Stories from the Tea Realms - Stir, Stir

Once upon a time, or so the Mystics claim . . . .

There was a woman who was quite mad. She wasn't born that way, or perhaps she was and didn't know it. In any case, she was quite, quite mad.

It all started when she was a little girl. Her name was (and still is) Livonia Frances Waverly Higginbotham, or as everyone called her - Frog. Frog lived in a lovely little manor nearby a lake, and her parents were free thinking artists. They loved to read to their three children (Frog, the youngest; Charles, the middle child; Delilah, the oldest) and engage them in things that allowed them to embrace the world. Delilah wanted to become a scientist; Charles wanted to be a painter like his father; Frog . . . well, she wanted to stare at clouds. Of course, her parents encouraged her for awhile, only to later notice that that was ALL she wanted to do! She loved books, art, music, everything, yet she never wanted to do anything more than stare at clouds. One day, on a Wednesday (I believe it was 3pm), tea was served in the Japanese styled parlour room. Everyone gathered for the event, and all looked forward to relaxing with a nice cup of sencha and perhaps some dim sum. On this particular day, Frog was 13 years old and had developed into a lovely young woman, but then again, all of her family were quite striking.

One of the servants served the tea, like so many times before, along with the dim sum. Everyone raised their cups to each other and shouted, "To Life!" However, when Frog took her first sip of the tea today, she felt different inside. She stared at her cup, then shrugged as she took another sip. There it was again - that strange feeling. She looked at her cup again and then replied to her family, "I think my tea is alive!" Her family stared at her in silence, then they all laughed.
"Good ol' Frog," Charles said with a grin. "You're head's in the clouds again!" Delilah nodded sagely as their parents grinned. Frog smiled at everyone then resumed drinking her tea. The rest of the day went quite normal and soon, the moon rose in the sky, signalling that it was time to go to bed.

The next day, Frog woke up with a beaming smile on her face. She leapt out of bed and immediately rang for a servant. When he arrived, she replied, "Can you take me to the library?" The servant nodded yes and soon, they were off in one of the family cars. Frog stared out of the window, impatient to arrive at the library. When they finally pulled into the lot, she raced out of the car and inside, up the front desk where she uttered, "All books on tea, please." And so began Frog's sudden obsession with tea. She read then collected every book she could find on tea, then began to prepare all of the teas in her family home in the proper way. She learned of the Tea Realms and so sent letters to all of the Masters, requesting documents and sample of their teas. Soon, her room quickly turned into a study devoted to tea, yet she wanted more. While her family was happy that she'd finally found her passion in life, they were also worried about her seriousness of it. Frog was never seen without a cup in her hand, or several tea leaves in her hand as she studied (and sometimes ate) them, or she would corner a family member and tell them about her latest discovery. She even tried to locate a copy of The Book of Forbidden Teas, until her father told her that there were some things meant to remain a mystery. I have a copy, of course, but that's another story.....

As Frog grew older, her love for tea deepened. She refused to date anyone, claiming that no one could hold her interest like tea did. Even as Delilah and Charles moved out of the house and began families of their own, Frog remained in the house and slowly took over it with her obsession. Even when her loving parents died, she took just enough time to watch them be buried before she returned to her solitary home, now named Maison d'Puerh. The more time she spent with her obsession, the more she slowly began to forget everything else in life.

One day, she woke up in her bed and rang for a servant. When she arrived and asked what she wanted, Frog said, "Stir, stir." The servant blinked exactly three times, then asked again what Frog wanted. Frog looked at her like an idiot and said, "Stir, stir!" The servant, trying to play along, nodded and repeated it, to which Frog replied, "Clink, Darjeeling!" The servant now noticed that Frog's normally beautiful black hair looked dull and lifeless. She then noticed that the tray of food she gave to her Mistress the night before was untouched and sitting on the floor. The servant then looked into Frog's eyes and . . . she slowly left the room with a wave (Frog waved back), then she raced down the stairs to find the head butler.
"She's gone," cried the servant girl. "All gone off her head saying funny things!"
"Well, what did she SAY?" the head butler asked.
The servant girl wiped tears on her sleeve. "Stir, stir," she replied in a low tone. The head butler laughed at the foolishness of the young girl, then went upstairs to sort the matter out. When he reached Frog's room, he gasped. Frog ran around the room, picking up books to look at for a second, then set them down and raced to something else.
"Mistress Livonia," the head butler cried (he never liked to call her Frog), "are you alright?" Frog stopped near her bed and stared at him with wide eyes.
"Stir!" she screeched as she raced off again, only to stop at a pile of tea leaves sitting near one of the windows. She patted the leaves like a child then cooed, "Clink, stir, clink clink." The head butler shook his head; the servant girl wasn't foolish.

 After what the servant girl and the head butler witnessed, they quickly (and politely) rang up the Vermilion Home for the Slightly Touched and told them of Frog. Within an hour, the white car came to "take Frog home".
When the doctor and the orderlies walked into the house, Frog immediately greeted them with a handful of Assam tea leaves and the words, "Clink, clink? Pour, stir, Darjeeling," in a solemn tone. As the orderlies looked at the doctor for advice, the doctor sniffed the leaves, then replied, "Clink, clink, pour." Frog's eyes widened as she smiled. The men led her away with no problems. When they arrived at the home, Frog was led out by the doctor as the two "discussed" tea.

Livonia remained in the Home, speaking her special tea language, drinking her tea. She wandered around the gardens, or in the library, and never caused problems. She smiled at everyone and wished them, "Stir!"

She lived to be 158 years old with barely a wrinkle. When she died, she uttered the word, "Decaf."