Meddy & Frank, Chapter One

Beaufort shimmered, a mirage in the desert. About sixty miles east from where the freeways merged into the interconnected bloodline of downtown Los Angeles, this oasis of starter homes promised new beginnings - perfect for a young professional couple and their eight-year-old daughter to pen their Once Upon a Time.

Or so Meddy thought as she watched her father scrawl his name at the bottom of the loan papers, then her mother do the same. The realtor and notary beamed their congratulations, the realtor whisking the papers into her portfolio before they had a chance to change their minds.

"So, how does it feel to be the first homeowners at Dei Lanzi Grove?" the realtor asked Meddy's parents, her voice bright with practiced enthusiasm.

A brand new home, Meddy thought, in the middle of nowheresville. The agent led them through room after empty room, toting a clipboard and jotting down slight imperfections she promised the builders would fix before move-in. Her father had wanted a bigger space. "Somewhere you'll have room to grow," he'd told Meddy, "with a backyard to play in." But Meddy liked their apartment just fine. Why have extra room to grow when things fit perfectly the way they were now?

After the closing, Meddy and her parents got into their car. Like everything else that was small and dear to Meddy, her dad’s Mini would probably be the next to go.

“We made the right choice, don’t you think?” Sam turned to Leila for reassurance.

It wasn’t Leila’s first choice, she wanted a home near their apartment on the Westside, so Meddy could stay at the same school with her same friends, and Leila could continue to go to the same coffee house around the corner to do her writing. But after months of slim pickings, what the agents called homes with “great potential”, she caved, and made the journey with Sam out to the desert. The Inland Empire, the I.E., or as Sam quoted from an old movie, “i.e, e.g…f...” was their only option.

Leila's genuine smile relieved Sam. "We have a home...our home...in the middle of..."

Sam was worried Leila wasn’t fully committed to the move, but at the moment she looked positively manic.

“Perfect timing for this then,” Sam said, connecting his phone. He always had a song for everything.

Meddy watched her new street fade away, their house between four others was indeed the middle one. The lone street is surrounded by empty pads, awaiting future phases. It made Meddy feel sad for a moment, but that quickly passed as her mom cranked the volume and she joined her parents in Madness’s final chorus. She decided to let her parents be “house proud” for one day, while she worked on a plan to get them to change their minds.

When they exited through the iron gates that stood guard over Dei Lanzi Grove, Leila suggested they explore, but Meddy didn’t see much of a reason.

“There’s nothing here, Mom. Just a lot of dirt and weeds.”

That was true. The road was sparsely lined with Sycamore trees that barely concealed empty lots, some cordoned off by wooden stakes, chicken wire and signs advertising acreage for sale. The one across the way said “SOLD, Future Supermarket, Retail Stores and Restaurants Development, Completion, Summer 2016”. Sam pointed over to the empty pad where construction had barely gotten underway.

“Just be patient, in six months you will be able to literally walk across the street to the grocery store. . .and the agent said there’d be a coffee house for you, Leila.” Until then it was only a fifteen minute drive to the Stater Bros in Moreno Valley.

At the fork leading to the freeway, Leila suggested that they drive in the opposite direction. “The realtor said there were some farms and roadside stands this way, it’s supposed to return to the main interstate.” Leila had a knack for finding obscure spots.

Meddy knew this was because her mom did tons of research for her job as a technical writer, but she preferred to believe it was due to her mom being a secret superhero. When Leila would drag Meddy to Vineland Grounds, the neighborhood caffeine pusher, she would stare at her mother as she clacked away on her laptop. Then she would doodle scenes in her sketchbook, inventing a comic book life for Leila, a good deal more exciting than writing tutorials and help instructions. Meddy imagined that Leila was just her mother’s alter ego. Even in the guise of an average citizen, Meddy knew her mother still wielded some super powers. Mind control for certain, which she mostly employed on Sam. But when Leila took superhero form, Meddy imagined her with shock white hair, commanding the powers of heaven and earth to fight evil.

Every superhero has a weakness, and Meddy knew her mom's kryptonite. Milkshakes. The super thick kind, made by hand, ones you could not get anymore unless you went to throwback places like Bob's Big Boy where the waitress always brought extra milkshake to the table because one glass could never contain enough of the goodness. A series of signs caught Meddy's eye: "Try Our Date Shakes. Desert’s Oasis Ahead. Fresh Ostrich Eggs. Camel Rides."

