Authors: June Ahern
Seeing Annie and Dave locked in a gaze, June experienced a sensation of light
ness. Her breath became shallow and her eyelids half closed. Suddenly, a sound like a shrill whistle pierced her ears. For a moment, she felt dizzy. A voice within her said, “Let your feelings show you a picture.” She remembered how Mrs. G had taught her to let her feelings form an image. She closed her eyes and saw a picture of her mother looking up adoringly at the shadowy outline of a very tall man whose hair was red, like her own.
A sharp kick on her shin beneath the table broke her trance. Brian was frowning at her. She heard a deep voice saying,
“Happy Birthday.” She looked up to see Dave lean across the table and let go of a crumbled brown paper bag. His hips had rested briefly against Annie’s shoulder. He slowly eased off her and drew back his six-foot-two frame. Then he lightly laid a hand on her shoulder and said “See ya later,” before leaving their booth.
Perspiration popped out on Annie
’s upper lip. Her body flushed hot. Her heart thumped, her nipples hardened against her sweater and her pelvis tingled. This unusual feeling invading her body frightened her. She couldn’t say a word; neither did anyone else. In stunned silence, everyone at the table stared at her until Maggie, with an eyebrow raised and tongue flickering across her full lips, inquired devilishly, “Did it feel good?”
June leaned an elbow into the center of the table to get a bird
’s eye view of the moonstruck Annie.
With eyes downcast and a small smile on her lips, Annie answered,
“Really good,” stretching out the last word before hiding her giggles in her hands.
Amazed at Annie
’s candor Loretta gasped in shock. “You felt it?” The older kids around the table erupted in peals of laughter.
“
Let’s see what Dave got you,” Brian said enthusiastically, ignoring the girls’ silliness.
Too busy jabbering about boys, the girls took no notice as June unfolded the bag and peeked inside. Shoving
in her hand, she pulled out a 45 record. Her very first one! Excitedly, she announced the title, “
Little Space Girl.”
Seeing the record, the others quieted down.
“What the heck is that song? I never heard of it,” Mary said disparagingly.
Brian looked at her as though she was from Mars.
“It’s really funny. Like the Chipmunk song. You never heard it?” he asked, surprised.
“
Kid stuff,” Mary snorted.
“
Yeah, like you’re sooo cool. What’s the word?” Maggie taunted her, remembering the Thunderbird song they had sung in the Ladies Room at the Castro Theater.
“
Shut up,” Mary snarled and tossed a straw at her.
Annie raised a hand to end the bantering.
“June, that’s really nice.”
“
Here’s another one,” Loretta said. She handed the birthday girl a small, neatly wrapped package. Carefully removing the wrapping, June found two white hankies with small yellow daisies embroidered on them.
“
I heard they’re your favorite flowers,” Loretta said.
“
They are. Thanks,” June said shyly and kissed Loretta’s cheek.
Over the mess of plates and tall malt glasses, Jeannie handed June a rolled scroll with a tartan ribbon tied around it.
“We made it for you. Happy Birthday,” Brian said proudly.
June tugged off the ribbon and slowly rolled out the scroll. On the top of the page was a pen and ink drawing of a stately woman dressed in Roman clothing with a wreath of flowers around her head. A full moon was behind her. Beneath the drawing was the word
“Juno” written in calligraphic writing. Below that read, “Optima Maxima. The Great Mother. The best and greatest of the Goddesses.”
Happily surprised with the Callaghans
’ gift, June exclaimed, “Wow! Is this about me?”
“
It’s where your name came from. I looked it up,” Brian said, happy with his best friend’s reaction. “Bernice has got plenty of books about goddesses.” Bernice had a collection of books on many cultures and religions the little kids had often poured through to giggle at the pictures of naked tribes people.
“
Yeah, you’re named after a really tough goddess. She’s like the most powerful of the Roman goddesses,” Jeannie said proudly.
“
I know about goddesses,” Loretta giggled between slurps of her Coke. “When I went to Italy to see my grandparents, I saw statues of them. A lot were naked. You saw e
verything
.”
“
The Romans and Greeks had goddesses and gods to help them in life. Like you Catholics have saints,” said Jeannie.
“
They were superstitious,” Annie said prissily.
Jeannie guffawed,
“And you guys aren’t? What about believing in a saint to watch over your travels and another to help you find stuff you lose? Isn’t that superstitious?”
“
People prayed to the goddesses like you do to God’s Mother,” Brian told June.
“
Maybe I’ll pray to the goddess Juno too.” June studied the scroll thoughtfully.
“
Ooh, pagan stuff! Daddy was right, you are a pagan!” Mary kidded her sister.
“
A pagan? How come she’s at Catholic school?” Loretta asked looking bewildered.
“
If it was up to St. Pius, she wouldn’t be there. She said June’s a witch,” Maggie added.
“
Yeah. Better be careful, Loretta. She’ll put a spell on you,” Mary said and made a scary face at their puzzled friend.
“
How’d that old nun know if you’re a witch?” Loretta asked.
“
Probably one herself,” Jeannie said sneeringly.
“
No, she’s a bitch,” Mary laughed loudly at her own comment. June looked at her sister puzzled why she seemed so giddy.
“
Swearing again? Cut it out or I’ll tell Daddy,” Annie scolded her disobedient sister.
Mary folded her arms across her chest and slumped down.
“I’ll tell Daddy about Dave,” she retorted.
Jeannie interrupted Annie
’s response. “No jiving? She really called you a witch?” she asked June.
