STORMY FOSTER RETURNS: Chapter Five
POP CULTURE CANTINA
presents
A MARVELOUS LIE PRODUCTION
A MOCK SCREENPLAY
in sixteen chapters
STORMY FOSTER
RETURNS
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CHAPTER FIVE:
"LOVE HER"/"SATURDAY'S CHILD"
THE YEAR 2050
THE CAT, THE CROW AND THE CROWN HOTEL,
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS
I WAS BORN DELIA LUCREZIA WONG BELLA DONNA - MY SURNAME IS THE ITALIAN WORD FOR “NIGHTSHADE”. MY FATHER, STRICKLAND BELL, WAS DESCENDED FROM THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BARCELONA.
IN THE 1940s, HE WAS AN ACTOR OF STAGE AND SCREEN - POPULAR ENOUGH TO BE CALLED A MATINÉE IDOL BUT APPEARING MOSTLY IN SUPPORTING ROLES. IN 1955, HE USED HIS EARNINGS TO BUILD A THEATER IN SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA CALLED TEATRO BARCELONA. LOCALS ATTENDED SPANISH-LANGUAGE MOVIES THERE AND ALSO ENJOYED STAGE PRODUCTIONS IN BOTH SPANISH AND ENGLISH. GOING FORWARD, STRICKLAND BELL WORKED BEHIND THE SCENES, PRODUCING AND DIRECTING PLAYS.
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THE LEGENDARY ACTRESS ANNA MAY WONG LIVED NEARBY AND APPEARED IN SEVERAL OF HIS PRODUCTIONS. THAT’S HOW THEY MET! WHILE WORKING TOGETHER ON A STAGE ADAPTATION OF THE CLASSIC FILM MILDRED PIERCE, THEY FELL DEEPLY IN LOVE. YEARS LATER, SOME OF THEIR COLLEAGES WOULD CONFIRM THE RELATIONSHIP. IT WAS CARRIED ON WITH SUCH DISCRETION, NOBODY SUSPECTED HOW FAR IT HAD GONE!
SHORTLY BEFORE HER DEATH IN 1961, ANNA MAY WONG SECRETLY GAVE BIRTH TO TWIN GIRLS: ME AND MY SISTER GIULIA FRANCESCA. HAVING PUT ON WEIGHT FOR AN UPCOMING MOVIE ROLE, MY MOTHER MANAGED TO CONCEAL HER PREGNANCY.
SHE DIED UNEXPECTEDLY, AND MY FATHER TOOK POSSESSION OF US. THE HANDFUL OF PEOPLE WHO KNEW OF OUR EXISTENCE NEVER SAW HIM AGAIN; HIS HOME AND THEATER WERE LEFT ABANDONED! STERLING BELL'S DISAPPEARANCE BAFFLED EVERYONE. FOUL PLAY WAS SUSPECTED, AND TO THIS DAY IT IS ONE OF THE GREAT HOLLYWOOD MYSTERIES.
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STRICKLAND BELL
IN THE LOBBY OF TEATRO BARCELONA
HIS REAL SURNAME WAS THE SAME AS MINE - BELLA DONNA. HE ANGLICIZED IT, FOLLOWING THE PRACTICE OF MOST ETHNIC ACTORS BACK THEN. HIS GIVEN NAME WAS ALSO DIFFERENT - NOT STRICKLAND BUT STREGONE, THE ITALIAN WORD FOR “SORCERER” OR “WARLOCK”! MY FATHER WAS INDEED A WARLOCK, AND HIS WITCHCRAFT POWERS WERE PASSED DOWN TO ME.
HERE, THEN, IS THE REASON STRICKLAND BELL DISAPPEARED: SINGLE FATHERHOOD! LO STREGONE RAISED GIULIA AND I INSIDE THE SORCERER’S REALM WITH THE HELP OF OTHER WICCANS - THAT OLD ADAGE "IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD" WAS QUITE TRUE IN OUR CASE.
THE SORCERER'S REALM IS A PLACE BEYOND THE KEN OF MORTALS, BUT MY SISTER, WHOSE WICCAN SIDE WAS DORMANT, WAS NEVER HAPPY THERE. SHE INSISTED THAT SHE FELT HUMAN, NOT WICCAN. MUCH TO MY FATHER’S DISAPPOINTMENT, GIULIA CHOSE TO RENOUNCE HER HERITAGE. AS A YOUNG WOMAN SHE BEGGED TO BE SENT BACK TO THE HUMAN REALM AND HER REQUEST WAS GRANTED.
A FEW YEARS AFTER HER RETURN TO CALIFORNIA, SHE BECAME ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH DILTON DOILEY BRISEÑO. DILTON IS A BRILLIANT MATHEMATICIAN AND SCIENTIST AS WELL AS AN EXCEPTIONALLY TALENTED MUSICIAN. THEY WED IN 2017, BUT THE PREVIOUSLY-MARRIED MEXICAN-AMERICAN KNEW LITTLE ABOUT HIS NEW BRIDE. JULIE, AS SHE BEGAN CALLING HERSELF, CHOSE NOT TO REVEAL HER WICCAN BACKGROUND TO HER HUSBAND.
