Page 19

Selene

M y mom pulls the wagon behind her full of the pieces to build the perfect storytelling booth. Between Marlowe, Gail, Lou, my mom, and my own personal collection we were able to pull together what I hope will be the best booth there.

With over twenty booths ranging from food to home goods, my booth is close to Lou’s shop next to Beck’s Hide & Soul Leather goods booth. I can’t wait to see what items he has in his shop. As a bear shifter, he loves the quiet solitude of leather making.

When we roll the cart in front of his booth, he is almost done putting his pieces out, which only makes me stress out more.

“Should we have come earlier?” I nervously ask my mom who looks around at the other booths along with me.

“No sweetie, we are fine. Even Bea is still in the middle of setting up! Don’t worry we will get done in time. Beck just likes to rise early, isn’t that right?” She raises her voice and nods to him as he glances up to her.

He only dips his head before going back to adjusting the shelf in the back corner of his booth.

“See, we are going to be fine. Look, even Granny Fern is here at the booth waiting for us.”

Sure enough standing right next to my booth chatting with Gail is none other than Granny Fern. They are both sipping to-go coffees as they animatedly move their hands. When we come to a stop in front of the booth, they turn to look at us with broad smiles on their faces.

Gail moves first, wrapping me in a hug before stepping back holding my shoulders. “Selene dear, I’m so proud of you for accepting Lou’s offer. I was hoping you would and now I get to brag to the elders all about your photos.” She cuts her eyes to Fern as if this was a debate between them.

I glance between the two trying to decipher what’s happening.

Fern doesn’t give me long to ponder before she hip-checks Gail releasing me from her hold.

Her face lights with a huge smile as she pulls me into a hug.

Holding me for a few seconds before releasing me, Fern smirks as she says, “I think I’ll be the one braggin’ since I knew our girl would definitely accept the offer.

Clearly, she gets her eye for beauty from me. ”

Someone clears their throat behind the two of them causing them to split apart and turn around. My grandmother Lala is standing there in her long, flowing cream sundress with sage leaves coming out a moss border along the bottom. Her long, silver hair flows over her shoulders in soft waves.

“I know neither of you hens are claiming anything when it comes to my little blossom? Surely you know that if anyone claims her eye for beauty, it would be me.” She saunters over and plants a kiss on my cheek.

“Don’t let these cacklin hens get in your way. We are here to offer our words of encouragement, hands if you need them, and of course to be your cheering squad!” Grammy pats my cheek gently with nothing but love in her eyes.

My mom walks around the cart to slide her arm around my shoulder, her head tilts slightly. “Why don’t you tell them your plan and we can help get everything put together, hmm?”

My hands clap together as I walk around the cart and into the booth.

“Alright ladies, in honor of the theme for this year's Summer Solstice, Lou and I came up with, what I think, is a pretty cool idea. We will use these photographs,” I hold up the stack of photos printed on thick paper and glued to a white-textured paper stock frame, shaking them from side to side. “Plus this twine,” holding up the twine that my mystery wolf left for me. “To weave a tale for the viewers to walk through. The idea will be that we won’t need words, notes, or any explanation. Let the photographs tell the story for us.”

Their faces brighten with excitement. They all speak at once, their words blending together in a mess of sounds.

“See I told you she got it..”

“It comes from me..”

“This is going to be…”

I wolf-whistle to stop them or we’re going to be out of time. “Ladies, we have less than an hour now to have the booth set up. Can you, maybe, stop debating which of you is the reason I’m here and you know, maybe, help me?”

A round of “of courses” comes out of each of them as we begin putting all the pieces into place. I spend the next twenty minutes walking each of them through the setup, pointing to where I want certain pieces, and how the photos should be hung from the twine.

With the last piece in place, we all step back to look at our handy work.

With the white canopy covering the stand, the three sides covered in a thick layer of the same material, you really feel as if you are stepping through time with how we set it up.

