Kitchen Witch

12 | A Vacuum for Christmas

The powdered sugar dusted across Charlotte's hoodie was the only semblance of snow to be seen as she settled onto her favourite perch in the living room with a small plate of Christmas cookies. If the lack of snow on Christmas day wasn't enough to dim the Christmas spirit, the loneliness certainly was. The island was still closed to non-residents, and even the touted Atlantic bubble had finally burst.

Charlotte had to console herself by having FaceTime visits with both her girls. At least he wasn't seeing them either. They both had opted to stay where they were with all of the pandemic restrictions. Bree, her oldest and much like her father, at least in his few redeeming qualities, was hard at work studying at law school. Charlotte wasn't even sure if she had stopped to celebrate the holiday in any way. Their Facetime mainly consisted of Charlotte talking away about the village while Bree typed away and flipped papers on her desk. It wasn't as if she hadn't tried to engage her. Airlie, at least, entertained Charlotte with stories about her friends and their antics while at UBC. Airlie had chosen the farthest school, and as much as Charlotte would have loved for her to come out east to study, she understood her need to strike out on her own. Airlie had always been the closest to Charlotte; they held a special bond, and she missed her intensely. They made plans for her to visit the coming summer when things finally returned to normal. Charlotte knew Airlie would fall in love with the island just as she had.

With her facetime with the girls over, she felt a twang of guilt over feeling sorry for herself for missing her girls when Maratha wouldn't even be able to talk to her son. Charlotte had tried to reach out since Heather had shared the news, but Maratha wasn't taking calls or returning them. She had sent her some texts hoping she would read them and maybe take a small piece of comfort knowing she was sending her love. She wasn't judging because she had no idea what she would do if something so horrific had happened to her. The isolation of the pandemic alone was enough to mess with a person's mental health, let alone the tragic loss of a child. She tried Maratha on the phone and wasn't surprised when it went to voicemail. She left her a message telling her she was thinking of her and inviting her to come take refuge on the gentle island once it opened. Maratha had always had their backs. It had been an unlikely friendship at first. Charlotte was more than hesitant, but Maratha proved to be the most loyal and supportive of the group. She wanted so very much to repay her and help in some way. She vowed to keep trying.

Next, she sent a text out to Sarah to wish her a Merry Christmas, not wanting to disturb her with a phone call when she was with her family. She imagined Sarah surrounded by her big family, full of laughter and hilarious cousins and uncles. Charlotte had always wondered what that would be like. After her sister's and parents' death, she went to live with her grandparents. Holidays had always been just the three of them. They were loving and cozy but very quiet holidays. Later in life, when married to her own family, they had always spent Christmas Eve and Day on their own and then travelled on Boxing Day to spend the day with his family. It had always been stressful and a careful balance of entertaining the kids, so they stayed on their best behavior and properly played the role of wife. She wished she could have enjoyed a loud, rowdy get-together full of family and friends, inside jokes and shenanigans. 

But for now, Charlie and his shenanigans would have to do. "Won't it, my good boy." She naughtily gave him the last cookie on her plate. Determined to shake the pity party off and the cookie crumbs from her lap with it, she tentatively reached out with her magic and created a gust of wind that blew them to the floor. Charlotte had slowly been experimenting with her magic, small tricks here and there, still feeling very nervous about her newfound abilities. But today was the perfect day to play and see just what she could do in a big old house all by herself.

She started by focusing on the feel of the air against her skin, and a tingling sensation like pins and needles began to form as she breathed slowly through her nose and out through her mouth. All those years of yoga breathing were coming in handy after all, as she concentrated on gathering the air around her and sending it gently out across the floor in front of her. The dog hair, dust and random crumbs of living went tumbling along the floor. Feeling inspired, she continued sending the air around the perimeter of the room and pulling it toward the center, pulling the dust bunnies from under the furniture and sending them like tumbleweeds into the center of the room. Charlie looked at her with a look of indignance, wandered over to his dog bed, and curled up. Charlotte went to get a dustpan and squealed with delight when she realized she didn't even need the little broom that went with it. 

After thoroughly magic sweeping each room in the house, Charlotte emptied the full dustpan into the bin in her apothecary. She stared out across the butcher block island, eyeing the aventurine mortar and pestle, and could hear Martha chiding her in her head. "All this newfound power was at your fingertips, and you swept the floors. Really, Charlotte." She was that lame, Christmas Day, all alone and sweeping her floors with magic. 

A cheeky breeze swirled in the corner of the room, rattling a windchime made of shells she had been crafting. Charlotte smiled, getting the hint, and tentatively used her power to gently pick up and hover a shell from a collection bowl. She found she had to focus more than when just sending small wind currents around the room that just seemed to follow her suggestion on their own accord. This felt more akin to doing shoulder exercises with light weights, even though you could row much heavier ones. The smaller muscles would burn with fatigue far quicker than the bigger ones. She steadied her breath, breathing through the burn and when she felt confident, added another and another, creating a dancing line of oyster shells in the air. With that accomplished, she added movement to the line and gently clacked them against each other, like spoons clapping to a song. Only Charlotte had no rhythm, and it sounded more like a toddler randomly banging shells together. The thought of just how badly it sounded made Charlotte burst out in laughter, causing the shells to come crashing down at once. 

The sound startled Charlie, who came rushing and barking. "It's ok, Charlie, it's ok," she cooed as she called him over to her side. Feeling a little dizzy, she leaned into his side and felt something wet under her nose. Her nose had begun to bleed. She pulled a tissue from her pocket and made her way to her stool. She felt rather tired, and her heart was racing. She took two quick breaths in through her nose and let them out slowly from her mouth, as she had practiced so many times. She closed her eyes, repeating the breath until she began to feel the pressure on her chest ease. But she was still left with a strange feeling of apprehension. She tried to tell herself it was just anxiety, and perhaps she had overdone it today. She needed to ease into this new ability. Petting Charlie's sweet head, she promised herself she would be more careful.

As Charlotte picked up the scattered shells, sadly some of which had broken, she felt a shiver run up her spine. Her teeth began to chatter, and she could feel a tension headache that was beginning to squeeze without mercy. Having always been a little on the hypochondriac worry wart side, she immediately began to wonder if she had the dreaded spicy cough. The island had just ended a two-week circuit breaker. There were cases on the island. It had been a few days since she had been out where she would have come into contact with anyone. Charlotte reached for the kettle to make some healing tea, mentally making a reminder to check in on Sarah when she caught a glimmer of white at the window. 

Peering out into the darkening sky, she saw snowflakes coming down. "Snow!" She whispered in awe. It was finally snowing. She called for Charlie and grabbed her favourite barn jacket and scarf from the back door, forgetting the flu-like symptoms. Stuffing her feet into her boots, she flung herself outside with the enthusiasm of a kid on the first snow day. The air was surprisingly warm, and a gentle breeze carried the snowflakes. Charlotte felt as though she was drinking it all in like a cool cup of water after a long race. She could feel her body's energy-returning, the tension around her head eased, her body aches subsided, and she could feel a warmth radiating from her core. She spread her arms and slowly turned in a circle, looking up at the night sky, tongue out and catching snowflakes. The wind playfully followed suit, twirling a parade of snowflakes in spirals around her, wrapping her in a surprisingly warm snowflake blanket. Charlotte felt connected to the night air. A sense of contentment settled into her heart as she stood outside far longer than any half-dressed woman should have.