Robert's Mirror, Chapter 24, by J.M. Stevenson, www.jeannesbottle.com

There was something nagging at Jade Johnson, it was heavy to her, an iron boulder of guilt anchored to her chest, pulling her downward through every waking moment...and haunting her throughout many restless nights.

When I popped into being, I stood within a small heart shaped locket encased in some sort of mirrored glass. It was the most unusual of circumstance, since I could not view whom I was attached to until she stood before the medicine cabinet at the first light of day.

"Didn't sleep very well again, huh Jade?" The man asked shuffling past and pulling a prescription drug container from behind the mirror.

"Nope. Those dreams keep me from wanting to close my eyes at all."

"Why don't you phone her?" The man asked as he ran some tap water filling a miniature paper cup with flowers surrounding its base.

"After all this time, I should just pick up the phone and call?"

"Yes. That's generally how it's done honey."

"It's been too long, I wouldn't know what to say."

"The way I see it, you don't have an alternative here. It's either phone her or leave things stand as they are. If you don' t mind dealing with the personal torture you're putting yourself through, don't call her..... I know how this is tearing you apart though, and it's been going on far too long, in my opinion."

"I'll think about it." Jade announced as she ran a brush through her matted down black hair.

"Good. This is what I call progress then." The man said chuckling as he hurried away.

His voice carried from the distance. "I suppose you wouldn't mind picking up my dry cleaning today? I'm out of pressed shirts for work."

"Honey, just because I'm working from home, doesn't mean I have the time to run around for you."

"Come on Jade, it isn't as if you're on a time clock. Ten minutes is all I'm asking for here." The man said coming into view once again.

"Ten minutes is enough to blow my entire day."

"Just stay away from the other stores at the mini mall and you'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say honey. I have to finish writing this story and I've given myself two months to do it in."
"Ten minutes, for Pete's sake!"

"I'll pick it up just before dinner."

"Whatever!" The man spouted off before rushing down the hallway in his bathrobe.

"I don't understand why it matters when I pick up the shirts? Morning or evening...as long as it gets done, right?" Jade said with volume.

"I know you Jade, you'll get so engrossed in what you're doing you'll forget entirely." His words echoed from down the long hallway.

"I won't forget, in fact, I'll tie a string around my thumb, okay?"

"I need those shirts and the cleaner won't be open by the time I get out of work. We're knee deep preparing for trial, I do remember telling you that."

"Yes, you did. I promise, I'll go first thing this morning, okay?" Jade said in a feeble attempt to mask her frustration.

"This morning after you call her."

"Yeah, sure." Jade said as if trying to appease the man. Then in a voice a notch above a whisper, "Like I'll find the nerve to phone her."

"Just do it, promise?"

"Sure."

I sat at the kitchen table with no other options than the view of steaming coffee and the morning paper before me. Jade Johnson had wonderful hands with manicured fingers, unscathed from typical day to day chores.

The man suddenly popped into view dressed in a dark blue suit, placing a sudden kiss onto Jade's lips.

He pulled some sort of wide based coffee mug and poured himself an eye opener before heading out the door.

"Remember, dry cleaning and make that phone call."

"Has anyone ever told you, you're a relentless nag Drake?"

Drake stood at the door flashing perfectly aligned white teeth, "only you my dear."

"Have a nice one."

"You too...and make that call!"

"Get out of here." Jade said tossing the morning paper towards the door that had all ready closed.

The house was silent with the exception of an overbearing tick from an adjoining room.

"Make that call, make that call..." Jade said with an exaggerated whine to her voice.

Jade stood and sauntered to the phone, placing her hand on the receiver… which was as far as she managed before turning away.

We moved through the house to a staircase hidden behind a wooden door. A click of a switch, and a single light bulb illuminated cream colored walls that appeared dingy. At the base of the stairs, more lights were clicked on as Jade hurried to a square partition at the far corner of the basement. She pushed a few buttons and a green television type of screen began to glow.

A moment later, she was staring at a list of words before her.

"Oh what's the use?" She asked herself.

A word processing menu appeared and with the simple typing of a number, the screen dissolved to black.

The screen became cluttered with a variety of sentences as Jade began to collect her thoughts. With a click of a button, the previous file vanished and a blank screen appeared with a single green dash flashing before her. Jade began to type and her fingertips slid as if they could think for themselves.

I remember a time when we were friends…a time that I couldn't wait to pick up the phone. Just to hear your voice on the end... made my day pleasant and I wasn't so alone.

