by Paul Kater
feelings, William, really, okay? You know I love you. You do. I do. But it is still so unnerving for me to hear what you do just like that, while you can blunder along with the simple things, and you are so ignorant about so many more things too. It sometimes is difficult for me."
William put away his wand and took Hilda's hands. "I am sure that I can make you feel insecure. And I am sorry about that. We both know that things just happened."
Hilda nodded. "They did. And bottom line is that I am happy they did." She smiled at him. "So how's our food coming along? I still think that we should have magicked it done, not go the cumbersome way you seem to like so much."
William grinned, popped up his wand again and tapped the cans. "It should be done now."
Quickly the contents of the cans were deposited onto the plates and the floating fire was removed.
"And this is food?" Hilda poked at it with a fork.
"It is sold as such anyway." William had been gone from his old world for a while and also eyed the matter on the plate with trepidation. "Maybe this was a mistake."
Wands were drawn, spells were spoken. "Now that's food."
As they were eating, there was a knock on the door.
"Suck an elf," Hilda muttered, "no one knows we're here, right?"
"Apparently that's wrong," William said. He got up and went over to the door to peek through the spy-glass. "Ordinaries," he whispered to Hilda.
Quickly they changed their attire to something more of this world and then William opened the door. "Hello?"
Wearing thick coats, as the cold and the snow were still not entirely gone, were a woman in her forties and a teenage child. "Hello. Sorry for interrupting, but we heard sounds from here. We didn't know someone had moved in and we thought it would be nice to come and welcome you. We're the Winklers, from next door."
The woman and the child, a boy, came in and closed the door behind them.
William was a bit lost, Hilda was completely lost.
"Oh, uhm, hello. We are William and Hilda Connoley." William improvised, hoping that Hilda would catch on. This was all new for her. "We've just arrived here."
Mrs. Winkler looked around in the rather empty room. "Yes. I see." Then she marched towards Hilda, grabbed the hand of the witch. "Hello, Mrs. Connoley, Margaret Winkler, and this is sweet little Jeff. So pleased to meet you."
William almost died as he saw the scene and tried to inform Hilda through their link she should not do anything magical to the woman.
"Hello, Mrs. Winkler," Hilda calmly said.
"Are you going to move in properly soon?", Mrs. Winkler asked.
"We are not sure if we are staying here for long," said William. "We are here on a sort of test run of the apartment, so to speak."
"Yes. A test run," Hilda confirmed, retreating to the table and the food.
"Oh, I am so sorry for barging in and interrupting your dinner," said the woman. She did not make any move to leave though. "Do sit and eat, I am not bothered by that."
William had the strong impression that the woman wasn't bothered with anything, the way she tried to take control of the situation.
"When did you move in?", Mrs. Winkler asked. "I have not seen you arrive, and usually I see everything. Do you know what the reason was for all that snow and cold all of a sudden? Isn't that strange? And the rate at which it is thawing now, it is incredible. Oh, you have a very nice view here, only too bad about that big tree. Maybe you can get in touch with town hall and ask them to take it down."
The woman rattled on and on, while William sat down and ate his last food.
Suddenly Hilda shot up from her chair and held out a hand. "Kid! Don't!"
Sweet little Jeff was holding one of their brooms in his hands.
William turned, praying that Hilda would not use magic. "Put that broom down, son. It's not yours."
"Oh, isn't he sweet?", Mrs. Winkler cheered, "he wants to help you clean the house. Good boy, Jeff, but maybe not now?" She looked at Hilda, whose face predicted an unhappy ending for Jeff if the kid would not put down the broom quickly.
"Put the broom back. Now." Hilda spoke slowly.
The boy put the broom back. Then he looked at Hilda. "Ugly witch."
"I am not ugly," Hilda said, her eyes sparkling red, an undertone of threat in her voice.
"MUM!", sweet little Jeff shouted and ran to his mother. "Her eyes are red! She's a vampire!"
"Jeff, she can't be. Vampires live in the night, remember?"
"Perhaps it is best that you leave now," said William, who had gotten up again.
"Maybe, yes," Mrs. Winkler agreed as she dragged Jeff to the door.
"Mum, that broom flies! Mum!"
Jeff got a slap over the head.
