Three Witch Tales

by Ruth Chew

  Albert placed the slipper on the floor. “Slipper, get ready to take all four of us to Brooklyn! Hurry!”

  Nothing happened.

  They could hear heavy footsteps coming up the stair.

  The cat sniffed the slipper. “Something’s happened to it. The slipper doesn’t smell of magic anymore!”

  The herb mixture must have worn off the slipper, Holly thought. Now there was no way for them to go home again.

  The footsteps on the stairs were coming closer.

  Matthew picked up the slipper. “Of course it isn’t magic! This isn’t my beat-up old slipper. It’s brand new, and it’s not even corduroy. It’s velvet!”

  Nell Fisher grabbed the slipper and lifted the hem of her long dress. She was wearing two red slippers. She took one off and gave it to Matthew. “Is this what you’re looking for?” She put on the other slipper.

  Matthew placed the slipper on the floor. “Do your best, Slipper!”

  The earl was at the door now.

  Holly wished Matthew had let Albert work the magic.

  The earl stood in the doorway with his fist in the air, but the slipper had cast a spell, and he couldn’t get into the room.

  The slipper became bigger and bigger until there was room for Holly and Matthew to sit with Nell Fisher between them holding Albert on her lap.

  When the slipper rose in the air, the earl rushed into the room. By that time the slipper had become small enough to go through the lattice of the window. It soared higher and higher to leave the castle behind and race forward through time.

  “Nobody told me that slipper was magic,” Nell Fisher said. “When I found it on the floor, I tried it on. It was so much better than the awful things I was wearing that Elspeth and Selma decided to copy it and make me a new pair. Selma finished hers first. I was wearing Matthew’s slipper while Elspeth worked on hers.”

  Nell Fisher admired the tunic. Matthew took it off and gave it to her. He put on his T-shirt. It had cat hairs on it and was itchier than the tunic.

  The window of Holly’s room in the Dorritys’ house was still wide open. The slipper flew into her bedroom and landed on the floor. As soon as Holly and Matthew climbed out, they returned to their usual size. The slipper was still tiny. It rose up and sailed out the window with Albert and Nell Fisher.

  “I wonder where the slipper is taking them,” Matthew said. “I didn’t hear Albert give any commands.”

  Holly thought about this. “The slipper seems to have a mind of its own now. Look what it did to the earl!”

  Matthew changed his shirt, and Holly combed her hair. They went downstairs. Mr. Dorrity was busy with the crossword puzzle, and Mrs. Dorrity was working in her garden.

  “What do you think the herbs were that got smeared on to my slipper?” Matthew asked. “Maybe there’s some of the mixture still on the floor.”

  “Let’s go see.” Holly and Matthew started up the stairs. They met Albert on the way down. “Where’s Nell Fisher?” Holly asked.

  “She just got a job in the circus,” the cat told them. “She did a few acrobatic tricks and proved she could ride on an elephant’s head. The manager said she was the prettiest acrobat he’d ever seen.

  “By the way, Matt, I put your slipper with the other one under your bed. It needs a rest, and I need some of your grandmother’s leftovers.”

  Albert ran downstairs to the kitchen.

  “Hot dogs never taste this good when Mother cooks them in the kitchen,” Susan said. “It was a great idea to have a picnic in the yard, Josh.”

  Her cousin grinned. “I have lots of good ideas, Sue.” He finished his hot dog and licked his fingers. Then he pushed another frankfurter onto a skinny stick. Josh had cut the stick from the apple tree in the yard. He held it over the little campfire on the flagstone walk.

  When the frankfurter was black all over, Josh put it in a roll. He took a big bite.

  “Meow!” A fat calico cat jumped off the high board fence between Susan’s yard and the one next door. The cat ran over to Josh.

  “Okay, okay, Patchwork. I get the message.” Josh gave the end of his frankfurter to the cat.

  “Now I know why Patchwork likes you so much, Josh.” Susan tried to poke her stick through a tiny marshmallow.

  “When I was here last summer,” Josh said, “Patchwork slept on my bed every night.”

