Friday, November 13, 2009

Mojo Mama


Later, after the woman had worked two lodestones and some magnetic sand together in her hands all the while intoning feeding the he, feeding the she, Gina would remember the waxing moon.  She also would not forget her embarrassment at being in the woods, shivering and crouching at the foot of a tree with this woman who was her aunt’s friend.

A friend who believed that magic would bind Auntie’s husband and stop him from straying.

Gina was living in Argentina with her paternal relatives for a year. Her family wanted her to learn Spanish and to travel before she began high school, or so they said. But Gina believed that her mother’s new marriage to a much younger man was closer to the familial truth of the matter.

While Buenos Aires was a very beautiful capital city with many areas of old worldly charm and new sections of posterity and modernity, Gina felt lost. Everything was strange. Wonderfully strange. But at that time, she was a girl who preferred the familiar. At her home away from home she liked to stay in her room reading or playing online games. Her aunt, however, would open Gina’s bedroom door with a “This is not a hotel. We do not stay hidden away from each other. We share la vida!”

Because Auntie had many friends, there was always an event to attend, a dinner to eat, afternoon teas to consume. It was at one of these teas where the plot was hatched.

After the other guests left, Auntie’s best friend Mirta stayed to talk. Gina’s Spanish was still rudimentary but she understood that Auntie worried her husband might be swayed to have an affair with his secretary. Mirta said she knew a very good love spell.

Gina was clearing the table and caught a teacup before it fell from her hands, her shoulders shaking, not with shock, but mirth. Her uncle? Never. She may not be experienced in la vida de amor but she knew that her uncle’s little everyday courtesies and the happiness carved on his face when he came home and kissed her aunt hello showed he was besotted with her.

Oh, he was tall and trim with salty peppered hair and he did have a beautiful smile and mesmerizing green eyes. He was very rich, and very charming –  maybe too charming for his own good. But cheating? Love spell? 

She made a mental note to ask her aunt to stop watching those silly telenovelas.

Mirta walked over to Gina and grabbed her arm and her attention. “I need your help tonight.”

“Mine? Don’t you mean Auntie?”

“No.” She let go of Gina’s sweater. “I have everything I need from her.” Mirta looked at the comb that Auntie gave her earlier.  “And from him.”

A few dark hours later, they were in the cold countryside.

It only took a flash of movement before the spell was cast. When they reached the car, Gina’s uncle stepped out from the driver’s seat and opened the back door for them. He put his hand out, palm up, and smiled. “Adventure over? Let us go home.”

Later, when Gina thought about her year with her paternal relatives, she would remember the waxing moon, Mirta, and her uncle who cared for Auntie so much he would join in whatever nonsense she desired. So wonderfully strange.

They are still married after many years. Gina calls it love.

Mirta says it’s magic.

27 comments:

  1. Gorgeous. I love a good spell, especially on a man with green eyes - they are the ones to look out for, to be sure!

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  2. Awww.
    "They are still married after many years. Gina calls it love.

    Mirta says it’s magic"

    sounds like both to me....

    [now I'm all mushy]
    :0)

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  3. Great story! I love mushy stories. . . especially on Friday the 13th! ;)

    Jim
    http://tinyurl.com/yfz6vkh

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  4. A really beautiful story, very well done!

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  5. Great line "this is not a hotel...we share life!" What a wonderful way to think. Love=magic. Really enjoyed this love story. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. This feels so much like a piece from a novel. It could fit right in.

    I like it!

    Helen
    Straight From Hel

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  7. I needed a good bit of mushy Marisa. Lovely story.

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  8. wow !! this was beautiful :)

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  9. What a lovely twist: the happy ever after. A really tingly read: thank you x

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  10. Magic... love... aren't they the same? Nice tale.
    -David G Shrock

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  11. Such a nice ending! Who is to say that it wasn't the magic? ;)

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  12. I love the first sentence, and it just gets better after that. Lovely.

    "telenovelas" - what a neat musical word.

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  13. Beautiful. I love the last two lines.

    Well done.

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  14. Love and magic are equally mysterious. Wonderful story.

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  15. Oh, this is so sweet!
    I think it is magic when you find that one person who will be by your side for a lifetime :)
    I'm joining the mushy group! ;)

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  16. Totally cute tale - love the last few lines!

    Reading this resulted in shivers of the (other) good kind :-)

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  17. What a wonderful trip to take this morning. Yes, we should all be sharing life more. Lovely.

    (From a fellow out-of-orderer) ;-)

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  18. Beautiful, sweet tale. I'm glad they're still happy - I really like Gina's crazy aunt...and her uncle's devotion to her! Magic? Love? Is there a difference?

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  19. A very nice story. Excellent job!

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  20. LOVE the ending!! Also loved the detail about Gina not being able to stay in her room with the door closed--a small detail that tells a lot about the two different cultures.

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  21. Living la vida; there's a concept I can appreciate.

    That love can be magic? That's just beautiful.

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  22. Nice story. I enjoyed it. Since you can't prove a negative, we'll never know if it was love or the spell that kept them together, but methinks Gina's intuition is pretty dead on.
    ~jon

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  23. Anonymous2:54 PM

    I love this. You caught the moment culture of this place and married couple, a rich scene, what could be a turning point for this young girl. I also like your use of Spanish in the English story. Very effective. And very easy on we speakers of only one language.

    Jeff Posey

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  24. Awww, I really enjoyed this. Love is magic, no?

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