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abloomntime · 3 years

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A Bloom In Time Ch27 Welcome To Mafia Town

You know. It feels a lot better sleeping on something soft than it was sleeping on a hard cold wooden floor. Also much better to wake up with having sore muscles for a third time. Slowly waking up, blue eyes peered out awake to the world, blinking away the blurry vision that came with it. Where was she again? The first thing she saw was a very dark purple and she blinked. Was it still dark? Well, yes. It was still dark and other than a blue light filling up the attic making it clearer to see for her. ......And slowly she started to remember what happened last night. Groaning, the grown woman slowly sat up on the bed and reached a hand up to push the long bangs out of her face, she felt so tired even after sleeping. But strangely relieved in a way. The memories of last night poked through the morning fog and Poppy groaned, rubbing her face more remembering the nightmare and talk the two had last night. Man. And here she thought her new life adventure wouldn't get any weirder than what it already was. Poppy paused feeling something soft bump against her hand and a grumble that was deeper than her own voice. Pulling her head away from her hand she blinked over and saw Snatcher of all people laying curled around her like some giant shadow snake, his head resting on his claws as he laid there just a foot or two away from her. He looked rather peaceful. Was Snatcher here the entire night after she drifted off back to sleep? Did he fall asleep too? Could ghosts even sleep? Do they even need it? She thought the whole 'Rest in Peace' thing was always just a nice way of showing respect for those who had passed on, but now she wasn't too sure how literal it might've been at this point. Meeting a ghost like Snatcher was definately an eye opener, he wasn't like the usual descriptions of ghosts at all she had heard. Ghosts were supposed to be white as sheets and yell 'BOO' all the time, or stay invisible and silent. Snatcher wasn't white OR invisible, and with his loud mouth he definately wasn't silent either most of the time. But she felt an odd gratitude upon seeing him right there after she still fell asleep. He had cleared up a lot of the mess for her and she couldn't have been happier. Yellow eyes opened up once he felt the floor shifting next to him and he stared right at her.

"Oh. You're awake," he said pushing himself up with his arms and stretching his long body out similar to a bushcat before his body as usual floated up into the air, looking at her. "It looks like you had a nice nap."

"Uh. Yeah.'' She gave a small tired smile yawning again and stretching her body out, stretching her arms out and looking behind her. A part of Snatcher's tail was behind her and she guessed that must've been the super soft thing she was sleeping against. She had no idea ghosts could be solid or so soft, another surprise she guessed. Poppy slowly pushed herself to her feet. Weird dark blue dress still on her and the fake rubies around her collar shining in the dim blue light, her long braid already messy from her sleep. Smiling, Poppy looked back up to him. "Were you really with me all night?"

Snatcher stared at her for a moment before frowning a bit. "Well didn't you ask me to? I'm not completely heartless you know. I make sure all my employees are situated well. "

"I did kinda ask that didn't I?" She yawned and walked over to one of the shopping bags when she saw it. Oh yeah. She still had a few things to put away from yesterday didn't she? "You mind leavin'?"

"What for?"

"So I can put on somethin' else besides this dress reject." She gestured to her dress.

"Oh." Of course she would want to do that. With a cough he turned away and started to melt through the floor. "Right. You get on that."

***********************************************************************************************

Poppy was feeling great! Better than she had been feeling in a whole while! After a brief moment of switching clothing and putting her newly aquired tools and clothes away, Poppy appeared in the control room riding the orange platform down from the attic. Hair retied back in a neat long braid and her wearing one of the new dresses she had bought for herself. The white one with purple flowers, she felt good enough to wear one of her favorite things today. FLOWERS!! And of course the glittering gold bracelet on her wrist. Oh. And the heavy duty leather apron around her shoudlers, she never left home without it. The small bag of pons sitting in the larger of the two pockets of it. When she rode down she found Snatcher frowning, arms crossed, listening to the two children babbling on about something and stuffing their faces with those take out things Cookie ordered for them to go, she thought Cookie said they were called 'Hamburgers' if she remembered right. Like some kind of fancy greasy sandwhiches. But he looked up when he saw a blur coming towards them from the corner of his eye, said eyes blinked in surprise a bit in the cute purple flower printed dress she wore. Well this was different from her usual blue attire he was used to her wearing, but he had no right to judge someone's clothing.

"Fancy new clothes. It-...I-It looks nice on you,'' he complimented.

She smiled in thanks making her way down the ramp heading towards the two children and Snatcher. Both were now staring at her silently eating. "Thanks! I bought it just yesterday. And I see ya two are already up and ready to cause trouble ah presume." Both nodded with big smiles and she noticed they were wearing the same kind of outfits again but with different patterns again. Hattie's whole outfit and hat were a pink minus the pants she wore which was a beige color, and bow was wearing a light blue dress with a white jacket with purple buttons, light blue cat pockets, and a pink bow on the back, another pink bow in her hair, and purple boots. These kids must really like the same style of clothes. "You two look hungry huh?"

"Better than apples!," Hattie mumbled holding up what looked like one or two bites remaining of her burger.

Poppy chuckled. "Well lucky for all of us I aim to change that today! Cookie mentioned how they sell a lot of human food in ..Mafia Town right? Well, that's where I'm headin' today!"

"What?!," Snatcher asked bewildered, "You want to go there?! Bad idea! Very, very bad idea! That place is full of foul men who'll rob you for a single corn chip! I thought you already had enough excitement yesterday!"

Poppy just smiled triumphantly back. "Well, yeah. I did have a rough start, but now I'm all fired up and ready to see where the day takes me. And right now it's tellin' me ta get these girls and myself some food!" Both girls happily threw their hands up with a loud cheer at the mention of yet another trip out together for the three of them, but Snatcher looked slightly worried.

