A Cookie for Odalise

“Your majesty.” Jillian smiled wide and spilled a bounty of fresh berries, seeds, and mealworms into a glazed, handmade clay dish. “I brought an offering. Are you impressed?” 

The crow tilted its head to the side, adjusted its gaze, and stared at her, unblinking. 

“No?” She raised both eyebrows. Her green eyes shimmered with playfulness. “How about I sweeten the deal?” Jillian dug deep into her pants pocket and pulled out a shiny golden locket. “I polished it for the occasion.”

Gently, she set it on the edge of the dish so as to not disrupt the rest of her offering. Its chain cascaded over the side and clinked against the chipped metal railing.

“You may recall, this was my mother’s,” she began. “And with it, I’d like to ask... I know, I know, it seems so silly, Odalise, but this really means a lot to Cadence.”

Cadence, the six-year-old wearing Jillian’s pristine wedding dress, danced in the background. The lacy, bright-white garment was accompanied by beat-up, old running shoes. In her left hand, the dog’s water dish held bright rainbow-colored candies. 

Jillian suppressed her laughter as she took in the sight of the child awkwardly dancing.

“I blame you for this,” Jillian commented to the crow before she turned back. 

The blackbird bobbed its head.

“So articulate today,” she teased. “I-I’m distracting myself. Okay, formalities.” 

The young woman pulled strands of auburn hair from her face, straightened her back, pulled her shoulders taught, and took a calming breath. 

“To you, Odalise, Queen of Dreams, Shapeshifter, Goddess of the Weather and skies, I offer my greatest physical possession: my mother’s locket.” 

The crow left the railing with a forceful, sudden flap of its wings. As it floated through the air before Jillian, it screeched. 

“Oh, now you speak.” Jillian didn’t even flinch at the performance.

“What’s that noise, Mommy?” Cadence called from the living room. 

“Oh, nothing sweety,” Jillian called back over her shoulder. “I just startled the crow, is all.”

“The crow!” Cadence exclaimed and ran forward, her mother’s dress trailing behind her. Jillian hurried from her wicker chair to pick up the tail before it got caught on the door jam.  

The crow settled on the railing and watched curiously as the child rushed out to greet it.

“Oh, Miss Crow, today in school, I caught a soccer ball before it could get into the goal. This kid, Sten, he kicked it so hard! I didn’t think I’d be able to, but I did. I did it! I stopped it with my tummy like this.” Cadence turned sideways while standing on one leg and put her hands out to reenact blocking the ball. “You see that?”

The crow tilted its head in the same direction she bent.

“Just like that, I stopped it.” She demonstrated again in case the crow missed it.

The crow repeated and kicked out a leg. 

“I knew she understood me,” Cadence beamed. 

At the other end of the small balcony, a cheap plastic tray nearly hung off the railing. It was filled with a variety of bird seed, and chickadees fluttered about on it. 

“She sees,” Jillian reassured her daughter. “I was just telling her you have the making of a goalie.”

Cadence excitedly stepped wide and flexed her tiny arm muscles. “Yeah, I do!” 

The child turned around and ran back inside to inform the dog. 

“Don’t step on my... wedding dress.” Jillian’s words were too late for the energetic youngster. She hung her head in defeat while the little girl ran upstairs to create mayhem. “Guess that’s two sacrifices today,” Jillian muttered as she turned back to the crow. “Goddess of Weather,” she said, picking up where she left off. “I give to you my mother’s locket. It is a possession dear to my heart, and I ask of you to clear away the incoming hurricane this weekend.”

The crow’s head feathers puffed out in all directions. 

“Don’t get fluffy with me,” Jillian screeched, putting the crow in its place. “Cadence wants to go to Bar Harbor to see the tide pools.” 

The crow shook its head quickly and allowed the feathers to settle. 

Jillian continued, “It’s a mile-and-a-half hike along the shoreline. At low tide, she can see crabs, and snails, and sponges. It will just... it will mean so much to her.”

