Agatha Barnswallow and the Desert Rose Tea Cup

I am almost finished with the Springtime Centerpiece. Hopefully I will have pictures and last minute details finished this afternoon, or maybe tomorrow morning.
I just looked at the calendar and realized that this Friday is Good Friday and that means Easter is Sunday!
Wow!
This year is going by at warp speed!
So, to keep you happy and content until the "big project" is unveiled, I decided to tell a tea cup story, after reading Junie Moon's sweet tale, I remembered something that happened to me once, a long time ago, when I was barely thirteen.
I used to walk to the library down by the lake,  in the small town where I grew up and often took the shortcut through the woods.
Only during the day, though,  for I was quite brave when the sun was shining and the birds were singing gaily in those old oak trees, but never once it got dark.
On this day, I remember the birds were out and flying around gathering twigs for their spring nests and I must have stopped a dozen times to watch them.  I filled my pockets with feathers and acorns and those tiny pine cones from a hedge by the path.

I was completely caught up in a day dream about my first boyfriend, and there might have been a shadow of a tear along with a smudge or two of dirt on my face as I was caught unaware and  nearly frightened to death by this old woman shaking a broom and saying: "Hear, hear!! Mind where you're stepping, child! What's your problem, miss? I don't come to your house, now, do I? Stomp on your flowers, never have I!!"
I mumbled an apology and started to turn away and tears started fresh as I felt the blush creep up my cheeks.   

I was sure she knew my parents somehow and I was going to get in trouble again! Wiping my face with the tail of my shirt, I looked up and was alarmed to see that I was standing on the old woman's porch.
She smiled and her face bloomed into a million wrinkles and she said, "Well, you may as well come in and have a cup of tea. It's going to come a thunder clapper any second and you'll be drenched before you can get those books you're toting back down to the library. C'mon, I've just picked some herbs and flowers and made a special pot of tea that will fix you right up!"

Well, I had only had Russian tea before and though curious about what this old crone might think needed fixing within me, I was sure that a cup of tea wasn't going to get those braces off my teeth or make my legs look like Kim Novack, the Movie star I had been carelessly named after.
What a joke that had turned out to be!
As I walked into her cottage I was amazed at all the teapots- why she must have had at least a hundred!
There were pots with spots and roses and daisies and frogs and pots that looked like houses and barns and cats!
Silver, Gold, new and old!
She had every kind of tea pot ever created by man! Or woman! Or child, for that matter!

The table was already  set with a tea cup and a white pot with a bird on the lid. Steam was curling from the spout and she said "My name is  Agatha Barnswallow and I think I know just how you feel, but if you'll just drink a bit of this tea and eat maybe a cake or two I am sure you'll be right as rain in no time atall".
Just as I was pondering the word "atall" a sudden clap of thunder shook the house and the rain began pouring onto the little tin roof with a sound that made me think of giants in big boots doing a square dance up there! Maybe they were wearing clogs, like we had just studied about in history, oh, the Dutch, not Giants! Oh, this was making me feel rather silly and just a tiny bit afraid. It was getting dark outside!
Surely anyone with this many teapots and little sweet cakes with icing roses on them couldn't be all bad, I said to myself as I took a bite. I closed my eyes as the cake hit my taste buds and I  knew, that quite possibly I had just died and gone to heaven! Oh, and without ever getting my first kiss! Or go to a prom! Darn it! "Ouch!" My eyes flew open and cake fell out of my mouth as I started to say- why did ya pinch me??!!" and Agatha was laughing as she sat and sipped her tea and said "you best keep your eyes open, miss, or the fairies might drag you off and then you'd be in a fix!"

"You see, the fairies live in my garden and like to make mischief when no one is paying attention, and I would hate to see you get carried off into Fairy land without ever having a chance to grow up to your full potential and all."
This was all very surprising and disturbing for a girl of only 13.
I was sipping tea and eating cakes and hoping that the rain would end soon and I could be on my way.
"My name is Kim" was all I could manage to say between bites.
Boy, that sure was good cake!
The best I had ever had!
It had honey in it, I bet!
Then she said the most curious thing as she peered into my cup.
She said:
"Scraps of fabric shall call your name
and threads of every color will do the same.
Shine and dance, your eyes will glow,
as thimbles prance across quilts below.
Sailor, Cook and then the Geek,
who steals your heart  within a week!
Two Sons shall pass but only one will last,
as years go by, 
you'll cease to cry.
Dolls and bears will steal your heart,
but the need for shillings will make you part.
Happiest you will be,
when they call you Calamity!"

She smiled again and said I think the rain has stopped. You'd best be on your way. And before I could brush the crumbs from my chin, I was outside by the garden and the sun was bright and a mist was rising up from the wet ground and I thought I saw something flicker...maybe it was just a lightning bug.
When I turned to wave, Agatha was gone, maybe inside already, or around back.
I had forgotten all about that first cup of tea until today as I was sewing and thinking about how nice it would be to have a cup.

There’s a Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-Thon being hosted on the Gracious Hospitality blog . So be sure to go visit and read some fabulous teacup tales.