THE DAUGHTER THEY HAD THAT SAME YEAR GREW UP TO BE A FAMOUS POP SINGER. SHE IS NAMED AFTER ME: DELIA, BUT THE WORLD KNOWS HER AS GARCY BRISEÑO! WHEN JULIE DIED FROM CANCER - SOMETHING WE WARNED HER COULD HAPPEN IF SHE ABANDONED WICCA - LO STREGONE CONTEMPLATED TAKING CUSTODY OF THE CHILD. EVEN THOUGH DELIA’S MAGIC POWERS ARE DORMANT LIKE HER MOTHER’S, HE VERY MUCH WANTED HER TO BE RAISED WICCAN!
BUT RIGHT FROM THE START, DILTON DOILEY BRISEÑO WAS AN EXCELLENT PARENT TO DELIA. I CONVINCED MY FATHER TO LEAVE HER IN HIS CARE, AND IT WAS THE RIGHT DECISION: DILTON RAISED HER IN AN INTENSELY CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT WHERE SHE AND THE MUSICAL ABILITY SHE INHERITED FROM HIM - AND ALSO FROM THE WONG SIDE OF OUR FAMILY - THRIVED.
WHILE DELIA WAS STILL A CHILD, STREGONE BELLA DONNA BECAME A WICCAN ELDER AND HE ASCENDED TO A HIGHER REALM IN THE COVEN HIERARCHY. SINCE THEN, I’VE HAD LITTLE CONTACT WITH HIM. BEFORE HIS ASCENDANCY, HE CHOSE A HUSBAND FOR ME: A WICCAN OF JEWISH AND ITALIAN DESCENT NAMED SPELLMAN BONAVENTURA.
ARRANGED MARRIAGES ARE COMMON IN THE SORCERER’S REALM, BUT THEY ARE AN ANACHRONISM THAT SHOULD’VE BEEN DISPENSED WITH LONG AGO! SPELLMAN WAS A DASHINGLY HANDSOME MAN, BUT HE AND I WERE A POOR MATCH. WE HAD AN UNHAPPY AND VERY VOLATILE UNION! EVENTUALLY, HE DECIDED TO FOLLOW MY SISTER’S EXAMPLE AND LIVE AS A MORTAL IN THE HUMAN WORLD.
SO ENRAGED WAS I AT HIS DEPARTURE THAT I NEVER TOLD HIM THAT I WAS PREGNANT! I KNEW HE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN A GOOD FATHER, AND WHEN HE FINALLY LEARNED ABOUT OUR CHILD HE OPTED NOT TO BECOME PART OF HER LIFE. UNFORTUNATELY, AS MATTERS DEVELOPED, I WASN’T THERE FOR HER EITHER.
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THE EVOLUTION OF
DELLA NIGHTSHADE
SOON AFTER THE BIRTH OF MY DAUGHTER, THE UNIVERSAL COVEN ELECTED ME TO LEAD IT. I’D BEEN GROOMED FOR LEADERSHIP BY THE PREVIOUS HEAD WICCAN; MOTHER STREGA STEPPED DOWN TO DEVOTE HERSELF TO STUDY AND MEDITATION.
SHE AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE WICCAN HIGH COUNCIL - INCLUDING MY OWN FATHER - WARNED ME THAT MY RESPONSIBILITIES WOULD BE SO HEAVY, I’D HAVE NO TIME AT ALL FOR PARENTING! THEY STRONGLY ADVISED ME TO LET ANOTHER WITCH ADOPT AND RAISE MY BABY.
WHAT’S MORE, I WAS URGED TO CONCEAL MY DAUGHTER'S RELATIONSHIP TO ME. WERE IT KNOWN, IT COULD LEAD TO ALL MANNER OF COMPLICATIONS AND DISTRACTIONS FROM MY DUTIES - BUT I WAS STUNNED WHEN THEY SAID I SHOULD CONCEAL IT FROM HER AS WELL! AFTER MUCH AGONIZING, I FOLLOWED THEIR ADVICE BUT WOULD COME TO DEEPLY REGRET THAT DECISION.
WITH A VERY HEAVY HEART, I ENTRUSTED MY BABY GIRL TO THE CARE OF SISTER WICCANS HILDA AND ZELDA LESLIE. THEY WERE FAMILY FRIENDS WHO SPENT MOST OF THEIR TIME AMONG MORTALS, JUST LIKE LO STREGONE HAD DONE AS A YOUNG MAN. THE WITCHES LESLIE WANTED TO GIVE MY CHILD A NEW NAME, BUT THAT WAS A STEP TOO FAR FOR ME - I FORBAD IT! THE ONE THAT THEY CHOSE, “BETHEL LESLIE” BECAME HER MIDDLE NAME WITH MY PERMISSION. SHE KEPT THE FIRST NAME THAT I GAVE HER: SABRINA.
HOWEVER, I CHANGED MY OWN NAME AT THAT TIME. WHEN I TOOK OVER LEADERSHIP OF THE UNIVERSAL COVEN, I DECIDED TO FOLLOW MY FATHER'S EXAMPLE AND ANGLICIZE IT. THAT'S WHEN I BECAME KNOWN AS DELLA NIGHTSHADE - MS. DELLA TO MORTALS!
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