Whatever happened to our tie of friendship? Our childhood we shared that passed in the breeze. Those days were filled with lighthearted laughter, but many years have passed without.....without what? Jade paused in her typing.

Without words, without moments of consideration, without anything... you blew me off many years ago and I should accept the burial of what was, accept the fact that you no longer care, appreciate the yesterdays that were somehow golden and seek out new friendships to fill the void. I'm not saying that I hold no fault, I'm not saying that I didn't choose a different path, I'm only saying I'm sorry my friend, sorry because I did things too that need to be forgiven.

"Oh the heck with it!" Jade said clicking off the monitor.

She opened a drawer and pulled a tattered photo album. Flipping through various pages she stumbled upon one in particular. There were two smiling faces. One I recognized as Jade, the other, very similar in appearance, between the oval shape of face and a straight nose structure, I assumed was her friend. They were wearing cap and gowns, gazing into the camera. The clarity of their eyes sparkled with the hope of a bright future just ahead.

"To better days..." Jade whispered aloud.

"If only I could tell you how sorry I am." Jade said through a painful sob.

"I'm not the only person at fault though! You know how you stepped on me through the years, how you never bothered to make a first step?" "Darn it girl!"

"I keep dreaming about our childhood and running through the autumn grass. You know the patch that was in the back yard, the patch that would dry out and resemble a thick carpet?"

"The only remarkable thing about that dream is how we're laughing at something stupid. Everyone is still alive and I can see it as if it were yesterday."

"In a sense it was....wasn't it?"

Jade slammed the album and shoved it back into the drawer. Picking up the receiver, she paused holding it in her professionally manicured hand. After a moment of consideration, she replaced it onto the cradle.

"Oh this is ridiculous."

Jade hurried to her bedroom and changed into some loose fitting clothes. The outfit was gray and hung in a comfortable fashion. Jade laced striped shoes, then gazed one last time into the full-length mirror before we hurried through the house and out the door.

The surrounding landscape bounced with every step she ran. Trees, cars, people, and houses all brushed passed in one vibrating blur. I could feel the rise and fall of her chest, hear the shuffle of her shoes and sense the human salt clouding the locket from her sweat.

We seemed to find a soothing pace of movement, when a dog appeared out of no where chasing us to the end of the block.

"Fido. You'd better... head on... home now." Jade managed through stressed gasps of breath. The dog paused, wagging its tail in a lazy way then trotted off in an opposite direction.

Three streets over we entered a tiny dry cleaner on the corner of a busy highway and a residential street. A cluster of bells jingled as we entered the business.

"Hello!" A brunette said as she gazed up from the work invoices spread before her.

"I'm here to pick up my husband's shirts."

"Yes, yes... Drake Johnson, right?"
"That's correct." Jade said in a pleasant tone.

"Did you call this morning?"

"Did I call this morning?" Jade questioned in a tone of surprise.

"About the shirts, was that you that phoned and was cut off mid sentence?"

"No. It must've been someone else." Jade said as if relieved that the clerk didn't somehow know she was avoiding a telephone call to her estranged friend.

"The blue shirt has stains that we couldn't remove...some kind of grease and mustard. We tried our heaviest chemical....so powerful that it sometimes eats material... sort of like a pool of acid. It ate the material, but left the stain, see?" The clerk said through a nervous laugh.

"That's fine. Drake has two others just like that one, brand new... in packages yet. He always buys his dress shirts in sets of three."

"Big lawyers need to look professional, ya know?"

"You sound like him in the way he says everything must appear professional!"

The clerk smiled waving her hand as she moved to the cash register.

After paying for the cleaning, we walked at a leisurely pace, pausing here and there to gawk at the variety of clothing displayed in the front windows of the surrounding stores. At the far end of the cluster with the entrance accessible only through the alley, a business of some sort had taken residence. A dark black drapery masked the interior and no sign was posted anywhere indicating the type of business within. Curious, Jade slid to the door and pushed several times on the metallic bar.

"That's odd, I've never noticed this place here before. Locked." She whispered to herself.

A woman, I guessed to be in her mid-thirties appeared from behind. She was wearing a wild floral outfit, which didn't match. Her red hair contrasted the intense orange pattern of her blouse. Jade gazed at her with question as a grin transformed the stranger's face from melancholy to cheerful.

"Can I help you?" She asked as her sly grin fell back into a somber expression. Mismatch studied Jade. Her eyes actually widened as they stopped on the necklace that I was residing in.

"I was just curious...snooping actually. A new shop?"

"Sort of." The woman managed not disclosing any information as to what type of business was stationed there.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Jade admitted.

