Miss Enchanter - Ophelia's Story (10 page)

“I’m glad you did, very nice to meet you and
hopefully I will get to meet Nick before too long as well. Everyone
has been very nice to me since I got here.”

After Isabel left, Ophelia thought of how
many people she has met since her arrival. Sebastian and Catherine,
Isabel, Jill, London, Janet, Tom, quite a few people who she looked
to be the same age as. If any of them knew how old Ophelia actually
was, they would run over each other finding a way out of Enchanted.
Actually, Ophelia wondered just how much of a difference it made
living on the other side for all of those years. Would it take a
toll on her good looks? Her own mother had still been a beauty when
she last saw her, but that was a good 50 years ago or so.

Ophelia stopped in at Thelma’s Chocolate Shop
and Catherine was there hugging a little boy of about ten. Cute
little boy with blond hair and blue eyes the same coloring as his
mother.

“Hello there young man, you must be Cody.”
Ophelia said, holding out her hand for the young boy to shake.

“Hello, yes, I am Cody, it is nice to meet
you.”

“Such a polite young man, it is refreshing.
Hi Catherine, I thought I might catch Thelma here.”

“She was here earlier, but that was quite a
while ago, sorry.” Catherine said.

“Oh well, I’ll take a big cup of chocolate
coffee to go, please. Throw a couple of those chocolate raspberry
truffles in a bag for me as well.”

Just then a rather funny looking old man
opened the door to the shop. He had on a big green hat and wore a
green necktie. He looked like someone out of a cartoon.

“Come on, Cody, we can’t be late getting
back. Hi Catherine, hello, Miss.”

Cody said goodbye to the women and ran out
the door with the funny old man.

“Who was that?” Ophelia asked, not wanting to
add more just in case the funny old man was Catherine’s father or
father in law.

“Oh that is Mr. Lucky. Luke Lucky. He is a
teacher at the school and I don’t know if you have met her yet or
not, but he is also Jill’s father. Jill is a server at the
restaurant in town.” Catherine said, handing Ophelia her coffee to
go.

“Interesting man. Well, I should be on my
way. I had a very big breakfast just now and yes, I have met Jill a
couple of times, she and her boyfriend Tom in fact.”

“Nice couple.”

Ophelia walked slowly to The Spa, drinking
her coffee and eating the candy. Tom and Jill are indeed a nice
looking couple. As were Sebastian and Catherine and no doubt Isabel
and her husband Nick, whom Ophelia had yet to meet. So far it had
not crossed her mind to ask if there were any men there in
Enchanted that were like her family. So far she only knew of one,
Hugo, who was not only Luna’s husband, he also seemed to prefer to
stay in deer form.

Ophelia had yet to discover any type of night
life in Enchanted. She wondered if it weren’t the type of Village
that rolls up the streets at night and everyone goes to bed when
the streetlights come on. She had to laugh at herself over that
thought.
This is one place where the streets just might
actually, physically roll up if certain people wanted them
to.

Ophelia looked in every store front window
she passed. It was a beautiful day and after that big breakfast,
and the chocolate candy she had just consumed on her walk, she felt
no desire to be in a rush to go anywhere. She was enjoying the
sunshine on her face and how the sun made the colorful storefronts
shine as if they had just been freshly painted. She looked up at
her own building and again rethought her idea of changing the color
scheme. The building was bright red and on the other side some
might mistake it for a Chinese restaurant before noticing the sign.
It certainly was ornate, she loved the outside as it was, and
perhaps a new, larger sign might be in order.

There was a hotel further down on Main Street
and although, well, how Thelma had put it was “although it is a
controlled environment.” She had told her, “We get a lot of
business at The Spa from there.” The Spa was located on, what else?
Spa Avenue.

As Ophelia was walking into The Spa, London
was walking out. “Good morning, London.” Ophelia said, noticing how
in a rush London appeared to be.

“Good morning, Miss Enchanter. I was just
going out for coffee, I hope that is O.K. I shouldn’t be gone long,
I got here early and have not taken a break yet.” London hurried
over her words trying to explain why she was walking away from her
job.