Not wanting to ruin her bi
rthday celebration by talking about the mean nun, the birthday girl kept her eyes on her scroll and ignored the question.
Jeannie didn
’t wait long for an answer. “Do you know that the Catholics took most of their major holidays from the pagans? Did you ever ask St. Pius what bunnies and eggs have to do with Easter?
Annie said testily,
“You think you know so much about religious history, but you don’t even go to church.”
“
Sadie and Bernice know all about that kind of stuff and about witches too,” said Brian.
“
Are witches as wicked as they say?” Loretta inquired, narrowing her dark Sicilian eyes.
“
That’s bullshit!” Jeannie said hotly. In a calmer voice she said, “Witches do a lot of good things. They can heal with plants and stuff. And they have special powers. Some can see things others can’t.”
June thought about Mrs. G and wondered if she had been a witch.
“June can be a good witch, huh, Jeannie?” Brian said.
“
May as well. She’s a bad Catholic,” Mary suggested mischievously.
“
And they dance like crazy people around a fire and cast spells,” Annie added mockingly.
“
Yep. They do spells. We read how to do one,” Brian said, getting the full attention of the girls.
“
Zip it.” His sister pulled her finger across her lips.
June looked up from the scroll and asked Jeannie,
“Can you do a spell?”
Aware
the other girls were waiting to hear more, Jeannie said, “I shouldn’t say too much, with you guys being Catholics and all.”
“
We can keep a secret. Tell us, Jeannie,” Maggie said in a hushed voice.
“
Yeah, okay. When you cast a spell you have to be careful and follow a ritual.”
“
What’s that mean?” Maggie’s green eyes shone with excitement.
Jeannie pushed dishes aside and spread her arms across the table to pull the group closer. All heads, including Annie
’s, leaned into the center of the table.
“
You know how you guys have rituals at your church?” Jeannie said. They nodded, eyes wide. “Well, they use candles and incense and stuff and say magical words, like the special things you say at Mass in that strange language.”
“
Latin,” Annie said.
“
Yeah, okay. Witches have special ceremonies at special times of the year. You know, like Halloween.”
“It means holy e
ve. It’s before All Saints Day,” Annie said, giving her helpful input.
“
What other holidays are pagan?” Maggie asked, playing with the cold fries on her plate.
“
Tell her about the May one. I heard Sadie say they use a stag,” Brian snickered.
Jeannie said,
“Maybe I shouldn’t say any more.”
“
Come on, tell us some more. Please,” Loretta begged.
June knew why Jeannie wanted to keep the witch stuff secret. The Callaghans were judged in The Valley. The neighbors snickered abo
ut Sadie and Bernice being odd and most kids in the neighborhood were not allowed to go to the Callaghan house. Jeannie and Brain were the MacDonald girls’ friends, and even though their father wasn’t always happy about them going to the Callaghan’s house, they did.
Jeannie continued.
“Well, in the old religion for the pagan people, May Day was a big deal. The prettiest girl in the town was picked to be Mother Earth. She got all dressed up and wore a crown of flowers and went all over the place with everyone throwing flowers at her feet. Then a bunch of people danced around a big pole called a Maypole in honor of Mother Earth. The pagans were always celebrating some goddess’ special day. They all had some kind of special powers and influence over people’s lives and were mostly beautiful women.”
Some teens started to file past their booth on their way to the front door. One said,
“Ya comin’?”
Maggie took a lipstick and a mirror from her purse. She asked,
“So, the coolest and prettiest girl gets to be the goddess on May Day?”
“Yu
p,” answered Jeannie as she exited the booth.
As
Annie followed behind her, she reminded June not to forget her presents.
“
Let’s beat it,” said Mary.
“
Let’s make like peanut butter and jam,” Brian said. Only the two little kids laughed and followed the others out of the booth and The Big Jive.
A pool of teens formed outside the coffee shop to make plans for the night. A boy with a crew cut and bug eyes stuck his head between Maggie and Loretta.
“Hiya girls. See ya at the park?” he asked.
Both girls put their noses
up in the air and turned away. Maggie turned to Annie and with a big eager grin said, “Hey, we’re going to the park. Okay?”
Annie started to protest the idea
. June tugged at her arm, gesturing for her sister to bend over. “If they go, we’ll have more fun without them,” she whispered.
“
Yeah, okay. Make sure you’re home before nine so we don’t get in trouble,” Annie warned her sisters.
“
Sure thing!” they answered.
“
Swear to God and cross your hearts,” Annie demanded.
They did, grinning and
headed toward Eureka Valley Park.
Forlornly, Annie watched the gang of kids walk up Eighteenth Street toward the park.
“Is my surprise over?” June asked.
“
Heck no! We’ll stop at the comic book store,” said Annie. She reached into her pocketbook, pulled out a handful of loose change and handed it to June, smiling.
“
Swell!” June and Brian shouted together and skipped ahead of Annie.
On the warm San Francisco night, Castro Street was especially busy with couples and groups of young people strolling past Annie, the lone teen.
Eager to get to the comic book store, the little kids turned around and waved for her to hurry up. Concentrating on the kids, Annie didn’t see Dave come up from behind. He fell into step with her.
Brian nudged June to look back at Annie. She saw her big sister and Dave strolling hand in hand. She and
Brian giggled and ran into the comic book store. Her ninth birthday was more than she had imagined––it was magical!
* * * * *
S
ISTER NOEL’S MYSTICAL TEACHINGS
SEPTEMBER
1959