This has all been HUGELY useful, folks! Thanks so much for stopping over special, Deborah, just to give your thoughts!
Okay, here are the first two introductions of LaShondra. See if they sound realistic. Remember that this is only the introduction and Roxanne knows very little about LaShondra's beliefs at this stage (so neither should the reader). It's a little long (about 5 pages), but I've cut it down as much as possible while still giving you the full "feel":
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Chapter 5
"Are you sure it won’t be any trouble?" I held the portable phone to my ear while misting the plants on the long table by the front window.
LaShondra’s voice faded in and out. No doubt she was working while we talked and holding the phone with her chin. "Don’t be silly. Of course you can borrow my car for a couple of days. I trust you, and I know how hard it is to find a cheap rental on the weekend. You’re right to wait until Monday to go searching. I’ll just use one of the company vans. Goddess knows I have plenty of deliveries to make anyway."
The mister gave out before the plants did, so I walked to the kitchen to fill it—yes,
walked! After keeping ice on it for most of the night, the ankle was doing a lot better. I wouldn’t be running any races, but there wasn’t much pain. The cut was healing nicely too, under a thick layer of ointment. "So when would you have time to bring it over? I’m probably not going anywhere until then. My ankle isn’t quite up to snuff yet for distances."
"Oh, honey, there’s no
way I can bring it to you! I wasn’t kidding about the deliveries, and the containers won’t fit in the back of the car. There are a dozen flower shops waiting for baby’s breath and daisies today. It’s bridal season. Can one of your brothers give you a lift over here? I can hang out until ten or so before people start to scream."
I’d already called them, but didn’t need to discuss all the excuses I’d gotten with her. I struggled not to sigh as I walked back to the plants. She can hear disappointment a mile away, and she’d wind up coming over and getting in trouble with the shops. "Let me make some calls. At the very least, I can probably take the bus over."
She gave me the reaction I expected. "Hmph. Well, you know how I feel about the bus route over here. But it’s daylight and you’re a big girl. Just be careful. And don’t forget to water the plants. You know I’ll check at brunch tomorrow!"
I laughed and pulled the trigger again. "Misting as we speak. I wouldn’t want them to tell tales. I know how catty the fern can be."
"Honey,
all the plants I give you have nothing but love for you. If you’d just start to listen to them, they’d tell you themselves." LaShondra chuckled, and the image of her bright smile, a brilliant white against her dark skin, popped to mind. She paused for a moment. "You’ll have to tell me what happened to your ankle when you get here. It takes a lot to put you down."
Damn. Forgot I mentioned that, but she always does that—replays our conversation in her head before we hang up. "We’ll see."
Another pause, followed by her patented spooky, you-can’t-hide-anything-from-me, voice. "Mm-hmm. Like that, is it? Well, looking forward to seeing you soon, honey."
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"Do you want to come inside and look around? The daisies and azaleas should be in full bloom and the mums will be getting ready to disbud. It’s really pretty."
Vince pursed his lips and tilted his head, considering. "Sure. Why not? I’ll let you out here and go park. Is that your friend loading the van? I’ll meet you over there."
"Yeah, that’s LaShondra. She owns the place. I’m always amazed by how much she does by herself around here. She hires some seasonal temp people, but most of what you see is just her." He nodded, impressed.
I got out of the LandCruiser and walked toward the van, watching where I stepped. I definitely had to be careful of the ruts with my ankle. LaShondra was just pushing open the office door with her foot when I reached her. I held the door while she came out, carrying two tall white buckets filled with sprays of double baby’s breath. As usual, she wore airy slacks and a long patterned tunic—always made from natural fibers and in earth tones. Today’s selection was done in browns and greens that made her skin look even darker. The pattern of rune symbols probably had some meaning in her Wiccan religion, but I didn’t know what. We didn’t talk about our religions much . . . or politics. It’s how we
stay friends.
"Hey, girl!" She grinned and gratefully handed over one of the buckets when I reached for it. "Glad you found a ride over. You just caught me." She nestled the first bucket into one of the custom made metal racks in the back of the van and I handed her the second. Even if she has to hit the brakes hard or swerve, nothing in back will tip over or drench the carpet.
She stepped back and poked her head around the van door. Vince was just getting out of the SUV. Before he turned around and saw her, she ducked back behind the door and bumped my arm with her elbow. "Ooo! Not only a ride over, but he looks worthy of riding
later, too! My, my! Where’d you find
him?" She kept her voice low, but I swatted her anyway and let out an exasperated noise before replying quietly.