"Now? Don't you even know what kind of people live in a town like that?!," he argued back shaking his head, "It's asking for trouble to happen AGAIN if you go there. Aren't you dealing with enough stuff?"

"We can protect her!," Bow happily said before tossing the rest of the burger she ate for breakfast into her mouth.

Snatcher didn't look the slightest bit convinced. "Yeah because that worked so well last time."

This time Poppy frown one hand on her hip the other pointing at him. "Ok purple onion. If you have a problem with mahself goin' out and gettin' food for YOUR kids and taking care of them while yer galavanting off haunting whatever forest ya want, then please. Feel free ta get off ya rump and go buy them food yerself if you have a problem with ME taking care of their needs like YOU wanted. If not shut her trap! I'm not a pet bird you can just keep in a cage. I'm a human and we need food!" Snatcher stared at her silently for a moment, stunned at the sudden berauge of sass thrown his way...but he frowned at the children who giggled at him being put in his place.Poppy waved a hand. "If you're so worried 'bout what happened yesterday, you're more than welcome to join us. I'd appreciate the company and help you'd provide, but otherwise ya'll can go back to your fore-"

"OH ALRIGHT!!" He scowled and recrossed his arms like a pouting child. "I might as well since someone has to keep you out of trouble!" Actually it was because he was worried about her. The kids can hold their own against the mafia, and to him they were nothing but pesty mice. But he LOATHED the idea of Poppy being around so many men especially ones like the mafia. So it would be better to do, besides. His head minion could handle things without him for a little while longer.

Poppy nodded smiling again and waved a hand at the girls. "Go wash off those greasy hands of yours and we'll leave ok?" Both nodded and ran off towards the kitchen, Hattie shoving the rest of her food into her mouth as she did.

"Shouldn't you eat something too before we head out?," Snatcher asked her raising a brow.

"Nah. I'll be fine. Not the first time I'd skip breakfast-" She was cut short when Snatcher literally grabbed her by the shoulders, turned her around, and pushed her towards the kitchen. "Hey! What gives!?"

"Fat chance. You go eat something before you leave right now. I'm not going to be following a growling stomach all day."

She protested but relented after Snatcher said he wouldn't teleport them easily to this Mafia Town, and she STILL wasn't fond of the kids' version of travel, and it'd be easier with Snatcher teleporting them. So reluctantly she agreed but just grabbed an apple out of the small basket in the fridge. Taking notice that there was only a few eggs left in the carton after Cookie's omlets, only a few apples left, and half a wheel of cheese. How could these kids just eat these all the time? Following the children out of the kitchen back to the waiting Snatcher, while also carrying a giant woven basket she found as it'd be easier to carry the food in, he sighed again and held out his hands to the small giggling girls, who both grabbed onto his large clawed hand with ease, and he held out the other claw to her.

"When someone hangs onto me it's easier to teleport them and saves energy for me. Since I'm teleporting long distance I suggest you hold on so we're not seperated in town."

Well that was certainly something she didn't want happening so she grabbed onto his hand and he curled his claws gently around her before summoning the magic to transport them all down there. The teleporting worked as quickly as any other time he did it. Purple energy completely took over the world around them like the many times he's done this before and swallowed them all whole. He's done this plenty of times before teleporting himself places or taking the girls home against his will when they fell asleep in his forest. Poppy closed her eyes when purple invaded her vision out of habit. One moment of dark black-purple later the four of them ended up somewhere much more warmer by how Poppy felt the air suddenly shift.

"You can open your eyes now."

And she did. And blinked at WHAT she saw now. They were on a beach! A literally sunny beach with the sun beating down on them and in front of them was a small lot of sand, filled with palm trees and picnic table with umbrellas sticking out from the top of them. A blue and white striped tent was set up to the far right end of the sand lot and a giant stone building of some sort in front of them. Snapping her head behind her, the sparkling reflection of the vast ocean met her confused gaze with the gorgeous view of the morning sun making the soft waves sparkle as they rolled by. Directly in front of them all was a giant pair of red doors and two men standing guard on either side of them. In fact there was a lot of men in fancy blue suits and aprons walking around where they were, most gawking at them from the sudden apearence of a grown woman and two children in a flash of purple.

"Wow." Poppy said breathlessly staring out at the ocean. She could see some kind of land in the distance, a bouey, and some kind of ship slowly passing by. "Look at that view! I've never been to the ocean before!"

"Yes, yes. Very pretty," came the annoyed voice of Snatcher making her snap outta it. "Don't we have something to do?"

She blinked. "OH! Right I-" She paused...looking around but not seeing the giant sixteen foot ghost anywhere. "Hey. Where are you?"

"Look at your shadow."

She did and humped a few steps back seeing two yellow eyes from her shadow staring back up at her. "Snatcher??"

"Who else?," he asked and she saw his glowing yellow mouth as he spoke from her shadow. "You think it's easy to be walking around in the open for someone like me? It'll be easier for both of us if I remain in the shadows unless nessasary."

Well...It might be easier for her to walk around freely without drawing a bunch of attention to her being followed by by a giant ghosts babysitting her like she was a little girl herself, and if this place was as dangerous as he said, she's appreciate the extra help. He had a couple good points.

Nodding she looked around, basket in hand. "Ok. Now let's see. Where do we go from here?"

"This way!," Bow called from over by the blue and white tent before running up a large pair of stairs behind it.

