Ember and the twins are having a blast running back and forth between the zip lines, the slides, the parallel bars and all of the playground equipment on this cool afternoon at Audubon Park. The energy amongst the three is palpable.
The kids’ moms, Celeste and her half-sister, Vivian enjoy this time they have together as a family now. Celeste and her husband moved to New Orleans to be closer to family, which has made her much happier.
“They tire me out just watching them,” says Celeste, grinning and watching her five-year old daughter, Ember. She turns towards Vivian, who is knitting hats for her six-year old twins Aiden and Adele.
“Tiring them out is a good thing. A tired set of twins is a well- behaved set of twins.” Vivian winks at Celeste, then places her knitting away in her tote bag. She reaches into the cooler sitting on the ground; pulls out a ginger ale and hands it to her sister.
“Thanks, Sis.” Popping the top on her ale, she watches the kids running hither and thither, “I swear I can see trails of energy clouds follow Ember when she runs all fast and furious.” Reaching her free hand for the sky from left to right in slow motion, she says in a soft, drawn-out tone, “Like a jet high in the sky.” Giggling, she turns to Vivian who is taking a big gulp of her ale and swallows hard, after hearing her sister’s remarks.
Vivian’s eyebrows rise, “Don’t laugh, Celeste. What you think you are seeing is likely the real thing. You can see auras. I know you don’t remember your clairvoyance. You’ve repressed it for years. But, if you dig deep, you’ll find it. Believe it and join us again, darling. Come back to us.”
“Oh stop,” Celeste looks away, frowns and rubs the back of her neck as she always does when the subject of the family’s psychic abilities arise. “All the stuff the family has experienced over the years can be explained. And you know that,” she says dismissing her sister’s crazy notion.
“Okay, sis, I won’t debate you, nor will I speak badly about your dad, right now. Even though, he was the one who forced you inward.
That’s all I’ll say,” Vivian says holding both palms up and turning towards her bag, showing she is done with the topic.
“It’s getting late, Celeste. I think I’ll take the twins home for a rest and get ready for my ‘Sweet Darrin’ to come home.” Laughing at her own joke, Vivian sees her sister tilting her head in confusion. She explains, “You know, I’m Samantha and he’s Darrin. Get it? From ‘Bewitched.’ Oh, come on!”
“Please, you are as much of a Samantha as I am an Endora. It’s wishful thinking, Vivian.” Celeste starts gathering her things. Clearly annoyed, she stands up and turns to call her daughter. “Emb…”
Little Ember is already standing by her side looking up at her, calmly ready and waiting to go. “Good grief, Ember. How…?” Celeste quickly turns to see if Vivian noticed what just occurred.
Smirking, Vivian says, “Uh, huh, there’s a little witch in all of us, darling.” Taking the hand of each of twin, she walks towards her car and says over her shoulder, “Love you girls. Blessed be.”
Driving home, Celeste thinks: Vivian’s witchy talk is too much for me to bear. Stories of supernatural occurrences in the family she’s tole me about are far-fetched. If true, it’s a wonder some of the females in our family weren’t committed to an institution. Or worse. Shoot, maybe some were, and I just don’t know about them.
Later, at home, Celeste asks, “Ember honey, how did you know I was about to tell you it was time to leave the park?”
“I just felt it,” Ember says as she plops down on the rug with her coloring book.
Did that red crayon just roll into her hand by itself?
Ember says, “Sometimes, I do that, Mommy,” seemingly reading Celeste’s mind. “Look, I’ll get the blue one too.” Laying her hand on the rug, palm up, she pulled the blue crayon to herself. “See. Grammy tells me you used to be able to do that too.”
“Grammy tells you?” Celeste asks taken aback, “Who is your Grammy, Ember?”
“She says she is your Mommy and my Grammy,” Ember says casually, as she colors.
Celeste gasps and feels a flush of adrenaline tingling through her body. “What does she look like, Ember?
Ember thinks for a second, stands and walks over to the bookshelf. She pulls a photo album off the bottom shelf, “Grammy says her picture is in here.”
Chills travel up Celeste’s spine as she takes the album from her child. “Is Grammy here right now?” She peers around the room.
