A Fragile Cup of Witch's Brew

"You're thanking me? No, no. Thank you Sybil." I was shocked. Where has this woman been all my life?

We kissed again. My lips tingled from her touch. My whole body did. I knew where she was...alone in the fucking bush!

I sat up and reached for my coffee mug and took a sip. It had cooled down. "Sybil," I said, "would you mind terribly if I washed your glorious body and shampooed your hair in the shower and just basically worshipped at the Temple of Sybil Varro while you stood there patiently letting me indulge myself and have my way with you?"

"Will you stick a soapy finger in my ass?"

My head jerked back, "What? Do you want me to?"

She beamed at me as she answered, "Only if your tongue is on my clit."

"You're insatiable."

"If you're going to worship at a temple you must participate in the sacrificial rituals." She was grinning wildly.

We finished our cooled down coffee and tea and went off to the shower. Under the pulsating shower head I was sure she could make out the extent of my thinning hair as I munched her pussy with my middle finger wiggling in her ass.

She had another orgasm. If she squirted I couldn't have noticed in the shower.

*

On the way to the hospital we stopped at Cora's for breakfast. Another chain.

"Please Sybil, have whatever you desire. Don't even look at the price. You need to be price-myopic. This is all about you, being healthy and getting ready for a possible kidney operation."

I had their breakfast special - three eggs sunny side up, ham, hash brown potatoes, white toast, another coffee and a small orange juice.

Sybil had the ten ounce striploin steak done bluish-rare, six eggs soft boiled in the shell, a whole grapefruit which she peeled and ate like an orange, two slices of whole wheat toast and four packets of marmalade. And, a small pot of Orange Pekoe tea. No milk, no sugar. Plus, she finished the second slice of white toast that I'd left on my plate.

"We can't have any waste Sax."

*

Dee opened her eyes as we knocked on the hospital room door and stepped into her room. She was in a double room. The other bed was empty.

Dee immediately started to cry. The cavalry arrived, just in the nick. "Aunt Sybil you haven't changed a bit. You look exactly as I remember you," she managed to squeak out in a weak, teary voice.

Dee didn't look too good. She lifted her hand up. Sybil took it.

"My, my, Dee-Dee, you've grown up."

"They found you."

"Yes, Sax Reimer did."

"Will you donate?" she pressed.

I spoke up, "We have to do a blood test first."

"Yes, I will," said Sybil stroking the back of Dee's hand while still holding it with the other.

"If the tests are fine," I added.

"Don't worry Dee-Dee, they will be. Don't you worry. Everything will be fine."

Dee smiled and broke out in a renewed fit of crying at the same time. I was overcome with emotion. Here was a young lady who was just handed a second lease on life. Just a moment ago she had no idea we were even on our way to the hospital.

"Thank you..." she stammered out.

Tears were flowing from Sybil's eyes too. She was still holding onto Dee's hand.

"Sax told me that you're married."

"Yes," she sniffled.

"But you haven't any children."

"I hope to..." she managed through the tears.

"Don't worry Dee-Dee, you will. Don't you worry, everything will be fine." Tears were pouring out from the both of them.

Mine too. I suddenly realized that Sybil was in the midst of seeing.

"Come on Sybil," I said, "we need to get you checked in and set-up with a blood test."

"Okay. I'll see you later," said Sybil.

"Thank you Aunt Sybil...thank you so very, very much." She was sobbing tears of joy.

It was all too emotional for me. Sybil and I made our way down the hall to the admissions desk.

"Could you see her future? Her seeds of time?" I asked as we walked.

"Yes."

"And?"

"Her surgery will go well, she won't just suffer and die."

"I'm glad."

"So am I Sax. So am I."

There was bit of a kerfuffle at admissions. Of course Sybil didn't have a health card, nor any other ID.

"I had one once," she said, "I don't know what happened to it. It was from the Province of Quebec."

"But she lives in Ontario now," I said to the very professional, calm and well mannered Oriental clerk dressed in dusty pink scrubs.

It took awhile but eventually I got her sorted out and admitted in for the correct blood test. Beeston Little would formally vouch for Sybil's identity as a Canadian citizen and as a resident of Ontario and I promised to make a health card application for her. The clerk had a hard time accepting 'General Delivery, Shining Tree' as being a legitimate address for Sybil and no associated telephone number or email address. Also, the clerk was visibly apprehensive when she had to enter Sybil's date of birth into her computer, but she said nothing. Nevertheless, in the end, the hospital understood the urgency of the matter.

