Three Witch Tales

by Ruth Chew

  “She must still be out in her yard.” Susan was just about to push the doorbell again when the door creaked open.

  A small woman peeked out. She was holding a candle. By the flickering light her wrinkled face looked very very old.

  Susan swallowed. Then she said, “I live next door. My mother baked a cake for you. Here it is.”

  Josh held out the cake plate.

  The little woman looked at her candle and then at the big plate. “Thank you,” she said. “Would you please bring the cake in for me?”

  She opened the door wide and held the candle high to light the way. Josh stepped into the dark hall. “You too, dearie,” Mrs. Muldoon said.

  Susan followed Josh into the house.

  The candle cast strange shadows. Susan and Josh saw that the walls were covered with dark old paintings. There were cobwebs hanging from the carved frames.

  Something small and furry brushed against Susan’s ankle. It ran away into the darkness before she could see whether it was a mouse or a rat.

  They walked into the dining room. Josh put the cake plate on the big table.

  Mrs. Muldoon set her candlestick down beside the cake. She opened the glass door of the tall breakfront. Then she took out three old plates with curly gold borders. Mrs. Muldoon laid the plates on the table and opened a drawer to get three heavy silver forks. “You’ll have some cake before you go.”

  “Mother baked a cake for Josh too,” Susan said. “She wants this one to be all for you.”

  “Cake tastes much better when it’s eaten in company.” Mrs. Muldoon took the cover off the cake dish. She pulled out a chair with claws on the ends of the legs.

  As soon as the cover was taken off the cake the whole room smelled of chocolate. The smell was even stronger than it had been at home. Susan’s mouth began to water. She sat down in the chair with the claws.

  Mrs. Muldoon pointed to a chair with a red velvet seat. “You may sit there, Josh.” She picked up a knife that was shaped like a dagger. She started to cut the cake.

  The single candle flickered in the middle of the table. Shadows danced on the cracked ceiling. Susan saw something on the narrow shelf above the oak panels. It looked like a bat.

  “Why do you use candles?” Josh asked. “Did the electric company turn off your power?”

  Mrs. Muldoon nodded. She looked around at the shadows and smiled a funny smile. “But anyway I like candles.”

  Mrs. Muldoon was sawing away at the cake with her dagger. She cut three very crumbly pieces. Susan and Josh each got a fat wedge. But Susan noticed that Mrs. Muldoon gave herself a very small piece of cake. When she tasted it Mrs. Muldoon looked as if she felt sick. She went into the kitchen and came back with a steaming cup of something that didn’t smell like tea or coffee. Mrs. Muldoon took a sip. She seemed to feel better at once.

  “I hope you’ll forgive me for not offering you anything to drink,” she said. “There’s no milk in the house. And this wouldn’t be good for you.” She took another sip from her cup.

  Josh finished his piece of cake. Mrs. Muldoon sawed off another big hunk and gave it to him.

  “We saw you working in your garden,” Josh said.

  “It’s in terrible shape,” Mrs. Muldoon told him. “No one has been taking care of those poor plants.”

  “Who planted them?” Susan asked.

  “My aunt Martha,” Mrs. Muldoon said. “She liked all sorts of strange flowers. I don’t even know what some of them are. There are some tall things at the back with big yellow flowers on them.”

  “Those are sunflowers,” Susan said.

  “Oh, sunflowers. I’ve heard of them before. Why would Aunt Martha want to plant them?” Mrs. Muldoon frowned. She seemed to be thinking hard. Suddenly she smiled, as if she had an idea.

  Susan licked the last chocolate crumb from her fork. She stood up. “We’d better go home. Mother will wonder what’s taking us so long. Thank you for sharing your cake with us.”

  “My pleasure, dearie,” Mrs. Muldoon said. “I hope you’ll come back again. Maybe there are some other things we can share.”

  “What took you so long?” Mrs. Allen asked when she opened the door. “I thought you’d rush right back to eat your cake.”

  “Mrs. Muldoon wanted us to stay and eat cake with her,” Susan told her mother. “She said it tasted better when you had somebody to eat it with.”

  Mrs. Allen nodded. “She must be lonely all by herself in that big house.”

