In The Garden

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was a stormy midsummer night on June 22, 1964 when a new life entered the world surrounded by her family and their circle in their family home of Aston Manor. Georgette Litha Rose Aston burst into our world with one final push from her mother and a roar of thunder. Each member of the circle held a lit candle to light the way for the baby and mother. In her mother's hand was a pouch of stones that consisted of amethyst, clear quartz, chrysoprase, and aventurine. These stones had been used in all the births of her sisters and by other members of her family. They were also used by the circle as well during the births of their children. Also in the room was a birth altar on which was a statue of the Mother-Goddess, various eggs and seeds, a growing plant, and pictures of the family's ancestors. Beside this altar stood the broom that had been used in the hand-fasting of her parents. Georgette was handed to her mother to hold. A woman holding the largest candle approached the mother and child. She was dressed in white robes. She placed her candle on a nearby table and held out her arms.

"Hand me the child," she said.

Georgette's mother handed her to the woman. The woman looked down at her with admiration.

"Welcome," she said, "welcome to the world young one. Your family and your circle have gathered to welcome you, and I your grandmother, priestess, and head of your circle, I am thrilled to finally meet you in person."

Rhonda Hanson a nurse walked down a lonely, quiet third floor hallway of Valentine Hospital. She had just celebrated her thirty-second birthday a few days before there was still cake in the staff break room. She was a lovely vibrant person with chocolate colored skin and black hair highlighted with blue. She was making her early evening rounds. So far all the patients had been asleep. It seemed almost eerily calm to Rhonda as she went from door to door checking in on patients. She quietly slipped from room to room trying not to wake anyone. She held a small clipboard that she marked after checking each room. She looked down at her watch to check the time it was 2:27am. Suddenly a frantic nurse bursts into the hallway startling Rhonda so much that she dropped her clipboard.

"Leah," she said panting, "I nearly peed you scared me so bad."

"Sorry," Leah laughed she was in her mid-twenties she was very tan because she tanned often she had sun colored hair and was just learning the ropes at the hospital, having been a recent hire. Rhonda was the supervising nurse, "but it looks like it's going to be one of those nights."

"Nightmares again?" asked Rhonda.

"Looks like it," replied Leah.

"Well it is that time of year," said Rhonda as she bent over to pick up her clipboard.

"Yeah, I wish we knew what it was about this time of year," said Leah.

"Me too," replied Rhonda, "I can't imagine what it must be like having been here so long. I mean can you imagine growing up here?"

"No, that must have been hard," said Leah.

"What she must have been through to have been just dropped off her at such a young age," said Rhonda.

"Yeah but I guess we'll never know," said Leah, "Her records are sealed up tight."

The two nurses continued talking as they walked hurriedly down the hall. They headed for the door to the stairwell deciding it would be faster to take the stairs as opposed to waiting for the elevator. They headed down to the second floor, Leah swiped her security badge and pulled open the door. They both started down the hallway to the right as they approached they could hear screams and the sound of items crashing to the floor. As they neared the door to the patient's room that was causing the ruckus they could hear the voice of an orderly trying to calm the patient down, to no avail. The two nurses entered room 227 just as a medicine tray flew out nearly missing Rhonda's head.