Susan in Paris 8

"And now we clean and brew!" Ella's Grandma commanded. Ella and Teiko cleaned the cauldron, careful not to touch the last drops in it. The other Lion dancers meticulously cleaned their tools, while Susan once again grated large amounts of the purple root. Granny gave Cooper another piece of wood for his grater, if possible even harder, but this time grey. "Wood from the Petrified forest. It's very hard indeed, drummer boy," she said with a loving smile and a pat on his head.   Liam was given another batch of crystals, grey and green for his mortar and pestle. And she handed Teiko and Kensuke something that looked like a snake's or a shark's skin, but Granny said it was from a small dragon.
 The distant howls got closer and closer all the time, urging them to work with speed and care. But as Granny once again stirred the cauldron, adding the shredded, grated or pulverized ingredients, the threatening howls of hunting, hungry wolves turned into the yelping sounds of hurt animals. And then it sounded as if all hell broke loose over the tiny hut. Snarls, roars, yelps, hooting and crashing, flailing falling, terrifying sounds resounded in the clearing in front of the house. Susan jumped to the window, and tried to peek through the shutters, but they were a perfect fit, not a single crack to see through. Ella and Liam was beside her, but Granny came over and gently steered them away from the window. "Dear children, you have done what can be done, trust the little one and the magic of my cauldron." They gathered around the fireplace.
"The second draught is ready," Granny said, "When all is quiet, we'll use it on Gargoyle and weres alike." She turned to Susan and looked her in the eyes: "That book is a treasure beyond compare. Could you let me have it for a while. I'll send it back, or even better yet send Ella and the Mountaineers up to you with the book when I'm done writing a copy for myself." 
Susan looked at Granny, drew a deep breath and answered: "Yes, you can. My wizarding school is still establishing itself, we can wait. And a visit from the Lion dancers would be a treat in my part of the world."

The sounds died off, not gradually, but as if cut by a giant knife, only a soft whimpering could be heard. And then a scratching at the door. Susan ran to the door, but she could not open it. "Careful my child, Granny said,. " Your heart is big, but the world is a dangerous place." She touched her giant spoon to the door - her wand Susan realized - and a small round hole, like a knot, opened. Granny put an eye to the hole, and looked out. "Yes. It's Cerina!" She announced, smiling from ear to ear and opened the door.
Cerina the gargoyle came through the door. She was wounded and had shrunk again, but she looked defiant and triumphant. "I did it," she said in a small voice. "All the werewolves are mortally wounded. You can dose them without danger."
"Susan, you take care of Cerina,   all the rest of you come here. Susan picked up the tiny gargoyle, and asked her what she needed.
"Wash me in pure water first, and then dip me in the cauldron." The potion in it removes almost all the magic from me again, I will become a normal gargoyle for a long time again. But I have my reward. One of the Weres had been attacked by one like me. He - the other gargoyle - is at the red, white and blue hotel next to the one you stay in."
"Do you want to stay here?" Susan asked, feeling a chill to her heart.
"Yes, gentle girl. "It would make me most happy not to be alone, to be able to defend this small town when the werewolves gathers again and maybe even rise a family."
What do I have to do, my pretty one?" Susan asked.
"Dunk me in the cauldron, and let me fly away before the potion takes full effect. We'll meet again." 
Susan did as the gargoyle had told her, and while she carried the little one to the door, she noticed the colours on wings and chest became more muted, grey green and stone- like. Crying she held the gargoyle up to her face on both palms, kissed the stone grey snout and whispered: "Thank you Celina, live long and prosper." The Gargoyle wept with Susan, two grey, round tears fell as marbles. "Keep my tears, they will be of help to you one day, Cerina said, and flew away, Susan stood as rooted, until her lithe silhouette was swallowed in the distance.

Poetry Monday :: Glasses

 A small break in my tale of Susan in Paris. 
 You'll have to dangle for a day, because today is Monday, and Monday means Poetry. 
 Today's theme is Glasses directly from Diane.   
 Also raking their brains writing poetry are: Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey, Mimi, and Merry Mae.


