ARILDA (new edition)

There was a time when children used their own imagination, when their minds took them on magical journeys, to kingdoms filled with fantasy, and to places never seen before.


My name is Sofia, and my story is about a friend that my mom brought home one day. It was Halloween time and my parents were just coming back from a short weekend trip in Massachusetts. Every time they traveled my mom used to pack mountains of suitcases that pilled all over the house making a huge mess when she had to opened on her way back. My mom could never content herself to just a few things and usually when coming from an exciting trip somewhere, there was always a few extra of everything. After a few minutes looking for gifts that could fit me or that was bought for me, I saw this huge plastic bag, rapped and sealed with an old fashioned wax monogram stamp. It was still morning and the sun invaded the room its rays shining directly on the package.  While I was standing there all alone, quietly looking at that fascinating wrapped package, my mom was entering and leaving our living room worry about the mess she had left all over the place. It did took her some time to notice me interested about her "secret" item, but after just a few seconds as usually she caught me standing there quietly, so whispering in my ear she says:

" Sofia, can you help me to tear off the wrapping paper?"

I was so crazy and excited to do so, that as soon all the paper littered over the livingroom floor I took a step back and took a very good look at the mysterious wrapped item.

" It's a Halloween broom!" My mom said very excited.

After looking closest I have noticed that  it wasn’t just any regular broom. It was a witches broom, a "besom"!
I knew all about witches. Besom’s were not just simple and innocent brooms, they were made from special materials from nature. Real witches believed having a besom in the house would keep evil spirits away and this specific broom was completely different from the ones I have seen in my books. It was fantastic! The broom's handle was made out of bamboo and the bristles were tied together with thin pieces of some kind of Willow wood.  We have a real witch's broom!
Halloween was something very special in our neighborhood. Every year the entire neighborhood decorates their houses and yards to celebrate the spirits, and this year we were planning to hang spider webs up all around the front door with tiny black plastic spiders crawling all over them. Probably we would also have some black rubber bats hanging from the ceiling, small candles lined the walkway leading to our front door, and for the final touch, our new broom as the main star of all! Arilda! A broom like never seen before.



When Halloween was over and all the decorations were packed inside of the boxes Arilda didn't get packed away. Mom decided to hang her on the kitchen's wall. I have noticed that my mom had developed some kind of close relationship with her broom. Often when she thought no one was around or watching she would be talking to her.  It was all a bit bizarre to me.

One day, when my father got home after a very long day from work and I was making a huge mess with all my toys  all over the living room, I heard my mom calling me to have dinner. I was extremely involved in my own little world playing with my toys and the last thing I wished for it was to have to stop my life to have dinner at the table, but eventulaly my Dad got very upset and shouted across the house :

"Sofia, get to the table right now, Mom’s late! She still has to bathe you tonight before she gets to take off and fly on Arilda."

When I heard his crazy words that sounded so interesting in my head,  I had to stop what I was doing and went in shock right away. My mom is a witch! I though immediately. Wow!
Mom looked at my dad with a surprised face. She probably couldn't believe that my dad had revealed her secret so easily just so I could be seating nicely for dinner, so  I ran to my seat at the table, and ate my food thinking about what I had heard. I was imagining my mom flying on Arilda’s back, and about the wonderful adventures she must have had.
She was so lucky, I thought. I imagined her flying over rooftops and trees, about the rush of the wind and the exhilarating rush of freedom. I thought about how a whole new world opened up in front of my eyes, the new places to see and the freedom to go anywhere I wanted to.

"Mom, are you really a witch?"
"Where do you go with Arilda?"
"Can I come with you tonight?"

My mom was smiling at me and didn’t say a word. She was just looking at me with her soft brown eyes.

I finished my dinner and went right away to clean up my toys and take a bath. I couldn’t make my mom wait too long or she would be late to ride her broom that night.
To my dads relief I wasn’t a problem that night, so he offered to read me a book after dinner and my mess was over.
Next morning when I woke up I was full of energy. I had this wondeful dream about witches flying through the night on their brooms.
In my dream I saw Arilda flying by my bedroom window, flying up into the clouds only to be joined by other flying brooms. On each broom sat a witch, each witch wearing long flowing dresses fluttering in the night wind, wearing pointy black hats.  The witches too came in different appearances, some were old, some looked nasty and horribly ugly to me, and others looked like someone normal, but my mom looked beautifully! Her long dark hair was flying behind her, her eyes sparkling and she was laughing with joy as she was riding Arilda It was a great dream that I had that night, but when I woke up, I wasn't so sure if it was all a dream.

