Crossroads

Dusk fell upon the place known to some as the Age of Always. The moon began to rise as Heather Jones took a reticent large adult lion out for an evening stroll and to litter tray, as Randall Flagg had put it. He wasn't about to go around scooping lion dung. A master sorcerer he may be no longer, but he most certainly was not a freelance zoo keeper. At his instruction, Heather stayed within view of the humble cabin she found herself sharing with her best friends and perhaps formerly worst enemy in the world. Well, that was a matter still up for debate, wasn’t it?

Heather heard a growl, not of a lion but of an engine. Then Big Purr immediately moved to her side, neither of them knowing what the road might bring.

“It’s okay Kitty”

Heather found herself reassuring both of them

“If it’s on the road it can’t hurt us”

From an as-yet unseen crossroads appeared a sleek black car. The first and only motorised conveyance Heather had seen in this realm. Between the glare of the quad headlights, she saw to her surprise an American licence plate. Louisiana The Bayou State 1977 it proclaimed in red embossed letters around the plate. Cherise was written in place of a licence number.

A casually dressed woman had exited the car, and sat on the fender of the vehicle with a large ledger-like leather-bound book in her hands. It looked to be like one of the old map books or atlases from the library. It read Atlas Obscurus in gold leaf on the front cover. Naturally, this was the wrong way round but Heather could make it out.

She wore a fitted black T-shirt with a large Alligator on it, a leather mini skirt, with an elaborate goth-looking metal belt over ripped tights. With practical boots with a minimal heel. She looked as if she had stepped from the front of one of Cher’s album covers and Heather wracked her brains as to which literary character resembled Cher. She certainly appeared to come from the same era Heather did.

“Salut Mon Enfant and Panthera Leo”

The woman spoke partly in perfect French. Also Latin. Well, as perfect as Heather had ever heard it in Mountain Maryland.

“H-Hello”

All thoughts of her language lessons had left her mind.

“W-w-what are you doing here? May I ask?”

The woman smiled at her over the book with a smile that seemed genuine.

“Just surveying the road, this area has been closed off for some time. It’s my Job sort of an inherited obsession, crossroads and the like”

She was illuminated all of a sudden in the moonlight, as she snapped the tome closed and balanced it on the rounded hood of the car.

“Who are you? If you’re from a book I'm afraid I’ve not read it.”

Heather admitted and the woman still smiled that disarming smile.

“Very astute. This form isn’t really in fiction. Though I have been written about in countless books as I can take on many forms. Though I can tell you this is who I am now, and you may address me as Cherise.”

Heather almost instinctively stuck out a hand to shake her hand. Kitty gave her a somewhat disapproving look though he said nothing.

A shape changer that could be very very bad.

“You are not the Queen of this land?”

She enquired

“Non, I am French by way of Louisiana. We have a habit of putting our monarchs to the guillotine. Some say I am a little bit beyond royalty.”

This conversation made little sense but the woman spoke with a confidence which was somewhat reassuring. Even If she was still incredibly mysterious.

“Oh”

Heather replied

“Well, Randall Flagg will be expecting us back soon.”

She continued, partially wondering what this woman made of Flagg.

“It is heartwarming to see him being your tutor and caretaker, I was hoping I might encounter you.”

Cherise openly admitted. Heather was taken aback somewhat. From what little she knew of this place everyone had their own agenda.

“la famille est le plus important”

Cherise continued. Yes Family was the most important thing whether it be biological or found.

“I am not sure I would be the person I am today without my partner, our twins, and my granddaughter. She is a piece older than you.”

It was very curious to meet a person here talking about their kids. Perhaps that’s because the only adult she had talked to was Flagg. He really didn’t seem like the type to have children, as his inexperience with herself and her friends had shown.

“I should be heading back”

Heather admitted imagining Flagg pacing the porch worried. Yet another new aspect of his personality.

“Even though time has little meaning here I must be going back to The Parish.”

Cherise paused and withdrew a small leatherbound journal from the door pocket of the car.
Heather's mind was full of questions about exactly what or where this Parish place was. Which world was it in? Yet she held her tongue

“In case you need me, you can summon me at a crossroads with the information in here. Anything, anywhere, anytime”

She held it and tapped the cover

Dupont Petrochemicals 1990 Jornal was in gold leaf on the expensive leather-like cover.

The book vanished from her hand and appeared at Heather’s feet off the road. Impossible!

Kitty jumped in fright. Heather half expects him to say “Sufferin' succotash!" like Silvester the cat in Looney Tunes.

“Sois claim, grand chat”

Cherise still smiled, unwaveringly. Heather looked at the journal at her feet. Trying to contain her own astonishment. This woman was not bound by the rules here, was she?

The black car started up again, and a song Heather recalled hearing in The Paperback Exchange back at home in Garette began to play;

When I look out my window

Many sights to see

And when I look in my window

So many different people to be

They're strange, so strange

It's very strange to me

A Witch? No the Witch. But not from Narnia or from Oz. Seemingly from an Earth not too dissimilar to the one she had left.
The Moon. A Crossroads. Maiden, Mother, Crone suddenly came to Heather's mind, as she made the connections. Had she just had an encounter with The Greek Goddess Hekate?

Heather carefully collected the notebook. Not yet daring to open it and discover any potential revelations written within. Kitty happily scampered back to the relative safety of the cabin. Seemingly less concerned with the mouse infestation he had been obsessed with. The car disappeared as if into the void itself.

“Votre avenir est ce que vous en faites. Alors fais-en une bonne”

Was the curious parting advice that Cherise offered her, as she threw the car into gear and sped off who knows where.