“She is, but I don’t see her right now. I feel her though and she loves us,” Ember looks up at her mom offering a sweet smile. “Grammy wants you to remember who you really are, Mommy. She says you’ll be so much happier.”
I want to feel you, Mom. I want to see you; talk to you. Ask you all the questions that I’ve had over the years, to bring me out of this funk.
Holding the photo album close to her chest with one hand, Celeste takes Ember’s sweet face in her other hand and caresses her, “You be sure to tell Grammy that we love her too and that I’ll try, okay?”
Ember, cheerfully sing songs, “Okaaay,” as she skips back to her coloring book.
Sitting back comfortably on the couch, looking at the old photos of her mom, Celeste begins having flashbacks of strange occurrences that took place when she was Ember’s age. She sees herself running past her deceased maternal grandmother up the stairs as if it were nothing unusual. Celeste waves at her smiling grandmother as she goes.
Another flashback at six years old, playing in the back yard, walking up to an injured bird. Celeste holds the wounded bird in her hands and unbeknownst to her, casts a healing spell using the energy in her hands. She holds the bird up high, releases her hold and says fly, fly, fly. The healed bird flies up and away.
She recalls how she could see more spirits as she grew older and how her abilities started becoming overwhelming. I had no instruction on how to control it. I had no family near me. She remembers telling her dad about seeing her recently deceased mom one evening, and how his reaction mortified her.
He had said, “Celeste, your mind is playing tricks on you. You’re imagining things; your mother is gone. You cannot bring her memory up to me. It’s painful.” The look of contempt on her dad’s face was terrifying. “Keep it up, and I’ll take you to a psychiatrist. There’s a condition called Schizophrenia, and there are drugs that I can give you for these hallucinations. Ask your Aunt Bea. She knows all about it. Shock treatment fixed her up real good. So, you just keep it up.” He walked out leaving her alone in the room. She was eight years old at the time.
Who is Aunt Bea?
More memories start flooding in, like the horrible recurring nightmare she had as a child. The dream seemed so real. She walks on a wide path in a forest. The full moon above offers light, and she sees smoke rising through the trees up ahead. Feeling a sense of urgency, she starts running and she hears screaming. Finally, she reaches a clearing and sees people standing in front of a burning pyre. Her mother is looking at her, tears flowing and arms reaching towards her, her body burning. She says, “Run, my daughter, hide. They’re coming for you.”
Celeste freezes with fear, watching the skin melt off her mother’s bones as she reaches towards her.
Once, she wakes from that nightmare by the sound of her dad’s voice calling her name. She realizes she is laying on the floor of her bedroom closet. She screams at the top of her lungs, “They’re burning Mom! Get her down; she’s burning! And, they’re coming for me next, Daddy!” She is pounding on the closet door, and when her dad finally opens the door, Celeste passes out.
Celeste calls her sister, “Vivian, I need to talk to you. I’m having flashbacks from when I was a kid. I am recalling having psychic abilities, like seeing spirits and healing animals. Could it be true?”
Vivian flops back in her chair and utters a soft, “Thank the Goddess. Finally. Yes, darling. It can be true. It is true, as I’ve been trying to tell you for so long. Let me try to explain what your psyche did as a protective measure.”
Vivian explains how Celeste’s father took her to the hospital when she was eight years old after experiencing debilitating nightmares and sleepwalking occurrences. She was given anti-psychotic drugs and antidepressants and as a result, she squashed her true self.
“You put a metaphysical plug in your abilities, darling. You placed yourself behind a virtual brick wall. It was a classic defense mechanism. When the family learned what had happened to you, we were livid. And, to think you didn’t even know we existed, at the time. Breaks my heart.
Vivian asks, “What brought on the flashbacks, do you know?”
“It was four simple words that Ember said after I asked her how she knew I was about to call her when we were in the park.” Celeste adds, “Out of the mouth of my own babe, she said ‘I just felt it.’ And, I suddenly realized that my child has abilities. Then memories started flooding in.” The excitement in Celeste’s voice is distinct, “Can you come over for brunch on Sunday? Bring the cousins and the aunties if they can come, too. I need my family’s guidance. I think I’ve had an epiphany.”
“We’ll be there on Sunday, my love. We’ll bring everything. You just have the mimosas ready.”
