"To your first sale!" Erin stated as she raised her wine glass. Then after a sip she added, "The first of many!"

I blushed, but I also couldn't help smiling. I still felt pretty good, and it hadn't even fully sank in yet.

"Thanks Erin. But weren't you going to tell me some of those old stories of yours?" I asked, as I tried to shift the topic to something other than me.

The older woman agreed, "Yes indeed, it's time for the first of my tall tales."

Before she got started she emptied the last of the wine between both our glasses, then set the bottle down at the side of the table. We were both just about finished our dinner, and the food was great. It wasn't the first time I'd been to this restaurant, but it was definitely a rare treat for me.

Then as I enjoyed the last few bites of my filet mignon my boss cautioned me, "Before I get started Vikki, I have to ask you to promise you'll keep everything I say to yourself. This is strictly between you and I, understand?"

"All right Erin," I nodded. "Now you've really got me curious though."

She just smiled and had another sip of her wine, before she began her tale.

"It was the spring of nineteen eighty-seven," my boss explained quietly. "And I was a lot like you. I was your age, I'd been working at Joseph Miller's real estate agency for about a year as a secretary-slash-office assistant before I became an agent. My first few sales were fairly mundane and by the book, until one day when a pair of young women arranged a meeting with me."

After another sip of wine she continued, "They looked to be the same age as me, mid-twenties. One blonde, one brunette. They introduced themselves as Julie and Tanya Underwood, and claimed to be sisters. Although it was fairly obvious to me that their relationship was rather more intimate than that."

"This was long before same-sex marriage was legal mind you," she added quietly. "And as you know, a lot of people still get bent out of shape over the fact that some folks love who they love. So you got a lot of that 'close friends' or 'housemates' nonsense, like what Sherry and I had to put up with for almost two decades before we could finally tie the knot. Or in the case of Tanya and Julie, they said they were sisters even though it was fairly obvious to me they were actually a couple."

Then she got back to the story again, "Anyways Tanya and Julie were looking for your typical starter-home, the sort of place where a young couple could raise a family. They wanted a nice neighbourhood, other young families around, local schools, access to parks or green spaces, you know what I'm talking about."

I nodded quietly as I had another sip of my wine.

"So I had just the place in mind," Erin continued with her story. "It was a little three-bedroom single-family property. Less than a decade old, nice backyard, part of a newish subdivision that went up in the late seventies or early eighties. The seller was the original owner of the place but his work relocated him out west so he had to pack up his family and move. The place had just come on the market, it was exclusive to my boss's firm, and I knew it would be perfect for the Underwoods."

After a pause for some wine she went on, "I drove them over there and gave them the tour, and by the time I'd finished showing them the property their minds were made up. They wanted to buy it right then and there. They were impatient to seal the deal, like once they'd made the decision they wanted it all done and finished immediately. Sound familiar?"

"Like Cassandra this afternoon," I grimaced.

"Exactly," Erin nodded. "I hadn't even told them the asking price yet and they were already gung-ho to sign the paperwork. And here's where the first strange thing happened. Tanya claimed they could pay with a certified cheque for the full amount, she even opened her purse as if she she had something ready. But I said we needed to head back to the office to sort out the paperwork first, and I turned to lead them back out to the car. That's when I saw it."

My boss leaned closer and lowered her voice a little more as she told me, "There was a mirror on the opposite wall, and I saw a flash of light in the air, then a cheque appeared in the woman's hand. Neither of them knew I'd seen it happen, they both acted like Tanya got it out of her purse. She handed it to me while I was still trying to grasp what I'd seen. And Vikki, it was a bank-certified cheque for the full asking price of the house. She just conjured it up out of thin air."

I frowned as I shook my head, "You know that's impossible. The flash of light... You said there was a mirror? It could have been sunlight reflected off something. A car passing by outside or something?"

"I know what I saw," Erin stated softly. "And remember Vikki, I hadn't even told them the asking price at that point. They had no way of knowing, no way of coming up with a cheque and getting the bank to certify it in advance."

I still couldn't accept what she was saying. I shrugged, "They could have found out the price some other way. Looked it up online or something."

"This was nineteen eighty-seven," she reminded me. "There was no online. The house had just come on the market, and it wasn't an open listing yet so no other brokers knew about it. And they didn't talk to anyone else at the office, just me."

"So what are you saying Erin? They read your mind, then conjured up a cheque out of nowhere?" I asked in a sceptical tone.

My boss nodded slowly, "That's exactly what I'm saying Vikki."

She drained her glass before continuing, "When we got back to the office I went through the process with them. It was similar to what we do today, except the computer we had back then was a lot slower, and there was a lot more filling things out by hand. And every time I needed some documentation or information, either Tanya or Julie had it ready as if it was prepared in advance. Sometimes they had it in hand before I could even ask. You'd think they had an entire filing cabinet in their purses, and that it was better organized than anything we had at the agency."

That actually sent a little chill down my spine as I remembered thinking the same thing a couple hours earlier, about Cassandra and her backpack.

I finally sighed, "So what do you think was going on?"

Erin had a wistful smile on her face as she shrugged, "At the time? I had no idea what to make of it. Now I know the truth. It was magic Vikki, plain and simple. I'm not talking about sleight-of-hand stage magic where people guess your card then pull a rabbit out of a hat. I mean the real thing. Those women... They had access to powers beyond anything normal folks like you and I can comprehend. I'm not sure they're even human."

"And they're not the only ones like that," she added softly. "I've helped more than my fair share of folks like that find homes in and around town here. You met one of them yourself this afternoon, you helped her buy her first home too."

