Mia walked up to the porch and said, “I have a tricky answer to that simple question if you have time to listen.”
“You, child, have me intrigued.”
“I’m Mia Cooper. These are my friends Ted Martin and Cid Garrett. Also, depending on how you feel about ghosts, Stephen Murphy is standing next to me.”
Glenda raised an eyebrow and challenged, “Prove it.”
Murphy did, choosing to fade in slowly so as to not jump scare the older woman.
Glenda reached out and waved her hand through Murphy’s middle. “How are you doing this?” she asked the kids.
Ted, Cid, and Mia raised their hands.
“You know, the house I grew up in is haunted, but I never saw anybody. Heard things, yes, but not seen anything. Is that why you’ve come, to show me a ghost?”
“No,” Mia said. “I’m finding this more difficult to talk about than I thought.”
“Mrs. Dupree,” Ted started. “We have some questions that maybe only you or your son Mike can answer. We aren’t selling anything and don’t really want anything from you.”
“It’s sounding better and better. Why don’t you all come inside and have a piece of pie. Mike’s not home from school yet.”
“Did you make your apple pie with the raisins and walnuts in it?” Mia asked.
“Why yes, I didn’t know it was famous.”
“You won prizes at the county fair for it every time you entered it. It’s a shame that your sister stole the recipe,” Mia said.
“That bitch! I couldn’t enter it after that because everyone was putting raisins and walnuts in their pies.” Glenda studied Mia’s face. “But only I know that.”
“You talked about it over Vodka cocktails one night.”
“I don’t drink Vodka,” Glenda lied.
“Then why do you have a least three bottles in the apple cooler?” Mia asked.
“Now you’re spooking me, child. I do drink Vodka, but I’d never drink it with a child.”
“Here’s the thing. As of a few days ago, we were all twenty years older. I’ve come to ask you why you think this may have happened?”
“Lord in Heaven, I’ve never heard such a thing. Tell me more, but first, pie and milk.”
“Can I have coffee instead?” Mia asked.
“Yuck, how can you drink that stuff?” Ted said.
Mia and Murphy looked at each other in shock.
Mia let it go and said, “It’s a grown-up thing.”
Glenda looked at the young girl. There wasn’t any guile in the child. She spoke like an older person, but still it was hard to convince Glenda that this white-haired, moss-green-eyed slip of a girl had the mind of a thirty-two-year-old. “Mia, tell me something, if you’re a thirty-two-year-old, why in God’s name would you chose to be a child again?”
“I didn’t. Let me explain what happened.”
“I’m all ears.”
Mia spoke while Glenda served the pie. Ted and Cid noticed that the story Mia told Glenda didn’t differ from the one she told them.
Murphy watched Mike Dupree enter the hall and stop just outside of the kitchen door. He stood there listening.
When Mia finished her narration, she said, “It was suggested that I seek out everyone who was at the party and ask them if they made a wish that would have caused this.”
“So, there is a candle that can actually give you a wish?” Glenda asked, amazed.
“A wish with a caveat,” Mia said.
“Presently, there is an alternate timeline going on,” Ted said. “But according to the information Mia and Murphy have, if we can break the candle before the full moon, the future will not be altered.”
“What’s the harm?” she asked.
“The harm is that I’ll have to repeat exactly everything in order to end up married to the right guy so we can conceive our children in the right times and circumstances, or they will cease to be. It’s impossible.”
“If I made the wish, would I know I made it?” Glenda asked.
“Theoretically,” Mia said.
“And the wish landed all of us twenty years in the past?” Glenda confirmed.
“Yes, it’s the price to pay for using magic for personal gain,” Mia said.
“I’m trying to think why I would want to be on this farm right now. I have a second mortgage in arrears, my gallbladder is acting up, and the pump I use to feed water through my irrigation system just failed. So, I’d say no. If I did have a wish, it would be to see Mike’s dad again, if just for a few minutes. But the candle would probably bring him back as a zombie, and I’d have to kill him, so I don’t think it was me. But I’ll check around and see if I see any candles I don’t remember having.”
“Thank you, that’s more than generous,” Mia said.
“You could have just wished to be twenty years younger, Ma,” Mike said from the doorway.
The kids turned around to see what looked to be a movie star in the making. Mike was tall with farm-work muscles and handsome.
“The magic caveat of the candle chose to, instead of making you younger, take you back into the past and take all of us back with you,” Mike reasoned.
“Why not you?” Ted asked. “You’re in the prime of your life. Everything is going your way. You have girls falling at your feet. Your mother adores you, and aside from some money problems, there is nothing stopping you from achieving stardom.”
Mike rolled his eyes. “That’s what’s on the surface. But my insides are fucked up.”
“Michael!” Glenda scolded. “Watch your language! There are children here.”
“Not one of them,” Mike said. “This one’s not a child if her lies are to be believed.” Mike put a firm hand on Mia’s shoulder. “If you’re really a sensitive, tell them why I’m such a fucked-up mess.”
“Ever since you lived in Lund, when you sleep alone, you’re
