The Tale of Amaretto

Fourth Grain

In which a Corvette is seen and Amaretto goes jean shopping...

Fast forward to Francesca Amaretto Covington being seventeen years, thirty two weeks, five days, ten hours, fifteen minutes and fifty six seconds old. Francesca was now called Amaretto by all of her friends. She was now in high school and she had completely forgotten about the hourglass. Actually, that is false, she had not forgotten about it, so much as she now thought of it only as a festive trinket. It sat neglected in her old jewelry box which she had lost somewhere amongst her messy room. As she grew older, she began to want to see Aunt Katherine less and less, and wanted to be more adult and hang out with other children of her own age. Katherine wound up having other children to also watch as well and so wound up having less time to spend with Amaretto. Lives had moved on since Amaretto's eighth birthday and the strange incident.

It was also by chance that she was walking home when a 1969 Skyline corvette roared down the street and rolled up next to her.

"Hello there my dear, I am here to take you home! Hop on in." Amaretto turned at the familiar voice. Her aunt was sitting there in the car with the top down. Her long orange hair splayed out in a halo around her head, windswept and free. There was also no doubt that she was once again in her purple phase. Her entire outfit was purple and the jewelry was purple as well. Purple was practically radiating from the driver's seat of the car. Amaretto felt a little put off. Thankfully, none of her friends were around.

She stood next to the door as her aunt appraised her and her clothing. "I see that you dyed your hair blond almost... a half a year ago. The blond ends are a nice accent to your brown hair." Amaretto rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing here Aunt Katherine?" There was surprise in Amaretto's voice.

Katherine started instantly. "Well first of all, we need to get you some more clothes than that. Those are not suited to travel at all my dear." She made a wave of her hand to what Amaretto was wearing.

Amaretto looked down at what she was wearing, which was a pair of skinny leg jeans that were in black color and were secretly bondage pants. They were one of her favorite pants. They had amazing pockets in the back and had four straps that crisscrossed from each other. She had a shirt that promoted the Smiths and their music and a hoodie that had a zipper in the front and a deep hood. Chains wrapped around the arms and proclaimed on the back that she was "Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die".

"How is this not travel appropriate?" Amaretto eyed her aunt and her aunt stared right back into her eyes.

"Just get into the car Francesca. You and I have to talk right now." Her aunt put the car into park and then reached out and unlocked the passenger door and then swung it open. Amaretto was forced to take a step back as the door swung open. She paused for a moment and looked at her aunt who simply smiled back at her. She sighed and then threw her backpack into the back of the car. She then stepped into the car and sat down, closing the passenger door behind her.

"All right, I'm in the car, what now?"

Katherine continued to smile as she looked at Amaretto. "Now we get you a pair of decent jeans and then we raid your jewelry chest and you will soon be able to fulfill a promise that I made a long while back."

Amaretto raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me? Raid my jewelry chest? I don't own a jewelry chest."

"No, but you have a small wooden box that I gave to you when you were eight and I need you to listen very carefully now. I need you to start watching out now. How old are you my dear?"

Amaretto rolled her eyes and responded in a deadpan manner. "I'm seventeen now."

Katherine smiled and tapped a finger in the air at Amaretto, almost like pushing a button. "Yes and soon you will be eighteen, and I need to get you prepared for this. I need you to be a little less ungrateful that I am your faerie godmother."