I shook my head again, "I still can't believe it's magic. What about the cheque? If they somehow conjured it up out of thin air it couldn't have been legitimate."

"I worried about that too at the time," my boss admitted. "Back then things moved a lot more slowly, so despite what they wanted we couldn't complete the deal in one afternoon. But the cheque went into a trust account while their offer went to the seller, and by the time all the paperwork was complete the payment had cleared. The bank honoured it, everything was legit."

She added, "I'm confident that bank draft your client gave you today is as good as gold. Like I said, I don't know what these people are, but I've done business with enough of them to know their money is good."

By that point I wasn't sure what to think, let alone what to say. I sat quietly with a little frown on my face as I thought about everything Erin just told me, and the strange teenage girl I sold a house to this afternoon.

"How can you be sure that Cassandra's... that she's whatever you think these people are?" I asked. "Maybe she's just a strange girl with wealthy parents or a big inheritance?"

Erin smiled as she confessed, "When I wasn't there helping you out, I was back in my office watching on the security camera. I saw her do the same thing, pulling documents out of her backpack as soon as you needed them. But the biggest giveaway was at the end when she left. You watched her go, which way did she turn after she stepped through the door?"

"She went..." my voice trailed off and I frowned again as I thought back.

I could clearly picture the front of the office, we were in the middle unit of a small plaza that faced west onto First Street. There was a little parking lot out front, and stepping out the door you could either turn left or right, or if you were in the parking lot then straight ahead to your car.

After a few seconds I shook my head, "I can't remember. I must have looked away. Or maybe I wasn't paying attention? I don't remember seeing her leave."

"For that matter I don't remember her coming in either?" I added as my frown got a little deeper. "She was just there, and we started talking."

My boss gave me a knowing look as she quietly explained, "You didn't see her go out the door because she didn't. She walked towards it, but she vanished before she reached it. I have a feeling she didn't notice the security camera? Or perhaps she knew it was there but didn't care. Either way if you watch the recording from this afternoon, you'll see what I mean."

I felt another chill go down my spine as I quietly gulped. "Erin this is crazy. This sort of thing... It just doesn't happen. It's not real."

Before she could respond the waiter came by our table to check up on us, and to offer us another bottle of wine.

"I think that's enough wine for tonight," my boss told him. "But I could certainly go for some coffee. And maybe we could see a dessert menu?"

I was still too overwhelmed to respond, apart from nodding when the waiter asked if I was done with my plate. Then he took our dishes away, and returned with a couple dessert menus and another drinks menu with lots of fancy coffee and tea and other after dinner beverages.

Erin was driving so she stuck with just normal coffee, but with her encouragement I ordered mine in the 'Irish' variety. She also convinced me to try some dessert too, so I ordered a small slice of cheesecake with a blueberry compote while she got the creme brûlée.

After the waiter left to take care of that I focused on my boss again and asked quietly, "So the couple you were telling me about, what are they? Did you ever confront them about any of this stuff?"

"No," my boss shook her head.

For the first time since we started talking about this impossible stuff she sounded unsettled, maybe even scared.

"I've never asked, never questioned them," she told me. "I never let on that I know they're not what they appear. Call it superstition, or self-preservation, or plain old paranoia. My grandmother used to tell me stories about strange happenings around town back when she was growing up, and the biggest warning of all was never let them know that you know what they are. Feign ignorance and pretend not to notice."

Her eyes locked on mine as she repeated that, "Promise me Vikki, you won't question or challenge these people. Ok? It's all right to work with them, they keep their word and honour their promises, and their money is as good as any. But when it comes to the strange and unexplained side of things, just look the other way and keep quiet."

"All right Erin," I nodded slowly. "But if it's all a big secret then why are you even telling me this stuff?"

She hesitated for a moment as the waiter returned with our desserts. Then she had a sip of her coffee and waited for him to leave again before replying, "Because when the time comes, I want you to be the one to take over my agency. I see a lot of myself in you Vikki, you have a great deal of potential."

For the next several seconds I didn't know what to say, while my emotions were all over the place. I finally shook my head, "What about Mr. McTavish? He's been with you for at least a decade, and he's been in the industry for almost twenty years now."

"Jason is an adequate agent," my boss responded, "But he's unimaginative and overconfident. I hired him solely to deal with the sort of clients who don't like working with women."

She added, "Imagine if Jason was in the office this afternoon, how would he have handled Cassandra?"

That wasn't hard to picture. I knew he'd have been condescending at best, he'd have talked down to her and treated her like an idiot. Odds are he wouldn't have listened to a word she said, but either way I couldn't imagine him actually selling her a house. Either the teen would have left angry, or she'd have demanded to talk to me or Erin instead.

"Yeah ok," I grimaced. "I get your point. It still seems odd though, I mean I've literally only just made my first sale. I'm not ready to take over."

Erin laughed, "Well I'm not leaving just yet Vikki! I might have another decade in me, but five years at least. Plenty of time for you to gain your confidence and get established. Assuming you're up for it, that is? As I said, clients like the one you had today aren't as rare as you might think. Not around here. If you can handle a little strangeness now and then, you'll do fine."

I tried a forkful of the cheesecake as I thought it over. Then I finally nodded, "Ok Erin. Today was strange, but it wasn't bad. I'm sure they're not all as easy to handle as Cassandra, but I'm willing to give it a shot."

"You said you have more stories right?" I added after another bite of my dessert. "That was just the first one?"

My boss smiled, "I have plenty more, but we'll save them for another occasion. For now let's enjoy the end of our meal."

PurpleCatGirl

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