  Josh bent down to scratch Patchwork behind the ears. The cat rubbed against the leg of his jeans. She looked up into his face and purred.

  Josh watched Susan trying to get the stick through the marshmallow. “You’ll never do it, Sue. Those tiny marshmallows aren’t meant for toasting. My mom uses them to make fudge.”

  “These were the only ones I could find.” Susan went into the house and came back with a big fork. “We can toast two marshmallows at once,” she told Josh. “You use one prong of the fork. And I’ll use the other.”

  The little marshmallows kept catching fire. They tasted like cinders. Patchwork sniffed one and went back to the fence.

  Susan got a needle and thread. She sat down under the apple tree and strung six marshmallows.

  “That looks just like a string of beads, Sue,” Josh said.

  Susan tied the ends of the thread tightly around a prong of the big fork. “Hold this over the fire, Josh.”

  The fire melted the marshmallows together into a gooey lump. The lump caught fire. Josh blew it out. The outside of the lump was black. But inside it was soft and bubbly. Josh ate it slowly. He pulled the thread out and sucked the sticky marshmallow off it. “You’re a genius, Sue.” He handed her the fork. “Your turn.”

  Susan tied another string of little marshmallows onto the fork. “The fire’s almost out, Josh. And we’ve burned all the dead sticks from the rose bushes. What’ll we use now?”

  Josh climbed up into the branches of the apple tree. “There’s nothing we can burn here.” He looked over the fence that the cat was sitting on. “Hey, Sue, a dead branch from your tree has fallen into the neighbor’s yard. Who lives next door?”

  “Nobody,” Susan told him.

  Josh looked at the house. All the houses on the block were joined together. On the outside they looked alike. But the blinds in this one were pulled down.

  “If nobody lives there,” Josh said, “nobody would mind if we took some old dead sticks.”

  Susan looked at the high fence. “How are we going to get over that?”

  “If you have a rope, I’ll show you,” Josh said.

  “Mother has some clothesline in the basement,” Susan said.

  Josh climbed down from the tree. “Come on, Sue. Let’s go look for it.”

  Josh and Susan looked all over the basement. At last they found some clothesline on the top of the tall freezer in the laundry room. Susan had to stand on the step-ladder to reach it. She handed the clothesline to Josh. Then they went back into the yard.

  The cat was sitting in the apple tree. She was looking down into the yard next door.

  Josh looped the rope over his shoulder and climbed into the tree. Susan came up after him.

  The trunk of the apple tree grew in Susan’s yard, close to the fence. Almost half the tree hung over the yard next door. Josh crawled along a thick branch that hung over the fence. He tied the rope around the branch. Then he climbed down the rope to the yard below.

  Susan sat on the branch and moved along sideways. She wasn’t as good at climbing as Josh. But she didn’t want him to know it. When she came to the rope she grabbed hold of it with her hands. She let her feet hang down and tried to wrap them around the rope. Her hands kept slipping. It seemed an age before she reached the ground.

  Patchwork jumped from the branch to the fence. From the fence the cat leaped into the yard next door.

  Josh was already snapping dry sticks off the fallen branch. Susan looked at the yard.

  A row of tall sunflowers grew against the back fence. A cracked cement path went around the yard. Grass poked out of the cracks in the path. The f
lower beds were full of weeds. A thorny bush was covered with raspberries. And there were little fringed flowers growing next to the cement walk.

  The air smelled sweet. Susan knelt down and buried her nose in the soft green leaves of one of the plants. “Josh, what does this make you think of?” Susan held out a leaf for him to smell.

  Josh sniffed. “Chewing gum. It must be mint.” He broke off several bunches of leaves and stuffed them into his pockets.

  “Look at Patchwork,” Susan said.

  The cat was leaping around the garden. She chased her tail and rolled on the ground.

  “She acts drunk,” Josh said. “Maybe she got into some catnip.”

  Susan began to sniff the other plants.

  Suddenly Josh grabbed her arm. He pointed to a small window in the back of the house.

  Susan saw one of the slats on the venetian blind move. Someone was peeking through the window!

  Josh ran to the rope. He climbed up, hand over hand, into the apple tree. Susan was close behind him. She didn’t know she could climb so fast.