  “She asked us to visit her again, Aunt Mary,” Josh said. “She’s a nice old lady.”

  “Well, I guess you’ve had enough cake,” Mrs. Allen said. “You’d better go on off to bed. It’s getting late.”

  “I’d like a glass of milk,” Susan said. “Mrs. Muldoon didn’t have any.”

  “There’s plenty in the refrigerator,” her mother told her. “Just be sure you turn off the light in the kitchen when you’re finished. Daddy and I want to watch a movie on television.” She went into the living room.

  Josh and Susan walked into the kitchen. Susan put two glasses on the table and took a container of milk from the refrigerator. “Josh,” she said, “what do you suppose Mrs. Muldoon was drinking? It smelled funny.”

  Josh poured milk into the glasses. “Stop it, Sue. You’re getting ready to make up a whole story about Mrs. Muldoon. Next thing you’ll start in with the witch stuff again.”

  “Didn’t you see she never really ate any cake, Josh?” Susan said. “You know witches only eat toads.”

  Josh laughed. “Don’t be silly, Sue.”

  “Have you forgotten the magic mint leaves?” Susan asked.

  “Mrs. Muldoon didn’t plant that garden.” Josh felt in his pocket. “Hey, Sue, you used all the leaves to put the newspaper back together.”

  Susan ran to the kitchen waste basket. “Mother must have thrown out the trash. The paper bag is gone.”

  Susan lay awake for a long time after the lights were out. She kept thinking about Mrs. Muldoon and the magic mint leaves. Whatever Josh thought, Susan was sure Mrs. Muldoon was a witch.

  Suddenly Susan remembered something. She sat up in bed.

  The house was quiet. Susan didn’t waste time looking for her bedroom slippers. She tiptoed down the dark hall in her bare feet to Josh’s room.

  A faint light glowed in his bed. Susan pulled back the sheet.

  Josh jumped up. “Oh, it’s you.” He was reading a book with a flashlight under the sheet. “I found this in the bookcase downstairs. It’s so exciting I couldn’t stop reading.”

  “Sh-sh,” Susan whispered. “Josh, we left my mother’s clothesline hanging down into Mrs. Muldoon’s yard.”

  Josh closed the book. He was always ready for action. “Okay, Sue. Let’s go get the rope.”

  The cat was curled up on the foot of Josh’s bed. When Josh got up, Patchwork jumped to the floor. She followed Josh and Susan down the stairs and slipped out of the back door after them.

  The moon was just rising over the row of houses behind the yards. Susan was first up the tree. She was sorry she hadn’t put her sneakers on. But she didn’t want to go back for them now. She wished she was wearing pajamas like Josh. A nightgown wasn’t the best thing to climb trees in.

  Susan sat down on the branch that had the rope tied to it. She slid along sideways over the fence and into the yard next door. Just as she was about to untie the rope, Susan looked down into Mrs. Muldoon’s garden. It looked quite different at night.

  Josh crawled along the branch behind her. “The yard’s not as messy as it was.”

  “The witch has been working in it.” Susan pointed to the tall plants against the back fence. “See, Josh. She’s done something to the sunflowers.”

  In the moonlight the big flowers did not look yellow at all. Instead they seemed to shine with a strange white light. Susan thought they were the same color as her mother’s pearl earrings.

  “It’s just the moonlight, Sue,” Josh said. “Come on. I’ll show you.�
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  Susan climbed down the rope into the garden. Josh was right behind her.

  They walked along the cement path until they came to the back fence. Susan looked up at the big flowers. They were higher than her head.

  Josh reached up and broke off two petals. He handed one to Susan.

  The petal seemed to move in her hand. Susan stared at it. “Josh,” she whispered. “It’s growing!”

  Josh looked at the petal he was holding. It grew bigger and bigger. Then it stopped and floated in the air. He held onto it with both hands. “Sue,” he said in a low voice, “I feel funny.”

  Susan felt strange too. It was just as if she didn’t weigh anything. Her petal was now almost as long as her arm.

  A little breeze stirred the leaves of the apple tree. Suddenly it blew Susan off her feet. She was so surprised that she let go of the petal. At once she fell to the ground.

