Beth's Story

Beth stood at her dark walnut apothecary cupboard and picked up

another glass vial, squinting slightly, then turning to a small brown

mouse sitting patiently at her left hand ‘Curses! Squeaky, is this the

Belladonna powder or liquid? I can’t read my own writing!’ ‘Squeak,

squeak, squeak’ ‘Ah thank you, that’s the one!’ She then turned to

the crow perched on her shoulder ‘Noir, two drops of this in the

cauldron if you please.’ ‘Squark’ Noir replied as they used their claw

and beak with impressive dexterity to ensure the pipette drew the

right amount, and leaned carefully over the simmering concoction

in the firepit to their right. Beth felt a cold, wet sensation in her left

palm, and glanced down to see the big brown eyes of a chocolate

labrador gazing hopefully up at her ‘Yes, yes, I know it’s time but I

just need to finish this off and then we can take it round to Victoria

on our way. Are the rest of the packages ready?’ The labrador,

Good Dog (the animals named themselves), went off to snuffle

inside a hessian sack, gently removed a small black kitten and

placed it on the ground with a nudge towards its sleepy siblings,

and reported back with another cold wet nose to Beth’s palm.

‘Fantastic. We might actually get everything done by this afternoon

then.’ ‘Squeak, squeak’ said Squeaky from the shelves, tail curled

around a tiny glass bottle full of something shimmering and

mercurial, shifting despite the bottle sitting perfectly still on the

shelf. ‘Yes, that’s for later, I won’t forget.’ ‘Squeak’ ‘There’s some

brie and cheddar in the pantry.’ ‘Squeak’ ‘Ok, Noir, it’s ready!’ Beth

said, picking up a small amber vial and turning to her cauldron. Noir

gracefully fluttered down onto a perch attached to the caudron-side

and dipped a pipette into the concoction, then hopped onto the

apothecary sideboard and filled the vial in Beth’s hand. She stoppered

it with a cork, and sealed it with candlewax from the lit taper illuminating

her work. With careful strokes of her calligraphy pen, she wrote the date

and the instructions, ‘2 drops in tea for 5 days am and pm’ then signed it

off at the end, slipping it into her pocket along with the tiny shimmering

bottle. ‘Ok, who’s coming for a walk?’ she asked the room in general. Squeak

had already curled up in their nest in one of the drawers of the sideboard,

the kittens Coal, Nightshade, Captain Dangerous and Twinkle-Toes were in

a pile snoozing by the warmth of the cauldron. Noir had commenced a

thorough grooming, their feathers fluffed out, beak hidden, and Good Dog

sat waiting by the sack, lead in their mouth, tail sweeping the floor furiously.

‘Just us from the look of it, shall we?’ Beth said, as she clipped Good Dogs

leash to his harness and picked up the sack. They made their way to the oak

wood cottage door and stepped out into the chill, Good Dog navigating the

path expertly. 

By twilight, all the packages had been delivered, and everyone in the village had gathered around a giant fir tree in the main square, gently lit by the candles in each window of the buildings surrounding it. Beth stood in front of the crowd, excitable children at the front being shushed by their parents to little effect. She took out the small bottle of something shimmering, mercurial, and shifting, carefully unstopped the top and poured a small amount onto her palm. Then she closed her eyes, and blew. A sparkling powder seemed to catch the wind and rose up in the air towards the giant fir, twirling and settling on the branches, the cloud growing much larger than the small amount Beth had poured. As it settled, the fir started to look as if it was glowing from within, each branch needle dusted with silver. After a while, shapes seemed to emerge from the sparkles, silhouettes of fairies, wolves, centaurs, bears, elves, foxes, goblins and rabbits, birds swooping and creatures dancing through the branches of the tree. After a moment of awe, an excited babbling began, the crowd describing what they saw and pointing out new wonders to others. The children drifted round to the other side, gleefully exclaiming that there were more, the magic coating the entire fur with delights. 

Beth smiled, took a small bow to the crowd's applause, then said ‘Anyone for a drink?’ Good Dog nudged her side with their nose, ‘Thank you, it was a particularly good one this year wasn’t it?’ she said, scratching their ears. Victoria approached her ‘It’s beautiful!’ She exclaimed, as the rest of the crowd began bringing out tables laden with food and drink. ‘Thank you’ said Beth, with a slightly coy smile but her eyes glittered with pride. ‘You can go off and play now, Victoria can see me to my seat’ she said to Good Dog, who licked her palm then bounded off to see the other village pups. As night fell, the square seemed to grow more luminous, a warm glow emitting from every window and surface, the great fir at it’s centre, catching the first flakes of the season's snow.