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“I jus’ thought I’d come to see who won,” she said. “join in the applause, and so on ...”
Letice advanced on her, wild with rage.
“Have you been getting into people’s heads?” she shrieked.
“An’ how could I do that, Mrs Earwig?” said Gra
“You’re lying!”
Na
“I don’t lie, Mrs Earwig.”
“Do you deny that you set out to ruin my day?”
Some of the witches at the edge of the crowd started to back away.
“I’ll grant my jam ain’t to everyone’s taste but I never —” Gra
“You’ve been putting a ’fluence on everyone!”
“I just set out to help, you can ask anyone —”
“You did! Admit it!” Mrs Earwig’s voice was as shrill as a gull.
“— and I certainly didn’t do any —”
Gra
For the moment no one breathed, no one moved.
She lifted a hand slowly and rubbed her cheek.
“You know you could have done it easily!”
It seemed to Na
The cup dropped from her hands and crunched on the stubble.
Then the tableau unfroze. A couple of her sister witches stepped forward, put their hands on Letice’s shoulders and she was pulled, gently and unprotesting, away ...
Everyone else waited to see what Gra
“I hope Mrs Earwig is all right,” she said. “She seemed a bit ... distraught.”
There was silence. Na
“Hmm,” she said. “Just plated, I reckon. If she paid ten dollars for it, the poor woman was robbed.” She tossed it to Gammer Beavis, who fumbled it out of the air. “Can you give it back to her tomorrow, Gammer?”
Gammer nodded, trying not to catch Gra
“Still, we don’t have to let it spoil everything,” Gra
Na
“Mr Hopcroft gave me a whole sack of spuds,” said Na
A sudden change in the air made her look up. Gra
Na
Gra
The bonfire exploded. A blue-white flame shot up through the stacked branches and danced into the sky, etching shadows on the forest. It blew off hats and overturned tables and formed figures and castles and scenes from famous battles and joined hands and danced in a ring. It left a purple image on the eye that burned into the brain —
And settled down, and was just a bonfire.
“I never said nothin’ about forgettin’,” said Gra
When Gra
After some while, Na
“I done nothin’.”
“Yeah, well ... it wasn’t nice, what you didn’t do. It was like pullin’ away someone’s chair when they’re expecting to sit down.”
“People who don’t look where they’re sitting should stay stood up,” said Gra
There was a brief pattering on the leaves, one of those very brief showers you get when a few raindrops don’t want to bond with the group.
“Well, all right,” Na
“Right,” said Gra
“And some people might think it was a little bit nasty.”
“Right.”
Na
“I gave you no cause,” said Gra
“Sorry, Esme.”
“Right.”
“But ... Letice didn’t mean to be cruel, Esme. I mean, she’s spiteful and bossy and silly, but —”
“You’ve known me since we was girls, right?” Gra
“Yes, of course, but —”
“And you never sank to sayin’ "I’m telling you this as a friend", did you?”
Na
“What’s empowerin’ about witchcraft anyway?” said Gra
“Search me,” said Na
“Think I don’t know that?”
“What did you start out to get, Esme?”
Gra
“Du
And that, Na
Deer bounded away as they arrived at Gra
There was a stack of firewood piled up neatly by the back door, and a couple of sacks on the doorstep. One contained a large cheese.
“Looks like Mr Hopcroft and Mr Poorchick have been here,” said Na
“Hmph.” Gra
“Can’t imagine,” said Na
“I would just bet you can’t,” said Gra
She sniffed suspiciously, tugged at the sack’s string, and pulled out an Esme Weatherwax.
It was rounded, very slightly flattened, and pointy at one end. It was an onion.
Na
“I’m sorry?”
“Oh ... nothing ...”
Gra
“A very useful vegetable, the onion,” she said, at last. “Firm. Sharp.”
“Good for the system,” said Na
“Keeps well. Adds flavour.”
“Hot and spicy,” said Na
“We don’t need to go that far,” said Gra
“Er ... I’d better be getting along —”
“Fair enough.”
Gra
“I was right though, wasn’t I,” said Gra
Na
“Right,” she said.
“That’s nice.”