Excerpt: Phooka Tales

Taking a deep breath, Holly pushed herself up from the bed and wiped her face. She was numb. It was unbelievable. That Josh could… that he could… a fresh sob escaped her and Holly tried to push it back down. Her lab brain began taking over. What could she do? What did she need to do? She needed to calm down. She needed to think things through rationally. She just needed to give Josh a few days to come to his senses and then they could figure it out together. Yes, he had made a mistake, but she had been gone a long time, and she couldn’t say that she hadn’t thought of cheating on him before. She never would have, of course, but she had thought about it.
A drink of water, maybe some tea to calm down. That would help. Holly made herself get up and walk across the room, open the door, and start down the stairs.
Josh would realize his mistake and come back to her. Sure, a drunk night with some girl from a bar would be tempting, but he’d come back to Holly. She knew what he liked – his favorite foods, his best jokes, how to turn him on. No bar slut could compete with that.
The stairs creaked beneath her feet even as she tried to be quiet and Holly was stopped by a thought. What if Jermaine was right? What if Josh had finally compared her to another girl in bed and found her lacking? What if she wasn’t experienced enough for him now? She’d never been very experimental. Maybe… maybe that was why he didn’t want to marry her now.
Holly flipped on the kitchen light and blinked as she saw something small on the table sit up in alarm. She screamed, and the thing scurried off the table with a piece of bread in its hands.
Its hands? Surely she hadn’t seen that. Its mouth. The thing had scurried off with a piece of bread in its mouth. And pants. She could have sworn it was wearing pants.
“Holly dear, what’s all the racket about?” Mrs. Aberdeen came down the stairs, rubbing at her eyes and squinting into the light.
Holly had one hand over her heart and used the other to push her hair back from her face. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Aberdeen. I saw a mouse. It surprised me, that’s all.” She really didn’t want to explain her phone call to the old lady.
“A wee mousy? Impossible. I don’t have vermin in me house.”
“Well, you had one, although I’m sure I scarred it off with all my screaming.” Holly laughed nervously, suddenly realizing how absurd it all was. She wasn’t afraid of mice – she used to have some as pets.
“Funny thing is, I could have sworn it was wearing pants and running on his two back feet. I must really be tired.” She laughed self-consciously again at the ridiculousness of the statement.
“Oh,” Mrs. Aberdeen smiled. “That’s no mouse. That was me wee Brownie.”
“You named him Brownie?”
She shook her head, a look of understanding on the old woman’s face. “No dear. He was a Brownie. Every house has one. They are a wee little fairie that helps to keep your house tidy in exchange for food and shelter. If you treat him right, and leave out little nibbles of food for him, he will help you keep your home nice and clean.”
Holly stared dumbfounded at her. Any other night she would have thought Mrs Aberdeen was playing a joke on her, but the old lady seemed to earnestly believe in the little mouse fairy.
“A… brownie?”
“Mmm hmm.”
Holly nodded slowly. “Oh. Ok then. I’ll just get my glass of water and go to bed.” She opened the cabinet slowly, as if something might jump out at her, and got out a glass. She filled it, took a sip to calm herself down, and then gave Mrs. Aberdeen a weak smile as she walked past her.
“Holly dear, what was all the racket upstairs about just a while back. Everything is ok, I hope?”
Holly stopped at the stairs and looked passed the old lady into the kitchen. “I hope I didn’t scare your Brownie away,” she said before turning and moving quickly up to her room to lock her door and wonder what the hell was happening to her tonight.