That Bell

That Bell

“How did you start out, Venna?” asked one of the girls in the circle around the old woman.

“Well,” she started, “I was eleven, at my grandmother’s house. It was summer, we’d just moved into town. I was staying at “Grammie’s” for a few days, while my parents got everything sorted out. I barely knew her, having always lived in another state, but knew her enough to feel safe.

Her house had always intrigued me on our visits. In my first days, Gram went with me showing me everything. A lovely barn, a small woods and chickens too. After I knew the boundaries, she let me explore alone.

She put me in a spare bedroom and told me it was my room now. I could do what I wanted with it, and sleep there anytime. I still sleep there sometimes, to this day. It was painted a light spring green. I’d started sneezing immediately, apparently a feather pillow, I was allergic then. Gram switched it immediately, but left everything else, she said it had been waiting for me.

The second night, I was going through the stuff in “my” room and came upon a bell. I hadn’t even touched it when Gram came in, “Before you pick that up I need to ask you a question,” she said, quite seriously. “Do you believe in magic?”

“Of course,” I said, without hesitation. I mean I was just eleven, I think most of us believe at eleven.

“Then pick it up,” she said smiling. I picked up the bell. Suddenly we were in a room surrounded by other women. They all smiled and cheered, at us! Grammie took my hand and said gently, “It’s time for you to join your people.”

That was the first day of the rest of my life."