Daisy Isabella Bell and Jamie Sarah Potter 
A Sequel to “Daisy Isabella Crack's her Egg”
Act I
Silent Reflection

Note to the general Reader: This story was written in response to a comment made by Emma Anne Tate. Who made me understand that the relationship between Jamie and Daisy needs to be fleshed out a little more for the general reader. I'm assuming this story takes place a few days after the events in “Daisy Isabella Crack's her Egg”.

Downtown Benton is home to a number of unique locally owned businesses. One of those was an old fashioned southern style tea room and bakery that was located in the heart of downtown. The front of the shop was painted a bright pink with bright, almost snow white awning. Right above the front door was a large, wooden sign that had big, cursive letters that spelled out of the words. “Sweet Magnolia Southern Style Tea Room and Bakery” was by all accounts a Japanese maid cafe with a Southern twist.

The owners of the business were two local college students, their names were Lily Elizabeth Potter, eldest daughter of Sherman Potter and Alice Potter, who also owned and managed Potter Mercantile, a general shop that was often touted as the oldest still operating family owned shop in Mississippi. And second one was Robin Katherine Peers.

And Lily and Robin employed well two full time helpers, who by hapchance both of their helpers happen to transgender and because of that “Sweet Magnolia Southern Style Tea Room and Bakery” had been first among many downtown business that had flown the Transgender pride flag after a well known bully at Benton Academy had poured a carton of milk over my friends Cerridwen's Head. Well, my girlfriend.

Anyway, the name of the two helpers had been Madeline Brewer and Jamie Sarah Potter. Now, I've never been in “Sweet Magnolia Southern Style Tea Room and Bakery” , odd considering it should be right up in my alley with how much anime I watch. I mean I tend to binge watch whole seasons at a time and I tend to go through Manga tomes like people tend to go through french fries at McDonalds.

Anyway I've gotten off topic here. Let me get back on subject, the tiny brass bell above the door chimed as I pushed it open. I took a deep breath and kind of wished the ground would open up and swallow me whole. Today was the first time I'd dared to venture into public wearing a dress. A nice, woolen dress that was both warm and fashionable. The dress had short balloon sleeves and it reached down to my ankles. Since I was still uneasy about shaving my legs, I'd gone with a pair of nice leather boots. The practice of wearing leather boots in the colder, winter months was in vogue. I was told this by my aunt who is to believed was a connoisseur in everything retaining to fashion.

“Welcome Miss. Bell.” A blonde haired woman said to me as soon as I walked through the wooden door. She flashed me a smile, and the color of her teeth reminded me of pearls. Well that was the first thing I noticed, the second thing I noticed was her golden blonde hair was tied back in a stylish bun, the third thing I noticed was that she wore a very stylish, French Maid costume. You know the one with the balloon sleeves, and of course a low neckline that shows the valley between the breasts? The dress was of course black, black as tar but also seemed highly polished and seemed to reflect all the light in the room.

Completing the outfit was a lacy white apron and a frilly white hair piece. Rounding out the outfit was black fishnet stocking and of course, black, polished leather heels. That really blew my mind. I meant this was supposed to be a bloody family friendly place. I mean a lot of old church women met here to dish out another kind of tea over cups of tea and coffee. 

“We have been expecting you. Miss. Potter is waiting in the outdoor patio section.”

“Lily it's me.” I'm not going to lie to you y'all. I was a little weird out by how formal Lily was toward me. And also getting addressed as 'Miss. Bell' kind of threw me through seven rings and loops. Don't get me wrong, it felt right to address 'Miss. Bell' but still it was a new feeling.

Lily smiled a little as she turned away from me.

“It's our policy here at Sweet Magnolia to give every person, no matter their age, race, or gender the respect they deserve. That includes using “Miss” for unmarried women and “Mrs.” for married women. And “Mister” for all men. We also encourage our employees to use 'yes ma'am' or 'no ma'am or 'yes sir' or 'no sir' when answering questions posed to them.” Lily paused and then turned around and offered me a small smile. “We also encourage our employees to honor all the pronouns of our guests. If they are given notice.” 

“I hope one day soon. I will have the privilege of instructing you in our ways, Miss. Bell.”

Lily's last remark puzzled me. But I soon put it in my mind. Instead I focused on following closely behind her. And well, I quickly found myself turning green with envy as I watched how gracefully Lily moved across the floor. Lily made walking in heels look not only natural but almost graceful. The way her skirt seemed to swish from one side to the other and bounced with every forward step she took filled me with a fearful jealous rage. I was envious how easy femininity seemed to come to her.

“Today is a perfect day to sit outside on the paved patio and watch the trees slowly change their colors and smell the sweet smell of autumn and listen to the soothing sound of Deer Creek.” Lily said, smiling. “And plus, Miss. Potter requested that sport for you to talk about something very personal.”

I nodded my head. There was so much going on around me, I counted at least three other maids, each one dressed just like Lily, all three walking gracefully around the small shop. I noticed each and every one of them were carrying silver serving trays that held saucer cups of coffee, tea, or hot chocolates. Some even held platters of freshly baked cookies and little finger cakes.

“Do you wish you could also join us?” Lily asked, her voice was gentle. “Robin and I started out by being apprentices to Mrs. Ginger Evens. Once we completed our training, she agreed to help us establish this tea room. She did so under the condition and understanding that we find apprentices of our own and we do our best to pass on her morals and values to the two other deserving young women. Robin after a bit decided that Miss. Madeline Brewer would become her apprentice. And Miss. Jamie Sarah Potter, being my younger sister, seemed a natural fit to become my apprentice. Both are almost fully trained now, and will in another month or two be ready and mature enough I think to become apprentices of their own, and pass the torch to another generation. Miss. Cerridwen Circe Whitethorn is kind of a part time apprentice, she has been so for a year or so.”

I nodded my head. All of this kind of flew over my head.

“Are you offering me an apprenticeship?” I asked as I rounded a corner.

“I'm offering you a chance to better yourself. I'm offering you the chance to learn now only how to be a girl, but how to become a lady. I will merely give you the tools you need to make something of this new lease on life chance. It will be up to you, and you along to learn how to properly use those tools I give you to make something of yourself. I understand you are new to this, so I will give you a few weeks, a month at most to sort yourself and to come to terms with yourself. But please, understand me when I say this. I can not hold your place here forever Miss. Bell. This the first time I'll offer it, I do not need an answer right this minute, nor did I expect you to give me. I will offer this chance two more times. If on the third time you are still not ready, then I'm afraid this door will be closed to you forever.”

“I understand.” I said, taking a deep breath.

“It has a lot to take in. A lot of work lies in front of you. You have a great many mountains to climb, a great many miles to travel, a great many valleys to cross. The path you are on will take you through many darken valleys, many darken hollows, through forests so dark that the light of the midday sun does not break through the branches of the trees. You will pass through bogs, marshes and swamps too.”

“That was very Tolkien of you.” I said, giving Lily a side-eyed glance.

She only chuckled a little and smiled.

“I've just started rereading his works, it seems Tolkien is cool now, when I was in school, only geeks, nerds and the Dungeon and Dragons crowd read any of his works. I, being a cheerleader, had to shy away from it. Now that I'm in college, I've discovered nobody really cares what you like or what you read. High School is totally different from college.”

And with that Lily pulled open a sliding screen door. A few seconds later she stepped through the doorway and into the bright afternoon sunshine. And I was like a lost puppy following her.