"Oh. Of course you don't. It's by private invitation only. I do readings because I'm gifted as such. I've always had this ability to see beyond what is normal. I'm curious, there's an unusual glare radiating from you my friend."

"An unusual glare?" Jade worded with disbelief.

"Yes. Why don't we step inside so that we can speak further."
"It's locked."

The woman ignored what was said and slid past Jade. With little effort she pushed on the door and it swung inward.

"You weren't invited before, now you are...welcome." She explained. "My name is Gisella, Gisella Horvath and I'm a Hungarian Gypsy."

Jade tiptoed in as if any type of noise from her feet would disrupt the natural balance of the unusually decorated room. Objects were positioned in every direction, none of which had any rhyme or reason.

A headless mannequin was mounted by the knee caps from the far wall. A long chain was nailed to the ceiling looping in several tear drop shapes. Black light bulbs transformed the unordinary room into a feel of another dimension. The decorating reminded me of an abstract chamber where anything was possible and nothing was probable. There was a single poster of twisting hands raised in a direction towards the sky. At first glance they appeared as hands, but upon further scrutiny they were actually the ancient spindles of tree limbs.

A clock's pendulum was mounted from a nail without the rest of the clock. An antique phone with the crank missing was situated on a high shelf, but twisted upside down. A long stranded wig was positioned on an adjoining wall, attached by the blade of an exotic tribal boomerang. Keys of various shapes and ages were sewn along a small felt covered table. Two mismatched chairs were positioned on opposite ends. At the center of the table was the mannequin head, its eye sockets barren, painted so they appeared as hollow cavities.

Gisella sauntered to the table then crashed to the seat without any type of grace. In the black light, the woman's skin no longer appeared youthful; shadows distorted every minuscule blemish rendering her haggard.

"Please, sit." The gypsy commanded, swinging her hand, gesturing towards the chair.

"I have these shirts and I need to hang them up." Jade mumbled as if put off by the oddities surrounding her.

"So?" The woman said pointing at the loops of the chains from above.

I had the sense that Jade nodded as she stretched her height, taking a moment to attach each individual wire hanger above.

"Now please, take a chair." Gisella whispered as if she had suddenly become distracted by something of significance.

The palm reader gazed at Jade with an intense stare. It was as if she were studying every dark strand of hair, every single pore of her ebony skin. Her eyes stopped cold as she studied the heart shaped locket more closely. She extended her index finger and brushed it about the surface in a gentle sweep.

"I see you've carried with you an angel of sorts."

"An angel?" Jade questioned, as her fingertips clutched onto the shape hanging above her human heart.

"My mother gave me this when I was a young girl. She said that if I ever feel alone, to look no further than the heart, that what my eyes view, hers shall as well...she said that we were one and the same, connected....blood of generations....forever in touch."

"A wise woman your mother."

"She died the following winter of colon cancer; it snatched her away during the prime of her life. She harbored a lot of bitterness until the end and she became resolved to dieing. Even now when I hear my aunts speak of Wendy, there is much sadness for the pain she suffered...even still."

The fortuneteller nodded. "There's more to your necklace than what it appears. IN due time you will realize and you'll be granted whatever your heart desires. Remember to choose wisely since this privilege shall never be offered again."

The room fell silent for a short time as Gisella closed her eyes. There was something within her that shifted and I held a sense that she was not who she appeared to be. It was almost as if an old soul lay trapped within her youthful encasement.

"Before we proceed, I need to know exactly what you are offering here."

"Offering?" Jade responded.

"Take a look about my friend...everyone that has been invited, has left a little part of them behind. The adjoining store room is also full of such clutter....every person holds clutter within themselves. What is the clutter you care to unload?"

Jade sighed as she released a nervous chuckle. "I have no clutter. My husband Drake simply forbids our home to become overwrought with unnecessary things."

"Would you care to know what I see?" The woman asked speaking in a mixture of authority and amusement.

"Sure." Jade mumbled with uncertainty.

"A telephone... not like the old fashioned one on the wall." The woman began to grin sheepishly as if gazing into the very core of Jade herself.

"Yes." Jade whispered overtaken by the gypsy's knowledge.

"Tell me why you don't wish to make a simple phone call?"

"It's complicated, very complicated."

"There's a man centered between two women, two best friends...." Gisella said nodding.

"She hates me and with good reason."

"You stole something that wasn't yours...but enough time has passed for forgiveness now, right?"

"Ten years actually." Jade admitted.

"The dreams are becoming more frequent, am I correct?"

"Yes...but.."

