Florida, Oddly Enough

 

The beginning of a tale of a haunted fan. Or merely fan induced dreams...

The fan is Spanish and over a hundred years old.  No one knew how aunt Dot came by it originally, but it was amongst the things that were carted out of her old house in Raleigh and given away to relatives after she died. The fan arrived in its display case, mounted on blue velvet, along with a solid cherry wood cabinet in the shape of a four leaf clover. Betty had proclaimed the fan ghastly, but her daughter, Millie, who liked old and even grotesque things decided to keep it. Finding a spot for it was difficult. The case was deeper than seemed necessary for the fragile silk and gold leaf fan. She thought of taking it out and displaying it in another way, but she had many other tasks going on during that period of time and she left it where it was in the case and put it on top of the cedar chest in her bedroom to think about, later. 

A few months had gone by and Millie and her mother had lunch one Saturday at their favorite spot for lunches. Millie told her mom she hadn't been sleeping well, and thought it was because she was studying and not eating on a regular schedule. Or maybe she needed different vitamins, or to have a better bedtime ritual and drink less coffee. Her mom mentioned she had refinished the four leaf clover cabinet, and it reminded Millie that she hadn't decided where to put the fan. "Where do you think I should hang it?" she asked her mom. "Out in the alley" her mom replied. "You're no help, mom. Well, until I decide, maybe I'll just hang it as it is." When she got home she found a spot above a bookcase. Not ideal, but it fit and wouldn't jut out and possibly be knocked off the wall.

That night, Millie dreamed of a landscape.  It was not a place she'd been before. It was beautiful, it felt different, alive in a direct sun drenched way, and of another time. She felt excited by it, and when she started to wake up from this dream, she pulled her covers up tighter around her neck, sunk into her pillow, and drifted back into the dream. She needed to go back to that place. When she awoke two hours later she was surprised to feel refreshed and energized. Going downstairs she looked up at the fan, and thought she really wasn't happy with it there, but at least she could look at it, now, which might help her get ideas of where to put it.