“Rosie, you promised you would go!   You have to get this checked out.  This has gone on too long.  Dr Ellie says she wants to see you today.”

Bruno was struggling to keep his cool with the stubborn princess.

“Please Bruno, I AM FINE,” Rosie shot back at him,  her frustration showing clearly.  “Why is everyone insisting that there must be something wrong with me!   I just want everyone to stop,” throwing up her hands, “I am fine … just fine!”

“No my Rosie,”  Bruno pleaded, “you are not just fine!   You are still hearing the singing day and night now … I can tell.  I know you aren’t sleeping well.  I hear you get up and down all night and even when you do sleep you toss fitfully and cry out.  I am so worried.  Please come to see Dr Ellie with me.”

Looking into his troubled eyes broke her heart.  She did not want to but she would go for him.

Besides she knew and trusted Dr Ellie.  Dr Ellie would be a voice of reason to her family and maybe put this all nonsense out of their heads.

Prince’s sisters, Blair, Irene, and the youngest Caroline, lived in a tidy little house near the palace.  It was a warm cheerful place that always smelled of something wonderful in the oven.  It had always been a favorite getaway for the girls as they grew up.

Walking up to the house, Rosie felt that familiar comfort wash over her.  Her anxiety ebbed away in anticipation of the visit to her dear aunts.

Dr Ellie lived with her aunts ever since she arrived in Windenburg.   Although she worked at Centurion Hospital in Newcrest, she maintained a small office here at the house to care a bit more privately for friends and family.

 

All three sisters seemed to hit the door at the same time.  Bruno and Rosie were greeted with all the fanfare of a great celebrity come to visit.

In stark contrast to the chattering excited Aunties, a smiling and serene Dr Ellie greeted Rosie.

“Come lets get started, my dear,” Ellie laughed, “the girls are busy fussing over Bruno and they will be busy for a while”

Rosie dutifully followed Ellie to her office.

Sequestered away quietly in the cozy office, Rosie explained what she had been experiencing for the past few weeks.

“The singing began right before Bruno and I got married.   Near the beginning, I had an incident.  For some reason, that I cannot remember, I was outside and I don’t know if I blacked out or what but I seemed to have lost an hour.   I think I might have fallen and hit my head because I had a terrible headache when I came to.

Right after that I heard the songs.  It is not loud but it feels so urgent.

I feel like I need to go find the singing.   No one else can hear it .. at least I think so.  I don’t know. I have not really asked because .. well you know.

About a week ago I started having the dreams.

It is like the end of a dark tunnel opening to me and showing me a place I do not know.  There is LONG dark winding road.  I feel like I am supposed to go on that road but I don’t know where it is and I do not know why.”

Dr Ellie tried to keep her face from showing the concern she had over Rosie’s recount of what was going on for her.

She felt like she was grasping at straws, “Honey, could anyone be gas-lighting you.  Maybe slipping hallucinogens into your food or drink.”

Rose was adamant that no one in her life would do that.

After an exam and some blood work, Dr Ellie sat down at her computer to look up a few things in her online medical journals.

All of a sudden she stopped abruptly, “Rosie, here is an article by a doctor who says he has been researching this very phenomenon.  The best part is that he is right near here.  I am go into the other room and give him a call to consult with him while you change back into your clothing and go get Bruno.”

Rosie sighed a sigh of relief and agreed.

Ellie dialed the number and after a few minutes on hold, the secretary who answered patched him thru to a very young sounding man.

Ellie explained the situation to him.

“Dr Ellie, did you say?” After Ellie affirmed, the young doctor continued, “I am doctor Zest, and yes the article is correct.  I have been conducting research on these type of auditory and visual disturbances.  They are not uncommon but it is beneficial to the patient to stop their occurrences.  I have an effective treatment plan that she will have to take every day.  I will send you the formula in an email.”

After giving him her email address, a grateful Dr Ellie thanked the kind Dr Zest** for his help with her patient.  Once the email had arrived she set about concocting the prescription exactly as he had advised.