“Of course it is, in fact, one of the changes
I am going to make here is to add a little coffee area so you won’t
have to go outside of the building to get coffee or tea. I believe
our customers will appreciate not having to go out in bad weather,
having the coffee area inside will be good for the staff as
well.”

“That will be nice. Excuse me then.” London
said walking away. There was something about that woman that
Ophelia just did not quite trust. Ophelia walked into The Spa and
again was stuck over the beauty of the portrait of her mother.
Everyone mentions how much I look like you, mother, but your
beauty is perfection, no one could ever be as beautiful as
you.

Ophelia continued into the office and was
passing the room that had the swimming pool and hot tub in it when
she thought she saw a familiar head of hair in the hot tub.

“Thelma?”

“Hi Ophelia. You taken a crack at this hot
tub yet since you’ve been here? It is fantastic, does a body good.”
Thelma cooed.

“No, not yet, but it sure is tempting,
especially on a winter day like today. I’m sorry I missed you this
morning, you were up and out early.”

“Yes, Luna and I and…..Luna and I had things
to do.”

“I had a big breakfast at the restaurant and
I met Isabel, she seems like a very nice lady. Then I went over to
the Chocolate Shop to see if I could find you there. I met Cody and
a rather odd fellow named Mr. Lucky. Glad you are here. Maybe I
will try the tub. Do you know if there are any bathing suits around
here?” Ophelia said, not being able to resist the hot bubbling
water. “I was in the pool the other day, but I don’t see any
swimsuits now where I found that one then.”

“Yes, Luke Lucky, he is one of the teacher’s
at the school and he is also Jill’s father. In the office there is
a locker with everything in it you could need.” Thelma told her.
“Everything O.K. at the shop when you were there?”

Of course there is
. “Yes, everything
at the shop is fine. I’ll be right back.” Ophelia said. Ophelia
walked into the office and selected a hot pink two piece swimsuit,
matching towel and flip flops and then walked back to where Thelma
was.

“Look at you, you certainly are your mother’s
daughter.” Thelma said approvingly.

Ophelia stepped up to the hot tub and lowered
herself down into the hot whirlpool. ”Ohhh, wow, don’t expect me to
get out of this any time soon. Oh my goodness I didn’t know what I
was missing.”

“Been a long time since you have been in hot
tub?” Thelma asked.

“Yeah, like never in my life before. I have
never even heard of this thing before the other day. Thelma, is it
real, or is it the ecstasy of thaumaturgy
?
This place would no doubt have a booming business
even if this were the only service we offered. I had a massage from
Ashton the other day, but if I got one now after being in the tub
here, I would no doubt melt like butter and sleep for the rest of
the day and night. We should have one of these installed at
home.”

“It is real and available everywhere, on both
sides. As for having one at the house, no. Have to have a reason to
get up and get moving. If we had one of these at the house we would
find it almost impossible to get anything done that could not be
done inside of one of these babies.” Thelma said, smiling.

“Would either of you ladies like a pedicure
when you are finished with the hot tub? Is there anything at all I
can bring to you, perhaps a bottle of water?”

Ophelia looked over to see an attractive
middle aged lady with short blond hair and a friendly face which
looked a bit familiar.

“No thank you. Ophelia, this is Janet, or
have you two meet before?”

Ophelia said “I believe we have. I think it
was Janet who gave me a pedicure the first time I came in here, a
few days ago if I am not mistaken. Hello, Janet, I am afraid I was
so relaxed and at the same time had so much on my mind, that I
wasn’t much of a conversationalist that day.”

Janet smiled and Ophelia noticed what a warm
smile she had. “Yes, that was I. Let me know if you would like a
pedicure, manicure, or whatever, I will be here all day. Nice to
see you both again.” Janet said, picking up a couple of wet towels
from the pool area and walking towards the room where the washers
and dryers were kept.

“What a friendly lady.” Ophelia said. “I
think The Spa is fortunate to have her. Has she been here for a
while, or is she one of the newer people in town?”

“Janet has been here from the start.”

“Then, she knew my mother?”