After a few days I thought my mom got used to the idea of having her secret revealed. Arilda was officially part of the house. Almost one more family member to me.

Mom often cook for me, but I was a very picky eater and not often ate my food as she wished me to. My mom didn't get angry, but when she got really upset she would turn to me looking inside my eyes straight on my and say something that would make me think twice about my next meal.

 "Ok Sofia, from now on I will only feed you cookies and cakes. You really don't have to eat today. Next time Arilda is ready to have a guest on her back for a night trip to the sky, I will remember that you can’t come. You may fall or not be able to hold on,  because your little arms will not be strong enough with the junk food you have been getting."

I went crazy with the idea that I could miss out on flying on Arilda, and at the same time I was a little scared, I would absolutely love to fly high a broom in the sky.

After that day I promise myself never eating cookies again. I couldn’t miss the chance of riding my mom’s broom for sweets in this life. After a few weeks went by, I started to talk to Arilda alone in the kitchen too. I would seat on the kitchen floor and just talked to her about my day.  My mom used to do the same too. We were definitely from the same blood.
I thought Arilda matched our house, and it was wonderful to have her around. She was really a good friend. She was company to my mom when I went to school, and she also decorated the kitchen’s wall instead of an ugly painting she had before hanging there. She brought excitement to my moms life and eventually she was also an opportunity for me to finally see the magical world with her.

I knew that my mom had been to a magical place before. I knew because of the way my mom sometimes acted around us. Do you know when someone have this look on their face, when they stared off into space with a mysterious smile on their lips and when you ask that person what they are thinking of they get embarrassed and look away. That's how my mom looked liked sometimes.
Her cheeks would turn red and her eyes started to move around the room looking for something that wasn’t there. Then her fingers would get busy tapping the table nervously just before she snaps out of it and finally focused back on me. The first time I caught her doing it I started laughing so hard that my belly hurt. It was so funny that in the end we were both laughing together. 

When I was younger I was very scared of the dark, and it was very difficult for me to sleep at night. I used to spend hours alone with my head covered under my blanket just waiting for the morning to come. I really didn’t know what else to do, but after Arilda came to our lives and I found out that she was a real witches broom that all changed. I became obsessed with the idea of getting to ride her at night. I even imagined that I could touch the stars with my fingers and collect a few and to place them on my bedroom ceiling so my stars would shine down on me at night so I could rest and sleep safely.
I found out that my mom used to fly very late at night after everyone was sleeping. My mom had a real witches outfit too, she had this beautiful black velveteen cloak and a black dress that was my grandma’s from my mother’s side of the family. It was very beautiful, but also very heavy to wear. She used to keep the dress in our basement locked in an old large trunk that was covered in burgundy vinyl wood. Nobody had the keys to the trunk, just my mother that kept it hanging around her neck at all times. The dress had a special meaning to her and probably a secret behind too.
One special night when I was still awake in my bedroom I heard a very loud noise coming from the roof of our house. It was very late at night when I looked at my bedside clock. It was three o'clock in the morning. I ran to my window to see what all the noise was. I looked out threw my window, but all I could see was smoke all over. I thought I saw some broken tree branches on the lawn but I wasn't sure. It was winter time and the snow covered  parts of the mess downstairs. 

Next day, when I went to the kitchen to have breakfast I noticed that Arilda was missing.
She wasn’t on the wall  and my mom was very quiet. I couldn't remember the last time I've seen her this quiet before, so I decided to asked her as fast as I could where was the broom.

 "Mom, where is Arilda?"

My mom haven't answer at all. She sat there quiet while I was elucidating with a billion of thoughts.

 " Mom! where did Arilda go?"

Finally after seeing me so stressed by her silence, she sat down next to me and said:

"Sofia, I have something to tell you, but I want you to be calm because everything will be fine".

At that point I was extremely nervous, so my mom went to the closet, grabbed a box and brought it to the table.

"Arilda is in here", She said.

"Arilda, inside of a box?" I said. " But she doesn’t fit in a box!" I exclaimed.

When she finally opened the box, I saw it. Arilda was broken in two pieces. Poor thing. I started to cry..

"Mom, what is going to happen to her?" I asked.

"Ah Sofia, there is so much I have to tell you, but for now I can’t. You will have to wait and see yourself. Later tonight I will come to your bedroom and I will talk to you, but right now I will put Arilda away and you will get ready because you have school to go to".