Poppy followed across the sand lot with Hattie running past her and joining Bow up the stair case and waiting for her at the top of the stairs. Around the tent she went looking around and up the stone stairs she went. At the top was a cobblestone floor and more tables. The two continued to lead Poppy down a cobblestone pathway and all the while gave her a wonderful view of the ocean, seeing a couple boats and rocks sticking out of the water. A couple times they would pass another blue suited man and they would either walk past or gave them a passing look but nothing else. Didn't seem so bad so far. But she was curious about all the contruction and spray painted walls as they passed. When she asked, Hattie said 'This place is always being rebuilt' and explained the graffiti was done by Mu before Cookie took her to live with her away from this place. She saw a bunch of 'Down With The Mafia' sprayed on walls, some kind of man with a giant mustache and red hat, and few of MU herself. Guess Hattie was telling the truth about all that.

"So where are we supposed to buy food around this ..Uh.. Rebuilt place?" She asked them glancing at all the incomplete buildings they passed.

"Past the docks," Bow answered slowly down her pace from in front of her to walk next to Poppy. Gazing up at her with a neutral gaze before staring at her free hand not carrying the basket before reaching up and grabbing it. Poppy without giving it much thought curled her hand back to hold hers making the small girl light up light a firework as they both followed Hattie skipping a few yards in front of them. Snatcher smiled with glee at the sight between Bow and Poppy.

They continued along the cobblestone pathway until it collided with an actual docks. A large building that looked like a giant seafood resteraunt was on the left side of the docks with blue tables was there and on the right side was a pair of docks, with a few more strong looking men there unloading fish from a ship stationed on one side of the docks as they passed, passing then some kind of giant barrels on their sides and then back up yet another cobblestone path leading up to what looked like a town square to Poppy. Cobblestone everywhere. With three Green, red, and orange-tan giant buildings on the right side of the water fountain that was smack dab in the middle of the square. The green building had a giant sign saying 'Blooming' but looked dark inside, the red building had a hamburger with the words 'Spicey Buns' on the signs but was blocked off by yellow rope, and the only one that seemed open was the tan building who was currently being manned by a single man with the sign reading 'Juice'. The left sight of the square was just a giant brick wall and clock tower, showing it was nine thirty four in the morning. Still an early day. She continued to follow Hattie until she stopped in front of another pair of stairs leading up to another level of the stone wall and she pointed. Of course Poppy followed her holding Bow's hand and up the slightly bigger steps they went until meeting another cobblestone floor and the first thing she saw was a stand with another one of those blue suited men behind it.

"Here it is!," Hattie said standing next to her and pointing down the left where it turned into a street like market.

Guess this was the market of human food Cookie spoke about and Poppy smiled. Well at least now she could be able to get what she needed now. The only stand to the right seemed empty so Poppy went right up to the first stand in front of her already catching the man's attention as he sat behind it and looked at her as she approuched. Looking at the products on the shelves behind him and next to him was a bunch of cheese wheels. The entire area was kinda dark being in a closed in area and torches ran down the length of the market area. Poppy stopped in front of the stand as the man looked at her.

"Mafia sell finest cheese aged by Mafia. Would red haired lady like to buy?," the man spoke in a deep voice as she looked around.

Eventually stopping at one cheese wheel that looked pretty good and pointed at it. "Yeah. That one there please."

The man smiled and grabbed it. "Mafia enjoys sells. Mafia will sell it to red haired lady for fifthteen pons."

Poppy blinked at him for a moment raising a brow. "Fifthteen pons for one cheese wheel?"

"Mafia make good pure chedder. Take it or leave."

"....." Well considering things were a lot more expensive than when she was alive that she remembered, then she guessed it was a fair price and she had over twenty five thousand of the small things. Reaching into the front pocket of the apron she pulled out a handful of those small green emeralds and counted out fifteen before dropping them into the man's outstretched hand. She also noticed that he was wearing an apron, that said 'Kiss The Cook' with a small red lipstick kiss mark. How odd.

The man took the pons and counted the ones in his hand with his eyes for a moment before smiling. "Mafia thanks lady for purchase. Here is cheese." He held out the cheese to her and Poppy happily took it from him.

"Thank you." Placing it into the giant basket she carried and started off towards the other stands, children following.

"You know you shouldn't have paid that fool such a large amount." Snatcher whispered out from her shadow that barely showed in the dim torch light. "I can be very persausive."

"The last thing need is you scarin' off the people I'm trying to buy from," Poppy shot back tossing a quick frown over her shoulder at him before she continued. "As a fellow storekeeper let me do my own business and hush up." Snatcher grumbled but hushed up much to her pleasure. She didn't want to explain why she was talking to the ground behind her to strangers. The next stand was just a couple yards from the first and this one looked like it was selling fruit, mostly bananas and apples. Poppy breifly wondered if this is where the girls originally got their apples back on the ship before stopping in front of it and admiring the bananas. She had only seen a couple of them once. When the royal food wagon was making it's way to the Queen's summer home she visited whenever the prince did. They were tropical plants and as her father said tropical plants and fruits were impossible to grow where they were due to the fall and winter seasons. So seeing the oppertunity to obtain some she happily smiled and pointed at a couple bunches that looked ripe to her. "How much for three bundles?"

"Mafia sells Mafia island bananas for pens pons each,'' the man explained and Poppy blinked at him for a moment looking exactly like the other men she'd seen but shrugged it off.

"And those apples?"

"Mafia sell those same prince as Mafia Island bananas."

"Oh." So about thirty or forty pons. Seemed a little expensive for bananas but she wasn't going to complain about getting food she could actually eat. To cut losses she decided to only buy two bundles of bananas and one bundle of apples instead of the three bundles of bananas and into the basket they went. The kids giving dirty looks to the mafia men around them as they went. And FINALLY she found something she was hoping to find around here. A meat market...Or a stand what sold fish in this market. A bunch of fish were hung along the stands wall and the man manning the stand had his sleeves rolled up currently deboning a fish but looked up when Poppy stopped in front of him gazing up at the fish hung around. "Hello. Can you tell me how old the fish are?"

