The stars were bright. Carol could see them from her covered back porch as she slowly moved in a rocking chair. The night was cool and the wind moved at a snail’s pace, but it was enough to justify the blanket on her lap.
There was a time, on a night like that one, when she would run around in the grass, ignoring her parents calling her inside. She had always loved nighttime, found it fascinating that the world looked so different in the moonlight, like she had traveled somewhere new but familiar that she could explore.
When she was older and moved into her own home, there was no one to reign her in, and she often sat out under the stars, ignoring the time. Sometimes she fell asleep in her backyard regardless of the weather. Even in the early months of the year when the wintertime is the most frigid in the southeast US, she bundled up and lost track of time in her backyard, until she woke up with the sun shining down and melting the frost that had tried to encase her.
Now, as she sat outside, the springtime was still new and slowly warming to the heights of summer while the trees and flowers exploded with greens and other colors that made the world look alive. Under the moonlight, her backyard that is sizeable with a garden and walking trail into the woods that led to a pond, looked like it was dominated by foliage of purplish hues and there were many shadows spread across her perfectly manicured lawn where the moonlight shown down through the leaves of the large trees scattered in the yard.
It was a Friday after a long week and Carol had lost track of time in the twilight hours. She’d been sipping a glass of wine and she could feel the lose sensation in her head that made her smile with her whole mouth and laugh out loud at the jokes in her mind.
“I don’t think that was very funny,” Carol heard a tiny voice say. It was bold and clear, but high-pitched like it can from a small body straining to be heard.
“Who was that? What’s not funny?” Carol asked, standing from her chair and looking around herself. Then a light, like a firefly moving toward her from the back of the yard, rushed up to her face and she swatted at it.
“Stop trying to kill me!” the voice insisted loudly as the small light hovered in front of her. “Why are you drinking again? I thought we talked about this.”
“Maybe I fell asleep and this is a dream?” Carol asks herself curiously. “Or maybe the wine is frying my brain…”
“The second one,” the voice says, “but this is really happening. We need you again, but not like this. Why don’t you remember? Did Wolof wipe your memory after last time? That ass!”
Suddenly the insect-sized light began to grow, and the yellow-white dot became many glittering sparks as a woman appeared, standing before Carol. The woman had deep, brown skin, and her face was as smooth as polished stone. She had high cheekbones like a model and her hair was dreaded and the locks were gathered on her head like a crown. She had two sets of wings that flapped at her back and she wore a simple white dress that had no sleeves and hung down to well above her knees. She also carried a long, brittle stick like it was a wand. She was only about two feet tall – much shorter than Carol who was standing in utter disbelief – but she had the features of a full grown woman, and the attitude.
“Why did he erase your memory?” the small woman in white asked with obvious agitation. “Why would I ask you, of course you wouldn’t remember!”
The woman flicked her long stick in Carol’s direction and Carol backed away with both her hands in front of her, like she was ready to hit the little woman swinging the stick at her. But a glittering trail of silver formed in the wake of the stick’s moving tip and Carol gazed at it with wonder. The glittering silver formed a spiral around Carol’s head, and then she remembered.
“Auntie Sene!” Carol said urgently. “Why are you here? Man’s world isn’t safe for magical people and things, not since the great Unrest.”
“Don’t tell me my history, girl! I’m your teacher! A Fae man has found our lands and we don’t know how he came to access them. More are arriving and there is a war brewing…”
“Unrest II…” Carol interrupted.
“It doesn’t need a name until it’s over,” Sene said. “But you should come with me, you may be able to help us.”
“Is the conflict going badly?” Carol asked.”What can I do?”
“We don’t know, but all humans with Yumbo ancestry are being summoned to see if you all can help. Are you ready?”
Sene turned and flicked her stick into the air. The glitter was green this time and it created a portal where Carol could see into the land of the Yumboes.
“I can’t go, auntie,” Carol said sadly. “I want to help, but I have responsibilities now. During the Unrest, I was in college and it was easy to disappear, but that was ten years ago. I have a job, I have…”
“Stop!” Sene said forcefully. She was disappointed but not mad. “Do not apologize, I understand. If you change your mind, send me a signal. We could use all the help we can get.”
Before Carol could respond, Sene took flight and flew through the portal that closed quickly behind her.
Carol sat down heavily in her rocking chair. Being a grownup sucked, she thought to herself.
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