Words for Wednesday -- November 23 -- The long Saturday 8

This meme was started by Delores a long time ago.  Troubles led her to bow out, but the meme was too much fun to let go, and now Words for Wednesday is provided by a number of people and has become a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator.

  Essentially the aim of this meme is to encourage us to write.  Each week we are given some prompts. These prompts can be words, phrases, music or images.
  What we do with those prompts is up to us: a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore ...
  We can use some or all of the prompts, and mixing and matching is encouraged.

  Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog. This fun meme includes cheering on the other participants.

  And the more the merrier goes here as well, so if you are posting on your own blog then please tell us in the comments, so that all other participants, can come along and applaud.

Messymimi, who is supplying the prompts for the Wednesdays of November has given us:

Push
Leash
Shelf
Help
Talk
Mail

And a wonderful picture of a secret garden
.
This time around I'm not using the words in the order they were given, I'm not even using many of them, only talk and tell. .
And this chapter is more tell than show - it is a kind of brain dump, I needed to write down what  happened during that very long Saturday. Finally I found another title than Á Íslandi, and I have corrected the title on the old chapters. 


Finally the brooms were all ready, the racetrack was cleared, lunch had bean eaten here, there and everywhere, and if anybody was hungry it was their own fault for having forgotten their manners when talking to the Nisser. Nothing really terrible had been handed out though, only bland sandwiches and bitter tea.

***

Hilde, Rasmus, Fiona and Finnbogi returned from Trømsø, laden with things from Liisa's cubicle at her job and from various hideouts in their house. The news were bleak, she was getting weaker by the hour, and Rasmus wanted to return to stay at her bedside.
"I have to be the good husband to all outer observers," Rasmus said, "I will return as soon as possible, but right now my place is at Liisa's bed. It is a strange feeling, that someone you knew and loved is ... not what you thought. I have much to think over during my vigil."
"You're rigth," Hilde said. "As much as we'd like you to stay here, it would be strange if you did not stay at her bedside. Our thougths and well wishes go with you."
"We'll refrain from touching any of what we found until you return," Finnbogi said. "Is it wrong of me to add ... and might it be soon?"
"No, I don't think so," Rasmus said soberly. "There's no hope for a cure, and even should she return to health, her presence would just give cause for even more problems and inconvenience for all of us."
In the end almost everyone had signed up for the broomrace, and those that had not, came to Knud and asked to be written on the list anyway. Thus all the magicians at Birch Manor ended up racing against one another, excepting only Rasmus who was in Trømsø.

***

Martine was the one starting the races.
The first races were simple, all the grandchildren able to fly were sent off five and five after approximate size and prowess. The winner of each group were given a small prize and set to race against one another.
It came as no surprise to anybody that Emil, Fiona's oldest grandkid won the race with Mary in the second place, much to her chagrin. She had fully expected to win. Marit and Jans grandkids, Mads and Mikkel who were identical twin, shared the third place.

Then it was the children's turn, grown up men and women in their late twenties, thirties and forties, none of them having sat on a broom for more than a few, inadequate weeks were tried the same way as their children.
Of course once again one of Fiona's progeny triumphed. Stine, her youngest daughter, won the race, only just beating Trine, her older sister and mother of Emil. Number three was a big surprise, Susan and Knud's youngest son, Peter, who no-one even had thought of betting on.
Otto, Fiona's equanimous and nice, non magical husband almost lost his voice from cheering him on.

After a break, where the Nisser served wonderful cakes and tea and coffee even better than Knud's best, the apprentices stood ready at the starting line.
My, Fiona, Hilde, Marit and Jan opened the race with Fiona as the logical bid for a winner, and she lived up to the expectations, leaving all the rest behind, even if Marit and Hilde did their very best.
Susan and Knud had been persuaded into participating with all the old apprentices. Enough non magical spouses were around to serve as referees and line watchers.
So Susan and Knud were at the starting line together with Helge, Finnbogi, and Tage. Finnbogi and Tage quickly took the lead with Susan and Helge far behind and Knud fighting a loosing battle to keep up with the two in front. In the end Finnbogi overtook Tage, who as a gentleman let him pass and win.

The third heat held a couple of surprises. Lis, Heidi, Rósa, and Anna were expected, but two more stood ready at the line, Martine and Aamu, shakingly holding on to her broom and supported by her husband Uwe and Daniel, her son. Only Uwe, Daniel and Susan knew that she had decided to accept her magic, and had touched Susan's old skirt only hours before the race.
Estrid, who quietly had taken over the flag from Martine, swung the flag, and off they soared. First Finnbogi had the lead, then Anna went up and over him in a fine racing manoeuvre, then Rósa did some sneaking up and were in front, until Aamu, having found her old form overtook her shortly before the finishing line. All stood up clapping and yelling, and then Martine showed her style and stamina.

Aamu was overtaken by only a couple of inches on the line. All clapped and shouted even louder and Helge and Knud yelled and rung a bell to bring order in the chaos once again.
Uwe, Daniel and Aamu were embracing, and Susan and Anna helped Martine off her broom.
More cakes and hot drinks were consumed before the final race.