"Mafia caught fish from ocean this morning,'' the man explained pulling his hands away from work and wiping them down with a damp towel next to him. "Straight from docks. Super fresh."

She smiled at that glancing around and setting her eyes on two very nice looking bass on the right hand side and pointing. "How about those two bass there? Those looking mighty juicy."

"Mafia needs thirty five pons for fish."

.....She blinked. "Hold up. You want thirty five pons PER fish?" He nodded and she frowned. "Back in my day in was ten per fish! That's ludacris!''

"Mafia want paid is what mafia is owed. If lady won't pay price, lady no gets fish," she stated back firm,

Poppy could feel her eye twitch as her annoyance spiked a bit but took a breath to cool herself down. Just remember. This wasn't her time. Things were different now. No use getting upset over a thousand year difference she couldn't control. "Ok, I'll pay. Just please get me those two fish." Reluctantly and much to Snatcher's silent annoyance she did end up paying another seventy ones for two fish. Poppy was starting to think her choice to accept Mr. Grooves offer was the right one after all. She needed the pons for this definately. They all watched as the man took some kind of paper from under the stand and pull the fish down to wrap them all in....after he carefully counted all the pons she gave him of course. And she took them with a 'thanks' tho it did come off a bit annoyed as she moved along the last few stands now in just a slightly more sour mood. And slowly the basket filled up with just a few more things. Some eggs one man claimed to be taken from the birds that morning, she found someone trying to sell what looked like slightly spoiled milk but managed to find a whole bottle of it that was pretty fresh, and bacon stri-......Bacon? How the peck did that get there? .....Snatcher snatching bacon from Cookie's dishes suddenly flashed across her mind and she shot a look over her shoulder to Snatcher who still remained hidden as the girls boredly/curiously walked around near them and looked around. By the time they got to the end of the stands(where the market ended in a dead end meaning they'd have to turn around and go back the way they came to exit), the basket was heavy with a giant cheese wheel, a glass bottle of milk, one carton of eggs, two bundles of banansa, a bag of apples, two large fish, and a mysterious pound of bacon that just appeared out of no where. Usually the basket would've been heavy for someone but considering her less than normal strength, it was pretty easy to carry without tiring. The last stand didn't look like it sold any kind of food items like the others but a man sitting there noticed her curious look at it and he pointed behind him at the white shirts Saying 'Mafia #1' hung up near him.

"You like Mafia? Buy clothes supporting Mafia! Mafia is number one!," he gladly stated.

Oh. He was selling clothing? Well she already saw what everything else had to offer, might as well see what this had to offer her too. And too Snatcher's protests of lightly tugging her dress to get her to stop, she walked over to him. The stand on closer inspection sold the same blue suits and aprons all the men here wore along with OBVIOUSLY spray painted gold statues of said men and those white t shirts. ......Not really things she was really interested in or needed....Except maaaybe that one thing right there-

"I can't BELEIVE you actually wasted ten pons on that!," Snatcher's rasped out as they walked along the cobblestone back towards the town square.

"Oh shush. I could use one of these for regular house work," Poppy muttered placing the newly aquired 'Kiss the Cook' apron neatly into her larger leather apron pocket to keep it off the food. She could use an apron just for cooking and other things besides her work apron. "Besides, why are you complaining about me buying an apron? You couldn't even pay for the bacon ya'll snuck into mah basket."

"Hey! You have no proof it was me firstly! Secondly even if I did do that, what purpose would I have to do it? I'm DEAD. It's not like I could eat it if I wanted too anyways. I can't even taste anything if I wanted to," He argued back from her shadow as Poppy walked back down the steps towards the square holding Bow's hand again as the child happily smiled at her. "I bet it was one of those two."

"No it wasn't!," Hattie retorted back sticking her tongue out at Snatcher.

"Guys. Please, ya'll are out in public. Act like civilized people will ya-....." Poppy stopped at the last step down before stepping back onto the cobblestone streets of the square she had passed before, Hattie running into her leg and falling onto her behind on one step, her hat falling over her face. Shaking her head, Hattie pushed the hat back up from her face and asked Poppy what was her big deal but the grown woman just stared at something. Beinf on the flat ground, Snatcher couldn't see what was going on either and was about to bark at Poppy demanding what she was staring at when the red head suddenly scowled. "HEY!" Her eyes narrowed at the sight of two of those big burly men corning a poor little old man back against a brick wall, but she had shouted when one of them pushed him down gaining their attention and began stomping her way over to them. Bow grabbing and pulling back on her hand to try and get Poppy to stop.

"Wait, Poppy! Don't!"

Poppy didn't listen to Bow's words and instead pulled her hand away before placing and big basket into her arms. "Hold this for a sec." And then stomping her way back over to the men and stood before them, hands curled into fists on her hips and deep scowl present on their and her faces. "HEY! What the bloody PECK do ya think yer doin' to that poor old man!?" Old man? Huh. Well compared to Poppy's age that old man was probably a baby, but never mind that now.

"Shoo! Mafia can't have lady witness while Mafia teaching lesson!," one of the two men sternly said back but Poppy remained unbudging.

"You'll got one chance and I'm only askin' nicely once. Please leave that man alone," she spoke as calmly as she could despite the annoyed tone on her face and in her voice.

"What do we do with eye witness?," the mafia man asked the other mafia man.