The crow didn’t respond. 

“We only get these moments for so long with her,” Jillian pleaded. 

The crow looked down at the berries, seeds, and mealworms. Then, it glanced at the trinket. Its head snapped from item to item as if weighing its options. Finally, it snatched the golden medallion with its strong beak, and the creature fluttered off into the sky.

Jillian stood with excitement and clapped her hands. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she cried out. The other birds at the end of the balcony fluttered and bickered without any acknowledgment of her presence.  

Jillian went about her after-work routine. This Thursday, she prepared spaghetti and salad for her and her daughter. They sat around the small two-seater table before the closed door in front of the balcony. 

Cadence told her mom about the games she played at recess, the craft she did in art class, and the book her teacher read to them. 

After bath-time, Jillian tucked her cherub-cheeked, sweet, black-haired angel into bed. The window was propped open to let fresh air come through. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Cadence excitedly sat up in bed.

“It’s Odalise!” She bounced. Any weather, from snow to torrential downpours, Cadence blamed the crow. 

“Maybe?” Jillian took a seat beside her child on the bed to face her. “If you want Odalise to clear up the skies for Saturday, you know what you have to do?”

Cadence closed her eyes tight and dropped her clenched fists to the bed. “Imagine clear skies and say, ‘Please, Odalise, please! Gimme sunshine.’”

“That’s right!” Jillian guided the little girl back down to bed. “And if we get scared because of the lightning or thunder, what do we do?”

“Please, Odalise, make it go away.” Cadence pulled the blankets over her head, and Artemis, the old, fat pug, hopped onto the bed. It stumbled into Cadence’s side. The child squealed and pulled the dog into her chest for nighttime cuddles.

“But what do you do first? To make sure he hears you?”

Cadence whistled a familiar tune. 

“That’s right, my little chicky.” Jillian glanced out the window, but nothing fluttered in the darkening sky. “And if it doesn’t work the first time?”

“Try three more times, and then we can run to mommy.” She lifted Artemis’ paw.

“Well done! A goalie and a smarty pants.” Jillian tucked her little one under the covers.

“Tell me about the Dream Queen?” Cadence asked with her fingers interlaced and those brown eyes pleading like a puppy dog’s.  

“Again?” Jillian teased. 

“It’s my favorite.” Cadence pulled the fat pug closer to her face. The little girl managed to tuck Artemis between her small body and the wall. The dog snorted and lay there, resigned to its fate.

“Alright, alright.” Jillian lay on her side along the narrow bed and draped her arm around the back of her daughter’s pillow. Cadence lay her head down and listened intently.

“Once upon a time,” Cadence squeaked. “There was a queen. She ruled over the land, the skies, and the sea. Odalise was powerful enough to call forth the sea and shake the Earth, but soft and gentle enough to ease little girls out of scary nightmares.”

Artemis licked Cadence on the cheek. 

“The queen was lonely, though. She spent her nights wandering from dreamer to dreamer and her days exploring the outside world. One day, while wandering through a dream, she heard a song that made chills run up her arms and pull at her heart. Desperate to find the source, she hurried through a forest of neon green, pink, and blue trees. Along the edge of a stream was a woman, meandering her way up the current, singing a beautiful song.”

Together, Cadence and her mother whistled the tune Jillian demonstrated earlier that evening to call to Odalise. 

“When she was released from the damsel’s spell, she gathered the courage to ask. ‘Excuse me, miss. Are you lost?’

“‘No, I’m right where I am meant to be.’ Then, she joyfully continued her way up the stream.”

Cadence walked her fingers across her blanket-covered stomach. Her mother joined her, so their hands looked like two beings facing one another.

“Don’t you dream of grander things? Like butterflies the size of houses or powers to rival gods?” Jillian asked with a slightly higher pitch to her tone.

