The woman who approached Sam on the sidewalk outside Java Joe’s Joint was nearing sixty and wore a soft cotton pastel yellow skirt, blue top and earthy sandals. She carried a cloth drawstring bag. Her all-gray hair hung in waves to her shoulders, with a strand on either side pinned back from her face with glittery tiny clips. She looked more earth-child than conjurer. Mary seemed a little more wary of Sam than Sam was of her. They decided on a booth at the back of the room. Java Joe didn’t seem the least bit put out that both women ordered tea. He went behind the bar and came back with a small pot for each of them. “You’re the lady who owns that adorable pastry shop near the plaza, aren’t you?” Mary said after they’d established a little common ground. “I love that place, especially those chocolates you sell around Christmas.” Who knew a witch could also be a chocolate fanatic? Sam wasn’t about to tell the woman that the chocolates, first introduced to the shop by an odd Romanian chocolatier who had shown up to offer his services, seemed to have an addictive effect on most everyone.
