Soon she surfaced, looking as bedraggled and foolish as a wet cat. And as ugly as ever, as she soon discovered when she looked in the mirror.
Her sad look wrinkled her wizened face even more.
“It didn’t work,” she sighed. “I’m as ugly as I ever was. I have a face that would frighten a flugelhorn. Whatever can I do?”
She started weeping and wailing, louder and louder.
“I have to have a child! It says so in the recipe. But they all run away from me in terror. No wonder, I look so hideous.”
At the word ‘child,’ the cat stopped waving its tail back and forth and turned its head in my direction.
With my eyes I implored it to keep my hiding place a secret.
But the cat had no pity. It came walking towards me, miaowing as loudly as possible to catch its mistress’s attention.
CHAPTER SIX
MY HEART IN MY THROAT
WHAT A HYPOCRITE. Just a minute ago, that cat was acting like my best friend! Just so it could betray me now.
If only I could have been a witch, I would have made myself disappear at that very moment. Psssh! Leaving nothing behind but a puff of blue smoke.
Unfortunately, the witch turned around and saw the real flesh-and-blood Poppy.
“Why, what are you doing here, dear?”
I couldn’t answer. I felt like I had a big lump in my throat. Or a toad.
“What’s the matter — cat got your tongue?”
If only that was the worst of it! All because of that cat, I was going to wind up in this wicked witch’s cauldron. Just the thought of it made my stomach churn.
“Well, come on in, dearie.”
I had no choice but to follow; she pulled me in. Through the thick sleeve of my sweater I could feel her cold, skinny fingers.
Wordlessly, with my eyes, I begged the cat to rescue me.
But it just sat curled up in the circle of its tail. Not moving a muscle. Its eyes were like ice. It gave me the shivers.
Finally I managed to croak, “Please, I beg of you, Ms. Witch … ”
She interrupted me in a voice like an old scratchy record rescued from the garbage bin: “What makes you think I’m a witch?”
I had nothing to lose, so I told her what I had been thinking.
“A little while ago, didn’t you say that there was more than one way to skin a cat?”
“Yes … ?”
“Only a witch would do anything so wicked to a cat!”
She burst out laughing right in my face.
“Listen dearie, when you say there’s more than one way to skin a cat, that means there’s more than one way to do something.”
“Like boiling me alive in your horrid cauldron!”
“How could you even imagine such a horrible thing?”
“I heard you say that all you needed for your recipe was a child!”
She took a step towards me.
“Listen, you’ve got it all wrong … ”
I scurried away from her as fast as I could.
“Are you that afraid of me?”
I ran to hide behind the nearest piece of furniture. The witch would probably come and drag me out by the scruff of the neck. Her long nails would dig into my skin. Ouch!
Instead, I heard … nothing. Silence. I know you’ll say that you can’t hear silence. But one thing’s for certain. This silence went in one ear and didn’t come out the other. Anyway!
After a moment, I dared to peek out to see what was happening.
The witch was gazing at me with eyes …
How to describe her eyes? They shone almost like the cat’s eyes had before, in the dark.
It’s natural for a cat’s eyes to glow like that. Not a human’s. That was the proof that this woman had magical powers. Probably evil ones. I was right not to trust her.
I tried to avoid her eyes, but I couldn’t. It was curtains for me!
Then I discovered why her eyes were so shiny. It wasn’t magic, it was tears. Two large tears were rolling down her cheeks.
“Why am I so ugly? Why am I uglier than the ugliest witch in the world?”
I must admit I could understand how she felt. I’m not always too pleased with the way I look. But compared to her, I was a beauty. Imagine what she must feel like.
She started sobbing.
“I don’t want to scare children anymore! I don’t want to have to hide away. All because I’m ugly. I’d be better off dead … ”
Her cat wound itself around her legs and licked her affectionately. But she wasn’t comforted.
“My poor cat, you’re the only one who’s not afraid. You know that I would never hurt a fly.”
I’ve never seen anyone so miserable and sad. I listened to a voice from my heart that told me to come out from my hiding place.
I never thought one person could cry so much. If she kept it up, she would soon drown in her own tears.
I rummaged in my pocket and pulled out a tissue. Fortunately it hadn’t been used. I started to wipe her face gently. She stopped crying and said gratefully, “No one has ever been so nice to me.”
Who would have thought that a tissue could make someone so happy? Anyway!
I reached out to brush away the hanks of hair falling in her face. And I straightened out her battered old hat.
I couldn’t help stroking her cheek, which was still wet with tears.
She was a little embarrassed and she muttered, “Nobody has ever touched me like that… ”
And she kept gazing at me. How can I tell you what I discovered in her eyes?
I felt as if I could see inside her, all the way to her heart. And it was so beautiful that I forgot that she was ugly.
So I smiled at her. The best kind of smile, the kind that comes from the bottom of your heart.
Then I heard a big PSSSSH! It was so loud that I threw myself on the ground. And I saw a big plume of blue smoke come out of the old lady’s body. HELP!
CHAPTER SEVEN
WHAT A STORY!
YOU’LL NEVER IMAGINE what I saw when I got up again. The witch — I mean the old lady — had turned into a magnificent old woman!
Gone were her cleft chin, her huge nose, and her ears like barn doors. Only the funny pointed hat remained, sitting on a head of silky-soft white hair.
She couldn’t believe her eyes either when she looked in the mirror. Finally, she could smile a wide smile showing all her teeth.
The cat kept running back and forth between the two of us. And she kept saying over and over, “A child’s smile! All it took was a child’s smile!”
So that was what the recipe meant. If only I had known!
All she needed was a smile from a child. And I thought she was so wicked she would toss a child into her pot. But I only thought that because she was ugly. Can you believe it?
She walked through the house, opening the curtains wide. The rain had stopped and the cat wanted to go out. So did I. It was nice at the old lady’s house, but I had been through so much!
Now I saw that the door had not opened and closed by magic.
The old lady only had to pull on a rope attached to the door to make it open. When she let go of the rope the door would swing shut.
As I was leaving, she took both my hands in her own, which were now soft and warm. The long pointy fingernails had disappeared along with everything else.
“Thank you, dear, for your smile. It saved my life.”
The cat went out and so did I.
The next thing I knew I was in the park, seated under the same tree I had sat under earlier.
Wow! What a story!
The black cat was nestling against me and purring to beat the band.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay any longer; it was time to go home.
I got to my feet and picked up Witch’s Brew. I would read it some other time. Now I wanted to say good-bye to the cat. But to my surprise, it had disappeared, as if by magic.
I know what you’re thinking … that this adven
ture never really happened to me … that I was so caught up in my book that I thought I was the heroine of the story …
That’s exactly what I told myself. Just to make sure, I hurried over to Lost Street. And I looked and looked … but I couldn’t find it anywhere.
I was beginning to wonder if what I thought had happened really had.
I took off my sweater. I was roasting in it, now that the sunshine had come back.
And, believe it or not, my sweater was all covered in cat hairs. Black ones.
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