“Yes, she did. Janet is a great asset to The
Spa and someone you can trust one hundred percent.” Thelma said. “I
think I will get these toes done before heading back home, excuse
me, Ophelia. I’ll find you to let you know when I am leaving. You
sit and soak as long as you wish. Along with fireplaces, hot tubs
are an excellent place to relax and think.”

Ophelia put her head back onto the built in
pillow and allowed the swirling warm water to massage her tired
neck muscles. She wasn’t thinking of anything in particular, but
then something Thelma said struck her.
Wait, she said Janet has
been here from the start and knew my mother. Janet looks about
forty years old. Thelma also said she can be trusted one hundred
percent. Does that mean Janet is one of us? I can’t just go up and
ask her that. I swear, Thelma and Luna should have given me written
descriptions and an instruction book on who is who around
here.

Ophelia was just finishing getting dressed
when another thought hit her. She put her shoes and coat on and
then walked into the hallway where she had first come into the
building. She again looked at the painting of her mother, but then
there it was, two paintings down was the most beautiful painting of
a waterfall that Ophelia had ever seen. Beautiful – and still
wet.

As she was standing there the front door
opened and London walked in. Ophelia wondered if she had been gone
all that time since she herself had been at The Spa for well over
two hours.

“Oh, excuse me, Miss Enchanter. Is there
anything I can do for you?” London asked, color rising to her
cheeks. Somehow Ophelia didn’t believe the redness was the result
of the cold wind outside. She would have rather ask someone else,
but at the moment, no one was around but London.

“I was just looking at these pictures and
this one here of the waterfall, it looks newly painted. The paint
appears to be hardly dry on it.”

“Yes.”

“Has this painting been hanging on this wall
for very long?”

“I believe it was hung there this
morning.”

“By whom?”

“Mr. Ashton hung it. I think Miss Janet
painted it last night. It could be just the quality of the paint
used that makes it appear to still be undried.”

“Oh, thank you, London. If you see Miss
Thelma, would you let her know that I am ready to leave now? Thank
you.” Ophelia said and then walked back down the hallway to the
salon area and found Janet.

“Miss Janet, may I speak to you for a
moment?” She asked.

“Of course, Miss Enchanter. Is there
something I can do for you? We have some new nail colors just in
that are very pretty.”

“Maybe later. London mentioned that it was
you who painted the picture of the waterfall that is hanging in the
hallway by the front door. Did you?”

“Yes, just recently in fact. If you think it
should not be there, I will take it down immediately.” Janet said.
“Or, if you like it you are more than welcome to take it with
you.”

“Oh no, I think that the painting is
beautiful, one of the best works I have ever seen in fact. It looks
good right where it is, where anyone walking into The Spa can see
it as well. I just wanted to tell you how much I admire it. You are
very talented. Is that waterfall somewhere near here?”

“No, I painted it from memory.” Janet
said.

“You are extremely brilliant with your art
work. It brightens up that hallway a lot.” Ophelia said, meaning
every word. “Thank you for your contribution, although I want you
to retain ownership of your work.”

“It does not hold a candle to the painting of
your mother.” Janet said sincerely. “I actually have an idea for a
new painting, but I would rather keep that surprise to myself for
the time being. Just until the time is right, of course.” Janet
said, smiling.

“Thelma said that you knew my mother when she
lived here, but you are so young.”

London walked up to them and said “Miss
Enchanter, Miss Thelma said to let you know that she is also ready
to leave, she will meet you by the front door whenever you are
ready.”

“Thank you, London.” Ophelia said to London’s
retreating back. When she turned back again to Janet, Janet was at
the other end of the hallway. Ophelia waved goodbye to her and
Janet’s voice rang out. “You are very young looking as well,
Ophelia.”

Well, I’ll be damned, she is one of us!

Ophelia walked to the front door and she and
Thelma walked out into the winter day together. When they were
about a block down from The Spa Ophelia looked sideways at Thelma
and said “So, Janet is one of us, huh?”

Thelma looked at her cousin and smiled. “Why,
yes, she is.”

“You couldn’t have told me that yourself,
Thelma? I don’t know why you just don’t let me know things like
that.” Ophelia said.