Julia trailed off while she started to pick out her clothes for her little outing with the Beatles. As always, her neighbor Mrs. Hill always bought two newspapers and left one to Julia by the front window. Julia walked over to the window and glanced outside to see the calmness that was her neighborhood. She opened the window, breathed in the fresh air and took the newspaper that seemed to be waiting for her.
She flipped through the pages until her eye landed on a picture she recognized. It was a picture of the guy she took with her after the club with the bold word MISSING on top. A slight smile streaked across her face as her thin, long fingers stroked his neck on the picture. As she grabbed a tight black with a red butterfly T-shirt, she thought that she should call Paul to see if every thing was set for the day.
As soon as she finished her thought and was looking for the paper Paul gave her, the phone rang.
"Hello?" Her voice was a little apprehensive.
"Julia, this is Paul. Before you ask how I got the number, Brigid gave it to me. Sorry if I caught you at a bad time but I just wanted to know if we’re still on for today?"
All of a sudden, Julia burst out in a huge fit of laughter forgetting for the moment that she was still on the phone with Paul.
"Julia? Are you ok?"
"Oh, I’m sorry Paul. Yes we’re still on! Don’t be daft thinkin’ I was goin’ to back out now would you? Anyway, at what time?"
Julia tried to maintain her composure and her breath but finally calmed down after a few deep breaths.
"One sounds good. What was so funny? Let me in on the little joke."
"Oh, I’ll tell you when I get there but for now, tell everyone to prepare the questions for a press conference for four reporters on a seemingly innocent little girl. Remember, all questions even the most weird ones could be asked. ‘Bye!"
Julia quickly glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nearly eleven and she had to get ready but all the while carrying on a conversation by herself.
How come he called in the exact time I thought of calling him? Well the whole idea of having a little witch in all of us proves so by the example of Mr. McCartney. Get a hold of yourself woman! Calm down, light some incense, say a prayer to the goddess and hope for the best. I know you’re freaking out over meeting Paul but don’t let it get it you!!!
"You’re right Kali Maat! Go, have a deep cleansing breath and call on the goddess for guidance." she said out loud. Julia’s witch name Kali Maat she chose out of its significance in its names. She loved the idea of having the names of 2 goddesses that control or influence either order or chaos. She thought that she had these qualities in her in which these names seem appropriate. She sat on the floor, closed her eyes and began to meditate.
She finally came out of sea of calm, which seemed like an eternity and looked up at the clock, it was nearly 12:30. Better get a move on or you’ll be late!! Julia raced around to get ready and was dressed, getting her jacket and fixing her pentacle necklace affixed with a large stone that resembled a ruby dangling at the bottom of the circle. She also grabbed a leather covered book with warn yellowed pages with the same symbol on the cover.
She jumped into her car and drove off at top speed. She reached Paul’s in 20 minutes and noticed her difficult problem-the girls that hung around his house. As she approached the gate, her mind kept repeating I wish he could get all these girls out of here so I could get in! And as she stopped the car, she saw Paul at the gate telling them to move out of the way so she could get in.
As usual the curses, whispers and questions came flying at her but she knew that if she were in their place, she would have done the same thing.
Julia parked the car near the back of the house and Paul nearly startled her when she was trying to get her book from the front seat.
"I’m so glad you could make it. Come on in, everyone has been waiting for you and as requested we do have questions for you." Paul smiled as he helped Julia out of her car.
"I thought the species of gentlemen was extinct. Well, how I thought wrong!"
Paul led Julia to door and as she went to open it, John opened it with a raised eyebrow on his face.
"Well, look do we have here! It’s the mysterious and beautiful Julia Mendoza. And she on time too."
"Do you think I was going to be late? And miss out on a opportunity like this, please!" Julia said folding her arms.
Paul, Julia, and John walked in to this spacious home where the wonders of her imagination seemed to be laid out in front of her. The dreams that she had of walking in to his home, spending some time with the Beatles was coming true.
"By the look on your face, you think that this is so palatial or are you star struck?" Paul said as her smile widened across her face.
"I bet you she’s shocked that she with the famous Beatles than anything else!" John laughed as they walked.
"To tell you the truth, I’m more in awe both for it being so palatial and the antiques..."
She stopped at mid sentence when she noticed a mirror that hung on a wall near the room where the other Beatles were at.
She set down her book on a table near the mirror and stared at it, noticing the details of the frame and the mirror.
"I thought I would never see this again...." Julia whispered as her fingers delicately touched a dent.
Both Paul and John exchanged weird looks at Julia’s amazement with a mirror. They walked over and caught what Julia whispered which made them wonder even more why she said that.
"Uh, Julia? What did you mean by ‘seeing this again’ ? If you want to know it’s from somewhere in the 1600’s."
"1566 to be precise. It was shipped from Italy and then to Spain. It was given as a gift to a very wealthy aristocratic family to one of their two children, their daughter as a gift as a birthday gift. She was turning 24. And now I notice that it’s 400 years old. How time just flies doesn’t it?"
"How did you know all that? Especially who first owned it and everything?" Paul asked with a bit of fear in his eyes.
"Yeah, you even got the year!" John added.
"As I promised, I will ask all of your questions in due time. But you have to do something for me. Could you take down that mirror? I will explain the mirror and everything else when we meet up with the others in the room."
"If you say so." Paul and John said at the same time.
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