The other man looked at Poppy like she was a harmless flower raging at them. "Teach lesson to those who interfere with Mafia!" He reached a hand out but it was quickly smacked away with a loud WHACK sound making the man recoil and cradle his hand to his chest.

"Do. NOT. Touch me!," Poppy warned in a low and slow voice. "I'm only going to warn you once."

"Mafia won't bow to small lady!!," the other one suddenly bellowed looking at her with anger but Poppy just rose a bored brow when he raised a hand to punch.

"POPPY!! LOOK OUT!!"

"Prepare to feel Mafia's Wrat- GAH!!"

That was it. How it all ended. As soon as the bigger man went to punch her, Poppy grabbed a hold of his arm and in an impressive desplay of speed, turned on her heel and literally threw him over her body by his arm and slammed him quite hard to the ground with a very loud thud. Everyone stood there for a moment quietly stunned from what just happened, except for the man who was laying on the stone ground groaning with the face of Poppy looming over him scowling as if she had the fury of a thousand burning suns....Before blowing the bangs from her face and snapping her scowl over her shoulder back to the other man who flinched at the sudden blue eyes flashing at him.

"Ya'll got somethin' to say 'bout this?" The man still cradling his hand shook his head no furiously with a look of fear on his face and Poppy nodded still scowling. "Good. Now take your buddy here and scram!" The mafia man had just run off without another word as his pal just remained unconcious on the ground. Not that she really cared and turned around to the little old man who through all of this just flat out leaned against the wall slack jawed. But Poppy gave him a soft smile down at him. "Hey there, Mister. Are you alright?"

"Uh-...I-..Y-Yes! I am!," he answered back in an old but happy sounding voice. Smiling behind that white mustache of his, he slowly got up and reached a hand up to readjust his glasses. He couldn't have been a foot or two taller than the girls. Such bullies for picking on a poor defenseless old man like this. Dusting himself off he smiled at Poppy. "Thank you very much young lady. You won't believe how many times a month this happens."

"What did they want?"

The old man sighed. "Money. I've been saving all my pons to move out of this pecking town to go live in a nice quiet neighborhood, but every week they harass me for 'protection' money. But I never give in."

"Oh wow. That sounds aweful." She thought she heard Snatcher give a small 'mmhm' like he was right all along, but didn't comment on it. "I'm very sorry for that."

He waved her off. "No. Don't be. Just two more weeks and I should have enough to get out of here for good." He looked her over again and frowned. "You're a young one. If I were you I'd get out of town while the getting's good. You don't want to get caught up in a place like this."

Poppy nodded in understanding. "Well, I'm glad you're ok." She held out her hand. "Do you need any help?"

He shook his head. "No, no. I'll be alright getting my way home. Not the first time this has happened and probably won't be the last before I leave."

"Alright. Be careful on your journey now.''

Hattie looked at the long shadow pertruding from Poppy and the yellow eyes blinking up from the ground. "Why didn't you do anything?"

"You ever heard the metaphor hell have no fury like a woman's scorn?" The raspy voice of Snatcher asked the child and Hattie shook her head. "Well it means a woman's anger is something you don't want to get the reveiving end of, Kid. And that saying happens to apply to this situation."

Poppy continued to stand there and waved the little old man good bye with a smile on her face sighing as a wave of calm came over her and she turned back around to look for the basket. She found it on the ground by Bow, who had been standing there watching the whole thing with one hand on the basket's handle patiently waiting for her. Poppy still smiling walked over and reached down to pick up the basket from Bow and pat her on the head...When another shadow fell over her. Poppy paused seeing the long shadow come over her. The head of the shadow was pointy and had a wide brim obviously some kind of hat and Poppy looked up towards the maker of the shadow over her, blinking at the sun's gleam blocking her veiw of the smiling pink wearing woman right in front of her.

"Well, well. Is THIS the famous woman he spoke of?," asked an obviously female voice.

"HAZELLE!?", Snatcher suddenly blurted out in shock blinking his yellow eyes out from the shadows....And immediately wanted to punch himself when the witch's copper orange eyes shifted their gaze over to the ghost attached to Poppy's shadow laying on the ground. But it was too late to stop the smug look on the witch's face as she seemed to quickly putt two and two together right in front of him.

"Well, I guess so! Hello, Snatchy.~ Fancy seeing you out here in broad daylight. Was the forest finally too gloomy for your tastes?," she asked in a calm manor that made the ghost growl.

"YOU WISH, WITCH!! WHAT THE PECK ARE YOU DOING HERE-" His question was answered immediately.

"TIMMY!!"

Hattie and Bow had run up to a small boy who looked maybe one or two years older than them in a hug and Poppy slowly stood up staring at the new comers to the party, the boy(Timmy as she heard) hugged his friends back and gave Hattie a friendly shove to her shoulder which she giggled and pushed back playfully. But Poppy still stared at the witch as she went back and forth with the ghost like she did it every day.......A witch?....A REAL WITCH?! Like the kind who rode on brooms, cooked up potions, had black cats, and did magic willy nilly!? HOLY PECK!! And there was one right here right in front of her. Poppy couldn't help but stared wide eyed at her. She didn't look like a typical witch like the tales she was told about. No green skin. No warts or black robes. Nothing. In fact she looked like a regular person. The only way one could really tell she was a witch was the pointy witch hat on her head which was a pink and white color, along with the rest of her clothes. Really bright girly clothing if she said so herself.

"Can't a respectable witch and her apprentice go out and about practicing our trickery spells on all these meatheads?", she replied calmly back. "How was I supposed to know you all would be here too?"

"HMPH! Strange coincidence." Snatcher narrowed his eyes in annoyance with a scowl from her shadow.

"I'm sorry...Who are you?,'' Poppy asked confused to Hazelle.