  Josh and Susan heard the squeaky sound of a door opening. Someone was coming out into the yard next door.

  The two children crawled along the branch of the tree and slid down the trunk into Susan’s yard. Both of them were out of breath.

  “Listen,” Susan whispered.

  Someone on the other side of the fence was laughing.

  “I thought you said nobody lived in that house,” Josh said.

  Susan didn’t answer. She was staring at the burned-out campfire.

  Josh could tell from her face that something was wrong. “What’s the matter, Sue?”

  “I forgot that Mother doesn’t want me to play with matches,” Susan told him.

  “We weren’t playing. We were cooking our lunch,” Josh said. “Your mother told us to before she went shopping.” He pulled the top from a can of cherry soda. “Don’t worry about it, Sue. Let’s finish eating and clean up the mess we made.” He handed Susan the soda.

  They drank the soda right from the cans. Susan ate the marshmallows she had strung together.

  “They taste good even without toasting,” she said.

  When the picnic was finished, Susan got a brown paper bag and a dustpan and brush. She started to sweep up the ashes and burnt sticks while Josh held the paper bag open.

  “Do you think we ought to wash that off?” Josh pointed to a black burnt place on the flagstone walk.

  “Oh, yes,” Susan said. “Daddy put the flagstones down. He wants them to look nice.” She went to get a pail of water and a Brillo pad.

  Josh and Susan took turns scrubbing. But they couldn’t get the ugly black mark off the flagstones.

  “It’s no use,” Susan said at last. She picked up the big fork. “I’d better wash this.”

  Josh took a look at the fork. “That needs more than cleaning, Sue.”

  Now Susan saw that the prongs of the fork weren’t shiny anymore. The flames had made them turn blue. And the smooth wooden handle of the fork was cracked from the heat of the fire.

  Susan knew how much her mother liked the fork. It matched the fancy carving knife. Susan should never have used it over a campfire. And no matter what Josh said, Susan knew her mother didn’t want her to build fires. She felt like crying.

  Josh looked at her face. “I’m sorry, Sue,” he said. “This is all my fault. The picnic was my idea.”

  Josh dug his hands into his pockets. He pulled out a bunch of mint leaves. Some of them fell out of his hand onto the flagstone walk. They landed right in the middle of the black spot.

  Josh leaned over and picked up the leaves. “Sue, look!”

  Susan looked at the smoky mark on the flagstones. Where the leaves had been, the stain had vanished.

  Josh put the bunch of mint leaves on another part of the smoky mark. Again the dark stain disappeared. He took more mint leaves out of his pocket. Josh covered the whole spot. When he picked up the leaves, the flagstone walk looked as if there had never been a fire burning there.

  “I guess there’s something in the leaves that cleans things,” Susan said.

  Josh crushed a handful of the leaves. He sniffed them. “They smell even more like chewing gum when they’re mashed,” he said.

  “That’s funny,” Susan said. “Chewing gum sure doesn’t clean things.” She took the fork into the house.

  Josh stuffed all the mint leaves back into his pockets. His fingers were all sticky and smelled of mint. He went to join Susan. She was standing at the kitchen sink scrubbing the big fork.

  Susan looked up. “This is ruined, Josh.” She held up the fork. “Mother is going to be angry.”

  “It’s too late to do anything about it now, Sue. Let’s just put it back where it belongs.” Josh grabbed the fork with sticky fingers. “Where does your mother keep it?”

  “In the buffet in the dining room. Come on. I’ll show you.” Susan took a red leather box out of the top drawer of the buffet. Josh put the fork into the box beside the carving knife.

  Before she closed the lid of the box Susan took another look at the fork. “Josh!” she whispered. “Something’s happened to it!”

  Josh looked. Where his sticky fingers had held the handle, the wood was smooth and gleaming. All the ugly cracks were gone.

  Josh couldn’t believe his eyes. He touched one of the blue prongs. At once it shone like silver.

  Josh picked up the fork and rubbed his fingers all over it. Then he handed it to Susan.

  She stared at the shining fork. Then she put it in the box and closed the lid.

