The Misses Foo & Cockerill

Alchemy

Williwaw was peaceful, more peaceful than it had been in a long, long time.

After school on Friday, Eli went to visit Miss Cockerill. He didn't bother knocking but simply went around back and yelled into the house.

"Oh, come in dear!" Miss Cockerill called from the kitchen. Eli couldn't believe that he was walking through the same house: the candelabras sparkled, the floor was polished, and there wasn't a dead animal or skeleton anywhere in sight. Eli knew that something had happened to Miss Cockerill up there on top of town hall, something that didn't have anything to do with the Chaos, but he hadn't realized just how much.

"Miss Cockerill," Eli called down the hall, "is everything alright?"

"Yes, of course, darling," came the reply and Eli caught a glimpse of the woman flourishing past the door at the end of the hall, apparently pulling something out of the oven or stirring something on the stove, "but please call me Gloria. That Miss Cockerill business is so cold. And we're friends, aren't we?"

Eli finally arrived at the kitchen and he was more shocked than ever.

"Try this!" Miss Cockerill said and popped a turnover into Eli's open mouth.

He chewed and his eyes opened wide.

"It's," he swallowed, "delicious!"

"Oh, goodie! Here, take some of these, and these, oh! and these," with each 'and these' Miss Cockerill snatched a handful of pastries from overflowing platters around the kitchen. She piled them all together on a big plate. "Oh, and you must try some of these. How's Julie? Well, I expect." She stopped suddenly as if she had just thought of something. "I never asked: do you have parents?" Without waiting for an answer she said, "of course you do," and she threw another grand amount of cookies on the plate, which was now piled dangerously close to tumbling over.

"Miss Cockerill..."

"Gloriaaaa!" she tittered, still fluttering between pots of batter and pans of sauce, never slowing for a moment's breath.

Eli's mouth felt strange forming the word and he had trouble getting it out. "Glor..Gloria," he managed finally, "are you sure you're ok?" Eli worried that perhaps Miss Cockerill had gone a bit batty.

"Of course! I'm peachy. I'm bouncy. I'm beaming. I've never been better in my life."

"Don't you miss Miss Foo?"

"That old bat? Bahh. Do you know that for the first time in... well, since I can remember, I don't have a single bruise on my body? Not a single one! Do you know how much I've saved on foundation already?"

Suddenly she put her busy hands on the counter and sighed. "There is one thing... but no, it's nothing," she said and began whipping eggs whites for a meringue.

Eli studied her intensely. He was unsure why he cared, he only knew that he had to see her again, that something was unfinished. And it wasn't just the Stranglervine. Eli was unsure also of his feelings towards the woman; he still resented her for the way she had treated him and his sister–Eli would never be able to completely rid himself of the idea that the woman was a foul old witch. But there was something else as well that Eli couldn't place. He thought again of that puppy that had peed on the carpet. It was irritating and disgusting, and he would be furious with the puppy, but after all, it wasn't the puppy's fault. That was how he felt about Miss Cockerill: it wasn't completely her fault.

As he studied her prancing about the kitchen, Eli noticed an intelligence in Miss Cockerill's face that he had never seen before. It wasn't philosophy or mathematics or science, but self-awareness–like Miss Cockerill had been laying down forever in a field of flowers and had just sat up for the first time and realized that the blooms were even more beautiful from above and that far off in the distance there was a line of trees. There was something else also that Eli had never seen before; shallow wrinkles had formed on Miss Cockerill's eternally youthful face. Whether they had always been there but only covered by makeup, Eli couldn't be sure. But he realized then that there was sadness etched deep within the wrinkles. And for the first time ever Eli felt sorry for Miss Cockerill.