"There is clutter in your life my friend, tremendous clutter. Would you care to donate one of those shirts?"

"You can take the blue one. Drake will no longer need that particular shirt."

"I think I'd prefer the white." The fortuneteller said in a non-negotiable tone.

"Okay." Jade whispered as the gypsy stood, removing the designer shirt from the outer plastic. It was Drake's lucky shirt, the one he needed to wear for closing arguments when a lot of money was on the line in the courtroom. The shirt was no longer his, but was now within the clutches of the clairvoyant.

The gypsy plucked the shirt from the hanger, pulled a long handled dagger then cut through the collar at the center finishing it off by a liberating tear through the back material.

"You're no longer in love with this man."

Jade remained silent, as if shocked by the accuracy of the statement.

"I was initially, but things have sort of fallen away." Jade managed and I could sense this was the first time she had the courage to admit what was within her heart.

"There was a monumental rule that you broke. You destroyed a friendship over a man...men enter our lives and sometimes they are permanent, but friendships such as sisterhood are forever."

Jade broke out into a hysterical release.

"There were two of you...this isn't just your friend we're talking about here, is it?"

"No." Jade whimpered. "She's my twin sister."

"Now, as you can see you've both shared a section of this man...this shirt represents one man torn into opposing directions. There's no way to re-stitch what's been severed, there will always be a rift in the material. The path you are seeking is a path you must search for alone. It's time to take control of your life and follow your heart. Forgiveness will come when and only when, you forgive yourself."

"Okay." Jade said rising from her seat. Without it being said, Jade sensed the meeting was completed.

"You're lucky I'm a person of good intent. A designer shirt is a small price, I would've much rather taken the necklace, the chamber carrying the magical genie."

"Genie?" Jade questioned as if the statement were absurd.

"You'll understand everything before too long. Remember to wish with your eyes open...it's far better than grabbing for objects blind in the dark."

"Thank you." Jade managed as she plucked the remaining shirts and darted to the door.

There was a release of a laugher from the gypsy that caused Jade to tense. I know even as we strolled down the highway, that unbridled cackle was difficult to digest. I wondered how the woman acquired such vision and was curious as to which team was responsible for her incredible gift.

_____

The pressed shirts lay in a heap at the center of the kitchen table. Jade sat pensive as she gazed at the shirts. It was almost as if she were in shock.

"I never considered leaving you Drake...not in a million years...and now it seems like the only logical choice."

Just then the telephone began to ring and Jade tensed.

Slowly, cautiously she stood from the table and shuffled to the phone.

"Hello?" She answered in a type of question.

"Yeah. I picked up your shirts. I have some bad news about your white designer shirt. It was destroyed... It's just a shirt Drake for Pete's Sake...clothes don't bring you luck in the courtroom....No I don't believe it would do you any good to complain...the cleaner is the best in the area....okay...sorry about everything...bye."

Jade replaced the receiver and without hesitation, pulled it back to her ear and began punching numbers.

A moment later, she hurried to the refrigerator lifting a pad of paper and a pen releasing the magnetic hold.

"The number for a Jasmine Wilson, Chicago, Illinois."

Scribbling, she jotted down a line of numbers. "Thanks." She said depressing the disconnect button.

There was a sense of determination as she punched the numbers on the telephone. I could feel the rise and fall of her chest. Her heart was racing since she was in such a state of worry.

"Jas.. It's me, Jade." She said her whisper falling away.

Tears were falling now onto her shirt as she began to gasp for air.

"I know what you said, but it's been ten years sis. Please just hear me out."

There was another pause in conversation.

"If you'd just sit down with me and listen to what I have to say. I miss you and I'm sorry for everything... the whole mess just happened."

"Sis?" She said gazing at the receiver.

Slamming it down, Jade slithered to the floor and began to sob. "She'll never forgive me...not in a million years. If only I could go back and do it all over again...things would be different."

"Is that what you truly wish for?" I asked.

Jade stood and gazed about the kitchen with curiosity. I took notice of her surprised expression in the reflection of the chrome toaster oven.

"...What's happening to me?" She asked in distress, turning about with confusion.

"I'm the wish-man Robert...and like the fortune teller predicted I'm here to grant you a single wish, a once in a lifetime opportunity...If you want a clean slate and to fix things in the past, I'm the one to do it."
"Yes, yes!" Jade managed through a gasp.

Robert detached himself from the necklace, rising in a fashion similar to an unwinding thread. He stood in full form before Jade and placing her hand into his, they set off to rectify the former happenings of her tortured conscience together.