The FInal Bargain, a Short Story

The cryptic message in her hand was personal enough that she knew she had to take it seriously. Her face grew an angry red and sharp needles poked at the back of her neck as she reread it.

Carmelita Morales knew the threat was real. Now she had to decide how to handle it, without risking her family. She had to react quickly as the meeting was set a half hour from now.

Passed down through her family the recipes had been shared from one generation to the other. This fact more than anything forced her to make her decision. She slowly crossed the room to her desk, sat down at the computer and pulled up the recipes. Of course, the real recipe she was looking for was not there. Parts of the components were removed to protect them from being stolen.

Thieves tried that already, so two ingredients were inside her head. After altering the material on the screen she printed it out, folded the paper carefully, and put it in her purse.

She walked reluctantly down the street, arriving just minutes before the deadline. She knew what the man would look like. She saw him up ahead. He paced back and forth, checking his watch at the corner of Main and Third.

When he recognized her, he grinned.

"It's about time. I figured you weren't going to show up." An evil smile crossed his swarthy face. "We'd have had to take certain measures to encourage you if you hadn't. I was sort of looking forward to that."

Carmelita knew he wasn't Hispanic like herself, but a Gringo. He probably didn't know as much about her, as he thought he did or he wouldn't have threatened her.

"This will destroy my restaurant. You know that don't you?" she asked.

"Who cares!" he said poking his right hand out waiting for the information. "Give it to me!"

She removed the paper from her handbag and passed it to him. "I care!"

He nodded and laughed. "That's too bad, isn't it? But you were smart to agreed."

He waited for a reply, but she said nothing just stood there glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

I can not believe I'm doing this, Carmelita thought. Then she reminded herself she had no choice.

He turned, waved at her and said sarcastically, "Bye!"

She quickly walked back to her home. There would be time for regrets later, now she wanted to be sure everything would go as planned.

Carmelita opened a tiny cabinet reached inside it and lifted out a vase. Beneath it was a fake bottom with a door in it. She lifted that and extracted a small crystal ball, that sat upon a pewter base. The base of it was surrounded with strange looking gargoyles and animals. Running her hands across it surface she spoke some magic words

As soon as she gave her incantation, a picture of the man she had met appeared. He was entering a room, laughing, and happily telling a woman of his victory. "It was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. She was scared to death."

The woman hugged him, took the paper, read it and they headed outside.

Carmelita had at first been upset by the threatening note, then she decided to see who was behind it. She looked into the globe to see who had threatened her. Here she saw the couple's home and surroundings.

Now, once again she sat staring into the globe. She watched as the same couple headed into their garden, cutting some greens from several places in their vegetable patch. They continued into the flower garden where they carefully plucked some seeds from a flowering plant.

Ah yes, Carmelita thought, they are anxious to duplicate our famous salad. Then she felt a deep sense of regret and sadness. I might be a' bruja',(A Spanish witch) but until now I've never used witchcraft to harm anyone. She felt terrible about giving them that recipe knowing it would bring them harm.

The crystal ball filled with smoke now they faded from sight, and she couldn't see anything else.

As she strained to see into the globe the tears fell from Carmelita's eyes. "What have I done? What have I done?" She shouted aloud.

A voice from behind her startled her.

It was her Aunt Paulita who suddenly materialized. She had been about Carmelita's age when she died and appeared to Carmelita often when trouble confronted her. She had inherited Paulita's globe.

"Peace, my child. We do what we have to when the family is threatened." She placed her hand on the younger woman's shoulder and patted her. "You did not make them pick the greens, or the seeds, nor eat that salad. If they had not tried to harm others, this would not have happened." The old Aunt continued, "Those who threaten others always receive want they earn. Evil begets evil. No one will find your recipe, it no longer exist. Go on with your life and treasure your children."

Then the old lady vanished. Carmelita looked for the original message. It was gone too. It was as if she had dreamed the whole thing.

The next morning in the paper, Carmelite noticed a picture of the man who had taken her recipe. The article mentioned, 'A married couple named John and Lettie Stuttle who perished in a mysterious fire on Fourth Avenue. The couple had only been in the area for about six months. A warrant issued for their arrest early yesterday said they were wanted in Michigan for murdering a family of three people and then setting their house on fire to cover up the deaths.'

Strangely enough, Carmelite thought about the strange words she had heard so often. What was it people always said, "What you sew so shall you reap; They who live by the sword dies by the sword; What goes around comes around." Seems there is truth in those old axioms after all.

She no longer felt guilty.