Up ahead, a palm tree lined turnout led to what had to be the oddest roadside stand one could possibly imagine.

"Mom, look!" Meddy gave a sharp kick to the back of the passenger seat.

Leila came out of her conversation with Sam to chide Meddy. "You know I hate it when you kick my seat."

Eager, Meddy pointed out the signs. "What's a Date Shake?"

Sam looked up at the rearview mirror. "Meddy, you know how we always tell you that you're our favorite thing in the whole wide world?"

Meddy nodded.

"You are about to discover mom's second favorite thing," Sam declared, slamming the brakes and cranking the wheel sharply to make the turnout, risking life and limb in his enthusiasm.

As they pulled up, Meddy noticed the brightly striped cabanas shading bins stuffed with dates and nuts. The midday lot was empty except for a lone handyman’s pickup. Chickens clucked from a nearby coop. An animal pen held an old mare, goats, ostriches, and yes, a camel! Despite all the highway signs, Meddy’s family seemed to be the only customers on the lot.

An elderly woman sat in a rocking chair beside an ornate birdcage. It towered over the woman, its intricate metalwork hinting at a captive far more exotic than the dusty chickens pecking in the dirt nearby. Meddy was entranced by the cage, drawn in by its silent promise of something extraordinary.

The woman glanced up, her eyes, cold as a glacial lake, had a flicker of something ancient. Meddy felt a shiver, not of fear, but of anticipation, as if the woman and the empty birdcage held a secret. She sat in a rocking chair next to the cage, holding a newspaper, neatly folded to reveal only a black and white grid. It seemed like she was engrossed in a crossword, but it looked to Meddy like the lady still had a lot of blank spaces. She watched her struggle over a clue, not realizing her rudeness in looking over a stranger's shoulder.

"Erase!" Meddy blurted out, unable to contain herself.

Her gaze settled on Meddy, sharp and unwavering. "Erase? Is that a suggestion, or a command?"

Meddy, unphased, pointed at the crossword. "To get the lead out... you erase!" she explained, grinning.

A slow smile spread across the woman's face. "Why, thank you, child. That's quite clever of you." She began to pencil in the letters. "And what's your name?"

"Meddy," she replied, feeling a strange sense of connection to this woman with the knowing eyes and the empty birdcage. "I'm Meddy."

"Well, Meddy," the woman said, her voice warming like a low burning kettle, "I'm Harriet."

Meddy had just met the proprietor of the Oasis Gardens.

Harriet, it seemed, cared little for the social graces expected of a proprietor. With a regal sniff, she returned to her crossword, her pen a silver dagger attacking the squares with a vengeance. Meddy and her parents might as well have been invisible. But Meddy, her curiosity piqued, wasn't about to be ignored. She leaned closer, her gaze flitting between the enigmatic woman and the imposing birdcage.

There was definitely a mystery here. Harriet was old, that much was certain. Her hair was the color of storm clouds, held back with a tortoiseshell band that, for a fleeting moment, seemed to shimmer with diamonds and precious stones. And her skin...one moment it was wrinkled and tanned like an old saddlebag, the next smooth as porcelain, white as ivory. Was it a trick of the light? Or was Harriet more than just an eccentric desert dweller? Perhaps, Meddy mused, she was a secret enchantress, her magic hidden in plain sight.

The thought of magic brought Meddy's mind back to the empty birdcage. She'd always wanted a bird of her own, a feathered friend to share secrets with. But Sam and Leila insisted she wasn't responsible enough. "Responsible," she scoffed inwardly. She was practically a grown-up! For the past year, she'd been on a mission to prove them wrong, diligently caring for her plants, keeping her room tidy (mostly), and even offering to do extra chores. But still, no bird. In the meantime, she contented herself with visits to the pet store, where she'd befriended all the feathered residents. There was Elvis, the green parrot whose favorite word was “peanut butter”, Chloe and Kim, the society finches always talking smack to the other birds, and Fries, the white Cockatoo with a golden plume atop his head that made Meddy think of her favorite unhealthy snack.

She knew her parents would eventually cave and let her have a pet bird. She already had an empty cage in her room, waiting. Nothing like this, she thought, her gaze tracing the intricate details of the gilded masterpiece before her. With a single perch worn smooth by countless claws, it was atop an alabaster statue of a man grimacing under the weight. What kind of bird could possibly belong in such a magnificent cage?