We went back to Dee's room while we waited for the lab results. Her husband Eli came by a few minutes later. I had to play the part of the Beeston Little employee rather than Sybil Varro's lover. Sybil on her part did a very good impression of being a normal person and not the sex maniac bush witch that she really was. I was very impressed with her transformation. Not only that, but her ass looked stunning in the blue jeans.

About an hour later the lab results came back. Sybil's blood was found to be type AB negative. All the markers lined up. Dee and Sybil were good to go.

Surgery was set for the next day. Sybil had to be back at Toronto General at 9:00 am for pre-op.

"Fluids only from now on," they were told.

"Should have brought your witch's brew," I said to Sybil.

She smiled and leaned into my ear and whispered, "It's called seminal fluid isn't it?"

I cupped her hand, "Okay we'll see you two in the morning." I didn't care if Dee and Eli saw we had a thing happening. If anything, it put everything on a more real and personal footing.

"Thanks Aunt Sybil." "Thank you, we'll see you in the morning," added Eli.

We headed down the hall towards the parking garage.

"Are you scared?" I asked.

"No. Horny."

*

Both surgeries went 'flawlessly' Eli and I were told.

I managed to get Sybil assigned to the same room as Dee. It gave aunt and niece the opportunity to reconnect after all the lost years. They were both delighted at the prospect. Dee had no idea what she was in for.

I came and visited every spare moment I had, every day.

Dee immediately started recovering.

Sybil's creatinine level fluctuated over the next few days as she recovered. She had a little swelling. Her potassium level increased as did her phosphate level. Her calcium level decreased. "Absolutely normal," said the elderly, tall and slim Dr. Edward Kelly, "her body has to adjust to having only one kidney. Her fluids and electrolyte levels are a little imbalanced but her body will work it out. She's not anemic."

"Good," I said, hoping that everything really was fine.

"I don't believe she's fifty eight," he said to me in the hall a few moments later.

"I know," I answered, "she's an amazing woman." I paused for a moment looking into the Doctor's grey eyes, "Tell me, how old are women when they normally reach menopause?"

"Typically in their fifth decade, why?"

I didn't say anything.

He walked back in to Sybil's and Dee's room. I caught a glimpse of him as he picked up Dee's chart again. I could just make the conversation out as I stood in the hallway next to the door.

"Sorry ladies, just one more thing. Dee, when did you last menstruate?"

"Two weeks ago."

"Everything was normal? Yes?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just doing my job young lady. Oh, I see that Dr. Cogliostro is your gynecologist. Did you know that she is an obstetrician too?"

"Yes."

"Yes, she's very good. And how about you Sybil, when did you last have your period?"

"Ahh haa haa!"

"What's so funny?"

"I don't know. Ahh ha ha! Three or four years ago! Ahh haa ha!"

"Really?"

"Yes, I'm fifty eight."

"That's what the chart says, but you don't look it."

"He's right Aunt Sybil, you don't look fifty eight."

"But I'm the same aunt you had as a little girl, aren't I?"

"Yes. Exactly the same aunt. You haven't changed a bit."

"Healthy living my dear child. Healthy living. Besides, I have changed. I have one less kidney now."

"Indeed," said Dr. Kelly and walked out the room.

He seemed a bit flustered as he turned to me in the hall, "Miss Varro is doing well. I'll have her out of here in another day or two. I'll keep Mrs. Tyana in a bit longer."

*

"Where's Sybil?" I asked Dee the next morning.

"I don't know. She was gone when I woke up. Probably Paed's though."

"What's that?"

"Paediatrics, you know, sick kids."

"Why would she be there?" I was genuinely puzzled.

"Ha! I think because Aunt Sybil is...Aunt Sybil."

I exhaled in agreement.

I found Sybil one floor below in the Paed's ward. She was dressed in her pajamas and dragon housecoat sitting on a chair with her saline drip on a mobile stand next to her talking to a kid who couldn't have been more than four years old and alone in a room. The child was bald and clearly going through chemo. Even though the kid had an oxygen hose across the upper lip and a saline drip plugged in along with all kinds of electrodes taped to the skin, she or he was giggling and laughing away. Sybil had her back to me the whole time while holding the child's hand and stroking gently.

I couldn't tell what they were talking about but she had the kid in stitches.