The witch looked over at her and Poppy had to admit, she was very pretty for a witch. She thought they were all supposed to be ugly old ladies. The witch bowed tipping her hat at Poppy politely. "Oh sorry. How rude of me. My name is Hazel but with an extra L E at the end. Exactly how it's pronounced too! Nice to finally meet the lady behind my dear old friend's-...." She paused giving the scowling ghost a sly smirk. "...'New helper' he spoke about."

"Hazel?....You mean like Witch Hazel?"

Hazelle waved a hand. "Yes, Yes. The famous Witch Hazel. Yada yada. It's an old family name passed down to every man in the family in one form or another, but since the next generation was a girl they just decided to slap an extra L E at the end to add that feminine variation. It's complicated I know."

"Oh wow! I've never met a real witch before!" Poppy gawked wide eyed like a puppy. "Can you really do magic?!"

"Absolutely. But I don't think you've told me your name, Miss."

.....Poppy blinked. "OH!! Oh. How rude of me!" She smiled and stuck out a hand in polite greeting. "Howdy! Mah name's Poppy. Poppy Rose Bloomington! Nice ta meet ya!"

Hazelle smiled and shook her head besides Snatcher's grumbles before turning her head over and to the ground and the groaning mafia man on the ground raising a brow. "Well I must say, Ms. Bloomington, you really did a number on those goons. I like your style."

Poppy chuckled nervously and reached her free hand to rub her neck. "Well...I couldn't just let stand by and let them push around that poor old man could I?"

"What a coincidence! Timmy and I were just about to try out his new slime rain summoning on them! But then he noticed his little friends over there and stopped to watch the fireworks." She nodded her head over towards the children moving towards them.

"Timmy?," Poppy asked looking down to the little boy with strange blue markings on his face and a brown cap on his head. "Oh. Is this your son?" She flinched when Hazelle suddenly released a few high pitched giggles.

"Him? Oh no! It may look like it at first glance, but in reality I'm more of a teacher. He IS my apprentice after all. Gotta make sure those magical powers of his develope properly."

"Oh." Poppy looked down to the young boy smiling up at her and she smiled back. "Hello, there lil guy!"

He reached over to her and she blinked in surprise when he grabbed her hand and pulling his hat off his head before kissing the back of her hand like a gentlemen. Before smiling back up at her again. "Hello, Ma'am. A pleasure to make your aquiantance."

SNatcher all but bristled in sudden anger behind her and Poppy giggled at the adorable sight. "Well aren't ya a lil gentleman? Such nice manners!"

"Yes, Ma'am. My father taught me everything I know," Timmy said proudly letting go of her hand and placing his hat back on his head.

"Well he must be quite the gentlemen too raising such a polite young man."

Hazelle smirked again. "OH! Moonjumper's quite the nice and friendly guy. I'm sure he'd just LOVE to meet you too-'

"DON'T YOU HAVE PECKING HOCUS POCUS TO FILL YOUR HEADS WITH?!," Snatcher demanded in an angry voice already sick and tired of this ridiculous encounter.

"Oh. I guess you're right," Hazelle smiled down at Snatcher with a wink and turned. "Then I'll chat with you later, Snatchy dear.~ See you back in the forest." Throwing a look over her shoulder she tossed Poppy a smile and motioned for Timmy to follow her. "And I'll definately be seeing YOU later too, Red head. "

Snatcher growled as she left with Timmy trotting after her, and could feel anger oozing off of him like a building volcano would. He WOULD talk with Hazelle later, and she was NOT about to go flapping her gums to Moonboy and blow his cover!!!!

"You have a witch friend?," Poppy asked looking down to the shadow curiously waving bye and he growled.

"Unfortunately!.....She has her uses with her magic and potions, but she has absolute foolish behavior when it comes to personal boundaries," he huffed, "Are we done here? We better leave."

Poppy just rolled her eyes but agreed with Snatcher it was probably better to go before they all got in more trouble. Considering what she saw with the poor old man and the unreasonable prices in her opinion, She figured it was better to leave while the getting was good. Beckoning the girls behind her, Poppy turned and started walking off back towards the way they came, leaving the man she flipped who was just now starting to push himself up. It'd be easier if Snatcher took them back the way they came right? While walking she thought she saw some of the men looking over at her when they passed but they quickly looked away when she snapped them a glare that could crack a diamond. She guessed the fella who ran off gossiped about what just happened to his pal by the water fountain, ok. Not that she cared. Let it serve as a warning to anyone else if they tried any funny business now. The small group went back the way they came. Back down the cobblestone path onto the docks and slowly making their way across it, some men on the docks still unloading some shipment from the ships there. Poppy took a glance or two at the ocean and admired the pretty blue scene. One mafia man walked out of the seafood cafe with a frowning face and turned in their direction. Absolutely freezing once he saw Poppy calmly walking along admiring the ocean, and his eyes became wide with fear.

"B-BOSS!! SCARY LADY IS AFTER MAFIA!! HELP!!," The man yelled at the top of his lungs before running back through the open doors of said resteraunt slamming it behind him with a bang.

......

.......

"So. We meet again Kid With The Hat!"

#ABloomInTime #snatcher x florist #Snatcher x the florist #the florist x snatcher #florist x snatcher #A hat in time the florist #A hat in time the florist x snatcher #a hat in time florist #A hat in time florist x snatcher #A hat in time snatcher x florist #a hat in time snatcher x the florist #a hat in time snatcher #Snatcher #The Florist #florist #flowercrown

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jeninthegarden · 5 years

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2019 Seed List

Yes, I already bought everything. No dithering this year. But the seed catalogues keep coming. Must resist buying anything more.

