The Witch Wood Demon, Part 8

The Witch Wood Demon, Part 8
By H.A. Handy
Copyright (c) 2005 by H.A. Handy


No one moved for several long ticks of the grandfather clock. Angelica hadn't even noticed it was there before now. Caleb heaved a heavy sigh into the stillness of the house. Slowly, quietly, Edna returned to the kitchen where pots and pans were being moved around and the smell of wood smoke suddenly made Angelica's stomach growl and grumble. How long had it been since she had eaten anything solid? Joshua went back to bandaging her feet. No one spoke. The sizzle of bacon came from the kitchen and made Angelica's mouth water, and then a wave of nausea. It had been a long time since she had eaten.

"What did he mean 'there are always choices'?" Angelica asked softly. Joshua's shoulders shifted. He didn't look up at her.

"We make choices in life. Some choices are good. Some are bad. Every choice has a consequence." Angelica waited for the punch line but nothing followed.

"I know that already."

"And the Soul is immortal and very real. Each choice we make affects our Soul's place. Johnny made a choice and his Soul is trapped for eternity. Granny made a choice and she will probably make it. I don't like making choices sometimes, because I've seen the consequences, and most people don't look at who they are affecting when they make the majority of the decisions they make, their choices. A long time ago people made decisions with the entire family in mind. How would their decision, their choice, affect the family, their wife or husband, their children, their home, their aunts and uncles, etc.." He looked up at her then. His eyes were curious as they scanned her face openly. "And you have a big choice to make it seems."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. But Granny will tell us when it's time." Angelica's heart thudded hard at the "us" in Joshua's sentence. Something inside Angelica's heart wanted to run away from the "us" just as she had run away from the hills.

"You rest. I'll put some more wood on the fire for you and then go help Granny with the breakfast." Good to his word, Joshua added more wood and then headed into the kitchen. Soon there was a discussion of chickens and cattle and which came first the chicken or the egg. Caleb's breathing wasn't as steady as it had been earlier. Angelica was surprised she could even notice it.

Why had she taken onto herself the role of heroine for Caleb? She didn't know him. He was a total and complete stranger to her. Yet she had struggled and fought to keep him alive, to keep both of them moving forward through the snow.

The house, Edna, Joshua, the entire situation was surreal in so many ways. It should have been a story or a movie, not reality. It was real though, the pain in her feet said it was real. She believed pain.