Just when it seemed like  my life couldn’t get weirder, Sylvie thought. She struggled to make sense of what her mother was telling her.

“But… Mom,” she said finally, “Why are you telling me all this now?”

“I was so desperate after you left. I think I went a little bit crazy,” her mother confessed. “I did something I hadn’t done in many years. I called on Asafel to show me where you were.” Seeing Sylvie’s look, she said, “Asafel is a, I don’t know what you’d call him. A demon, a spirit, a helper, a guide? All I know is, when I ask in a certain way, he comes and tells me what I need to know.

“It must have been Asafel Carl was talking to the night your father… you know,” she said. “I grew up with Asafel and I wanted my children to have his help and guidance too. But George, well… I got afraid and stopped calling on him. Until last week, that is. And Asafel told me you needed to be told. So, that’s why.”

“I don’t get it, Mom. I mean, if this Asafel character was so important to you for so long, how could you give him up for a guy? Even for Dad? Why didn’t you just divorce him? People get divorced all the time for stupider reasons than that!”

Adele sighed. “That’s a very modern attitude, Sylvie, but I’m an old-fashioned woman. I grew up in the bush, and I had very romantic notions as a girl, mostly from books; I read a great deal. But also, I’ve always known that when I married, it would have to be forever. You see, Asafel always cautioned me to be very careful choosing a husband because I’d be stuck with him for life. He told me that…” she hesitated. “If my marriage ever ended, so would my life.”

“What?”

“It was a prediction, a prophecy. And Asafel is always right. He always has been.” She looked at Sylvie pleadingly. “Sylvie, your Dad is a good man. I was careful choosing him. I love him with all my heart. I didn’t know about his phobia, you see. It didn’t really show up until we had children, when things like Santa and the tooth fairy started to become issues. Before that, I was sure he would come around. I really believed it was ignorance talking when he would go on about ‘irrationality’ and ‘superstition’. I kept waiting for the right moment to reveal to him what I could do, to offer it to him as a gift. I was never quite sure what held me back, until…

“Well, I found out it’s a seriously deep-seated phobia for him. I couldn’t leave him, but I couldn’t let him leave me, either, and he would have. He almost did, once.” Her voice sharpened. “My life was at stake, do you understand? What would you children have done without a mother?”

Sylvie picked up the thread of what her mother had left unsaid. “He almost left you… what do you mean? What happened?”

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