I feel like this is a very modest seed list compared to some years. It feels plausible, and sufficient. Okay, I got a little crazy with the broccoli. But otherwise I feel I was very restrained. I did not buy any herb or flower seeds because I usually just pick those up as plants in the local nursery.

Legumes:

Peas – “Lincoln”, from Park Seed is a standard, heat tolerant, high yielding pea variety I have grown before and saved seeds for five years successively. Park Seed’s “Sugar Sprint” is an extra early, extended harvest variety that can be planted spring and fall.

Runner beans- So, I have successfully grown scarlet and emperor runner beans which are red flowering. And I have grown painted lady which is candycane stripe flowering, but this time I am trying a hybrid white flowering from Park Seeds called “Stardust” – “a cross of a succulent, tender French dwarf bean with a robust, vigorous runner! The result of many years of breeding, Stardust delivers generous yields of huge, delectable foot-long pods on handsome climbing plants.”

Bush beans- Park Seed’s “Velour” is a compact, bush-habit plant, very heavy-bearing bright purple, stringless pods over a long season.

Fruits:

Tomatoes – Going with Park Seeds because they offer smaller seed packs so you can grow a greater variety: Black Krim, Big Rainbow, Mortgage Lifter, Purple Cherokee, San Marzano paste, Giant paste

Corn – Why? It never works out. But I cannot resist the 3 sisters method of planting corn beans and squash together. So this year I am trying Burpee’s Maple Candy sweet corn. I don’t have high expectations about producing muck corn, but, the beans need something to climb so why not.

Eggplant – Hold my horses! I get fixated on all the different types of eggplant I could grow BUT: the Thai green and berry, Louisiana long green and Indian brown need more heat than we get; the Turkish orange variety are too bitter; the Israeli baladi purse eggplant don’t germinate well; the ghost white are bland, as are the rose pink. I need to grow standard black for roasting, and Japanese long for stir fry and grilling. So I am going with a Terratorial Seed’s traditional Italian black eggplant that fruits prolifically over 3 months, and the “millionaire” variety that is a long, black Japanese variety.

Pepper – I’m just really over bell peppers. Last year they were copious but got sunburned and rotted because I just didn’t pick them. I find myself buying bags of small, sweet red and yellow peppers, so maybe I will try growing small sweet mixes. I am going to try some hybrid sweet/hot varieties. Mix/match 3 pack of plants: sweet/spicy jalapeno, sweet/smoky cayenne, and sweet/fruity habanero from Burpee.

Zucchini – one zucchini plant will feed a family of four for a year. Everyone fixates on baby zucchinis and despises the baseball bat sized. I really love eating the blossoms, but since I bought the vegetable spiral cutter, I find that a nice, midsized (10 inches long and 3 inches diameter) zucchini has starchier flesh and makes superior vegetable noodles either spiral cut like spaghetti or thin sliced ribbons for lasagna or raviolis. They also make much creamier zucchini fries. Burpee fordhook heirloom is an excellent staple, but the Burpee’s Sure Thing variety really does well with less sun, and is very resistant to powdery mildew so I’m going with that one.

Cucumber-these are like peas, there are never enough of them. They make wonderful pickles, salads, soups, cocktails. They taste great with lemon, watermelon, cabbage, vodka, lemonade, tomatoes, salt, sugar, sour cream, onions, feta cheese, smoked salmon, crab, and caviar. This year I am trying Territorial Seed’s “Bushy” pickling gerkin because it is early fruiting and compact bush vining to save space.

Melon- need something that will grow fast. I can’t trust the summer to be hot enough long enough, so I focus on varieties that grow in the northern plains or Canada. However, Burpee has developed a cantaloupe they say is mango-flavored, so I’m going to give it a try.

Pumpkin- I am beyond jack-o-lanterns. I really want to grow pumpkins I can eat. They are so healthy for you and you get more meat per fruit than you do from sweet potatoes. Roast pumpkin like squash (it IS squash), dice it into wild rice pilaf, mash it like sweet potato, mix it into bread, pasta, pancakes, waffles. I am going with Burpee’s Cherokee bush pumpkin – shorter vines and more pumpkins, dry, yellow meat good for baking. (But I still have some Dill's Altantic Giant seeds left from last year and it would be a shame not to plant them...)

Squash: I know the bush pumpkins and bushy cucumbers, and the mango melons are good enough for the three sisters planting, but I really like delecata squash so I am going to try Territorial Seed’s “Honeybush” which is a little larger and more tan color than a standard delecata.

Okra – Burpee’s “Okra Go Big”, I have recently learned that I really like okra blistered and dipped in chili salt and humus. And, a member of the local garden club grew two big bushes of it last season. This is a seven foot tall bush okra, so I’m jumping into the first attempt at growing okra in a big way.

Roots:

Radish- why, why try again? I am obsessed with the giant varieties I have tasted at the farmer’s market. Black Spanish radishes stuffed with clams oreganata, watermelon daikon thin sliced and wrapped like mini tacos around roast duck. I have selected Territorial Seed’s Watermelon daikon (very crisp, large and sweet) and Spanish black radish (very large, firm and spicy like horseradish).

Beets- they are such a staple, so versatile, but taste so good with goat cheese. I also like them pickled. One of my biggest mistakes with beets is that I don’t thin them ruthlessly enough, even though I really like the greens. (Um, so how about planting tape, Jen? Nah, too complicated. Um, they sell it with the seeds already stuck to it at the right intervals, Jen…Nope, not doing it.) So this year I have chosen Territorial Seed’s cylindrical beets because they are more carrot shaped and don’t need to be thinned as much.

