Fiction: The Helper Witch

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by Sean Jeating and are hosted at River's blog here. This week's prompts are: children, couple, emancipated, fun, idyll and/or happen, just, moment, peaceful, things. 
    The aim of Words for Wednesday is to use one or all of the prompts to write something - ie, a story, a poem, an essay or any forms of writing, fiction or nonfiction, basically write anything you want.

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Fiction: The Helper Witch 
Lucia was emancipated from her parents, husband, siblings, friends and yet, her life was not idyll nor peaceful. Doing everything herself was something she had never done before but she was willing. When she brought the broken down house, she had hoped to turn it into a bed and breakfast to maybe make a living and restart her life without everybody interfering. About a year into the renovation, she broke her leg and all her plans went kaput. 
    That fateful night, Lucia was just tidying up the livingroom after the workers had finished for the day when one of the scaffolds collapsed on her. It took four painful minutes before she mustered the will to call which ended in a shouting match with one surly building contractor before she was taken to the hospital.
    When she was comfortably all set up and ready to go home, her ex-husband, Dan, showed up and demanded how she hurt herself. She glared at him until he left. They were no longer a couple and Lucia didn't care to be his obedient wife anymore. 
    A few hours later, Lucia was home lying on the couch and flickering through the channels on her television which sat on a tiny table because they delivered the small instead of the large, an commercial for domestic helpers appeared. "I wish there is a helper for me, someone with magic and a sunny deposition," she said to no one. She giggled which she contributed to painkillers. After a while, she fell asleep watching a run of the children's show My Friend Flicka.
    When Lucia opened her eyes, there was an old woman smiling down at her. She scrambled to a sitting position but was stopped by the cast on her leg. "Who are you?" she said. Then she had another thought. "How did you get in?" After the taxi dropped her off, she was groggy so she might had forgot to lock the front door.  
    "Hello, my name is Gwendolyn Gray but you may call me Goldie. I'm your new helper witch." She was holding a broom in one hand and a large, black zipper tote bag in the other.
    "Witch? What do you mean?" asked Lucia. 
    "Oh, it's just a title, dear." The woman's face had faint lines and her smile was like someone's grandmother - friendly and cheerful. She was thin but tall with her gray hair gathered into a bob. Her gray mandarin collar dress was set off by a white apron with two pockets. "My bones need rest. In exchange for a few month's stay, I'll help you finish the house. I'll give you a few winks to think it over. Allow me to sit and rest my feet." The old woman sat down on the rocking chair that Lucia was sure had been upstairs.
    In her forty-two years, Lucia had learned no one ever did her a favor unless they wanted something in return. But she was tired of the workers and their delays and messes and the extra expenses that kept popping up. Breaking her leg had pushed her patience and enraged her enough to fire the contractor and the workers.
    Her parents, siblings, friends all disapproved of her divorcing Dan so she couldn't call on them for help. She heard them made fun of her inability to keep a husband.
    Besides, she reasoned, what harm would it do? She had already lost hope of finishing the house and had even thought of selling it, moving to a rental and getting a desk job. She needed tea to think.
    Lucia must had taken too long because Goldie was offering her a hot cup of chamomile tea. Lucia wondered where Goldie found the cups as the workers kept moving everything around and didn't tell her where. The tea soothed some of the friction in her head and gave her courage to make a decision.

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Life was almost easy since Goldie insisted Lucia did nothing but rest and make the occasional decisions. Most of the time, Lucia was taking naps in one of the upstairs room. Sometimes in her sleepy state, she thought she saw Goldie flying on her broom and dusting the ceiling or moving furniture and things with a wave of her hand. Then there were strange men, sometimes four-feet tall and sometimes over eight feet tall, holding tools and passing by her. And she hardly heard any construction noise but these all might be due to the painkillers that kept her insensible to the everything.
    After six months, Goldie announced all was done and her bones had rested enough.
    On Goldie's last day, Lucia cooked her a grand meal. The cast on her leg was off and she was in good spirit thanks to Goldie's caretaking. The old woman cooked as well as she brewed tea and even taught Lucia some tai chi. Goldie had so much knowledge, Lucia had wished she would stay longer. But Goldie was a nomad and she said staying in one place make her bones disquieted.
    After the meal, Lucia bade the woman farewell by the front gate. Just when she turned to walk back, she thought she glimpsed Goldie flying off on her broom toward the night sky but the thought was quickly erased from her mind when she saw her new house. For the whole renovation, Lucia had been indoor and had not even one glance out the window. In the near-darkness, she noted the single turret on the left, the low wall, the  balcony, the arched windows with latticework, the quoining patterns at the corners - seeing all that, a glee filled her.
    The front lawn was well trimmed with some roses on the left and right side. The wooden French doors with glass panels with floral iron scrollworks were framed by two globe sconces. And before she opened the door, she noted the codelock. Once inside, the head bolt and foot bolt surprised her. Beside the door, on the small table, were the keys and a note from Goldie with the codes and some kind advices. Goldie's thoughtfulness didn't surprise Lucia.
    When Lucia went down to the basement, she was delighted to how spacious it was since it was to be her living space. Back upstairs and up the semi-spiral staircase that turned clockwise, the four bedrooms and the two bathrooms were moderately decorated. In the hall, there was a second semi-spiral staircase that led up to the roof with a pathway where she could sit and have tea and a small alcove in the turret where a stairwell led to another enclosed roof. Already, one of her plants was there. Back downstairs, the kitchen had the usual modern appliances and porcelain countertops. All Lucia's dishware and cooking essentials were properly stored.
    In the backyard, the porch had a swinging couch. A low wall surrounded the large space with an Eastern Red Cedar off center and a seating area beneath. Rows of globe string lights lilluminated the yard. She returned inside and moments later, came out with a hot cup of tea and sat down to enjoy the view and her new home.