Here is an excerpt from the story I'm writing. Shasta visits her Nana Gladia
Shasta knows that she should go straight home but can’t help herself from stopping in to see her Nana Gladia. Gladia’s home is hardly visible from the air since it is nestled cozily among the low branches of the ground spruce. The pathway to Nana’s door is paved with a mixture of green and white sea glass, and along each side grows a profusion of purple and white violets.
Before Shasta even gets to the door she hears her Nana’s voice, “Come in my darling! I had the feeling that you would drop by.”
Shasta enters the compact home, and gives her nana a huge hug. Hugging Nana Gladia is like burying your face in a bouquet of wild flowers.
“Oh Nana, I’ve missed you!” Shasta says.
“And I’ve missed you my darling, so that’s why I concentrated on your sweet face until you walked in my door,” Gladia says and giggles. “Say hello to my little friend.”
“Oh hello, Sunflower,” Shasta says as she pats the baby chipmunk that is curled up in a chair by the fire. Sunflower looks up at her lazily and turns over on her back to have her tummy scratched.
Shasta notices two tiny brown bunnies under the stairs, who twitch their noses as they dream of a meadow of pink clover.
Nana Gladia’s house is never without the presence of one or more small creatures of the woods. She takes in young motherless animals and sometimes tiny birds that have fallen out of their nests, and cares for them until they are able to manage on their own. They treat her place as sort of a drop-in center, and Shasta loves to hear all their stories about life in the West Woods. Gladia even sets out small containers filled with honey to feed the bees and insects that happen to be in the area.
Shasta is amazed once again by the brightness and beauty of her very favorite place. Her Nana has decorated every surface with small pieces of wonderful sea glass. On the walls are patterns and swirls that look like waves of water, dancing in the sunlight and on the floor are amber pathways resembling the red earth. Of course her Papa made all the furniture, but Nana added sea glass before the clay dried, creating a unique mosaic on each table, chair and shelf. The rare blue pieces have been reserved for the fireplace. Even the staircase is adorned with brilliant color.
Shasta always marvels at how her nana is the only one of her family who uses her wings indoors. She watches with glee as Gladia flits around, making tea and bringing out the cakes, then suddenly zips off to polish the glass on the table in the center of the room. She’s never seen any other Minwing do so many things at once! Sometimes Gladia flies so fast, her wings are invisible!
“Where have you been these last days, my darling?” Shasta’s Nana asks as she brings the tea and cakes to the table, “I thought you had forgotten me.”
The sunlight shines through the door and glints off Gladia’s beautiful silver hair.
“I could never forget you, Nana Gladia,” Shasta replies, laughing, “I’ve just been so busy lately, and I really shouldn’t be here today, but I just had to talk to you.”
They sit down together and Gladia pours the steaming tea into shells and offers Shasta a tiny cake from a green glass plate. Shasta can never turn down a cake that Nana has made. They are lighter than air and have a fruity taste that no other Minwing cook in the West Woods has managed to imitate. Shasta carefully adds a drop of honey to the tea and sips it gratefully.
She gets a bit of a start when Nana Gladia leaves her chair and flies off again to the eating area and returns carrying a small shell filled with purple and white violets.
“There, that sets everything off doesn’t it?” she says, as she places them in the middle of the table.