“I guess all I dream of is you.” Cadence mocked her mother’s normal voice. Together, they mocked kissing noises as their knuckles bumped together.

“Do you remember what happened next?” 

Cadence shook her head from side to side with a dishonest grin.

“In exchange for her hand in marriage, the Goddess of Dreams blessed her with the gift of peaceful sleep. She also promised that every night she would visit her love.”

Cadence smiled widely, “And together, they decided to have a child.”

“Yes, they did, and do you know who that child is?” 

Cadence pointed to herself.

Jillian poked her button nose. “Yes, you.”

Through the window, past the glare of the night light, the trees swayed in the harsh winds. 

“And that, my dear, is the story of the Queen of Dreams.” Jillian tried to put a smile on her lips, but the absence of the crow on the windowsill took it away. Bedtime was the most important part of the day for Odalise, but tonight, the beginning of the hurricane, kept her from her family.

“No, you didn’t finish it! They are supposed to live happily ever after,” Cadence protested.

“I beg your pardon,” Jillian feigned her please. “I am so sorry. Of course.” After clearing her throat, she added. “And they lived happily ever after.”

Cadence hugged their old pug tightly with a contented smile on her lips.

“Good night.” Jillian kissed her on the forehead. Before she could pull away, the little one pulled the pug’s face into the kissing range. Jillian rolled her eyes and kissed the fuzzy top of the mindless dog’s head. “Good night to you too, Artemis.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Cadence provided a deep voice for the pug.

Jillian walked from the room, turned off the light, and left the door partially ajar. After a glass of wine, following the hurricane forecast on the television, and setting the coffee pot to auto-brew at 5:30 am, she went to bed. A queen-sized bed awaited her with plenty of leg space and more pillows than any human being could ever possibly need.

Diligently, she set her alarm clock on her cellphone, plugged it in, and laid back down with the covers pulled up to her shoulders. The stucco ceiling above looked back at her with its bright peaks and shadow-filled troughs. With a familiar whistle, the promise Odalise made to her would be fulfilled. “And with you, I shall be.”

The moment Jillian’s eyes closed, the world around her melted away. No longer was a bed supporting her weight. She floated weightlessly on a current. When she opened her eyes, she looked up to a beautiful, intense sky filled with shining stars, a moon so large it took up an entire quadrant, and neon blue trees accompanying the stream’s bank. A gentle, haunting echo of her song rippled through the woods. 

On the east side of the river, a beautiful woman with endless black hair and stormy blue eyes stepped out of the trees. Her skin was beautifully pale, with deep red lips. Odalise’s beauty was unmet by anything on Earth. She wore an elegant dress whose colors changed with each breeze.

“And with you, I shall be,” Jillian repeated. 

Odalise moved quickly, leaving a blur of her jet-black hair behind her. A force met Jillian’s lips, and a loving, warm embrace overcame her. The smell of something sweet like nectar but as delicious as ripe fruit filled her nostrils as she took in the presence of her one true love.

“Hi,” Jillian finally muttered when she caught her breath. Her mind still swam from Odalise’s intoxicating presence. 

“Snails and sea sponges?” Odalise’s whimsical voice teased her. “You give your mother’s golden locket for such common, tiny creatures? I could have her dream of glorious creatures never known to your world, and you go with snails.”

“Have you ever seen how her eyes light up when she sees a fish on the television?” Jillian asked. 

“So get her a goldfish.” Odalise laughed and shook her head gently from side to side as she took in the view of her wife. “Whatever shall I do with you?”

Jillian smirked in a way only Odalise knew. 

Throughout the night, while the hurricane roared outside, they reunited as one beneath the cosmos of the dreamscape. When they were satisfied, they wandered along the steam and spoke of Cadence, Odalise’s annoyances amongst The Court, and Jillian’s irritations in the mortal realm. In the early morning hours, they danced amongst the flowers and touched starlight. Before the alarm could tear them apart, Odalise whispered a loving farewell to her. 