I wear a pair of eyeglasses, have done for many years.
It was a thing I did not like, it brought me many tears
For I was young and did not think those glasses were for me,
But then again the world is big, and I would like to see.
So I wear my glasses ev'ry day, it's the first thing I put on
and it's the last thing I take off whene'er my day is done.

But sunglasses are not for me, I like to see my town 
in red and yellow, blue and green and not in shades of brown.

An hourglass on the other hand is handy when I cook.
It tells me by the minute just how long it took,
Until my cake is brown and done, and when my meat is roast.
And finally, I'll raise my glass and then propose a toast
For glasses and for poetry, and for our gentle host. 

And a kangaroo photo for whomever need it. Just because I kan-garoo!

Kangaroos by SeanMack

 And next Monday's theme is Neighbours directly from Jenny.

Susan in Paris 7

Ella's grandmother was the archetypal witch from the story book, small tidy, grey hair in  a bun, jars and a big pot in the kitchen of a cozy house. Even down to the checkered apron and hooked nose. She was very kind, and heard the Lion dancers story with almost no interruptions. She bade Susan unpack the Gargoyle and clicked her tongue appreciatively as she saw it. "What a fine specimen! We'll have her back to life in a jiffy," she said.
"Her?" Susan and Ella said as one. "Oh yes, gargoyles can be female as well. How do you imagine small gargoyles are made?"
"Ohh" Susan said, getting a bit red in the face.
"Well, I spy many young helpers, Ella's grandmother said. What I need to do is rather time-consuming, and time is what we do not have." She took the book, handed out strange roots, fruits, gems, and pieces of wood with as many different tools and instructions. Susan peeled and grated a ginormous purple root, while Teiko and Kensuke chopped something looking like  cross between beans and sparrows' eggs. Ella stirred the big pot with a wooden spoon, watching over the wasters with an ease, that told the others that she might not herself be a witch, but she was sure used to helping granny in her magic workings. Cooper grated a black square of wood, very slowly. "Take good care now, drummer boy, you do not want your fingers grated along with the wood. It's old, seasoned Ironwood from our local Black forest!" Granny said. 
Liam finely pounded a bowl of blue and yellow crystals.

While they all worked, each as concentrated as could be, they once again heard the werewolves howling. The distant howl, was answered by yet another from down by the river, and then a shiver ran down their spines, for the next howl cam from close up, on the other side of the hut.
Granny assured them, that the werewolf was farther off, than is sounded, and that they had time for their job, if they worked diligently. And work they did.
When all was ready. Granny added the ingredients one by one to the boiling cauldron, all the time chanting and stirring the pot in complicated patterns. The steam rising from the pot changed colour with each ingredient, in the end looking like a twisted rainbow hanging over the pot. She carefully took the Gargoyle from the kitchen table, and dunked it into the bubbling, multicoloured brew.
As she pulled it up again, the figuring was dripping coloured drops. Granny put it back on the velvet square on the table. The gargoyle shook itself ever so slightly, and the colours shimmered and shifted. Fascinated, Susan and the Lion dancers watched as all the green, blue white, golden and brown colours went to the wings, the eyes, claws and beak, and in the end a perfect living gargoyle sat on the table in front of them.
"Good evening little one," Granny said.
The gargoyle flapped her perfect, green wings, opened and closed the shiny beak and ... answered: "Good evening. I'm  Cerina, the last of my kind. And I'm happy to be here tonight. I can smell the werewolves in the air. This is not a night for people to be out in."
"Not even ..." Susan said.
"No, gentle girl, not even witches and wizards. You all stay here, and prepare a cauldron full of the recipe on the next page. Leave the werewolves to me." The little gargoyle flew to the rim of the cauldron, drank down the contents, and then walked to the door. On the way out she nudged Susan's hand. Susan ran her hand over her eye ridges, down the perfectly curved horns, and caressed the pointy ears. "Oh, you're so pretty, Cerina. Take good care of yourself." They went together to the door, Susan's hand resting on the horns of the Gargoyle. When Susan reached the door, her hand were further away from the floor, than it had been.
"You're growing!" Susan exclaimed.
"Yes, you brewed a very potent potion for me tonight. Stay inside and brew me another one."
Cerina neared her face to Susan's and put her snout to her face, in something reminding of a kiss.
Susan opened the door, and once outside the quickly growing gargoyle shook herself and alighted in a whirl of dust and colours. She circled once over the house and took off in the direction of the river, where the savage howling of the werewolves could be heard coming ever closer. 

