Dandelion and the Witch

Dandelion and the Witch — page 3 — He kissed his wife on the forehead Get some sleep She almost laughed She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten more than an hour of shut-eye at a stretch Instead of trying to sleep in their stuffy apartment with no air-conditioning Jessamine grabbed an empty paper bag from under the kitchen sink slipped on her flip-flops and followed her husband out into the night It was a ten-block walk to the discount movie theater She didn’t care what they were showing She’d enjoy the air-conditioning see as many movies as she could till the last one ended around two and then she’d head home She’d done this before nearly every time her husband had to cover the late-late shift Tonight the theater was showing an old animated movie she’d seen a hundred times Still it reminded her of being a kid She stayed and watched the six o’clock showing the nine o’clock showing and the midnight showing She cried the hardest the last time

Dandelion and the Witch — page 4 — even though she’d already seen it twice that night When the midnight showing was over Jessamine was hungry The Woods lived in a busy neighborhood Even at this hour several businesses doors stood open letting their air-conditioning waft over the late-night sidewalks Some of those open doors also released the scents of delicious-smelling food There was the doughnut shop at the corner of Eighth Street There was Mario’s All-Night Pizza on Sycamore Avenue There was the noodle shop at Fifteenth Street just a block from Jessamine’s apartment Some nights even inside with the windows closed all she could smell was fish sauce and green onions But tonight none of it smelled delicious It was all she could do to hold her breath as she passed these places She reached her apartment building still gasping with hunger but unable to think of a single thing she wanted to eat

Dandelion and the Witch — page 5 — Standing in front of her building digging through her huge purse for her keys Jessamine caught a whiff of something It was something familiar but exciting It was strange and new but earthy and everlasting Dandelions Their little yellow heads had closed for the night but their greens shaped like lion’s teeth grew like well like weeds all over the apartment building’s front lawn Jessamine’s heart pounded For the first time since she’d been pregnant she knew what she wanted She wanted dandelion leaves Before she knew what she was doing Jessamine dropped her bag fell to her knees on the front lawn and grabbed handfuls of leaves She put them in her mouth and chewed They were peppery and fresh sunny and cool

Dandelion and the Witch — page 6 — She pulled up handfuls of dandelions as she went across the lawn shoving them into her paper bag till it was almost bursting Then she headed home Shaking with anticipation for the bag of delicious greens she unlocked the building’s front door It always stuck so she had to knock it with her shoulder Then she hurried up the two flights of stairs to their apartment made her way inside and finally caught her breath She found the biggest bowl she could She dumped the leaves in rinsed them quickly under cold water found a fork and dug in

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