Fiona, Martine and Finnbogi inspected their brooms, wiped down the handles and made ready for the final battle.
"Finally," Martine said with a warm smile, "Finally I get to see if still have it in me. Don't hold back. Let the best man win!"
"I only wish Sif and Elvin were her as well," Finnbogi said.
"Then you would not have stood a chance," Fiona said, looking a Finnbogi with a challenge in her eyes.
"You're probably right, but I would gladly lose every race forever to have them here," Finnbogi said.
The defiant glitter died in Fiona's eyes. "So would I ," she said. "And Veronika too."
"Get ready!" Helge called and they grasped their brooms and went to join Martine at the starting line.
For the last time that day Estrid swung the flag and Fiona and Finnbogi swung their legs over the brooms, Marit loosened the grip on Martine's broom, and as Estrid dipped the flag they went off.  It was the best broomrace ever flown in Denmark, it was close, very close for a long, long time, but then Martine's mastery and experience told and she slowly, inch by inch went in front. She turned and twisted the broom in her hands, ending up with the straws in the same position, that had earned Fiona the victory at Unicorn Farm. Too late Fiona realized what Martine was doing and emulated her. But her extra speed burst came too late, and Martine passed the finishing line just before Fiona overtook her.
"You won!" Fiona said, "fair and square. I forgot that trick you taught me... "
"And I remembered," Martina said smiling and leaning onto Marit's shoulder.
The ceremony was everything a ceremony of this kind should be, festive, friendly, funny and not too long. They ate, drank and celebrated far into the night. Martine took her leave at around ten o'clock. she was tired after the day's celebrations, and wanted her beauty sleep.
Aamu was the centre of much attention, almost everybody wanted to hear how and why she had decided to accept her magic again. She told the story of the portals, and repeated Daniel's words of magic books over and over and each time ended by adding that she wanted to live as normal a life as possible, only with magic. Continuing as a librarian in Schiltach, leading reading circles and baking German cakes. Uwe, her husband, spent much of the evening in the company of Eyvind Haugen and Otto Sørensen, Hilde and Fiona's non magic husbands.  

***

Next morning, as breakfast was served, Martine did not show up. Susan went and looked for her. She lay in her bed, a slight smile on her face and both hands clasped around the small gold medal from yesterday's broom racing. Susan placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to wake her up, but pulled back immediately. Martine's shoulder was cold to the touch and stiff. Susan felt for a pulse, and was not surprised not to find any. She then found a small mirror on the bedstand and hold it up to Martine's face. It did not mist, not even the tiniest bit.
"She's dead." Susan said under her breath, "May God have mercy upon her soul." She looked back at Martine. "At least she died happy."

Susan went down to the hall where almost everybody else were having breakfast, She told Helge, Knud, Fiona and My who sat together at a small table about what has happened.
"Do we have to call for an ambulance and so on?" Susan asked, "she is very obviously dead and has been for long, probably since yesterday evening."
"Don't you have a house doctor?" Fiona asked. "Then call him," she said as Susan nodded.
"Her, it's a woman doctor," she said and rose. "I'll go and call her. No need for a grand alarm I think. We keep to our normal ruse, Reunion, Harry Potter theme, and so on."
Susan returned very fast: "The doctor agreed to come over and do what has to be done - this includes writing a death certificate. It seems not to be a very complicated matter. I'm relieved about this, we do not need more drama!  ... And I saw Martine's face ... she died happy, smiling, clutching her medal."

The doctor came, and Susan told of the reunion turned family gathering, the magic, Harry Potter themed week, and showed her to Martine's bedroom. The doctor examined her, and turned to Susan. "Who's her next of kind, and can you provide me with the CPR number, address, full name and so on?"
"I don't know of any family," Susan said according to truth. "She was our teacher at the 4H school - the one we're having the reunion for - and we found her two years ago looking for old pupils, not really expecting to find any of the teachers, for our 25th jubilee. She comes from Norway, but has lived in Denmark for over 30 years. When we found her, she was at a home in Funen, and we had just bought this big place, so she moved into the gardener's old house. She needed help, but not much, and even if it was a good home, a real home with a garden and a family was way better."
Susan had risen while she talked and now opened a drawer and handed the doctor the relevant papers.

The doctor sat down at Martine's table and filled out the death certificate. "At 82 we need no autopsy or anything. It was most probably a heart failure or a massive bleeding in the brain that killed her. I can see the tell tale signs. But I take it you want her body stored in the mortuary until you can arrange a burial?"
"That would indeed be practical," Susan said. "How do we arrange for that?"
"I do," The doctor said. "An ambulance will arrive later today for her body. You may wash or dress her if you like, but she looks so happy. And holding that gold medal."
"Yes, one of our pretend games of magic," Susan said "She won our broom racing contest yesterday."
"You do not sound sad," the doctor added. "Are you?"
"No ... yes .. err" Susan said. "I'm going to miss her, terribly so even. She was old, wise and always cheerful. Like a super grandma. But she has had two busy, filled years here, she died happy, without suffering, without growing weak and frail. It's not a bad way to go, I think."  
"No, it's not," the doctor agreed. "I'll leave one copy of the certificate here with you - you'll need to show it to the ambulance folks, to the undertaker and so on. I'll take the other copy and do what have to be done digitally when I am back in the clinic. Then she'll be legally dead. You'll have to search for any family of hers. An add in the relevant Norwegian paper will do."
"Thank you," Susan said. "May I see you out?"
"Please," the doctor said and smiled. "This is a wonderful place you live in."


Now I have to ask any reader reaching the end some questions.
- Is Martine's death an OK thing to happen here.
- Am I killing off too many people? First David/Walther, now Martine and soon Liisa.
- I think they are getting too dependent on Martine in particular, I need them to stretch their own wings, but I feel bad about killing her. What do you say?