  She stood up. Now Susan felt just as heavy as she always did. The shining petal was still floating right over her head.

  She saw that Josh was holding tight to his petal. He seemed to have trouble keeping his feet on the ground. The next thing Susan knew Josh was climbing onto the petal. Then he stood up on it.

  The breeze sent both the flower petal and the boy sailing across the moonlit garden. Josh bent his knees and leaned forward. He flew back to where Susan was standing. “Look, Sue, a flying skateboard!” Josh went floating across the yard again.

  It looked like such fun that Susan wanted to fly too. The petal still hung in the air above her. Susan took a deep breath. She stood on tiptoe to grab hold of one end of the petal. As soon as she touched it she felt lighter than a feather. Her feet drifted off the ground.

  The petal started to rise. Susan held onto it with both hands. She pulled herself up and sat down.

  Under her the petal felt silky smooth and bouncy. Susan didn’t want to stand up on it as Josh was doing. Instead she held onto each side and swung her feet back and forth. It was like being on a swing. If she leaned back the petal rose higher. When she bent forward it flew down.

  Susan began to enjoy herself. She flew high over the apple tree and down into her own yard. Patchwork was sitting on the flagstones.

  “Meow!” The cat stood on her hind legs and batted at the flying petal with her front paws.

  Susan bent over and picked her up. She put the cat on her lap and flew back over the fence into Mrs. Muldoon’s yard.

  The breeze blew through Patchwork’s whiskers. She arched her back and sniffed the air. The cat seemed to like flying just as much as Susan did.

  Josh was trying to do tricks. He leaned far over to one side to make a sharp turn. “Oops!” One of his feet had slipped off the petal. Josh stood on the other. He flew over to Susan. “Isn’t this great?”

  “Watch out!” Susan said.

  The petal tipped to one side. Josh slid off. He grabbed the petal as he fell and held on with both hands.

  The cat saw what was happening to Josh. She became so excited that she dug her sharp claws through Susan’s thin nightgown.

  “Ouch!” Susan flew down to the ground. She put the cat on the cement walk. “Sorry, Patchwork. I’ll take you for a ride when I’m wearing jeans.”

  The cat jumped onto the side fence and sat there watching Josh. His sunflower petal was flying round and round the garden now. Josh was still holding tight to it. But he was being pulled through the air behind the petal.

  Susan flew to Josh. She reached out and took hold of his petal. It stopped still and floated in mid-air.

  Josh climbed back on it. “Thanks, Sue.” He sat on the petal as if he were riding a horse. “Giddyap!”

  The petal flew forward.

  All of a sudden Susan saw something. She flew after Josh and grabbed him by the arm.

  “What’s the matter, Sue?” he said.

  “Sh-sh!” Susan pointed to Mrs. Muldoon’s house.

  A faint light shone through a crack in one of the venetian blinds.

  “That must be Mrs. Muldoon’s kitchen,” Josh whispered. “Let’s go see what’s going on in there.”

  Susan and Josh flew over to the window and peeked through the crack in the blind.

  A candle was burning on the kitchen table. By its light Susan and Josh could see a big old-fashioned stove. There was an iron pot on the stove. It was so large that it covered all the burners.

  Josh stared at the big pot. “You’re right, Sue! She is a witch!”

  Mrs. Muldoon was fast asleep in a rocking chair beside the stove. A lot of little cans were on the floor at her feet. The cans looked like those in Mrs. Allen’s spice cabinet. But these were old and rusty. There were three dusty bottles and a chipped jug on the floor too.

  Mrs. Muldoon was holding a soup dipper in her hand. She smiled in her sleep.

  All at once the big pot gave a hiss. It started to boil over. Susan and Josh saw the witch open her eyes. She jumped to her feet and turned off all the burners on the stove. “Now, let me see,” she said. “What did I put in here?”

  She dipped out a little of the brew in the pot and sniffed it. “Very interesting,” she said. “But it needs something.” Mrs. Muldoon walked over to a cupboard on the wall and took out a small stone jar. She walked back to the stove and poured something dark and green out of the jar into the big pot.