Susan stood looking after the flying shape until Granny came and pulled her inside.
"Our work is not yet done," she said. "You heard her just as well as I did.
"She was such a wonderful, wonderful sight," Susan said. I'm afraid what the werewolves are going to do to her.
"You'd be better off worrying what she will do to the werewolves." Granny said sharply. "Those horns, claws and beak was not made for decorative purposes. And the werewolves were human once. Never forget that."
Granny closed the door and with a sharp word of command she closed the shutters on all windows and doors.

... to be continued.

Susan in Paris 6

Liam had ordered a tea with lots of edibles among those the famous Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, for all of them when Susan returned to the table. For some time the only words were food related, everyone was hungry. But slowly everybody had sated their hunger, Kensuke told the story of how he and Teiko had started up with the Lion dance in Australia, and how they had come to Germany and set up a branch here.
"We wanted to re-name it," Teiko said, "Prosperous Mountain is far away, but we still need a new name."  
"Yet so far Ella is our only native acquisition," Cooper said smiling, " We need more locals to join us."

Teiko poured fresh tea, and without talking they all filled up a plate with tidbits and asked the waitress to clear the table, The sun had set, the terrace was emptying with the onset of the colder night. Susan placed the wrapped gargoyle in the middle of the table. She then proceeded to unwrap the red linen and the black velvet cloths from the figurine.
"Wow, he's a beaut." Liam exclaimed.
"I dare bet he is one of the good gargoyles defenders of humanity and such," Teiko said, tracing the slender, gracefully curved claws.
"Yes," Susan said, "but I did not tell you the whole truth. This one is alive. I saw it wink at me at the flea market, and not only once, but twice."
"Lend me your book," Ella said with a small laugh. "I'm sure there's some clues in it, and I am able to read the old German print, no probs."
Susan handed Ella the old book, and as she began reading, the others sat watching the moon rise over the forest behind the river. The moon was big, full and reddish. As it cleared the topmost branches of the trees, a howl sounded from afar.
"Are there wolves in Germany?" Teiko asked.
Ella looked up from the bestiary: "No, not this far west, there might be some behind the Iron curtain. News from there are sparse, but this side, no. And before you ask, no there's no Zoo around here either."

Teiko looked at Kensuke, but he was looking at the moon.
"It's full," Teiko said.
"Could it be .. werewolves?" Kensuke said in a dead voice.
"Werewolves?" Cooper said. "Do they exist outside of horror movies and swords and sorcery books?"
"Oh yes they do," Teiko said, "and they're a dangerous lot. And they have it in for Lion dancers and wizards, I don't know why."
"Can we do anything." Susan asked "I mean I'm a witch as well. What about you, Teiko?"
"Yes, but ..." Teiko said, "I only just began in school, I'm not very skilled."
Ella interrupted: "But this book, it's full of magic. I can't do magic, but my grandma sure can. And here's a chapter on bringing gargoyles, golems and such to life. I'm sure she could do it."
They looked at Ella with renewed respect. In the silence more howls, and closer now, were heard from the woods.
Liam spoke up for the first time since werewolves got mentioned: "Time to visit your granny, then. Where does she live?"
"Very close. Let's get going!"
Susan carefully swaddled the Gargoyle figuring and put it in her bag. "Hey, Liam, hold my bag, please, and Ella, just a sec, Gotta tell my parents, I'm off."

