Chapter 41 - On a Mission

When Delia had finally finished reading the Ambrosia recipe book, she realized this wasn’t going to be as easy as baking a cake or even conjuring up some of her potions. The recipe required ingredients for this ‘meal’ that she had never heard of nor had any idea where to find. She need some sort of ‘death fish’ that she assumed was a real live fish and a plant called a ‘life fruit’. She figured it made some sort of weird sense.  She was, in a way, bringing the ‘dead’ back to ‘life’.  

Now that people weren’t looking at Delia like she was a loon, it was a bit easier to go about doing things. Delia's first stop in search of her items was the Consignment store. They sometimes had plants and even fish. She asked the clerk about both the fish and the plant. Taking little Alex with her was still a bit of a challenge. She tried to cover him up as much as she could so no one would ask questions.

The clerk told her she absolutely never had any of those things. I would be run out of business if I carried those evil items she said. Delia asked her if she had any idea where she might find them. The clerk said no, but she had a ‘time machine’ and it has been reported that some people brought back life fruit from traveling with it. Frustrated, Delia went on and handed over almost all of the money she had left to buy the thing. She had come to believe anything was possible.  

Delia had the time machine delivered to her little house in the swamps.  She hid it behind the house. Okay, she thought, let's do this. If I can get a life plant we will be one step closer to getting Alex to school. She pushed in a date on the front keypad, the door opened and stepped inside. She must be insane to think this would work but things did begin to happen. Delia definitely got the feeling that she actually time traveled. But alas, she came back empty handed. No life fruit to be seen or heard of. 

Francisco must sense when she is completely distraught as he always shows up when she is sad or unhappy. She was a bit perturbed because the last time he showed himself she told him to stay away. She figured he was going to do what he wanted anyway and she was right. There was no way she could reason with a ghost. 

Then when she saw him pick up little Alex and snuggle him, her heart melted. He just wanted to see his son. How could she deny him that? He didn't prolong his time with Alex as if he knew his energy would soon fade. Alex totally didn't seem to mind being hugged by a ghost. Why should he she thought? Francisco gently kissed Alex and put him down. 

After Francisco put Alex down, Delia decided to take advantage of his appearance. She never knew how long he might stay and he seemed to have done what he came to do. She quickly began to quiz him about the “Ambrosia”.   She needed to find the elusive fish and fruit. He stayed around long enough to make her even more confused.

He told her she could find seeds for the life fruit in the cemetery. They were very rare and special seeds that would be difficult to find but he knew only Delia would be able to find them. Now, why would he say that she thought?  He went on to tell her the seeds would allow her to grow the fruit. But they grew very slowly, and since it was fall, she could grow them in pots in the basement but it make take two to three years for them to mature enough to produce fruit. He also said there are several special seeds to be found in the graveyard and she may have to try many; but the others would be valuable too.

He vanished before she could ask about the death fish. She was so disappointed. She had hoped to have Alex ‘cured’ by the time he was ready to go to school, but alas, it may take longer. When she began to ask him about the fish he decided it was time to go back to wherever it was he stayed when he wasn’t hanging out with her. So she didn’t learn where to find this death fish. This was crazy she thought. If I told anyone I was having conversations with my dead husband, he fathered two children post mortem and I was going on 140, I would be committed.




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