Calyxa Electra Davenport Spool was a liberator. She liberated animals/pets from cruel masters/owners; partners/children from abusive spouses/adults; balloons caught up on obstacles going skyward; and folks from inane chatter.

She also had a habit of liberating conspicuous items from the rich, and under-utilized assets from the authorities. Or, what she saw as unwanted apparel from clothes lines, Laundromats and stores. Calyxa’s concept of what needed liberating was well, quite liberal.

So, perhaps it wasn’t so unusual to see Calyxa driving an orange Vespa scooter recently liberated from an idling rich woman since it matched Calyxa’s dress. The dress had been liberated the week before.

The giant fish bowl balanced on the back was a bit unusual, even for Calyxa, who was not the most normal sort of girl you would meet in Verbena. The fish had a stripe of orange, but appeared healthy and happy enough. The bowl was magical; an entire watery world nestled against Calyxa’s back. Light as a feather, though, as the back wheels of the scooter barely touched the road.

Calyxa looked determined and single-minded. She’d pulled her flaxen hair back without regard to style, and forgotten both socks and shoes. The misty chill, always hovering along the High Road, blued up her fingers, toes and nose, and put snow on the fish bowl mountains.

The only explanation for her odd behaviour – she was looking for Magical Mad Mike – a mage who lived in a cloaked space and time shifting trailer park somewhere off the High Road which made mail deliveries vexing for the letter carrier

Sensing her quest and odd cargo, Mike let the trailer park, of which he was the only resident, materialize a few minutes before Calyxa would pass by. He started up the espresso machine, dug a pair of slippers out from under the couch and waited for her on the “porch.”

She would need help with Fred: getting him and his watery world off the scooter; and solving the puzzle of his appearance in her bedroom at precisely 3:53 this morning. A drop or two of fix’r elix’r in their Café Americanos might be called for.

This talelet created for mlm m’s photo challenge #140. I love this picture – something about the colours, the curve of “Calyxa’s” back, the placement of “Fred’s World,” “Calyxa’s” expression all serve to draw me deeper and deeper into the image. So deep, I’ll stop here before I get lost in Verbena, and can’t find my way back to mlm’s m.

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(image: Sirlounge.com; © lorraine & her frilly freudian slip)