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1
Getting in the Spirit
Josie Woodrow,Globe Arizona’s top real estate agent, stopped a few feet inside the door to my shop and exclaimed, “Selena, this is amazing! You should charge admission!”
I smiled, glad that my Halloween decorations had met with my friend’s approval. Although I’d started putting them up almost two weeks earlier, it wasn’t until this morning that I could say the store was really “done,” since a few key items I’d ordered online hadn’t come in until the day before. And since Josie had been in Phoenix for most of the past week to attend some sort of real estate agents’ conference, she hadn’t been able to see very much of the transformation taking place.
“You don’t think it’s too over the top?” I asked, although I already had an idea what her answer would probably be. To Josie, there really wasn’t any such thing as “over the top.”
“Not at all,” she replied at once, light blue eyes twinkling. She’d had her hair freshly dyed before she headed to Phoenix for her conference, and her short-cropped red locks blazed as bright as a new-minted penny in the afternoon sun that poured in through the shop’s front windows. Globe had finally begun to cool down, but — just like in my hometown of Los Angeles — October in this part of the world tended to be warm and sunny, and wasn’t terribly conducive to the whole dark and spooky Halloween vibe. Not that you’d know from Josie’s outfit; she was wearing a bright orange blazer with a glittering pumpkin pin on one lapel, black slacks, and black ankle boots. “I think it’s absolutely perfect. You did all this yourself?”
“Well, Hazel came in and helped me on Sunday,” I said, referring to my artist friend Hazel Marr, the same person who’d painted the gorgeous constellations on the ceiling of the store.
It was partly the ceiling that had inspired me to do the entire interior of Once in a Blue Moon as a haunted graveyard, since the original “haunted mansion” theme — all red and black — that I’d first thought of would have clashed with the décor. Now, though, the stars worked perfectly with the faux headstones I had set in strategic spots all around the shop. Also, the fake bare trees I’d found at a prop shop in L.A., their bony branches hung with spiderwebs and drooping Spanish moss, made the whole place look as if it had been transplanted from a cemetery somewhere in New Orleans. Moody purple fairy lights had been twined around the tree branches, and glowed from within the moss. There was even a glass coffin off to one side with a large doll sheltered within, her hands folded on the breast of her lacy white dress.
“The two of you did a wonderful job,” Josie declared. Her gaze strayed to the glass coffin with its unmoving occupant inside, and she blinked, obviously a little startled by that particular prop. “Although I’m not sure I’d want to be in here by myself after dark.”
I couldn’t help chuckling. “I suppose it is a little creepy,” I admitted. “But I know there’s nothing to be afraid of here.”
Which was nothing more than the truth. I made sure to smudge my store every week or so, just to erase any negative energy that might have been brought in by a grumpy tourist or a local who wasn’t quite sure whether Globe needed a pagan shop right smack in the middle of its quaint downtown. Yes, I might have lived here for more than seven months, but I had a feeling seven years still might not be enough time for some of my fellow residents to truly accept me.
Besides, when I’d first opened the shop, I’d laid down spells of protection all around the property, both in the store and in my apartment upstairs. There was absolutely nothing here that could do me — or anyone else — any harm.
Josie nodded. “I suppose you’re the one to know about all that. And I’m sure all these decorations must help you to get in the Halloween mood.” Another glance around at the graveyard décor, and then she was all business. “Have you thought any more about doing readings at my party? It would be so much fun for everyone.”
Josie hosted a big party every year on the Saturday before Halloween. How that particular institution had come to be, I wasn’t quite sure, because Josie had never seemed much like the Halloween type to me.
But now the party was a fixture on the Globe social scene — such as it was — and every year she hired her contractor nephew Brett to come in and put up all the elaborate decorations, collected over more than a decade of hosting the shindig. My friend Hazel had assured me that the party was not to be missed — not that Josie would ever allow me to skip out on such an event.
This year, though, she’d gotten it into her head that I should do Tarot readings as part of the festivities. It wasn’t that I had anything against doing readings for people — I’d done the very same thing every day for my clients back in Los Angeles — but I took such things seriously and didn’t think Tarot card readings should be employed as party tricks.
However, saying no to Josie Woodrow was not something I was very good at.
“I can do a few,” I said cautiously. “Maybe put the names of everyone who’s interested into a hat, and then we can draw three or four? It would take way too long to try to do even a short three-card spread for everyone at the party.”
She didn’t exactly relax, but I could tell from the way she beamed at me immediately that she might have been just the teensiest bit worried I’d flat out refuse and was therefore all too happy to accept a compromise. “Oh, that would be fine,” she said at once. “I certainly don’t expect you to be stuck at a table doing Tarot readings all night. But just a little bit will definitely add to the fun.” Her expression turned sly, and she shot me a sideways glance. “Are you going to tell me what you and Calvin are dressing up as?”
“No,” I said calmly, although I had a feeling my eyes were dancing. “It’s a surprise.”
Josie released an exaggerated sigh, clearly disappointed she hadn’t been able to pry that particular secret out of me. “Well, all right,” she responded. “I suppose I’ll find out soon enough.”
“Less than a week,” I assured her. Thank the Goddess, the costumes had been delivered this very morning, so that was one less thing to worry about.
“Oh, I know,” Josie said. “Which reminds me — I need to stop in and talk to Kris and make sure he has the cake all sorted out. How I’m going to get everything done in the next five days, I have no idea.”
“I’m sure it’s all going to be fine,” I replied. Again, nothing more than the truth. A detail didn’t exist that could escape Josie’s eagle eyes. Besides, she’d been hosting these parties for years. Managing all the minutiae had to be second nature by this point.
“I suppose,” she said. “But I do need to go. Seven-thirty on Saturday.”
“Seven-thirty,” I repeated.
She nodded, then sailed out the door and headed down the street toward Cloud Coffee. The coffee shop made some of the best sandwiches I’d ever tasted, but they also had amazing pastries. I had no doubt that Kris, who did most of the baking, would put together an absolutely scrumptious — and fabulous-looking — cake for Josie’s Halloween party.
Now all I had to do was hope my boyfriend Calvin wouldn’t get called out on some sort of emergency on Saturday evening. Lately, things had been pretty quiet around Globe and out on the San Ramon Apache reservation, which was his actual jurisdiction, but as the chief of the tribal police, Calvin Standingbear had to be on scene if anything major occurred.
I supposed I should just be glad that it wouldn’t be a full moon anywhere near Halloween. In fact, today was the new moon, accompanied by a solar eclipse in Scorpio, a day of deep, passionate energy.
Good thing Calvin was coming over for dinner tonight.
