Do you believe in magic?
Helena held the orb in her hand. It was just a piece of crystal that she found on her walk in the woods. Not something that one expects to find. It was perfectly round and clear. She could see her own reflection in it. The reflection of a sad and lonely girl out on her own.
“I wonder what this is?” she said out loud. But there was no one there to hear her. There never was. “It certainly doesn’t look natural. It’s too perfect.”
It was then that she heard a woman’s voice, “If you believe, then it is real.”
Helena turned around to look. There was no one there to see. Just the branches of the trees swaying softly in the wind. It was getting late, and darkness was beginning to fall.
Again the voice spoke, “If you believe, then it is real.”
As if on cue, music filled her head; it was the opening lines of an old 1965 song by the Lovin’ Spoonful –
Do you believe in magic in a young girl’s heart
How the music can free her whenever it starts?
“What the…” This didn’t make any sense at all. The orb, the voice, the music…MAGIC?
She thought about it for a while, very confused. She thought to herself, “Do I believe in magic?” Helena had never thought about it before. She’d seen magicians doing tricks, but that’s just what they were…tricks.
But then the caring voice spoke up again, “If you believe, then it is real.”
“WHAT’S REAL!” she screamed but got no answer.
She wanted to turn away from the orb in her hand, but instead, she felt compelled to look at the crystal orb again; only this time, it was no longer clear. Within the globe, she saw herself, yes, but it was not the she who was standing there in the woods. The image in that globe was her at another time and another place. It was Helena sitting beside the deathbed of her mother. She remembered that scene. She wanted to shut her eyes. The memory was too painful. She had lost the only person who did believe in her, the only person who gave her strength, the only person who advised Helena on who she should be. The one person who left her when Helena was so young.
In the image, her mother spoke. The words that her mother spoke, Helena had forgotten, but now they were being refreshed in her mind.
“You are special,” her mother said. “You are inheriting a great gift from me as I pass on.”
This time Helena did close her eyes. She did not need the image in the crystal to tell her the words that she now remembered. “You have power that comes from ancient lore. With this power, you can do anything you want. You can be anyone you want to be. You just have to believe in yourself.” And with that last breath, Helena’s mother passed on.
How could Helena have forgotten? How could she forget what her mother had gifted her? In Helena’s anger at her mother for leaving her like that, she had heard words with no meaning.
But this globe, that song, that voice, which she now recognized, was no trick. Music and warmth filled her heart and her head. It had to be magic, which, in fact, it was. And yes, Helena did believe in magic. And said so, “I BELIEVE! I BELIEVE!”
And that belief proved itself, for the crystal globe disappeared from her hand, and in its place, there was a special aura that surrounded Helena for the rest of her days. And the magic within her, and the magic she used, I would like to think, made this world a better place.