"Visit Ella's Granny?" Mom asked, "now? And to show her the Gargoyle, Strange lot those lion dancers, but OK. You're home before the reception closes at midnight."
"Yes, mom, thanks!" Susan said and ran back down the stairs.
They were ready to leave, and Ella led them to a perfect miniature house in a clearing in the forest east of the town.

Susan in Paris 5

 When finally the drummers and dancers stopped, the Sun was almost at the horizon.
Susan looked around, walked back and forth from the place, where they has stood, but Mum, Dad and Linda were nowhere to be seen. She looked once more for good measure, even walking to the opposite end of the square. Nope, they were gone, she was lost.
"Well," she thought to herself, "the hotel lies at the river, I'll just follow it back, It's not as if I was in the middle of Paris. And if I get totally lost, I bet my German is good enough to ask for my way to a green and white hotel."
 She started to walk through the throngs on the square, many people were still standing, talking, drinking beer or eating grilled chicken in larger or smaller groups. She reached the end of the park, and there were the two lions, pulling off their big masks and stretching their backs.
 "G'day, mate" one of the Lions said in funny sounding English. "I'm sorry I surprised you. I did not hurt you now, did I?"
 Susan recognized the Lion who had bitten her arm: "No, you did not hurt me, but I did not see you coning close to me. How did you do that?"
 "How did I do what?" he asked.
 "Sneak upon me like that. You're not exactly invisible in that big mask. But I did not see you near me, until suddenly you bit me? Some kind of magic, I suppose, was it the drums or the words from that black clad boy?"
 "Huh," the  Lion said, "you got me there mate. It's Kensuke. He's the magician here. And I'm Liam. The girl drummer is Ella, and the boy drummer is Cooper. The other Lion is a girl, Teiko, very Japanese. Do you care for a cuppa?"
"I'm Susan from Denmark. Do I care for what, sorry?"
"A cuppa - some tea?"
"Yes please. I'm lost anyway, a cup of tea sounds nice."
"Lost?" Liam asked. "What do you mean?"
"I arrived in town earlier today with my family, we went here together, but after your performance the rest of my family, Mom, Dad and a sister, was nowhere to be seen. But I'll find my way back to the hotel we stay in. It's by the river."
 Liam turned to the rest of the Prosperous Mountaineers and shot a stream of strange sounding syllables at them. Teiko answered with a shot affirmative sound, Cooper just looked blankly at him, and Kensuke answered with an equally long sentence. Susan thought it to be Japanese. She had never heard anything like it.
"Kensuke asks about the colour of your hotel, and admits to enchanting you. Teiko also thinks tea is a good idea." Liam said, very staccato.
 Kensuke slowly said: "This is dumb. Over here all."
 They gathered around him, he took a drumstick, moved it in a pattern, Susan recognized from the language spell and said: "Gengo!"
"Hello everyone, I'm Susan from Denmark." Susan said. "I live in a green and white hotel near the river and I'm happy to meet you!"
"A hotel where everything is white and green?" Teiko asked. "Like a castle. We live there too."
"Let's get all the gear into the Ute," Liam said. " We can drink our tea on the big terrace by the water."
Everybody helped get drums, lion masks and costumes stored in the back of the pick up, and they all piled into the five seats, Susan on  top of Liam.
"Hey! That bag is heavy. Do you carry bricks in there?" Cooper asked, as he handed her the bag.
"Nope, it's a gargoyle." Susan answered.  And interrupted by questions from the Mountaineers she told the story of the old book, their stay in Paris and the winking gargoyle at the market.  
 Meanwhile Ella drove the pickup through the crowded, narrow streets of the small German town. Susan ended her tale as she deftly parked it near the Hotel's riverside terrace.
 Mom, Dad and Linda sat near the doorway to the hall.
"Where did yo go?" Susan asked them.
"We told you, we'd go back," Mom said. "We were hungry and that Lion dance was boring. You seemed to enjoy it, though. Did you not hear us?"
"No, I did not, I think the drums were too loud. I met the band on my way home, they're nice, and they also live here. We drove back together. Is it OK if I eat with them?"
"Yes, do," Mum answered. "We have already eaten."

... to be continued.