Christmas Tea

It was the day after Christmas and Lilith was preparing hot tea for herself and her friend, Gretchen, whom she had invited over. It had been exactly a year since they had last gotten together. It wasn’t exactly a yuletide tradition; this was only the second time. It was only the third time they had met altogether.

The first time they met was the summer before the previous Christmas. The annual “Summer Street-Fair Days” was taking place in downtown Hawkins, North Dakota. Gretchen was tending her “Psychic” booth when Lilith happened to mosey in her direction. Being a Christian, Lilith would normally have not even bothered to look in Gretchen’s direction. But there was something about Gretchen’s booth that drew Lilith in. Actually, it was the smell of warm, homemade chocolate chip cookies. And Gretchen was eating one at that very moment. Lilith stopped and greeted Gretchen with a cheery “Hello,” just as Gretchen had taken a large bite of cookie. With her mouth full, and a half-melted chocolate chip just above her upper lip, Gretchen waved and then giggled, flashing a front tooth covered in chocolate, which made Lilith burst out laughing. After five minutes of uncontrollable laughter and wiping away of tears, Lilith and Gretchen were instant friends. While Lilith did not stay to have her fortune told, they did exchange phone numbers and agreed to get in touch soon.

Well, life happens and before you know it, Christmas was just around the corner and neither had managed to stay in touch. So the week before Christmas, Lilith finally called and invited Gretchen over for tea on the 26^th. As it turned out, they had much in common and got along wonderfully. The only real difference between them was their faith. As mentioned already, Lilith was a Christian; not overly conservative or devout, but she did go to church when she wasn’t working, or baking, or shopping, or just too tired to get up early enough - maybe five or six times a year. Gretchen was a free-thinking agnostic deist. It was a topic they both avoided. Not they couldn’t have talked about it and remained friends. It’s just that they both considered it non-essential information, as far as their friendship was concerned.

After about four hours of talking and learning more about each other, Gretchen gently persuaded Lilith to let her tell her a little about the future. While Lilith was somewhat hesitant, she decided it was harmless enough. She saw it as more of a game than anything else. Now Gretchen was not your ordinary seer. She didn’t use a crystal ball or Tarot cards or read palms. She pulled out a small cedar box that contained amulets of various shapes, and colors, six all together. She had Lilith set them in a straight line in front of her, in any order of her choosing. She then had Lilith spread her hands over the amulets, placing her hands gently on top of them. Gretchen then closed her own hands over Lilith’s and instructed her to close her eyes. Then Gretchen closed her eyes and meditated silently for a few minutes. She could feel Lilith’s hands tremble slightly. Soon, Gretchen started to tremble herself, then suddenly jumped back a little in her chair, as if startled, even letting out an involuntary “Ohh!” Lilith experienced a mixture of fear and shock at Gretchen’s reaction. “What is it?” she cried!

“You are going to have a baby in the coming year.”

Lilith chuckled, rather relieved. Of course, she didn’t believe that for a second. She had no boyfriend and no prospects currently. She was content with her busy life. “You had me worried for a second there. I thought it was for real. Thank God I don’t have to worry about that!”

Gretchen was not dissuaded or offended. It was not an uncommon reaction. But she still had a worried look on her face; more than that, she was experiencing a heretofore unfamiliar fear within her own heart. She nervously gathered her things and said she had to be going. Lilith was a little disappointed, but said she understood. While Gretchen’s actions seemed a bit strange, Lilith had no idea what was really going on inside of Gretchen at that moment.

Lilith opened the door for her as she hurried out to her car, promising to call her soon. Gretchen barely heard her and didn’t look back, but waved an arm, saying “Yeah, yeah, okay.”

Two months later, Lilith was working her part time-time job as a waitress at the local diner. It was just an average night, nothing unusual. Until a handsome stranger showed up. He appeared to be Middle Eastern; maybe Indian, maybe Tibetan or Pakistani, she couldn’t say for sure. But she was happy to get to wait on him. He was very friendly, with a smooth, sophisticated demeanor about him. He had a definite accent, but spoke perfect English. After finishing his dinner, he asked Lilith if she would like to join him for a cup of coffee after work. Naturally, she was very flattered and accepted.

At 10:05 p.m., the stranger arrived back at the diner, just as Lilith was clocking out. They drove to a coffee shop on the other side of town and pretended to enjoy some small talk for a bit. After about twenty minutes, the stranger abruptly said, “Let me take you home.” It was more of a command than a question. Not spoken rudely, but in his soft, calm manner. As atypical as it was for Lilith, there was something about this man she couldn’t resist, like being drawn to him by a giant, invisible magnet. When they arrived at Lilith’s home, he invited himself in. There was zero resistance on Lilith’s end. Having a weak faith and a weaker relationship with God, her carnal desires got the better of her and she let the stranger have his way. When she awoke at about 2:00 a.m., the stranger was gone. Somehow, she wasn’t bothered by any of this. It all seemed like a distant dream.

When Lilith, at length, discovered she was pregnant, she was too embarrassed to tell her psychic friend. At least for now. The baby was born on Black Friday, with dark skin and a head full of black hair. Lilith was a proud mama, of course, and she called Gretchen as soon as she got home from the hospital. Gretchen was hesitant, but agreed to visit on the day after Christmas, the anniversary of their last visit.

The day finally arrived and Lilith was so excited to show off her little girl, who she had named Dharma. Gretchen seemed a little skittish at first, but it didn’t long for her to warm to the perfectly-featured child. Before long, they were chatting away as before and everything was cozy and beautiful. Gretchen apologized for her behavior the year before. She had expected the worst, but now she could see that everything was just peachy.

It came time for Gretchen to leave and as they said their goodbyes, they promised to meet more often. Lilith stood at the door with Dharma n her arms, waving goodbye as Gretchen pulled out of the driveway. Before either of them were aware of the fast-approaching high-pitched whine of a private jet, the nose of said plane slammed into the roof of the small house, continuing on into the hood of Gretchen’s car, simultaneously exploding, consuming everything within a hundred yards in a great fireball.  The End.