~ Chapter 2 ~

Lynn couldn't believe it. She was sitting at her seat at the bar counter and was twisting a napkin in her hand. She thought that whole news reporter thing was over. Yes she was proud to have written a novel and yes she was proud that it had been published but talk about bad timing on behalf of the local news. Lynn couldn't take her eyes off of her hands. What would these people do to her? She had heard stories of how people have threatened to seriously hurt people who call themselves witches.

"Everything okay hun?" Ma leaned across the bar, sounding very much like a concerned mother. "Is there something funny tasting in the burger I fried for you? I can get Randy to make somethin' else you fancy."

"Oh, no thank you. The burger is delicious." Lynn smiled back at her briefly, not lifting her eyes from her hands.

"Well congratulations on the book hun. I hope you can sign a copy for me sometime and maybe put your picture on the wall. Its not often we get here a celebrity."

Lynn looked up to her slightly puzzled.

"Oh hun. Do you'd think I'd hate you because you claim to be a witch and have magic powers? Gracious. I couldn't hate you. You seem mighty fine to me and you're the first new customer we've had in ages." Ma swung her hand around to the others in the room, "Not to mean I don't value my loyal customers of course. I may be a God fearing woman, and rightly so, but I think it's silly thinking that He is just one guy. Our Lord loves all of His children, regardless of how we see Him."

"That's pretty…progressive of you Ma," Lynn loosened up, releasing her death grip on the napkin.

"I try to be on top of what the kids are into these days. Now I really must get back into the kitchen, some one has to be back there," she glared quickly back to Randy, "Don't forget to sign one of those there books of yours before you head off."

Lynn smiled to Ma as she made her way through the swing doors leading to the kitchen. And noticed that everyone else had resumed about their business. Even the couple in the back corner.

Randy took this opportunity to swoop in on Lynn. With a cloth in one hand, to make it look like he was actually doing something and a smirk on his face, he leaned on the bar nearly face to face with Lynn. "Well I think you have put a spell on me Miss Murphy."

"And what exactly makes you think that?" Lynn was less than amused. She had heard this from pretty much all the guys that started hitting on her once they found out she was a witch. It had even gotten worse thanks to her book being published. To Lynn that line basically meant that the guy in question was only after one thing and she was in no mood at the moment.

"Well," Randy was obviously stumped. He hadn't thought it through when finally; " I can't take my eyes off of you."

Lynn laughed hard at that. She couldn't believe that that was the best he could come up with. "Well that's not hard to believe seeing as there is a young woman presently busy with her boyfriend and the only other ladies here are old enough to be your grandmothers. So as you can imagine, I'm sure you're right."

Randy's face was in shock. He obviously hadn't been spoken to like that, or at least not like that often. Lynn laughed again and pulled out a crumpled twenty that was floating around in her bag and put it on the table. "That should cover the tab and give the rest to Ma." With that Lynn swung her bag over her shoulder and walked out the front door, leaving the older men sitting at the counter to chuckle at Randy.

Lynn walked out the front door with a smirk on her face and greeted the cooling air of the evening. She couldn't believe that she was in there for as long as she had. She had completely forgot about her Ranger until she was standing there. Looking at the spot that her beloved truck was in, was nothing. No Ranger. No vehicle of any sort. She couldn't believe it. Pepper was some sort of con artist. She'd have her husband "watch" over a customer's car while Ma would sweet talk them.

Lynn started to get angry when she heard a clanking of metal against metal in little building that was attached to the Lounge. It was unbelievable! They would take the cars and get all the scrap they could before the car's owner could say a thing about it.

Lynn rushed over to the side building, ready to fight for her truck. She had inherited the truck from her father when he passed away about 10 years prior. It had still smelt of the cigars that he smoked and it reminded her of the times he would take her to the beach, the woods or secretly to Nan's house. Her mother had never approved of Lynn being a witch. Her Mother was raised a hard core Catholic and anything that wasn't of God was against Him in her books. Because of her Mother's strict ways her parents had divorced when she was quite young. Her Mother had gotten custody of Lynn and they had worked it out that Lynn would be with her Father every other weekend as long as he took her to church on Sunday.