My 10x12 rectangle stand has a sign hanging above the left side with an Enter Here to help guide the guests where to begin their journey.

With the twine strung between each post, the photos hang from it by wooden claw clips, with a soft, sheer fabric weaved between them to give the feel of memory dust.

We put a long rectangular table in front between the two sides to act as a meet & greet section with extra copies for purchasing if guests choose to do so. There are two chairs, one for me and one for Mom behind the table, and our little money box nestled between the chairs.

I do one last check to make sure everything is exactly how I envisioned it, before checking the cart to make sure nothing was left out.

Leaning over the edge, I see the sage stick sitting at the bottom.

My heart speeds up at the sight of it. In the haste of the day, I’d forgotten that I’d slid it in there this morning, determined to find my mystery wolf.

I look around to see if anyone is watching before I swoop down and grab it. I’ll put it on the table right next to me, maybe I’ll catch someone reacting to it, maybe inquiring about it? Surely, he’ll see it and react, right?

I’m just placing it on the table when I hear a squeal to my right.

“Girl, yesssss! I knew it was going to be gorgeous, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this stunning! For someone who only found out about this two days ago, you sure knocked this out of the park!” Odes comes running up and pulls me into a hug! “It’s going to be the talk of the town, mark my words.”

She pulls back, holding both my shoulders in her hands.

“Speaking of, I’ve got a gift for you. Thorne, over there…

” she hooks a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of his booth, “has some amazing leather stuff that we should look at together. But, that’s not what I’ve got for you.

” She flips open the flap to her over-the-shoulder bag, pulling out a beautifully-bound journal. She pushes it towards me as I grasp it.

“I wanted to get you something in honor of your very first gallery, even if it’s a mini one. I thought it would be cool if you set it out on the table for guests to write little notes in or sign it. Whichever you want them to do.”

I run my thumb across the beautifully carved tree of life on the front cover.

My eyes well up with tears, this is the sweetest thing anyone’s done for me, outside of my parents.

“It's…Odes you didn’t…” The first tear falls from my lashes, splashing on the apple of my cheek as I blink my eyes quickly as my vision blurs.

“Oh man, don't cry. I wasn’t expecting tears this early or I would have given it to you yesterday so your mascara didn’t run!” Her thumb swipes the tears.

“It’s beautiful Odes. I wasn’t expecting a gift today, thank you.” With one arm I pull her into a hug, smooshing the journal between us.

“Alright, no more tears. Today, we are celebrating our future National Geographic photographer who will always come back to take photos of our pups.”

We both giggle as we turn back to the stand, arms crossed across each other’s back as our heads lay against each other.

I wouldn’t be here without the support of her and my little group of cheerleaders.

With a sigh, I lift my head to look over at those three crazy, yet amazing elders chatting away with my beautiful mother.

I’m one lucky girl to have such an incredible group of people around me.

The alarm rings on my phone. The festival is opening.

“Alright, it’s time guys!”

Fern and Grammy both walk over planting kisses on my cheeks and squeezing me into breathtaking hugs before they walk off arm in arm towards the booths.

Gail comes over, standing next to me as we watch them walk away. She clears her throat. “I think today is going to open many doors for you, some you were expecting, some you were hoping for, and one that you didn’t know you needed.”

Without another word, she gives me one of her signature smiles before she too walks away.

My mom walks up to the place Gail just left, chuckling when she looks at the expression on my face.

“Let me guess, Gail gave you another one of her utterly cryptic messages and walked off before you could ask anything?” She laughs as I slowly nod my head.

I look at my mom in confusion. “How did you know?”

“Because that is just Gail for you. Nobody knows how she knows, why she knows, or why she is always right, but what we do know is that when something big is coming in your life, Gail is going to be there meddling and pushing you in the direction you need to be.” Mom just shrugs her shoulders before turning to go sit down behind the table.

With one last glance in the direction Gail went, I turn to follow Mom to my seat. Flipping open the journal Odes gave me, I place a pen next to it.