Chapter 7

Mary remembered meeting John and Emma Collins in Salem Village when she was a young girl just entering her teens. John was a jovial man, then in his fifties. He worked a small farm, providing enough for he and his wife. In good years, he sometimes had extra vegetables and eggs that he would sell.

They were church-going people who, she remembered, tried to live according to the Bible. Mary also recalled she was then a young teenage girl and wondered if her perception was accurate.

Life in Salem Village was a turmoil of constant bickering which forced neighbors to take sides, sometimes resulting in friends turning against each other. Years later, the antagonisms turned deadly.

When she was twenty-two, her father passed away. Within a year, she lost her mother. Then the only child still at home, she was left alone. Her six brothers and sisters had married and moved away, and she had not seen them in years.

Following in her mother’s and grandmother’s footsteps as a healer and midwife was the natural course. Her mother was well known in the community. Aware she had tutored under the watchful eye of both her mother and grandmother, those in need turned to her.

Years earlier, through Emma Collins, Mary had met their niece. Rebecca was then in her middle twenties, older than Mary by a more than five years and a recent widow. Despite the age difference, the two became friends. They often visited each other and everyone knew they were close. As the years passed, the friendship continued.

The bond resulted from more than anybody realized. Rebecca and Mary had a similar gift, one hidden from everyone else.

Mary had the ability to see and interpret an illness and knew how to treat it. To a lesser degree, she also possessed other capabilities.

Her friend and companion Rebecca followed a similar path, but her talent did not include healing. She realized early in life that her skill lay in other areas, and she worked to develop them. By the time she and Mary met, she was a powerful witch.

Each knew the other had a gift, though neither spoke about it. Almost everyone in the village knew about Mary's healing ability, and it became a cause for concern. There were others like her in Salem village, but her skill at sensing the cause of an affliction made her the most popular. Rebecca followed a different path, one hidden and never discussed.

“You should be less open with your knowledge,” Rebecca said.

“All know what I do,” Mary replied. “It is too late. I can only be what I am.”

Rebecca frowned and sighed. “I wish there was somewhere else. Salem Village is becoming a place of suspicion.”

“It is but several families who cause the turmoil. They turn the rest against each other in their quest for money and power.”

“Mark my words,” Rebecca said. “Such will cause death and destruction before it is over.”

“It grieves me to think it, but I believe you are right.”

“There is a new settlement to the north,” Rebecca said. “My aunt and uncle went there after his shaming.”

“The distant villages have danger from Indians. Even now we fight them up there.”

“This one is only a short distance away, near Ipswich, but a few hours by wagon. They call it Danielsford, though it has no actual name yet. I think it a place to start anew, away from this trouble.”

“I am needed here,” Mary said.

“They need you there,” Rebecca said.

“What say your uncle?”

“You know we no longer speak. Emma says they have no doctor or healer.”

“Danielsford,” Mary mused. “Let me think on it.”

By January 1692, Mary was ready to move. It was a journey taking less than half a day. Mary proved to have the most baggage, with the various medicines she carried. When they arrived, finding a place to stay proved more difficult. There was nothing available. They walked through the town but found no lodging.

“What shall we do?” Mary wondered. “We will freeze.”

“We will make do,” Rebecca said. “Had you agreed when I first suggested, we would be here and fixed up by now.”

“I could not,” Mary said.

A few buildings surrounded what would become the Common, and a dozen cows searched the snow-covered park for food. One vacant house, the only empty one in town, caught Mary’s eye. It was small, with a separate room in front. The room was what she wanted and what made her determined to own it.

During the trip from Salem Village, when she had time to think, an idea formed. Rather than depend on word of mouth to bring people to her for treatment, why not open a business and announce to all in the new village who she was and what she offered?

“It is a novel idea,” Rebecca said, “but are you not worried?”

“Why should I worry?”

“You declare to all in the village you are a witch and think they will not have you tried and hanged?”

“My purpose is honorable,” Mary said. “If I help them, why would they hang me?”

“Mary, you are so naive,” Rebecca said. She sighed. After a second, she said, “I think our concern now should be on shelter, lest we freeze to death.”

“A wise decision,” Mary said. “Already I feel the frost. And nightfall is on us.”