After watching for a few minutes from the doorway I said, "Hey Sybil."

She turned, saw me, said a few words to the child, kissed his or her little forehead, stood up and walked away pulling the saline drip stand alongside her.

I saw a tear shed from Sybil's left eye as she stepped towards me.

"Terminal?" I quietly asked as we walked away.

She only nodded in affirmation and clasped my hand in hers.

Dee was right, Sybil couldn't help herself.

Sybil was out of the hospital five days after the surgery. Dee stayed in for another three.

Sybil stayed with me for another week. I took the week off work. She was an 'outpatient' and had to go back for three more visits to Dr. Kelly. She got to wear a different outfit on each trip to the hospital. A day after her third visit I received a phone call informing us that she was given the all clear and allowed to go back home to northern Ontario. Her stitches were the dissolving type.

Sybil had told me that Dr. Cogliostro advised Dee not to get pregnant but to check back with her in six months.

Although Sybil was still a little too tender for rough and tumble sex, I licked and rubbed her hairy pussy to orgasm every night. She sucked me off with gusto every night too.

During the week that she stayed with me, try as I might, I just couldn't get fresh frog for her to eat, nor mink or water snake for that matter. Although she was very polite, grateful and gracious and didn't say anything about it, after just one day I realized that Mr. Sub for lunch was simply not good enough. I had to upscale, which was fine with me. I did it all on my own nickel. Afterwards, I would typically have Fettuccini Alfredo for lunch at a nice bistro. She would have lightly grilled octopus on a bed of oatmeal and fresh bean sprouts or something equally obscure, no sauce, a whole cucumber and a glass of red wine. As it turned out, she loved sushi and sashimi, a whole avocado split in half with Modena balsamic vinegar in the pip hole, all dashed with white pepper and a pint of Guinness - for breakfast! We held hands and quietly said kind of a grace before each meal. No one suspected anything witchy.

We went to the museum twice and the art gallery once during her outpatient week, the rest of the time was consumed at the hospital or the commute there and back. I took her for a stroll along the waterfront but she couldn't take the exhaust smell from the nearby traffic.

On the day she was discharged from the hospital and after each outpatient visit, Sybil dragged me into the Paediatrics ward before we left the building. She had made friends with not only the chemo child but a few others too and was checking in on them. It was clear to me, to the kids that she could see that had a bright future, Sybil gave encouragement. To the terminal kids, she gave them comfort in her own quiet, gentle and understanding manner. I was moved to tears every time I watched her make her rounds.

It was a joy, a real treat, to have her in my life. I really did love her.

I knew she was feeling a little homesick though. She missed Berlioz, Hess, Smokie, Gladys and the rest of her real and invisible menagerie.

During that week, she did not watch one minute of television.

Even though I knew she hated the existence that I lived, I didn't want her to go. I wanted her to stay so that I could look after her. She was fifty eight after all, even if appearances suggested otherwise.

Besides, what forty two year old, single guy, thinning on top, wouldn't want a mature, sweet, intelligent and fun, sex machine of a woman with the looks and body of a gorgeous thirty year old, as a girl friend? That was a no-brainer.

She wasn't a witch. She was an angel, standing in a shaft of light.

Everywhere I went with her, we held hands and other guys heads would turn. Her flaming orangy mane hooked them in, her tight ass and legs just killed them. When they looked at me, I could see it in their eyes, 'Is that your daughter?' Or, 'How they hell did you score a hot, young chick like that?'

That was the trouble, I hadn't really.

I tried to talk her into at least coming back for the winter. She wouldn't commit, but she didn't entirely dismiss the idea either.

She was absolutely adamant that I wouldn't drive her, but she did let me buy her bus fare back to Shining Tree. "We should have brought your broom I guess," I said lamely.

She insisted that I keep the suitcase and her new clothes. "You want me to drag that through the grassy lake?" And "What would I do with a purse?" was impeccable logic that I simply couldn't counter. In the end she wore jeans, a shirt and her light jacket, pink cotton underwear and her running shoes on the trip back home. She carried her cloak, moccasins and new reading glasses in a plastic bag. Everything else, I was supposed to take to the Salvation Army.

I knew that I would keep her clothes in hope that she did come and stay for the winter.

*

I stood beside the bus with Sybil as the driver waited for her get in. The bus door was open. Everyone else was on board.