"What happened to your bird?" Meddy interrupted Harriet, unable to contain her curiosity.

Harriet glanced at the cage as if seeing it for the first time. "He's off gallivanting," she said, her voice clipped, "As usual."

Meddy tilted her head,. "Gallivanting?"

A wry smile tugged at the corner of Harriet's lips. "He has a tendency to...disappear. When the mood strikes him."

"Must be some bird," Meddy mused, her fingers tracing the ornate swirls in the metalwork.

Harriet's gaze lingered on the empty cage. "Oh, he's quite the character, but just a little cuckoo!”

"He's still here, you know. Can't you hear him singing?"

Meddy listened. Now that Harriet mentioned it, she could hear a bird's lonely song. It sounded like the bird was trying to communicate to her alone.

"He sounds so close. Can I see him?"

"Oh, he's probably off with Gus."

Meddy frowned. "Gus?"

"The camel. Those two…always up to mischief. Why don't you see if you can find them? Here, you can give these to Gus." Harriet handed Meddy a handful of dates.

Meddy grabbed them and turned to find her parents, who were hovering nearby.

"I hope she's not bothering you," Leila said as she and Sam introduced themselves.

"Can I feed the camel, Mom?" Meddy asked, but it wasn't really a question. Before Leila could object, Meddy was off, the dates clutched tightly in her hand..

"And while you're doing that, I'm going to make your mom the best date shake this side of the Nile!”

Meddy should have been more curious about how Harriet knew her mom's weakness, but she was already gone.

Why did she follow the cuckoo? Its song lured her, a siren call she couldn't resist. Now, she was hopelessly lost. The familiar sounds of the farm-- the clucking chickens, the bleating goats-- had become a distant memory. The air hung heavy, thick with the scent of jasmine and something else, something ancient and wild that tickled her senses and sent shivers down her spine.

Turning back seemed like the sensible thing to do, but the cuckoo perched just ahead, its iridescent feathers glinting in the dappled sunlight. It beckoned her onward, towards a sight that stole her breath away. Before her lay a garden unlike any she had ever seen. Trees laden with fruit of impossible colors-- sapphire grapes, ruby plums, and oranges that shimmered with an inner fire-- intertwined their branches, forming a living canopy overhead. Flowers bloomed in shades she couldn't name, their petals unfurling like butterfly wings. A shimmering mist clung to the ground, swirling with every gentle breeze.

Meddy hesitated at the garden's threshold, a prickle of unease dancing on her skin. The air thrummed with an unseen energy, a palpable hum that vibrated through her very core. This was no ordinary garden. This was a place of enchantment, a hidden realm where the laws of nature seemed to bend and twist.

With a deep breath, she stepped across the invisible boundary, her heart pounding like a drum. "Naughty bird," she scolded the cuckoo, her voice barely a whisper in the hushed stillness. "You've led me astray. Is this what you wanted to show me?"

The cuckoo bobbed its head affirmatively, and let out a series of melodic chirps that echoed through the enchanted garden.

Meddy ventured deeper, the garden's magic weaving its spell around her. The air vibrated with unseen energy, a symphony of buzzing insects and rustling leaves. Trees laden with otherworldly fruit whispered secrets in the breeze. She paused before a trio of statues-- maidens frozen in time, their stone skin glowing with an ethereal light. One offered a piece of fruit that shimmered like liquid gold.

Above her, the cuckoo flitted from branch to branch, its song taking on a frantic edge. Was it urging her forward? Or warning her away? Meddy couldn't be sure.

Drawn by an irresistible force, she reached for the golden fruit. Warm and yielding to her touch, it felt like a perfectly ripe peach. She remembered her mother's lessons at the farmer's market, the way a peach should give just the right amount under her fingertips. This one was ready to be savored.

She took a bite, the juice exploding across her tongue in a symphony of flavors. It was like every delicious fruit she had ever tasted-- peaches, strawberries, mangoes-- all combined into one ambrosial delight. She devoured it, the sweetness dripping down her chin, her fingers sticky with its golden nectar.

When the last morsel was gone, she stepped forward, eager to find another. But the ground beneath her feet yielded with an unsettling softness. A hiss, sharp and sudden, pierced the air. Meddy looked down, her heart seizing in her chest. The ground writhed with movement, scales glinting in the dappled sunlight.

Darkness closed in.