Exercise Your Imagination! Do you like stories with mystery and suspense? Well, if you do, keep reading and enjoy Eggcentricsagas. If you are just joining Eggcentricsagas, start from the beginning: A La Mano: Part 1-The Treasure
Madame Ravenna Mariposa sipped her tea by the crackling fire. Memories of the day replayed in her mind. Her announcement that she was retiring from the soothsayer’s booth at the carnival hadn’t disturbed her boss. He had seemed relieved. He’ll probably fill my space with another gaming booth so he can make more money, she thought, and grimaced. The income generated from her attraction had significantly dropped in the last two years. Unsure why, the fortune teller had her ideas. But even with her intuition, she could never be certain. Wise from experience, Mme. Mariposa understood that she truly knew only herself and not others.
Perhaps no one cares about the future anymore, she thought. But she knew the tarot readings were about more than the future. The aspects of Time tightly woven together, past, present and future, were all just the same coin. Tails the past and heads the future. The present was the edge that separated the two. Or maybe they don’t want to know what they are creating, she thought, and then chuckled at some memories of her carnival customers. Specifically, their faces as she read their Fate. They did not welcome the Tower and Death cards entities at a sitting.
Her thoughts subsided momentarily as her gaze fell upon the fire. Ravenna watched the dancing flames. Mesmerized, her eyes followed the flickering fire. Red, orange, yellow, and blue columns licked through the logs and shot upwards. Soon, ideas crept in again. I know why my business waned. Machines. Ear-splitting, noisy, obnoxious machines. Those arcade games with their loud, honking, clanging, beeping, whistling, machine gun firing sound effects and seizure-inducing blinking lights. Fixated at the gaming tent, the carnival patrons spent their time and extra coins in there.
No more excitement for me or them, she thought, and sighed. Recalling how earlier in the evening, she had folded up her costume and placed it in the box. Then, standing on her tip-toes, she stuffed the box onto a top shelf in her closet. Ravenna took another sip of tea and smiled. Tired of the noise and crowds, she accepted her decision. It was time to focus on what was important, Zerlinda.
Leaning back in the overstuffed, comfortable yet threadbare armchair, the grandmother enjoyed the warmth of the blaze. Ravenna wanted to savor these moments of solitude, as her granddaughter would finish with her bath soon. Her mother would dress her in her flannel pajamas, and the girl would come bounding down the stairs in anticipation of their nightly ritual. Ravenna drained her teacup and set it down beside the pretty teapot on the small, round table at her elbow. Relaxed, she closed her eyes momentarily, and her mind drifted a little as she basked peacefully by the toasty hearth.
Noisy, Magic meowed as he jumped into her lap. Ravenna opened her eyes and attempted to dissuade the big black cat as he sat and purred. “You know Zerlinda will be here soon and you shall have to find a different place for story time.” Magic disregarded her statement as he nuzzled her arm and then settled in her lap. Shaking her head at him, she poured another cup of tea. Soon, her teacup drained, she heard the familiar footsteps. First on the upstairs landing and then clumping down the stairs. Her granddaughter came running into the room with her teddy bear tucked under her arm.
Zerlinda stopped and pouted when she saw Magic. “He can’t lay there, Baba, that’s my spot!”
Ravenna snickered as she lifted Magic out of her lap and set him on the floor. His purring promptly ceased, and he flicked his tail with displeasure. “I warned you,” Ravenna admonished him. Disdainfully, the cat strutted away and found a new place to curl up. Ignoring his companions, Magic nestled into a pillow on top of the nearby footstool and washed his paws.
Zerlinda crawled onto her grandmother’s lap. “Baba, tell me a bedtime story.”
Madame Mariposa looked down at her beautiful granddaughter. Smiling, she looked up at her, a mass of red curls surrounding her cherubic face. “Only if you promise to go to bed when I ask you to,” her grandmother replied, somewhat sternly. “Even if you want me to continue,” she added with a mulish expression. Ravenna knew very well that Zerlinda would promise and then try to cajole more tales out of her.
“I promise,” Zerlinda replied sincerely. She snuggled into the lap of her grandmother and held her bear closely.
Ravenna asked, “Have I ever told you the story of Moon Kingdom?”
Zerlinda shook her head as she gazed at her grandma with an air of expectancy.
“Well, it’s time for you to hear it,” Ravenna replied, before looking over at Magic. Trained intently upon her were electric blue eyes. Finished with his grooming, he was listening too. Laying his chin upon his paws, he continued to watch her. Madame Mariposa cleared her throat and began the story.
Once upon a time, in the land known as Moon Kingdom, there lived a royal family…
Next: The Myth of Madame Mariposa: Part 2-The Woes of Moon Kingdom