"Take the twenty and buy yourself some lunch. Please, I don't want to have you standing on the side of the highway eating cattails. They'll take you straight to the loony bin and you don't even have your health card yet." I stuffed the bill into her jacket pocket and then put my arms around her. She had her arms around me.

We hugged and kissed. My body tingled.

"Seriously Sybil why go back now? You're going to go south soon anyway, right?"

She smiled, "I've another two months at least, before I go. I've things to do. A new window to install. And don't forget, I promised to meet with Olive and Joe's sister."

"Where are you going south to this year?"

"I'll probably stay with the Pueblos again, I'm always graciously welcomed there. Maybe go to Florida too, I've not decided yet."

"You'll always be graciously welcomed at my place. I'll be your winter sex toy. Plus that way I can keep an eye on you."

"An eye? So you're the seer now?"

"You know what I mean. Please come and stay with me this winter. I'll come and get you."

"You'd paddle back to the pond for me?"

"For you? Without hesitation. Yes. In a heart-beat." Maybe that was the wrong thing she wanted to hear, me invading her space again. I quickly added, "Or I can meet you in Shining Tree."

"But you know that I can't work in a city environment."

"Sybil, you're fifty eight. You should be thinking of retiring."

"Oh my." She smiled.

"Semi-retire. Just work the summers. Stay with me in the winter. You could still get some seeing work done even if the conditions aren't perfect. I saw you in the hospital with Dee and the sick kids. Please stay with me for the winter, at least for a short while. Plus you'll get to visit Dee and reconnect with your missing bit. Please, stay with me."

She chuckled and smiled warmly at me.

"Ma'am we're leaving right now," said a gravelly man's voice from inside the bus.

"Perhaps," she smiled, "I'll consider it." She gave me a kiss. "Don't worry Sax, I'll be fine." She smirked and winked at me and then turned to go up the steps onto the bus. Half way up she turned, bent down and silently mouthed "I love you." Her ass looked great as she handed her ticket to the driver. The door closed and she was gone.

A week later I sent a note to the post office at Shining Tree with an enclosed pre-posted addressed envelope back to me. Basically I just asked, or rather begged Sybil again to stay with me for the winter, even for a short while. A sex-rest-stop I called it, going to and/or from wherever she was going. I'll pick-up and deliver, I wrote. She just needed to indicate her decision and send it back.

Weeks passed and I didn't get the letter back from her.

I phoned Shining Tree near the end of September, Tom answered. My letter had not been picked up. He figured a health card was waiting for her too.

"I'm sure she'll be here any day now," he said. I left my number with Tom.

I got the same answer from Tom two weeks later. And then again a week after that. Each time I left my number and asked him to call me on my cell as soon as she stepped into the store. I promised to pay the long distance charges.

It was almost November and I still hadn't heard back from her. I was seriously worried. Three months had gone by. I called the post office yet again. This time Ben answered.

"No, she hasn't picked up her letter. There's a couple of other little things here for her too."

"Has she gone south for the winter?"

"If she has then she hasn't passed through here. Or maybe we were closed when she passed through."

I left my phone number with him too.

I called the Ontario Provincial Police detachment in Gogama. "I'm worried about a woman who lives alone in the bush. Normally she's gone south for the winter by now."

I gave exact details of where her cabin could be found. They said they would send a search and rescue team by helicopter within the hour.

I got a call from them that night.

"We found her."

I sighed a relief, "Is she alright?"

"Can you make your way to the hospital in Timmins?"

"Oh my God, how is she?" I broke out in a sweat. My heart raced.

There was a pause, "We need you to identify the body."

*

The snow was flying in the air as I drove up to Timmins two days later.

Not surprisingly, the coroner said it was kidney failure.

"She just needed dialysis," he said.

Her kidney didn't fail her.

I failed her.

*

Berlioz greeted me at the grassy lake the next spring. I was travelling light in the red canoe. In the higher spring runoff water I could paddle through without having to get out.

He perched above me and watched as I sprinkled Sybil's cremated remains into the pond in front of her cabin. I toasted the deed with a sip of witch's brew from the unbroken tea cup. I watched Meyer swim through her ashes as they sunk into the deep dark water.

"I love you Sybil!" I stammered out across the still, quiet water.

Although I cried the whole time, I swear I could feel the presence of others around me.

I left everything as it was but came away with four things; the unbroken tea cup, the black bottle of witch's brew, one dried red and white mushroom and her wooden flute.