“It appears so. I think you were more tired than you knew. You fell asleep out on the deck.”
“Oh, yea, you were playing your violin. You play beautifully, by the way. I can’t believe I slept until 3 in the afternoon” she said rubbing her head. “Wow, I feel so out of it.”
Lucky put his arm around her and gently lead her through the curtains, “Let’s get some coffee.”
~
It was after five when Lilly opened the door to her apartment. ‘It feels so good to be home,’ she thought switching on the table lamp. She went straight to the bathroom and turned on the tap in the bath tub. She turned and walked into the bedroom to grab her robe.
There on the bed lay a dozen red roses and an envelope addressed to her. Opening the envelope she took out the card and read:
My beautiful Lilly,
I don’t know where you have gone, but I am sad and distressed, I cannot find you. I wanted to say goodbye in person and I thought I would have time. We finally rounded up Bart and packed all of our equipment. Trey has decided we are heading out of town today. I can’t tell you how much these past few weeks have meant to me. You are a special lady, one deserving of all the good things life has to offer. Right now, I am a vagabond musician, traveling where they will have me. You are so talented and carry a bright light no amount of abuse has been able to or would ever be able to extinguish. I am grateful our paths have crossed and I have gotten to know you. I will be traveling with the band to Florida, up the East coast and back across the country to California. We will be in San Francisco by early summer. Trey wants to make the whole trip again next year. Hopefully, the tour will happen again and I will return to the magikcal city where a part of my heart lives with a beautiful Cajun faerie.
Love, Roland
“NO! No, no, no no, no.” Her throat closed, her heart constricted. Her body tensed and, finally, the tears came. Sobbing hysterically, she fell onto the bed, holding the roses in her arms. Her world fell away and she plummeted into despair.
Later, water crept into the room as the bathtub overflowed. Lilly screamed in frustration. Anger bubbled up as she mopped the floor with towels. ‘How could I have been so stupid? I never allowed myself to think of him leaving. He was magickal, he was everything I ever dreamed of. He couldn’t just leave on a bus.’
Pounding on her head with her hand she berated herself. ‘I let my guard down and spazzed out over a traveling musician. I thought we were falling in love, but no, he, he was having a frolic. He knew he would be leaving, but he never mentioned it, never said a word. Agnes may have been telling the truth, when he was nowhere to be found, he was dipping his wick in strippers on Bourbon St. I have been a fool. I have ignored my studies and my meditations for a romp with a musician.’ Putting her head in her hands she sobbed, ‘I knew he would be leaving. I chose not to see it, or think about it or mention it. Putting blinders on, I pretended we could go on forever.’
Three days of seesawing from self-reproach and fury to mind numbing grief left Lilly depleted physically and emotionally. On the afternoon of the third day she was exhausted and out of food and coffee. She took a deep breath and decided to suck it up and walk to the A&P for groceries. Despite her half-hearted efforts, a splash of cold water did little to shrink her swollen eyes and red face. She pulled a brush through her tangled curls, pulled on a sweat shirt and a pair of jeans and headed out the door.
Pulling open the gate to the street, she turned left. Instead of heading right to the A&P grocery, her feet carried her towards the Square. She had traveled only half a block when a mongrel dog jumped out of nowhere, hackles raised menacingly, emitting a low, threatening growl. Backing away from the dog, she ran across Chartres St. into the Square. Looking over her shoulder to make sure the mongrel wasn’t chasing her, she ran into a smelly drunk who grabbed her breast and breathed an obscene invitation in her face. Slapping his hands away, she ran to Decatur Street and kept her eyes on the ground, watching her footing on the uneven banquette.
PART IV
Raven Moon
Chapter 27
Crystal Visions
Lilly sprinted down Decatur Street until her breath gave out. She stopped in front of the Abby bar, put her hands on her knees and took a moment to calm her ragged breath. She stood, took a deep breath and inhaled the odor of stale beer oozing out of the Abby bar. When her breath quieted she noticed the music rolling out onto the sidewalk from the jukebox, “You don’t have to say you love me, just be close at hand,” Dusty Springfield sang. Lilly threw her head back as an anguished howl moved up from the depths of her being.
It was then she saw the sign hanging on the building next door. It squeaked gently on its hinges in the afternoon breeze. The black metal raven perched on the crescent moon, urged her to enter.
The OPEN sign hung in the door. Directly over the door a sign declared, Magick & Alchemy. On either side of the door hung long black signs displaying the Raven Moon’s services in archaic white letters
The left sign listed: Psychic Readings, Occult Books, Incense Candles, Charms, Talismans, Occult Jewelry, Statues, Herbs, roots, Tarot Cards, Anointing oils.
The right sign read: Classes in Ritual Magick, Alchemy, Gnostics, Metaphysics, Astrology, Ancient Wisdom, Tarot Reading, Scrying.
Lilly stood for a moment reading the offerings.
