Billy the Exterminator

At some point Melinda went home.  Tami still wanted to help Melinda, so she called in a few favors.  From her days at the Zoo, Tami knew the guys from “Billy the Exterminator,” she called and asked if they would be willing to spray Melinda’s house.  They agreed if they could film it.  Melinda went back and forth, yes, no, yes, no, okay with conditions.  Finally in the end, it was decided that it would be okay to shoot the house, but she would not be there.  If I wanted to be on TV so bad, then I would have to fill in for Melinda, and so I did.  Tami came along to do my makeup and as moral support.  So in September of 2012 we taped an episode for “Billy the Exterminator.”

Now I had been on and off the phone with Melinda all day, trying to make this happen.  At one point, she said she was going to lock the house, and not let anyone in.  I finally convinced her not to do that.  When we got on the set that day, one of the producers came up to me, and said Melinda had called them and left messages.  And I should listen to them, because they were about me.  I know my mind most of the time, and I knew to hear them would not be good.  I said, “ Once I hear them, I can’t unheard them,” so I asked Tami to listen to them for me.  She did and came back shaken up.  “They’re bad Ilsa.  They are really bad.”

 Melinda had left two messages, and in them basically threw me under the bus.  She had apparently told the producers, all about my mental health issues.  They didn’t need to know any of that. I felt betrayed.  After Tami told me, I looked at her and the producer and said, “I’m done with her after today.  I wash my hands of Melinda.” 

We had a wonderful day of shooting.  I really enjoyed Billy, but mostly I really fell in love with the crew.  My reward at the end of the day was a picture of me and Billy together, hot and tired, but having done a good job.  I made sure that everyone involved were respectful of Melinda’s home, and knew that she had placed curses on one of the gates, and not to go thru it.  Most of what you saw in the tape was correct, as far as the bugs were concerned.  What you do not know, is that kitchen had been cleaned at least three times, since the first night we had gone in with shovels.  No, it was not my rent house.    That was a lie we came up with, so it would seem plausible why I was there.

There were things that happened, after the taping of the show, that I was not aware of until later, when Tami told me.  Apparently a meeting was held of all those there, on whether to call CPS or not, because of the condition of the home, and once they understood a child lived there.  They decided against it.  They would later tell Tami, that they had never been in a filthier house. That in order to really attack her bug problem, the house should be tented.  There was also talk that the house should also be condemned. 

Jay picked me up from Melinda’s house and we went home.  I have never spoken to Melinda since then.  What few items she had left here I returned to her.  Including her belt for Holda’s Hands which I returned in pieces, just like my heart was.

It was close to Mabon at that point.  I picked up the phone and called the HP.  I wanted to find out what day Mabon was going to be celebrated, what time, and what they wanted me to bring for the feast afterward.  I told the HP all about what had happened with Melinda and I, that I was done with her, and that I wanted to come home.  Now I had watched others move in and out of the HP coven, even returning after spending long periods of time away.  Nothing was ever said about it.  I remember the HP being very angry with me.  I think she felt I had chosen my coven over hers.  She told me Melinda had disrespected her and her wife’s marriage.  Melinda had made inappropriate comments to her and apparently groped the HP’s wife.  I never understood all of why the HP was angry with me, and it has been a long time since that phone call, so please forgive my sketchy details.  Within a few days I received a Facebook message telling me that , they sent me forward in love and light, to cut and burn my cord and to never set foot back on their property again. 

I was devastated.  My coven had fractured because of Melinda and all her lies, and now I was being thrown out of my other spiritual home.  It was like those days after Momma Muriel had died.  I felt I would break apart.  I know now, years later that Holda was moving me ahead of the game, like a chess piece.  She was moving me ahead of things she did not want me involved in.  I am ever grateful for her wisdom and her protection.

Somehow we soldiered on.  Juno took it really hard.  She was still trying to play mediator and fix Melinda and I’s relationship.  She was trying to be friends with both, and it was hard on her.  Juno has always identified as a Druid.  I had known Boogie and Rovena for many years.  They were some of my oldest friends in the community, elders really.  So I rang up Rovena and asked what they were doing these days.  She told me she was running an ADF (Ar nDraiocht Fein) proto-grove.  I told her of Juno, and that I would like to bring her round.  I didn’t want her to feel like she was the only Druid in town.  And so one day we went. 

Ilsa