The next morning, cleaning up the house took very little time.  Most of the party ware had been paper product, so it went in the trash.  Bea was in charge of grabbing all the New Moon Blessing papers and putting them together.  She decided at the last second to squirrel one away in her pocket.  Her pocket or purse seemed to be able to keep one token from each of her adventures with Prudence.  THIS time, she wanted to choose the token.

“It was fun meeting Prudence’s friends,” remarked Purity as she finished up a few dishes in the sink and put them in the dishwasher.

“What are we going to do today, Prue?” asked the girls after she’d had a few sips of coffee.

“Well, I thought we’d stay around here and do a few more renewing kinds of things.  I just wanna spend as much time with you both as possible.  We don’t have to scale the Eiffel Tower or visit a Colleseum.  I just wanna sit with you or walk with you and chat,” said Prudence.

“I was hoping we could go shopping,” said Bea.

“We can shop.  We can get out our computers and do some online shopping sitting here in our PJs,” said Prudy. “I brought you a few chrome books from work.  I assume you know how to use one?!

“And an Ipad too!” said the girls together.

It was a very relaxing day.  They hung out in the PJs, eating cold pizza and looking at stuff on the internet.

“You know, when I was a little girl, I’d scour through JCPenny and Sears catalogs looking for stuff for my pretend home.  Now that I have a REAL home, I’m making a list of all the stuff I need to make my home a truly sacred space,” said Prudence.

Dinner time came and the girls decided to make themselves a spaghetti meal. Prudence took care of the meat sauce, Purity made the garlic bread and Bea made the pasta.  They all sat down to a scrumptuous dinner.  Prudence poured herself a glass of wine.

“Did you want to try a sip?” she asked her sisters.

“The parents wouldn’t like it,” said Bea.

“Do what you feel is best.  If you want a sip take ONE.  I’d rather you try alcohol with me than with your friends,” exclaimed Prudence.  All at once, Purity slid the wine glass to her plate.  She brought it to her mouth and took a sip.

“UGH!  How can you drink this stuff!” complained Purity.  “I thought it would be sweet?!”

“Some wines are,” said Prudence.

“Why don’t you have that kind of wine?” asked Bea.

“Because I wanted you to try wine with me.  I don’t want you to like it.  Well, not yet anyway,” explained Prudence.  “Wine is kinda like sex, once you have it, you are going to want more.  You need to be smart how you drink wine or alcohol of any kind. My thinking you’ll never drink as teenagers would be living in a fantasy world.  I know you’ll drink alcohol at some point.  I want you to know how to be smart about it.”

“That sounds good,” said Purity.  Bea said nothing, but she listened intently.

“First of all, drink lots of water.  Drinking is very dehydrating.  The more you drink, the more time you’ll need to sober up before you get behind the wheel of a car.  If you kill someone drinking and driving, it is a crime, not an accident. And I’ll tell you both what I told BOTH your brothers: DO NOT, under any circumstances, get into a car with a driver you know has been drinking.  If you see this scenario unfolding – CALL ME!  I will come get you.  No questions asked!”

“Can I have my sip?” asked Bea.

“Yes,” said Prudence.  Bea took the glass and drank just a wee bit.

“Yuck!” said Bea.

“I hope you remember that taste AND what I said to you.

“We’ll remember,” said Purity.

Later that evening, the doorbell rang.  It was the three cloaked ladies from the party the night before.

“I don’t believe you officially met these ladies,” said Prudence.  “This is Grace, Ardis and Evelyn.”

“”I am your biological grandmother,” said Evelyn.

“We don’t see our mom anymore,” said Purity.

“I know child,” said Evelyn.  “And I know why. I’m sorry that happened. It is hard when family situations go that way. There are parts of the story that you may not know.  Look!”

Evelyn showed the girls a huge gap where her stomach used to be.  “My husband killed me.  Then my family did not step up and take care of my daughter.  He went to jail and the child went into the Foster Care system. Imagine how abandoned you would have felt if you were her.”

“So, you are DEAD?” asked Bea gingerly.

“Yes child, we all are,” said Grace.  I’m your grandfather’s mother.  “We are always with you though.”

“And we try to help you whenever we can,” said Ardis.  “I’m your grandmother’s mother. Your other grandparents are around too!  They just didn’t want to overwhelm you.  Plus, Grace and I died on this day years ago, so we get to come back a little closer to our grandchildren, today.”  Ardis hugged Prudence.

“We are going to take you home now,” said Evelyn.

In a flash, the women were all sitting in the girls’ room at home.  Prudence was still there.  She sat on Bea’s bed with Grandma Grace.  Ardis and Evelyn sat on Purity’s bed.

“You’ve had a busy weekend.  Now, you must sleep,” said Prudence. She leaned down and kissed Bea on the forehead.  She got up and walked over to Purity’s bed and kissed her too.  Each grandmother did the same.  Then, they resumed their seats on the beds.

“I’ll sing to you and stay with you until you fall asleep,” said Evelyn. Evelyn took Purity’s hand.  Prudence held onto Bea’s hand.  And then Evelyn started to sing.

 

https://youtu.be/YsjFDf8Rw4w