"It’s not like that! He’s just a nice guy who gave me a ride home last night after Baby got crunched. He noticed me waiting for the bus and offered me a lift."
Footsteps neared. I gave her a warning look and she put on a face of pure innocence that hopefully he wouldn’t see through.
"You back here, Roxanne?" I opened my mouth to reply to his question when I noticed the oddest look on LaShondra’s face—as though she recognized his voice.
Once more she moved out from behind the van door and I followed. Her jaw dropped. "Mr.
Slater?" She gave the words an important sound, as though he was someone of authority.
His face showed no hint of recognition— only confusion. He smiled politely and stepped closer to me with a shrug. "Yes, that’s me. I’m sorry, but do I
know you from somewhere?"
She let out a bright laugh. "Well, of course! I mean . . . well, I don’t know if you recognize me or not. But I certainly know
you. You were the TA in my World Religions course. I still remember the lecture you gave on the higher consciousness of shamanistic meditation." She pointed from me to him and back again. "You two
know each other?"
Now the odd look was on Vince’s face. He reached in his pocket and extracted his keys. "Yeah . . . small world, huh? Hey, Roxanne, . . . y’know, I should probably go ahead and get to the laundromat. I’ve got a pretty busy schedule today."
I furrowed my brow. He didn’t seem angry or anything, but a lot of the fun and teasing had left his face and body language. "But I thought you wanted to look around—"
He reached out and touched my shoulder and winked. "Next time, okay? I’m sure you’ve got a bunch to do too. Give me a call soon, huh?"
LaShondra and I glanced at each other as he returned to his vehicle, got in and backed out. She looked worried and bit her lip nervously. "I’m sorry, Roxanne. Did I tick him off or something? I mean, I know I shouldn’t have gushed so much, but he really
was my favorite TA in the whole college."
I shrugged helplessly, because I didn’t have a clue. "I honestly don’t know. I don’t even know what a TA
is."
"It’s a teacher’s assistant— a graduate student who helps out the professor. Usually, the students who become TA’s are planning on becoming professors themselves after they finish their master’s degree."
My turn for the dropped jaw. "Vince has a
master’s degree? In
what?"
"Well, he was part of the holistic studies program. There were only a couple of degrees he could have gotten, but I don’t know which one it was. I think I remember some of my classmates saying he was a parapsychology major. It’s what all of his lectures were about. Where did you meet him, anyway?"
I shook my head, trying to clear it enough to wrap my head around everything. "Um, he’s the assistant night manager at WalMart. He’s the one who tackled me when the truck was about to squish my legs against Baby’s bumper. What’s parapsychology?"
Carrying on two conversations at the same time was confusing, but enlightening. She shrugged and sat down heavily on the edge of the van bed, looking bummed. I joined her. "Psychic phenomenon, higher consciousness, spirits—that sort of thing. Wait. You’re telling me that Vincent Slater works at . . .
WalMart? With his background? Girl, that’s just . . . sick and
wrong! That boy needs to talk to someone about
that choice!"
I took a deep breath and let it out slow. "Well, apparently, he doesn’t
want to talk about it or he’d still be here." A little series of head shakes cleared my brain. "Oh well. I didn’t really have any plans to start anything up with him, so I guess it really doesn’t matter much if we
did piss him off. Still, that damned curiosity of mine—"
She chuckled and slapped her palms down on her ample thighs. "Yep, you’re like a dog with an old bone. No doubt about it. If there’s a truth to be sniffed out, you’ll find it. But let’s get a look at you, now that I’m not distracted."
I stood and held out my arms, like being sized for a dress, and turned in a slow circle. LaShondra firmly believes that she can see auras. I decided long ago that it’s hard to prove a negative, and harder still to prove an
invisible positive. It doesn’t do any harm to humor her, and she’s actually pretty good with intuition and giving advice. I just don’t know where I stand on the whole new age stuff she does— crystals, scented oils and herbs, wards and charms.
When I finished turning and gave her my best smile, I was surprised by the look of . . .
horror on her face. Her mouth opened twice without words, and she leaned against the door pillar for support. When she finally spoke, her voice cracked. "D . . . do that again. Turn around that same way."
I did as she asked, but an icy chill was crawling up my spine from the tiny sounds she was making in the back of her throat. This time, my face probably looked as concerned as I felt when I finished and stood waiting for her response.
Instead of answering, she reached behind her neck and unhooked the clasp of a necklace that was hidden under her tunic. She drew it out, stood and walked the few steps to me. Before I could do anything, she reached forward and hooked the necklace around my neck. "Roxanne honey, you need this more than I do—‘cause girl, you are in a
world of trouble!"