  Bang!

  Josh and Susan thought the big black pot was going to explode. The kitchen began to fill with yellow smoke. Mrs. Muldoon ran to her back door.

  “Come on, Sue!” Josh backed his petal away from the window. He flew over the fence into Susan’s yard.

  Now Susan heard Mrs. Muldoon’s back door creak. The witch was coming out into the yard.

  Susan swung her legs wildly. She flew after Josh. She caught up to him on the other side of the fence.

  “We left my bedroom window open,” Susan gasped.

  Susan and Josh flew up to the window. They rushed through it so fast that they banged into each other and fell to the floor.

  Susan got to her feet. She reached up to grab her petal. But it floated up in the air. Josh’s petal was rising too. Both petals hit the ceiling at the same moment.

  Pop! They broke like a pair of balloons and came drifting down.

  Susan picked them up off the floor. They were damp and curled and no bigger than any other sunflower petals.

  “Wake up. It’s getting late.” Mrs. Allen pulled down the sheet. “Susie! Didn’t you take a bath last night?”

  Susan looked down at her feet and legs. They were scratched and dirty from climbing the apple tree.

  Her mother walked over to the window. “There’s Mrs. Muldoon working in her garden. What a job that must be! The yard hasn’t been weeded for years.”

  Susan looked out of the window. The witch was trying to dig up a large bush with an old spade.

  “Go take a shower, Susie,” her mother said. “Your dad has already left for work. I’d better wake Josh. You children are wasting the best part of the day.” She went down the hall to Josh’s room.

  When Susan and Josh came down to the kitchen, there was a batch of pancakes all ready for them. They sat down to eat.

  Mrs. Allen poured two glasses of orange juice. “I offered to lend Mrs. Muldoon our garden fork. I’d like you to take it over to her.”

  Susan and Josh finished their breakfast. They went down into the basement to look for the garden fork. It was in the furnace room along with the spade and the rake.

  Josh picked up the fork. “I’d like to get back into that garden,” he said.

  “Even though we know Mrs. Muldoon is a witch?” Susan asked.

  Josh grinned.

  Susan was quiet for a minute. She really wanted to go back into the garden too. There must be all sorts of magic in a place like that.

  “How about it, Sue?” Josh said.

  Susan picked up a trowel. “I’m ready.”

  They went out by the basement door under the front stoop. Susan climbed the steps of the house nex
t door and rang the doorbell. She had to ring several times before the door opened.

  Mrs. Muldoon stood in the doorway. Her hands were covered with dirt. She looked hot and tired. Her white hair curled in damp little rings around her wrinkled face. And her long pointed nose was sunburned. But when she saw the two children she smiled.

  Josh handed her the garden fork. “Would you like some help in your garden?”

  “Oh, yes,” Mrs. Muldoon said. “I have some seedlings that are all ready to be planted. Come in.”

  Josh and Susan stepped into the house. Even in the daytime it was dark and shadowy inside. Mrs. Muldoon walked down the hall into the dining room.

  Josh pointed to the chocolate cake on the table. “She hasn’t eaten any more of it,” he whispered to Susan.

  Mrs. Muldoon went through the swinging door into the kitchen. Josh and Susan followed her.

  The big pot was still on the stove. But now there was no steam coming out of it.

  Mrs. Muldoon put down the garden fork. She pulled a green plastic watering can from under the table. The witch took the watering can to the stove and used her big dipper to fill it from the pot. When it was full, the witch carried the watering can out into the garden. She set it down on the stone step outside the back door.

  Mrs. Muldoon came back into the kitchen. She pointed to a flat box of dirt on the table. There were little green plants in the box. “These are my seedlings.”

  “What are they?” Susan asked.

  Mrs. Muldoon rubbed her chin. “I’m not sure yet what they’re going to be,” she said. “Plants change, you know. I’m going to water these with a new mixture.”

  She handed the box of plants to Josh. Susan picked up the fork, and they all went out into the garden.

  Josh set the box of little plants down on the cracked cement walk. “Hand me the fork, Sue.” He turned to Mrs. Muldoon. “Where do you want me to dig?”