Chapter Two
She arrived at the St. Ottery station and got off with some difficulty. After throwing her duffle and suitcase out the door and dragging her trunk and owl down after, Elizabeth heaved everything towards a near-by bench and sat down. I better call Grandma, she thought and groped in her backpack for her cell phone. After dialing the country code and area code, Elizabeth remembered two things; 1) Grandmother Green didn't have a phone and 2) The phone charges would cost a fortune if Grandma did. Elizabeth sighed and threw her phone back into her bag.
"Are you Elizabeth Porter?" The speaker was a tall, slim woman, who wore a flowery halter sundress. She had a small nose and large hazel eyes, framed by black locks that wrapped around her plump cheeks and ended at her pointed chin. Apparently, she either appeared out of nowhere or just rounded the corner.
"Yes, I am," Elizabeth replied.
"Oh good," replied the wide-eyed woman; she actually looked like she was Elizabeth's age. "Because your grandmother sent me to pick you up from the plane. She thought you were to arrive around one and sent me to get you. You see, she can't get around as quick as she used to."
"Oh," said Elizabeth. She knew Grandma was old, but she was pretty active when she last saw her eight years ago.
"Well, then," the woman said. "Come along. Mustn't keep Mrs. Green waiting." She grabbed Elizabeth's suitcase and one end of the trunk. Elizabeth grabbed the other end and her backpack and duffle and followed the woman in the sundress, with the owl's cage balanced on top. They had gotten halfway to Grandmother Green's house when the woman forgot that she didn't introduce herself.
"I am so rude!" she said. "I'm Mary Ann Welsh. My father owns the general store that we just passed."
"Nice to meet you," said Elizabeth. "I'm Elizabeth Porter, but you already knew that."
"How old are you, Elizabeth?" Mary Ann asked. Stunned at this question, Elizabeth took a moment to respond, but before she could say anything, Mary Ann said: "I know this might be an awkward question to be asked upon meeting someone, but I need to know."
"Uh," said Elizabeth, "I'm seventeen, well, almost. My birthday is on the thirty-first of July, so in a week or so."
"Oh, yes! Your grandmother mentioned that. We are holding your party in the meadow on the day."
"Oh. Grandma didn't tell me that."
"Well, it was supposed to be a surprise, but Mrs. Green was going to tell you right out, well, after you passed through her door."
"Well," said Elizabeth. "why did you want to know my age?"
"I wanted to know because my father is searching for another employee for the general store. You see, he doesn't actually work there (he's a lawyer in London, good one, too) and my brother, Gregory, went to college recently. Mother is off on another book tour for her latest parenting novel (it's the new on toddler language skills) and I just can't run the store myself."
"Why do you have the store if your parents can't work in it?"
"Well, Mom doesn't get paid for every hour she spends at her typewriter and Dad can't support us and pay for Gregory's college fund. Also, we inherited it from my great-grandfather ten years ago and Daddy gets paranoid every time you mention his grandfather and the store in the same sentence, so we don't even dare bring up the subject in his presence."
"Oh, I see, but why ask me my age?" asked Elizabeth.
"Well, you will be staying her until your school starts and will be free for the rest of the summer. It was Mrs. Green's idea that I employ you, really, but I still want you to have your opinion to have value, too." Mary Ann was quite a talker.
"Sure, I'll work at the general store," said Elizabeth. "What's the employment age?"
"Eighteen, but it's just a general store. As long as you can do some math…."
"I started calculus last year, if that's good enough," said Elizabeth.
"Perfect, so we have a deal, then?" asked Mary Ann.
"Sure. When do I start?"
"Monday. Six hours a day sound good? The pay's seven pounds an hour."
"Uh," said Elizabeth. "is that good?"
"Very good for a general store worker."
"Cool."
"Well, here we are," said Mary Ann as they stopped in front of a small two story brown house. Elizabeth smiled as she remembered when she last saw her Grandmother's house eight years ago. Mary Ann knocked on the door twice and let herself in, calling out to whom vacated the house. Elizabeth followed.
The house smelled the same as the flowers in the garden just outside the house and vases all over the first floor were filled with the sweet smelling stuff. The tables they sat on were simple and wooden, as was most of the furniture. The couch and comfy chairs were all made out of a floral pattern, similar to the pattern of Mary Ann's dress. Clanking came from a doorway offside the front hall.
"Mary Ann, is that you?" said a woman's voice from amidst the clanking. It was soft and warm, like fresh bread that just made it out of the oven and had butter spread over every inch of it. Elizabeth loved this voice, one she remembered fondly. It was her grandmother's voice, one of the most wonderful sounds in the world to Elizabeth.
The voice's owner was woman who looked like she was made of bread and butter herself. She was a medium-sized woman with long silver hair, tied in a long plait that ran down her back. Her face crinkled with wrinkles, which stretched slightly every time she smiled. She looked like every thing that made up a loving grandmother.
"Elizabeth!" she said. "It is wonderful to see you after seven years!"
"Eight, Grandma," said Elizabeth. She went up and hugged her grandmother.
"Come," said Grandmother Green. "Let's have tea. You're welcome to join us, Mary Ann."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Green, but I have to go. Father is going to be home soon, so I must get super on the table," said Mary Ann and left as she closed the door.
"Oh well, I guess it's just us," said Grandmother Green. "Come, I want to here about your mother and the rest of your family, especially your two new baby brothers."
Grandmother Green walked into the small, quaint kitchen. It was tidy and plain, like the rest of the house, with sweet smelling herbs in pots all over the counters. Rosemary and thyme were the strongest and the most abundant of all the herbs, and also came in through the open window, showing that it was also abundant in the garden, too. She pulled the teapot towards her and brought it to the sink to fill it with water. Grandma Green then put it back on the stove and turned on the burner. Elizabeth, meanwhile, sat down at the small kitchen table and just relaxed. The past two days had been spent traveling and made her so tired that she, if she could not to stop herself, could put her head on the table and before it got there, she would already be sleeping. Grandma Green brought over a steaming cup and presented it to Elizabeth. Elizabeth drank heartily and talked with her grandmother about her family and school and her friends and the rest of her life in Salem, Massachusetts.
Finally, Grandma Green said that Elizabeth should go and unpack before dinner, just to get settled in. So Elizabeth started to drag her things upstairs, when her grandmother said: "Aren't you old enough to use magic outside of school yet?"
Apparently, Elizabeth forgot that she was, in fact, a witch. Elizabeth, along with her family and most of her relatives, were magical folk, or more widely known as wizards and witches. Elizabeth smiled.
"Yes, Grandma, I forgot," she said. "Is Mary Ann a witch?"
"No, dear, she's a Muggle," Grandmother Green said. Muggles are non-magical folk.
"Are there any other wizards here in St. Ottery?" Elizabeth asked.
"A few families," her grandmother said. "I'm not friendly with most with them, though. Go unpack. We're going to dinner soon. We're having dinner with Mary Ann's family, well, her and her father."
"Okay," said Elizabeth. She pulled out a thin stick of wood (her wand; 13 inches, ash with a phoenix feather core), waved it whilst muttering "Locomortor bags!" Her bags rose into the air and she directed them upstairs. The guest room was small and simple like the rest of the house, with a double bed, desk and wardrobe. Elizabeth taped each of her bags. They opened and the contents flew into the air and into their proper spots. As things flew through the air, Elizabeth opened the window and let her owl, Amber, out with a letter home. She stared after the bird and sighed; I guess I am a bit homesick, she thought. Oh well, I will enjoy England and will be home before I know it.