Funk-N-Fiction

This afternoon’s story is from Beth Dolgner, who (unknowingly) did me the favor of choosing my favorite inspiration image from the options this year!! I love this sweet, festive look into her Crones of a Feather universe.

Song for Samhain

Technically, it wasn’t Halloween anymore. It was after one o’clock in the morning on the first of November, but as far as Hazel was concerned, it was still Halloween until she blew out the candle in the jack-o’-lantern.

Hazel scratched at the long brown wig, which covered her own graying shoulder-length hair. She and her coven had dressed up as witches, naturally, greeting trick-or-treaters with exaggerated cackles and promising to turn them into toads if they didn’t behave as they roved the dark streets of Foxfire Haven. Hazel’s toes ached from the pointed red shoes, but sacrificing comfort had been worth it.

Long after the last group of costumed children had come to the door, Hazel and her three roommates turned off the porch light. The pumpkin’s wicked grin had seemed to shine brighter once it was the sole illumination.

The four witches gathered in the backyard shortly before midnight. A crescent moon hung in the sky, dipping in and out of view as clouds meandered past. The witches began their Samhain ritual while their feathered familiars flew overhead, cawing and hooting in their own celebration. Marlee’s massive pelican had been the loudest.

Once the ritual was finished, Hazel and the others retreated to the living room, grateful to get out of the chill night air. They had drunk wine and feasted on the candy that hadn’t gone into a child’s plastic orange pumpkin or canvas bag.

Then, one by one, the other witches drifted off to bed, until Hazel sat alone, still reluctant for Halloween to end.

With a sigh, Hazel walked onto the front porch, ready to blow out the jack-‘o-lantern. When she opened the front door, though, the first thing she spotted was the skeleton Jo had insisted on arranging on a low branch of the maple tree in the yard. Its white plastic bones seemed to shimmer in the moonlight, a sharp contrast to the dark-red leaves that clung stubbornly to the branches, resisting the pull of the autumn wind.

Valerian had brought a beat-up lute home a few days before, saying she had spotted it at a rummage sale and knew it would be a great decoration for Halloween. She had carefully placed it in the skeleton’s hands while his gaping jaw belted out a silent tune.

“You should come inside,” Hazel said to the skeleton. The stepladder that Jo had used to set up the scene was leaning against the side of the house, and Hazel tripped over the hem of her long black dress as she carried the stepladder to the tree and set it beneath the skeleton. Carefully, she lifted the dress before climbing up the stepladder.

Hazel grasped the lute before giving the skeleton a gentle push. She watched as the form clattered to the ground. Hazel began to follow, then stopped with a laugh. “I bet I can play better than that pile of bones!” She turned and perched on the branch the skeleton had just occupied, then strummed the lute. It was out of tune, but no matter: Hazel didn’t know how to play it, anyway.

Undaunted, Hazel strummed again, the discordant sound reverberating across the lawn. “Ohhh,” she sang, offkey but not unpleasant. The words from the song she and her friends used to sing as children came back to her. “It’s Halloween, and the spirits sing…”

A familiar trill sounded, not a spirit singing, but Hazel’s familiar. The tiny burrowing owl fluttered down onto the branch next to Hazel, stretching to his full eight-inch height and trilling again.

“Do you like this song, too, Perkins?” Hazel laughed and gave the lute another strum as she continued to sing. “We give thanks for the harvest, and thanks for the sun.”

This time, when Perkins joined the song, another sound drifted up from the ground below. Hazel peered downward and spotted her neighbor’s black cat, Jazz. For a moment, she worried Jazz was waiting for the chance to pounce on Perkins. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Instead, though, the cat sat on his haunches, gazing at Hazel with his wide yellow eyes. When Jazz opened his mouth, fangs gleaming, the sound that came out was something between a warble and a yowl.

Hazel started the song again, as both the owl and the cat joined in. “We give thanks for the cold winter that’s just begun,” Hazel belted. “And we dream of spring—”

Jazz let out an especially loud yowl.

“You’re right, Jazz,” Hazel said. “We won’t sing about spring just yet. It’s still Halloween!”

Tucking the lute underneath one arm, Hazel slid off the branch and descended the stepladder. Soon, she had the last of the Halloween decorations stashed safely inside the garage. All, except the jack-o’-lantern.

Jazz had padded away, disappearing into the dark night. Perkins, though, had settled onto Hazel’s shoulder, occasionally making noises of discontent as the broad brim of the witch’s hat bumped his brown-and-white feathered head.

“It’s just for tonight,” Hazel reassured her familiar each time he complained.

Once the garage was locked up, Hazel gave Perkins a scratch on his belly. “Only one thing left to do, Perky.”

Moving slowly, grateful for every last second of her favorite holiday, Hazel returned to the front porch. She bent at the waist, lifted the lid of the jack-o’-lantern, and blew out the candle.

As the smoke curled up out of the carved eyes, it seemed to carry Hazel’s whispered words to the sky. “Until next year.”

Join Hazel, her coven, and their feathered familiars in the Crones of a Feather paranormal cozy mysteries. Practical Magic meets The Golden Girls in this lighthearted series about starting over at midlife, magic, and murder. 

CONTEST: For your chance to win a signed paperback copy of Spells and Subterfuge (Crones of a Feather paranormal cozy mysteries #1) from Beth, let us know if you have any Samhain or Halloween traditions.
(Book will be paperback if winner is continental US, Kindle copy if outside that range.)
** Entry for this contest will ALSO count as your entry for the overall HFF event contest. **signed paperback