Friday morning was filled with intense winds, sideways rains, and treacherous travels. That evening, as the winds died down, Jillian and Cadence stayed inside, away from the troubles of the outside world, watched a documentary on tide pools, planned their trip, and played whatever silly games that came to Cadence’s mind. By nighttime, the trees barely moved.

That Saturday morning, the sky was clear, birds sang, and it felt like summer once again. After a long drive through the winding countryside, Jillian and Cadence found their way to the Wonderland Trail. Maine’s coastal, coniferous forest teamed with life. Ferns, low shrubbery, and grass made the rocky path feel claustrophobic. Birds chirped with delight from the trees around them, and squirrels skittered in the brush. 

When they emerged from the mile and a half of rocky hiking paths, the greenery gave way to a rugged coastline made of rough, jagged layers of rocks covered in bright white, chalky-looking barnacles. The cool winds of the coast danced through their hair.

Below the tea-colored surface, dark brown, striped shells awaited them. Soggy seaweed spread across the rocks and left a horrible smell behind them. Small rocks stacked upon one another decorated the flatter portions of the coastline protected from the forces of the tide. Jillian watched with careful eyes as Cadence and Artimus ran from plateau to plateau. 

“Mommy! Come quick! I found a crab,” she excitedly announced. 

“I’ll be right there,” Jillian called as she cautiously stepped along the sharp rocks. When she hopped down to the flat plateau, she heard the caw of a crow. 

“I knew you could fend off a hurricane,” Jillian muttered. 

Cadence gasped and pointed into the sky. “It’s the crow. Mommy, look.” 

“I know, baby. I heard her. Say hi.” 

Cadence excitedly waved to the crow who circled above. “Do crows eat crabs?”

“I don’t think so.” Jillian laughed and walked over. “Where is it?”

“Right th—oh no.” Cadence began her search to relocate the quick crustacean.

After a day filled with looking at crabs, starfish, and every cool rock, Jillian settled on a dinner of frozen pizza, broccoli, and carrots back at their small city apartment. Of course, Cadence’s broccoli went untouched. 

While Jillian caught up on messages on her phone, Cadence began her bedtime routine. Jillian heard her hum as she brushed her hair and narrated stories as she brushed the dog. Then, she heard the water running as she brushed her teeth. She also heard a noise she wasn’t supposed to hear—the sound of the lid lifting from the cookie jar. Jillian raised her eyebrow and looked over her shoulder to see Cadence run from the kitchen with a cookie in hand to the balcony door. 

“It’s bedtime. What do you think you’re doing?” 

“One second,” Cadence requested as she yanked the balcony door open and stepped outside. 

“Don’t ‘one second’ me,” Jillian grumbled as she pulled herself from the couch and walked over to the balcony, ready with her stern voice. Cadence had already returned from the balcony and was shutting the door when Jillian began. “And what were you doing out there at night?”

“I put out a cookie for Odalise,” Cadence explained. 

Jillian’s stern expression cracked. “Oh, did you now? Why did you do that?”

“To say thanks for coming to the beach today and getting rid of that big storm. I didn’t like all that thunder,” she timidly admitted.

While a store-bought cookie wasn’t what Jillian would put out to thank a god, she took the gesture for what it was. “That was very sweet of you. I am sure Odalise will appreciate it.”

“I gave her the rainbow ones, not the raisin ones, ’cause the rainbow ones are the best.” Cadence gathered up Artemis and headed to bed while confirming the appropriateness of her cookie selection with the brainless pug. 

“Get cozy. I’ll be there in a minute,” Jillian called out as she went around the house, ensuring that the burners were off, the front door was locked, and that Cadence shut the balcony door all the way.  Upon second glance, the light glow of the streetlamps illuminated the spot where Cadence placed the cookie. The crow, with a happy call, picked up the cookie and flew off into the night sky.