The Two Mafaldas

R. A. Conti

It was getting late, and Matty was feeling drowsy. She had finished her homework, there was nothing good on TV, and no one was texting her. She decided to head for bed.

Matty said goodnight to her parents. She petted her cat and went up to her room. Matty changed into her pajamas and settled into bed. She checked her phone one last time and thought briefly about someone she liked at school. Then she set her phone on her nightstand and turned out the light. Matty quickly fell asleep.

When she heard an alarm ringing the next morning, she groggily reached for her phone. But the phone wasn’t there. She opened her eyes and looked at the nightstand. She saw a large old-fashioned alarm clock that was clanging at her. That woke her up fully. She grabbed it and looked for a way to make it stop. Finally, she did. Then she set it back on the nightstand. 

Hoping to find her phone, she glanced at the floor. The phone wasn’t there, either. Nor was the Navajo rug her parents had brought back from New Mexico. It had been on the bedroom floor since she was a little girl. Feeling anxious, Matty started to look around. 

This wasn’t her bedroom. 

Matty started to become alarmed.

Before she could completely freak out, the bedroom door opened. A short middle-aged woman with long grey hair and a kindly expression on her face walked into the room. Matty clenched her bedclothes and wondered what was happening. 

The woman smiled. “Relax,” she said. “You’re safe. Everything’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” Matty replied. Her voice was shaking. “Where am I?”  

“You’re in my house.”

“Your house? Where is it?”

“East Rittenhouse Street,” the woman answered.

“Where’s that?”

“In Philadelphia. Germantown, actually.”

Matty had heard of Philadelphia, but not Germantown. The woman could as easily have told Matty that she was on the moon for all the difference that it made. 

“How did I get here?” she asked.

The woman grimaced. “It’s not easy to explain.”

“Please try. Before I freak out.”

“I brought you here,” the woman replied, matter-of-factly.

Matty looked puzzled. “Uh, how?”

“I used magic.”

Matty was too stunned to react. Magic, she thought. Sure. She glanced at the nightstand.

“Why is there an alarm clock? Where’s the phone?”

“We don’t have one.”

“Everybody has phones.”

“Maybe in your year, but not here.”

Matty gasped. “My… year? What year is this?”

“1932.”

The woman’s answer alarmed Matty. Am I going crazy? she thought. Or is this woman crazy?

The woman picked up her thoughts. “You’re not crazy, Matty. And neither am I. You are in 1932. My name is Mafalda. You are named for me. I’m your great-great-great-grandmother. And you and I share more than a name.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll explain later. I brought you here because I need your help.”

“My help?” Matty asked. “Why?” 

“I can’t do it alone.”

“Do what?”

The woman looked into Matty’s eyes. “Save you, Matty.”

Matty gasped. “What do you mean? Was I in some kind of danger?” she asked.

Mafalda shook her head. “Not there, where you came from,” she replied.

“I don’t understand.”

“The danger is here, Matty.”

“What does that mean?”

“Your great-great-grandfather is in trouble.” 

“My great-great-grandfather?” Matty asked.

“My son, Luca.”

Matty had heard the name Luca mentioned once or twice by her parents. But she knew nothing about him. Was she really going to meet him? 

“What kind of trouble is he in?” she asked, cautiously.

“Worse than anything you can imagine,” Mafalda replied. “Worse than he knows. He and his friends have gotten involved with something very bad. Very evil. I can’t fight that evil alone.”

“But what can I do?”

“This may come as a shock to you, but I am a witch.”

Matty didn’t react. She wanted to, but didn’t know what to say. Is this woman serious? she thought.

Mafalda read her mind again and smiled. “Yes, I am serious. I am a witch.”

Matty still looked skeptical.

“In our family, as far back as we can go, all the women were witches. I am one. And so are you. Your daughter, if you have one, will also be a witch.”

Matty tried not to seem shocked. “But what does that mean?” she asked.

“It means we possess supernatural abilities.”

“What kinds of abilities?”

“We can sense things other people cannot,” Mafalda explained. “And we can do things only witches can do.”

“Like what?”

“We can challenge evil. We can protect the ones we love. Some of us might even be powerful enough to save the world.”

Matty shook her head. “I definitely can’t save the world. And those other things… I can’t do any of those, either. I have no idea how.”

“I will show you how.”

“But what if I don’t believe you?”

“You don’t have to believe anything. All you have to do is let me show you what you are capable of.”

Matty sighed. “Like I just said, I can’t do anything. I don’t have supernatural strength. I have hardly any physical strength. I can barely pass gym class.”

Mafalda liked that the girl was skeptical. Had Matty simply accepted what Mafalda told her, it would have signaled that the girl was weak-minded and had too dominant an ego. Witches with strong egos tended to misuse their powers and cause problems for themselves.

And others. 

Disbelief was healthy. Matty was strong-minded but not strong-willed. She’ll be a credit to her ancestors, Mafalda thought. If our struggle is successful. If it isn’t, Matty will never have any ancestors. Because she will never have been born.

Mafalda understood that Matty needed time for everything she heard to sink in. She remained quiet for a few moments. 

“Prove to me that you have supernatural powers,” Matty finally said.

“I already have.”

“What do you mean?”

“I brought you from 2016 to 1932.”

Matty nodded. “Oh, yeah. I guess you did. Well, okay. Can I do something like that?”

“Not right now. But, eventually, yes.”

“So, I’ll be able to go back?” Matty asked, expectantly.

“Yes…. But only if everything works out here.”

Matty frowned. “Um… and what if it doesn’t?”

Mafalda grimaced. “Then you and I will never meet. Because you will never be born,” she explained. She paused and waited. But Matty didn’t react. Mafalda decided to go on. “I’m sorry, Matty. You’re my only hope. And you are your only hope, as well.”

Mafalda’s frank reply convinced Matty. (She was a pragmatic girl.) “So, what do we have to do?” she asked.

“Everything in time and space is connected, Matty. The way to save you is to save my son. Your great-great-grandfather.”

Matty wanted to return to her own time as soon as possible. She hoped that her life there would still be the same. “When do we start?” she asked.

Mafalda smiled. She was pleased that the girl’s skepticism had vanished. The more she got to know Matty, the more she liked her. Mafalda wondered whether, if Matty had summoned her to 2016, she would have adjusted as quickly as Matty had.

“We start right now,” Mafalda answered. She tried to sound sure of herself. Although she was anything but. 

Matty jumped out of the bed. She was still in her pajamas. “I’m ready,” she said, enthusiastically.

Mafalda nodded. “Okay, then. First, I’ll get you some clothes. And then we’ll have a good breakfast. We have a lot of hard magic ahead of us.”