"Stop being a nuissance, Jeff. You and your big mouth. I'm so sorry, folks, usually he doesn't do things like that." Mrs. Winkler rapidly ushered her son out the door and so the visitors left.
William leaned against the door after locking it. "Sheesh. Just what we need. A snooping neighbour. And that kid."
Hilda nodded and leaned against William. "Does this mean we have to find another place to stay? It's a good place here."
"We can stay here for a while longer and see what happens. If they get too nosey, we'll have to move. That's a worry for later. Let's first see how we can handle-"
There was knocking on the door. William looked through the spy-glass and saw nobody. "Now what..." He opened the door and found sweet little Jeff Winkler looking up at him.
"Your wife is a witch," he declared.
"I know. And I am a wizard."
Hilda stood next to William, wondering why he was talking so openly to the child. "William?"
"It's okay, Hilda," he assured her.
Sweet little Jeff stared at them. "Do you turn people into frogs?"
"Sometimes. When they need it."
"Can you turn me into a frog?"
Hilda looked at the kid. "Yes. That's easy. You're small." She held out her hand and made the wand appear.
Sweet little Jeff stared at the hand and the wand. "Cool!"
"Do you want to be a frog?", Hilda asked the boy.
"Only if you turn me back into me again," he said. Jeff had seen things on television about wishes and how these got people into problems.
"Better come in then," said William, "it would look bad if someone sees us do that. We're here to catch the witch that makes the town crazy."
Jeff nodded and came in. "There is another witch? The police say there are terrorists and gas and stuff."
"That's all bogus," said William, "they don't know what they are up against so they invent something that people know, so there is no panic."
"Stand there," said Hilda as she pointed to a place in the room. "You're going to be a frog for a while."
"Cool." Jeff stood where Hilda directed him.
Then she pointed at him. "Ranunculus."
Jeff's clothes fell to the ground, and a smal toad crawled from under it. It made a sad little sound and it looked entirely lost and confused, as far as a toad can express such emotions.
Hilda and William watched it crawl around for a while, then she turned him back into a boy. A boy who was scrambling his clothes together and getting into them in a hurry.
"Did you like being a frog?"
"No way, that's way cramped in there! And everything is too big too then!" Jeff shook his head to emphasise his feelings. "I don't want to be a frog anymore."
"Right. Now, Jeff, remember that feeling. Not a word to anyone about us, okay? We have a difficult thing to do here, and we don't need the police or the press here to see us. Just remember what it is to be a frog. I am sure you are clever enough to figure out what I mean." William popped up a glass of orange juice and handed that to the boy.
"Oh, don't worry, sir, I'm not going to tell. They'd think I'm crazy. And thanks for this." Jeff drained the glass in one go.
Hilda as well as W
illiam noticed the 'sir'. Clearly the experience had impressed the boy deeply.
"Would you like some more?" Hilda knew that most ordinaries' bodies reacted awkwardly to being transformed. Jeff nodded, so she filled up his glass again with a snip of her fingers.
"Whoa, that's so cool," the boy said, looking at the glass.
From outside, they heard his mother yell out the boy's name.
"Oh. That's my call," Jeff said as he handed the glass to William. "I'd better go. Can I come visit you again?"
"You can try. We may not be here," said William as he walked the boy to the door.
"That's a chance I can take," said Jeff. "Thank you. Sir. Mrs. Witch." He hopped out and quickly went to his mother.
The magical couple stared each other in the eye.
"Suck an elf."
12. Have a drink
After their initial amazement had worn off, they sat on the chairs again. William conjured up two cups of coffee and then they tried to decide on their next step. After all, having a neighbouring kid who wanted to be friendly was nice, but that did not deliver Zelda.
They understood that so far they still had an advantage, as Zelda did not know they were alive. It would work for a surprise attack, but the attack would have to be good.
"We'll have to be there when she leaves the building," Hilda thought out loud. "Be there in a way that she won't suspect, so we can hit her hard."
"That sounds like a good plan. Now, how can we hit her hard? I have no experience with catching witches, except you."
"You did not catch me, I caught you." The wicked witch looked at him, challenging him with her eyes.
William did not bite. "Whatever you want, sweetwitch. And on the subject of Zelda?"
"Hmm. There are a few ways. Take away her wand. Make sure she can't move and