Turnip- they are soooo delicious pickled I like them better than pickles. They can also be mashed like mashed potatoes, with horseradish and scallions. But I get a little crazed about the tops, because those are really tasty too. So this year I am being very extravagant and growing both Park Seed’s standard purple top white globe which is a national standard turnip grown in spring or fall and Park Seed’s Alamo hybrid that produce big greens with rapid regrowth for multiple harvests, and is bolt resistant.

Carrot- we eat lots of carrots. I have to say the yellow varieties are really the sweetest. But Dan likes the heavy orange stew carrots for cooking. So I’m going with Park Seed’s rainbow mix, six inch regular season carrots and Park Seed’s sow all season big Nantes type orange carrot

Not going to try celeriac again. And I am not growing rutabaga either. The burdock went to seed last fall so that is already sown – I am not growing it, but I will certainly harvest it. I might transplant some to the new bed by the west wall since it is a weed and I don’t care if the deer eat it. Similarly, I have salsify and scorzonera seeds left over, and they are actually perennials that bloom, so I might plant them in clumps by the west wall.

Potatoes- a root? Not really (not according to crop rotation charts), but it grows below ground, or it should. I’ve been dithering about with grow buckets the last 4 years with limited success while they’ve been thriving in random spots where they’ve been composted, so this year they go back in the ground. I like the purple potatoes best, but I’m going to do the red white and blue mix: Yukon gold, Colorado Red and Purple Viking.

Greens:

Orach: deep magenta, slightly velvety, spade shaped leaves on an 18 inch stalk. It tastes like spinach but takes up less space and looks stunning in salad.

Claytonia: It is a succulent green that looks like a bouquet of little lily pads. “This annual green is high in vitamin C, and native to many moist areas of the country. The leaves are rather heart-shaped, and provide a substantial addition to salads and sandwiches. Probably the most cold tolerant of the greens, Miner's Lettuce will grow year-round in the cloche, greenhouse, or even unprotected in the maritime Northwest. Quickly regrows after harvest.”

Lettuce: romaine lettuce, of course. But I saw a lovely pale pink variety in the store and I can’t find seeds anywhere, so I am going with a good sturdy standard from Territorial Seed, “Winter Density” early growing, compact but round head – not the “Eiffle Tower” tall and pointy stull you buy in the store.

Escarole: My new favorite green for braising and for making green crisp chips. I’ve stopped throwing it into soup and started cooking it as a side dish. It is also nice in stuffed pork chops, or wrapped around chicken breast. Park Seeds has a tight, lettuce head looking escarole that is thick steamed but compact and space saving.

Chard: Burpee’s “Bright Lights” rainbow colored chard. Again, the fordhook is very good and reliable, but I like the colored variety better.

Arugula: standard roquette, large, round heading plant, fully flavor, cold hardy. Nothing fancy about this one. It goes to seed, prolifically in the fall, but also winters over for a second year. And I’ll be able to save seeds and replant for several years.

Spinach: Burpee’s Space hybrid is a 3 season spinach that is long growing and slow bolting.

Brassica:

Cabbage: I love cabbages. I get poetic about them. The chickens love cabbages too. This year I am focused on something that will “hold in the field” through the fall. So this year I am planting Territorial Seed’s “January King” green, slightly flattened with burgundy markings on the wrapper leaves of 3-5 pound heads.

Portuguese kale: Tronchuda Beira from Burpee is enormous with 24 inch leaves, and sweeter than most kale. Very heat tolerant.

Cauliflower: looking for the earliest harvesting type of white cauliflower. The orange cauliflower tastes like squash and the purple variety like beets. I want just plain white, small, numerous heads. Going with Territorial Seed’s “Snow Crown”. “Always mild and sweet. Its hybrid vigor and rapid growth make it one of the easiest to grow of all early cauliflower varieties. It forms fully domed curds in heads 7-8 inches across, weighing 1-2 pounds. This variety maintains its prime eating quality for up to 10 days in the garden. May manifest a delicate pink blush when maturing in the hotter parts of summer.”

Collards: Portuguese kale looks a lot like collards, but collards taste like collards and are much cold hardier. So I am focusing on collards that are really late maturing, so they won’t overlap with the Portuguese kale. Territorial Seeds “Flash” is fast growing and re-growing, and a little more compact and upright to withstand snow. We’ll see if we can grow it early and late.

Broccoli: Again, somebody hold my horses! I’m going overboard on the broccoli. Trying Territorial Seed’s three hybrid sprouting broccolis for 4 seasons of this vegetable-

Spring/Summer: Aspabroc: “This gourmet quality baby broccoli or broccolini produces tender, delicious, elongated stems topped with small, domed, 2 1/2 inch florets. After the initial central stem is cut, the plants continue developing side shoots for repeated cuttings. Aspabroc has a nice, upright habit that lends itself to tight plantings.”

Summer/Fall: Rudolph: “Enjoy fresh broccoli for the December holidays with this winter sprouting variety. Rudolph is an English favorite because it is ready for harvest long before the other sprouting broccoli. Can be planted in mid-July, to produce an abundance of full flavored spears by mid-December.”

Fall/Winter: Rioja: “Bred to overwinter and slide into a late February to March harvest window when fresh food from the garden is scarce. A productive, bright purple sprouting broccoli. Vigorous plants reach about 24-28 inches tall with easy-to-pick heads.”

And, because they seem to go with the brassicas in planting rotations, the alums.

Leek: Have to have leeks for the Leeky Dance. Going with the standard “Lancelot” from Territorial Seed.

Onion: The gourmet mix of red and white Cipollini onions, from Territorial Seed.

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abloomntime · 4 years

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A Bloom In Time Ch27