, that was making it seem as though we weren’t alone.
    And of course we weren’t. Ralph was there. But it wasn’t him who promoted the atmosphere of anticipation. It was, I knew, all in my mind. I shivered anyway. It didn’t help that David kept glancing around the room. He’s much more open to spirits than I am. I didn’t dare ask him what he was seeing or sensing. He’d tell me.
    “When are they due?” I asked. “Do you all want to come over and grab a bite to eat at my place? I can whip up soup and sandwiches. Yo u really should have something in your stomachs before the party starts. It won’t do to have your stomachs growling while the people are here.”
    “I don’t think I can eat anything,” Moondance sounded nervous. “I mean, it might upset my vibes or something.”
    First night nerves, I thought, and was probably right. “Moondance, you’re going to do wonderfully tonight. Just think of it as another afternoon of readings.”
    “Only we’re making two thousand dollars off it,” Dora added, spoiling the effect.
    “And we might get more jobs if this one works out well,” Aunt Myrtle said.
    “It will be just fine,” I