That whole day was horrible for me. I was very distracted during my class and when I made it back home all I could do it was to wait for the night to come. I kept myself busy, I did all my homework, took a shower and got ready for bed. It was getting dark, and I was waiting for my mom to come and say something. Finally after a very long time and waiting, my mom came to my bedroom and looked at my eyes firmly.

"Sweetie, I know that you are sad about Arilda and I understand that you have become used to have Arilda in this house, so I will tell you what happened to her, but you will have to promise to keep this as a secret and never ever tell anyone about it, okay?"

"Yes, mom. I promise!" I said to her.

"Okay Sofia, so I will first explain about last night, when you were at your bedroom window at night.
Sofia, Arilda crashed into our Oak tree late last night."  She said.

"Crashed? What do you mean by that, mom?" I said.

"I was riding Arilda last night, but we were flying too fast and I lost control  as we approached the house, so  we crashed."

My face went pale at at my moms words, what if she had gotten hurt?
I didn’t know what to say, so my mom continued explaining to me what happened.

" Arilda will be fine. I know that she is broken now, but she will fix herself soon."

"What?" I said. "How could a broom fix her own self without help", I though.

" Sofia, brooms like Arilda have magic, remember? When they break they rebuild themselves back together, but it takes some time. Right now she needs to rest like you tonight. We all have to catch a lot of sleep, and tomorrow it will be a different day."

 My mom gave me a kiss and left the room, and I fell asleep right away. I was exhausted too. Next morning I ran downstairs to see Arilda. I ran into the kitchen and there sat Arilda as if new and next to her there was a beautiful second broom just like her. Well not exactly like Arilda, but very similar to her.
It was a bit smaller,but almost as grown as her. My mom took my hands and looked into my eyes and said to me:

" Sofia, this is your broom, and you are in charge of taking care of her."

I got so freaking excited  at my moms words that I could barely speak. I had my own broom, and have decided to name her Maristella. Immediately I grab my brand new broom to my bedroom and very carefully placed her against my bed. My mom was happy for me as she came upstairs and I saw me talking about Maristella.

"Mom, I remember that Arilda was bought at a store far away from here and now that we have Maristella home with us, I was wondering where did she come from".

My mom looked at me and answered seriously.

" Arilda made her."

"What?" I said. "What do you mean by Arilda made her? I asked.

" Sofia, when Arilda crashed into the tree and broke into two pieces she started a process of rebuilding herself back again. By rebuilding I mean that Arilda regrew part of the broomstick that broke off.  Arilda made a gift to you."

I was in shock, and in my head I saw Maristella growing from a stick! Is that how the new brooms came from? I thought to myself. I was really confused. In my books I tought that brooms were made by witches and now I had a broom that grew from a broken piece from my moms broom.

Did I have to become a witch aswell? I thought with myself.I was still so small, I was also still  afraid of the dark... How could that come...All witches seemed to be so brave and strong, and more importantly, grown up!
I went down to the kitchen where my mom was preparing some food.

" Mom may I please ask you a question?"

"Yes Sofia, what can I help you with", She said.

"Mom, I need to know how can I became a witch too, so I can fly on Maristella" I said.

" Sofia, if you really want to become a real witch , the first thing for you to do is to trust your heart. A real witch doesn't come from a  cartoon or is like one of the books that we hear from the stories. A real witch is someone that believes in herself, she trusts her feelings and more importantly she does what is right.
When you were inside of my belly I used to come out here alone and sit on this bench and stare at the night sky for hours. It brought me peace to me and I thought about holding you in my arms. It was a moment where I needed to be by myself and to think about my life and you. Maybe if you came here sometimes to think what was bothering you, you may find your own answers.
Sofia, it will not matter what I say to you about if you don’t find for yourself. You know what to look for and Maristella will never be able to fly into your heart to take away what you are most afraid of."

 My mom gave me a big and warm hug and left, and I thought about her words and the real meaning of what she said to me.
A few years had passed and I wasn’t a little girl anymore, but my mom's words were still alive inside of my soul. Maristella and I became friends too. I told her a lot about myself and my feelings. We spent our nights together as I thought it would be if I had my own broom and we went to some real magical world during my life. It wasn’t the same world as I pictured being little before, but my imagination was my best power as a witch and I could fly even higher than I thought I could. Arilda was still my mother's best friend and I still believe that they went to beautiful places during her life. Having Maristella in my life made me realize a lot of different good things. She helped me to understand about the real meaning of things, and also made me able to fly through the sky like my mom once told me how to.  I was able to touch all the stars in my life just by believing in myself and now I was able to tell you that I have them all  brighting up my heart whenever I feel fear.