Chapter 6
The warm weight of the necklace made me pick it up and drop my eyes enough to see it. It wasn’t difficult, because the multi-color stones surrounded by hammered silver covered most of my chest. Every color of the rainbow glinted in the sunlight—crystal and rose quartz, black tourmaline, tiger eye, amethyst, lapis lazuli, peridot. It was stunning and I knew it was her favorite, because she almost always wore it.
I fingered the necklace, and worry flowed through my voice. "What do you mean, I’m in trouble, and why are you giving me your necklace?"
She shook her head sadly. "Trust me, I don’t
want to give it to you. But I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I didn’t give you
something to protect yourself from whatever’s attacking you, and I don’t have time to make you up a mojo bag today. Girl, you got rips in your aura big enough for my
cat to climb through. I don’t know what sort of stuff you’re involved in, but something’s definitely trying to hurt you."
My ankle took that moment to remind me it was there and it all came rushing back—the axe, the car, the creeping chill that seemed to be following me around. I shook my head and tucked the necklace inside my pale yellow polo shirt. Whether or not I believed in it, I’m a big fan of
any port in a storm. "It would take too long to explain today, but we’ll definitely talk tomorrow at brunch. What all is this necklace supposed to do?"
"Most of those stones are to prevent psychic attacks. Amethyst for clarity, black tourmaline to dispel negativity, quartz for protection. All the stuff you need right now. And you’re damned straight that we’ll be talking tomorrow. I’ll be renewing all the wards at your entrances and probably be putting some new runes on the planters."
My brow furrowed and my voice had a hint of accusation when I crossed my arms over my chest. "Whoa! You’ve been casting
spells in my house? I thought we agreed—no religion and no politics at brunch. I think
ritualistic magic is a little outside the spirit of the agreement. And isn’t against the rules for your
own beliefs?"
She held her head high and regarded me quietly. "Yes, it is. We honor free will and try very hard not to impose our will on others. But the
spirit of the agreement is the problem, Roxanne. I told you when we met that you have an affinity with the spirit world. Whether or not you choose to admit it, they can sense you, just like you can sense them. Since you’ve stated that you don’t believe in my religion, I gave you gifts that didn’t
express my religion, but still protected you from that which seeks you. Whatever’s following you right now is bad-bad. It can
hurt you. You’re being psychically attacked. From the damage to your aura, there’s even a remote chance that the negative energy can harm you
physically."
I couldn’t believe I was even asking, yet out popped the words. "Could negative energy throw an
axe?"
Her eyebrows raised in surprise. "You mean like an
axe axe? The kind to cut wood? Pick it up and throw it at you? No, that’s not the sort of injury I was talking about. I meant—"
My words were quiet, but I stared at her hard, willing her to believe me. "That’s what hurt my ankle last night . . . at the hotel. An axe came off the wall and spun down the hallway. I had to use an iron shield to protect myself, but the blade nicked my ankle." I twisted my leg and raised my pant cuff to show her the red gash slathered with goop.
She let out a slow breath and stood. "Boy, you’ve got me there. That sounds more like something up your brother’s alley than mine. Special effects stuff. I can’t think of any sort of energy, other than a poltergeist, that can throw things."
"I know. I’ve already called Jeremy. That’s one of the reasons I need the car today. I have to go back to the hotel and find out some stuff so he can figure out how it was done."
She backed up and slammed the doors on the van and then leaned her ample bulk against them. "It’s not the full moon yet, but I can make you up some charms to protect you physically. In the meantime, you really need to investigate this . . . and I
don’t just mean look for special effects. Do that too, but—" She reached out, took one of my hands and squeezed. "Really, Roxanne, you need to finally accept and start to explore your abilities. You’re my best friend in the world and I don’t just say this to sound all woo-woo on you. You have a gift. But without training, it’s as much a curse. Something can
see you through the veils of reality. If it can see you, what’s to say that it can’t
touch you?"
I fought down a shiver, not very successfully because trails of goosebumps appeared on my arms. "So, let’s say I agree there
might be something to this—you’d train me?"
LaShondra laughed. "Me? No, honey. I’m just a lesser witch who can do a few fancy charms. What you can do is
way out of my league. Buuut—" A slow smile came to her face and she pointed toward the parking space that Vince had just vacated. "I do know someone who
can teach you. He just drove out of here in a hurry. You might have to do some convincing, though, since it didn’t seem like was all that interested in talking about his specialty."
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So, wha'cha think? Not asking for edits, as before. Just impressions. Am I heading in the right direction? Naturally, lots more detail later. This is just the first taste of her. Thanks!