All the children are playing in the beautiful Garden district backyard soaking in the sunshine. The adults are enjoying themselves on Celeste’s beautiful covered flagstone patio. The soft tones of the chimes are peaceful, as are the gentle sounds of the waterfall.
“Brunch was delightful Celeste,” Aunt Evelyn says walking through the patio door joining the others, “Now, what is this I hear about long overdue news or advice needed by the family?”
“Yes, you have the majority of us here now, darling,” adds Cousin Mona walking over with a fresh mimosa. “What is it that we can help you with. I do hope you’ve let go of some of those terrible ideas that your dreadful father put in your head when you were a child.”
Aunt Evelyn scowls at her daughter, Mona, “Oh hush, child. Let us not speak badly of my late sister’s husband, for she is not here to defend him,” Evelyn says as she looks around the patio, “Is she?”
Celeste laughs softly and answers her Aunt Evelyn. “It’s funny you say that because Mama did visit me in my dreams last night. The dream was so vivid. That’s how I know it was a visit and not just a regular dream.” She had everyone’s attention now. “I haven’t dreamt so vividly in many years.”
“Tell us about it, darling,” coaxed Vivian, “Usually, after epiphanies such as the one I feel you’ve had, our dearly departed can visit us to offer guidance.”
“Well, I was walking along a wide river on a beautiful day. The air was crisp, and the sky so blue. I saw Mama coming towards me from the other side of the river. Oh, she was so beautiful. She looked healthy like she was never ill. Her hair so golden and shining as if surrounded by a halo. She had on a long, flowing white dress. I couldn’t see her feet, and it appeared as if she were floating towards me. Her arms were reaching out to me. I could see she was crying. I heard no sound, but I saw the tears running down her face. She was making her way across the river.
By the time she reached me, I could see by the expression on her face. Although tears were flowing, they seemed to be tears of joy.”
The family is intently watching Celeste as she describes her dream visit. “Why do you feel your mother visited you, darling?” asks Cousin Mona, holding her hand to her heart.
“I know why,” offers Vivian. “Our Celeste has finally realized it is time to ‘come out of the broom closet.’ Isn’t that right, Sis?”
Celeste looks around the table at these beautiful women who are her family. “Yes. It’s true. I repressed my heritage for fear of being castigated by my father as a child. I reinvented myself and blocked all my clairvoyant abilities. Life was made ‘normal.’ College, marriage, Ember’s arrival and raising her as normal people do.”
Aunt Evelyn asks, “What happened to help you release the suppression, darling? It must have been earth-shattering.”
As if on cue, Ember, Aiden, Adele and the other children, run up to the patio table and stand by their mothers.
Pulling her daughter up on her lap, Celeste says, “It was momentous, Aunt Evelyn. Simple, yet momentous.” Celeste explains Ember’s sudden appearance by her side at the park. “It was if she was practicing astral projection. One second, she was on the other side of the park, the next second, she’s standing right next to me. I hadn’t even called her name.”
Looking up at her Mom, Ember says, “I remember that. We were on the slide; then I just felt like Mommy needed me to come over to her quickly. So, I did,” she says shrugging her shoulders.
Wide smiles from around the table and those close enough, reach out touch Ember affectionately.
Vivian stands, walks around the table holding her champagne glass. She affectionately kisses Embers head. When she reaches her sister, Celeste, she pulls her up by the sleeve of her blouse. “I’m making a toast. A long-awaited toast. Everyone, please stand.”
The family stands, and each raises her glass. Vivian holds her glass up high and says, “To my little sister, who’s just uncovered her long- buried legacy. May she dedicate herself to this spiritual development with our guidance, her sisters; her coven.”
Aunt Evelyn adds, “Let the magic fill your heart and breathe into your soul the surety that our knowledge will be passed along to you. And, that we can overcome any upheaval that new beginnings may bring.”
Celeste begins to cry, happy tears. She says, “My path has finally revealed itself, and I shall follow it, with the help of my family. I have finally released my imprisoned birthright.”
At the very moment glasses clink, a beautiful blue orb makes her way slowly across the table circling each woman as if she too is toasting the revelation and blessing the family.
“So mote it be,” they all say in unison as they watch the glorious ball of light float amongst them and then up and away.