Rosie was very hesitant to take the medicine.

“Please, just try it Rosie,”  Bruno knew it would take his trump card and he played it, “For me?”

Back upstairs, the young couple enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with the funny trio.   They were an eccentric bunch but the coffee and double fudge brownies were amazing!

Bruno kept a close eye on Rosie, both for adverse effects from the unknown medicine and for any signs that the delusions had returned.   Thankfully neither scenario manifested.

His heart was anxious, all he wanted his beautiful wife well again.

“Rufus, well there you are.”  Rosie spotted the old cat  peering from under the serving table, watching vigilantly for an opportune moment to pounce and snatch a snack from that table.

Rosie grabbed him up into a snuggle.  His warm chubby body, soft fur, his scent and his raspy purr (it always sounded to her as though he had loose parts inside) all a familiar comfort to her.

Rosie whispered and Rufus peered at her as though he was listening, “You don’t think I am crazy, do you, Rufus boy?”  Rufus licked her nose in an answer.

**~~~~~~**

Aunt Blair cried out as Rose White entered the sun porch, “OH, Queenie, what are you doing here?  Two of you dearies in one day!”

Aunt Irene jumped past her sister to get her hug first.

“Hi Aunties,” Rose said cheerfully, “Dr Ellie let me in on her way out to the hospital.”

Aunt Caroline entered to pick up some more dishes, “Queenie!  Please forgive the mess, darling.  Your sister and Bruno just left.  Rosie went to see Dr Ellie.  Do you think we will get to have a nooboo soon?”

“Oh Caroline,” admonished Aunt Irene, “that is not our business.”

Aunt Caroline retorted a little sharply, “Well I can hope can’t I?”

“We all can Auntie Caroline,” Rose said with a mischevious wink.

“Now where are our manners,” cried Aunt Irene.  “Can we get you some coffee and a bite to eat.”

Rose declined.  Her visit would be brief and she had to get going soon.

The aunties sighed and looked crestfallen.

Rose looked at the dear ladies in front of her and thought how much she loved them …  her love for them went all the way back to the cradle!

Caroline

Irene                                                                             Blair

Rose explained, “I came by to tell you that I have ordered a Limousine to pick you ladies up on the wedding day.”

The sisters gratefully expressed their approval.

Aunt Blair responded graciously, “How sweet of you my dear to think of us.”

Aunt Caroline gushed, Oh my little Queenie, we will be there with bells on!”

“Don’t worry,” whispered Aunt Blair, “we would not really let her wear them.”

Rose laughed as she hugged each of them and bid them farewell.  She wanted to go see Mike.  It had been a fabulous three days away but she missed his smile and his arms holding her tight.

**~~~~~~**

“You called for me my Queen,” Evella’s dark associate snarled.

Evella declared, her words contentious, “I was out today and my path crossed with those vile Charmings.  I must hear again the plan of their demise. Tell me!”

“Everything is in place.  This cannot fail,” Evella’s abettor reassured her by recounting the details of the destruction of the Charming family.

Her eyes narrowed and the venomous words spit from her mouth like a cobra coiled to strike, “You little imp, you had best not foul this up.  I will ensure you are forever doomed!  Be gone now weasel!”

“What ARE you looking at?” Evella mumbled.  “The little fink makes my skin crawl too but evil help is hard to come by these days.”

As she sat stewing over the conversation, her thoughts were drawn back to the afternoon and her shopping stop.

She rose up, bracing her resolve, emboldened she got right to work.

**~~~~~~**

Yes … now she was ready for the wedding.

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An Era of Charming Tales #1 (complete) Table of Contents

 

**~~~ Credits ~~~**

** TY Cathytea for inspiring this character .. Dr Zest is awesome

 

If any of you are interested this is my muse as I write Evella ..  Extra points for any who can say why they call it the Ashe snake .. very cool!

Snake spit venom