  At suppertime Susan’s mother said, “Bill, did you know we have a new neighbor?”

  Both Susan and Josh stopped eating to listen.

  Susan’s father put down his fork. “You mean the Kerrigan house has been sold at last? Nobody has lived there for years.”

  “I don’t think it was really sold,” Mrs. Allen told him. “I heard that the owners are letting someone live there, just so the house won’t be empty. Her name is Mrs. Muldoon.”

  “Well, I hope she cleans up that messy backyard.” Mr. Allen cut open his baked potato. “By the way, Mary,” he said, “what did you do with yesterday’s Times? I haven’t finished the crossword puzzle.”

  “I left it in the living room,” Mrs. Allen said.

  Josh looked at Susan. They both knew they had used the newspaper to light their campfire.

  When it was time for dessert, Josh helped Susan clear the table. “Where did you put the paper bag with the ashes in it, Josh?” Susan whispered to him.

  “In the kitchen waste basket,” he said.

  Susan reached into Josh’s pocket and pulled out all the mint leaves. She opened the brown paper bag and dropped in the mint. Then she closed the bag tight and began to shake it.

  Her mother walked into the kitchen, carrying a platter. She opened the refrigerator. Suddenly she caught sight of Susan. “What in the world are you doing, Susie?”

  “Shaking a paper bag.” Susan opened the bag. Josh pulled yesterday’s Times out of it.

  Mrs. Allen put what was left of the meat loaf in the refrigerator. She took the newspaper from Josh. “I’d better take charge of this,” she said. “There’s no telling what you and Susie might do with it.”

  After supper Susan and Josh went upstairs to Susan’s room at the back of the house. Josh stood at the window and looked out. It was still light outdoors.

  “From here you can’t tell that there’s anything spooky about the yard next door,” he said.

  Susan walked over and looked down. “Look, Josh,” she whispered, “there’s the witch!”

  A woman in a rusty brown dress was digging in a shadowy corner of the garden. She was small and thin and worked so quietly that Josh hadn’t noticed her.

  “Witch?” Josh said. “You mean Mrs. Muldoon.”

  “Don’t you see, Josh,” Susan went on in a low voice. “Mrs. Muldoon is a witch. You know that we were mixed up with magic today
.”

  Josh nodded. “The mint leaves are magic all right. But that garden has been here for a long time. Mrs. Muldoon just moved in next door.”

  Susan didn’t argue. She stared down at the woman and wondered what her face was like.

  Josh was quiet for a while. The sky was getting darker. A firefly flashed in the apple tree. “Sue,” Josh said at last, “what gave you the idea to use the mint leaves to get back the newspaper? I thought they were just good for cleaning things.”

  “I’m not quite sure what gave me the idea,” Susan told him. “It just came into my head.”

  They heard Mrs. Allen calling. “Susie, Josh, come down here.”

  They left Susan’s room and went downstairs. As they came closer to the kitchen Josh sniffed the air. “My favorite smell,” he said.

  Susan grinned. “I know. Chocolate cake.”

  Mrs. Allen came out of the kitchen. “Surprise, surprise,” she said. “I baked two cakes, Josh. One for you, and one for our new neighbor. Before you kids eat yours, I want you to take a cake over to Mrs. Muldoon.”

  “You don’t like me to be out after dark,” Susan reminded her mother. “Couldn’t we take the cake to Mrs. Muldoon tomorrow?”

  “What are you afraid of, Susie?” Mrs. Allen asked. “You only have to go next door. And Josh will be with you.”

  “Mrs. Muldoon is working in her garden, Aunt Mary,” Josh said. “We saw her from the window. She won’t hear her doorbell.”

  “Ring it for a while then. I’d like her to get the cake when it’s fresh out of the oven.” Mrs. Allen handed Josh the big cake dish with the glass cover. “Just be careful how you hold it. Now run along. You can have a piece of your cake when you get back.”

  Josh and Susan left the house by the front door. They walked down the front steps and up the steps next door. Josh was carrying the cake. Susan pressed the doorbell.

  It was dark now. The street lights were on. But there were no lights in Mrs. Muldoon’s house.