Which he did, in a way. He did believe in the Christian God, but also believed that one doesn't have to be in a church to worship Him. And because of that he would take Lynn to the beach or woods or where ever really, telling all the while to Lynn that it would be their secret churches.

Once Lynn had gotten a bit older she asked her Father why her Grandmother, nicknamed Nan, seemed to never go to church. Her Father replied that her Grandmother didn't believe in what her Mother believed. Surprised by this, Lynn started asking her Father questions about what Nan did believe in. Lynn was raised Catholic so it was hard for her to imagine that there was another thing to believe besides being a devil-worshipper. Her Father explained that it wasn't something that he could explain to her, seeing as he didn't fully believe in it himself but he promised that the next weekend that they were together he would take them over to Nan's house so she can explain herself. Which he did. That was when Lynn was first introduced to witchcraft, and she loved it.

Her Nan started teaching her what she knew and before long Lynn started branching out and exploring the different varieties of witchcraft and soon came upon Green Witchery. She loved how it centered itself on nature and Mother Earth. Everything was going good and she was growing in her practice until one Sunday morning went she went to church with her Mother. The priest spent the time going over the growing interest of witchcraft and how it was the work of Satan. He also pulled out a few verses from the Bible condemning witches and all the while her Mother was all for the information that was given to her. All that day Lynn's Mother kept going on and on about the evils of witchcraft. She even mentioned that Nan was going to Hell for not believing in Jesus, though that was spoken more to herself than to actually make a statement. Lynn knew from that point her Mother would never understand how peaceful Nan and her practice of witchcraft made her feel so she hid her pagan belongings.

Her Mother had no idea what was going on and Lynn kept going over the Nan's place to learn more and more about witchcraft. Soon Lynn grew up a little more and entered middle school without a problem. There was the odd time at home that Lynn's Mother commented on the smell of smoke or perfume and Lynn just brushed it off, claiming it was just her trying a new perfume when really it was the incense for a spell she had just finished.

Everything was going swimmingly until Lynn was in grade 8. That year someone she thought was a friend asked her for a love spell to try to get the most popular guy in school. When Lynn refused, her friend retaliated by phoning Lynn's Mother a couple of days later and told her that her daughter was practicing witchcraft. When Lynn got home she found that her Mother had gone through her room and found her stash of witchcraft tools. Lynn tried to explain herself but her Mother cut her short, taking her tools and said that she was never to speak to Nan or any of her witch friends. She also said that she would be driving Lynn straight to her Father's and then would pick her up promptly Sunday evening.

Though it was rough, Lynn still visited Nan and still learned of the secrets of witchcraft and soon enough her Mother stopped worrying about the whole situation. Lynn was even able to slowly sneak her belongings back from her Mother and she never said a thing about it. Lynn managed to survive living at home and moved out as soon as she could to be able to practice her craft freely. Soon after graduating high school her Father passed away but he had made sure to leave her his truck. The truck that meant so much to her. The truck that made her remember her Father every time she was driving it. And she wasn't going to let some old man ruin her truck.

Lynn threw open the front door of the side building. Inside she found that it what just a plain garage, with tools hanging off the walls and spare parts littered on the floor. She saw that her truck was perfectly fine with Mr. Johnston lost underneath it, singing badly to a song on the radio. Lynn sighed in relief and approached the man. "What are you doing to my truck?"

Pappy rolled out from under the truck and smiled up at her, "Ah! There you are. I was wondering what was keeping you so long. I was fillin' up your truck with gas and I saw that she prong a leak and I was just patchin' her up for you."

"And that would explain the clanking sound I heard a little while ago?"

"Well I had to curve the patch. You can't expect someone to weld a flat bit o' metal to a curved one. That's nonsense right there."

Lynn had to laugh at herself. She had jumped to conclusions without thinking that the Johnstons were just being nice to her. She had been in the big city too long. "So what do I owe you, for the gas and patchwork?"

"Well let me see…" Pappy dug around in his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper, "That'll be about $50 for gas and then about another $10 for the scrap I used as the patch."

Lynn dug around her bag, finding her money and passed it to Pappy.

"Much obliged," he responded.