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Ensaneti draped a silken sleeve of her black dress over the sturdy shoulder of Lily. It softly slid over the petal pusher's blue cotton blouse like an autumnal leaf released. Lily sorted through her latest collection of bits of nature's bounty.
"Ye must make do, er do without, Neti. Yer fella, Rory, he be a good man an surely he will nah do anything beyond the pale - er pardon me pun -"
(Ensaneti's graceful white fingers tapped the rough wood of the table while her other hand smoothed a wind blown blond curl from Lily's cheek)
"were he ta know that at times ye be a little...ummm.. well, MORE than what he knows. Tisnt yer fault, tis yer duty, and ye be at the beck an call of Angels from time to time, and ye know who THEY obey - unless they be rogue, an tis not fer us ta deal with them, just survive em."
She dropped two leaves and three seeds into an ornate chalice she had traded for from a giant that was extremely unhappy. When they had first met he was busy sorting jewels from coins and odd stuffed animals from truly interesting herbs. He had mountains of the goods, and yet he scowled at Lily as she offered a simple bouquet of lavender and roses. She made him a batch of her Sweet and Spicy Sassyfracas dip and from that moment on his mood improved. She was given the chalice, though he could not tell her its origins, and he had the means to make a wholesome snack. Giants...they were an odd bunch, the only creature even stranger were dragons. She loved em all."You are a practical creature, Lily. Making do or doing without is fine for my stage show. After all the patrons of the towns and taverns I visit are already primed and ready for the mysterious, the macabre, the unusual. I bring them just a moment of illusory entertainment, or something to squawk about over their morning grog. For my personal life I WILL have what is genuine and real."
She bent her head under the table and made meowing noises at Puppy who was laying under the table, ignoring her completely. She added a whistle and Puppy opened one eye and half-heartedly yawned. The contents of the chalice began to tweet. Even the ever steady Lily blinked twice.
Puppy bounced up from under the thick table and onto Ensaneti's lap - he yapped excitedly at the table top. He turned his head and licked her cheek sloppily. She made a funny noise. Puppy barked.
OHHHHHHHHH BOY! OHHHHHH BOY!! OHHHHHH DOGGY DOODOO!! THE FRIEND THAT SMELLED LIKE THE FOREST AND THE MEADOW WAS CLAPPING! CLAPPING HAPPY!!! SHE WOULD GIVE PUPPY HER LUNCH! SHE DID THAT WHEN SHE CLAPPED HAPPY. SHE DID THAT ANYWAY. PUPPY LIKED THE HUMAN THAT SMELLED LIKE CLEAR AIR!
He barked again and tilted his head back and forth at the louder tweeting.
BIRD!! BIRD!!!
A chicken hopped out of the chalice. A hen with a slightly confused look. Ensaneti had not known that a chicken could look confused. Lily had not known that she could concoct a chicken. It appeared that the age old question of which came first, at least in this case, could be answered. Lily was not sure this was a normal chicken, however, nor was she prone to thinking about paradoxes. She stroked its white feathers and tossed some grain from a bag tied around her waist onto the table. The chicken clucked. Ensaneti lifted her arm from around Lily's shoulder in order to gently deposit the wiggling bundle of trouble called Puppy back on the floor.
Her mother had wanted her to study with the great thespians of the day, to perform classic tales of heroism and true love. Instead she was the star of a small time horror show with overtones of sexuality that brought the hunters, the farmers, the gamblers, and the lonely in under one roof for a short period of time. She had her love, Rory - adeptly playing the role of her victim for the secret delight of all who wished to relinquish control and responsibility of their own fates, even if for just a short time, while she gently placed a veil of fantasy over their exhaustion. She had Puppy, who seemed to take to a life of wandering. She had Lily - who had agreed to balance the feelings of loss of control that her stage show brought to the people that watched - with a full range of notions and potions that were as wholesome and good as ever you could find from a petal pusher with a yen for nurturing anyone and everything.
Lily opened the door of their current home and shooed the chicken off the table and out into the yard. Lily worked for the good, the true, the worthy, and as humble as the creatures that the chalice created were, she knew that they were needed in the world. She wondered where the chicken would go - obviously where it was needed, of course.
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The chicken from my tale of the donkey, the hound, and the chicken now has a back story. She was odd enough to deserve one. I suppose in metaphorical terms the chalice could represent the womb. I have a deep belief that what God needs in the world will find a way to be born. Do not worry. Be Happy.
