Winter had set in, and we started going to the college pool once a week. I was used to the colder water of the inlet, and I found I got tired faster indoors.
We would share a lane and do 30 or 40 laps, then just goof off.
It was early December when I noticed that Penny was carrying around some kind of secret. I tried to pry it our of her, but she wouldn’t crack. “You’ll see, very soon!” was all she would say.
I invited her to go to Midnight Mass with me, and she invited me to go to her church on Christmas morning. My parents mumbled something about us being too close and why didn’t we have other friends, which they did every few months, but I stood firm. I had friends because I liked them and they liked me, not to fill some kind of quota.
They asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I thought for a few days, and then told them candle making supplies — NOT a candle making kit. I made a list — block of wax, dyes, wicking, and tall seamless canisters. They asked me if that was all I wanted.
I hugged my mom and said, “You and Dad love each other and you love me, so I’m happy. I don’t need a bunch of stuff. Please just accept that I have to find friends in my own way.”
Christmas arrived. The decorated tree in our living room made me think of our Grove, and how pretty the cedars would look with ornaments on them.
“Mom, do we have any old tree ornaments we don’t use?”
“Yes, a whole box of them. Why?”
“I know of a Christmas tree that doesn’t have any ornaments.”
“I’ll get out some good ones. That’s very thoughtful of you, Ariel.”
I helped a lot with Christmas eve dinner, and after dinner we all opened one gift.
“Boots! Good hiking boots! Thank you, Mom and Dad! I can wear them to church tonight!” I guess they had noticed that I had worn a hole in my old ones.
Penny’s mom was a little upset when I came by on foot to pick Penny up, but she didn’t say much. I had warned Penny, and she was in pants and boots.
Mass was beautiful. I could tell Penny really liked all the candles and the singing. When the priest started to prepare the Eucharist, I whispered to her,
“This is magical!”
I walked Penny home, and promised to be ready, in a dress, at 8:30 in the morning.
Mom made Bavarian waffles for breakfast. Yum! Strawberries and ice cream! She and Dad still weren’t quite used to the fact that I didn’t want to rip open all my presents at the crack of dawn. Just one more way I wasn’t a kid anymore.
“These waffles are sure a nice Christmas present, Mom. Thanks! I have time to do the dishes.”
“When do you want to open gifts, Honey?”
“How about this afternoon when Granny is here?”
“Well . . . I think she’d like that!”
When Penny and her mom got there, I tossed my apron and hopped in their car.
“Merry Christmas, friend!” she said. We hugged each other. “Thanks for the calligraphy paper! I want to learn illumination, and I got some little paint brushes too that will help.”
“Neat! I haven’t opened anything yet, except the boots you saw last night.”
The church they went to was smaller, and everyone was all dressed up.
The minister said something I wanted to write down about Mary not being afraid of a commitment that was greater than the ones we usually make. After
the service, there were refreshments, and Penny and I nibbled. A guy sort of started to flirt with me. He asked me if I was new in town, and I said no, I was Catholic, so he left.
“Some people in this church don’t like Catholics,” Penny said.
“What would he have done if I’d told him I was a Druid?”
We both giggled.
The day after Christmas, Penny came over in the afternoon with this big grin on her face. I pretended not to notice and started showing her my block of wax and stuff.
“Ariel, I found a kind of magic I want to learn.”
“Really? Didn’t you find it two weeks ago?”
She laughed. “Yeah, but I didn’t have enough money then. I had to wait until I got $10 from my grandmother for Christmas.” She pulled out a little wooden box. “Are you ready?”
“I’m dying! Hurry up!”
She opened the box, and there was a beautiful set of cards inside, larger than playing cards, and much prettier.
“The Tarot,” she said.
“Wow! Are you going to learn how to use them?”
Grinning from ear to ear, she nodded. “Do you want to look at them?”
I started to reach for the mysterious deck of cards, but something made me stop. Something told me that only Penny should touch them. “They are your magic. You can show me, but I shouldn’t touch them.”
Penny looked at me strangely, but then nodded understanding. She went slowly through the 78 cards. “Aren’t they beautiful?” she asked.
“What are the symbols in the corners?”
“I don’t know yet, but I’m going to learn!”
“In some of them, I can see symbols hidden in the pictures, too,” I said.
She grinned with understanding.
“They’re neat, Penny. You have some studying to do, secret studying!”
“For sure!” she agreed. “They came with a little book, but I bet I’ll have to go to the college library to learn most of it.”
“Hey! Let’s go together some Saturday. I want to look for things too.”
Penny put the cards back in the box.
“Do you want to make candles with me?” I asked.
“You
bet!”
“Candlemas is February 1st and 2nd, and the tradition is that all the candles for the year are blessed on that day. It used to be called Imbolc long ago, and celebrated the sheep getting their milk.” Penny was listening with interest. I went on. “I found out what all the different candle colors are for, and I made a page for them in our book.” I showed her the page. “I picked blue for our robes, because I had a vision of a group of Druids in a Grove, and one of them was a girl, and she called my name and held out a circlet of leaves to me. They were wearing blue.”
“This is interesting,” Penny said, looking at the Grimoire. “I bet the colors in the Tarot cards mean something special too. Can we make all these colors?
I bet we won’t need any black — we won’t be doing any exorcisms, will we?”
“I don’t think so. I wouldn’t know how. I don’t have black dye, anyway, but we can make all the rest.”
“What kind of candles should we make?” Penny asked.
“We’re supposed to use fresh candles for each magical ceremony, so we could make a whole bunch of little dip candles. But we could make some big white ones too for altar candles.”
“Are we going to have an altar?”
“Maybe a small one, for candles and stuff we’re using,” I said.
“And Tarot cards!”
“Yep!”
“When do you want to start making candles?” Penny asked.
“I still have to get a book from the library, and my dad is going to help me break up the block of wax into smaller pieces. I should have it all ready in about a week.”
We looked at some more books and talked about school. We both had some new friends, but no one we could share the Grove with.
Dinner time approached and Penny got on her bike to go home. A thought came to me and I yelled after her, “Never use the cards for yourself!”