by Adele Abbott
“That was an old friend of mine; her name is Alicia. She’s an evil witch, but I can’t for the life of me think what she could have been looking for. There’s nothing in this office that would interest her.”
“She needs teaching a lesson.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to let her get away with this, but first, I’d better get over to Mrs V’s house to see if she’s okay.”
It was a long time since I’d been to Mrs V’s house. Fortunately, she’d given me a key some time ago in case of emergency. I knocked first, but there was no reply. If Alicia had hurt Mrs V in any way, I’d make sure she’d regret it for the rest of her life.
I let myself in, and called Mrs V’s name. There was still no reply. I checked all the rooms downstairs, but there was no sign of her. I made my way slowly upstairs—terrified at what I might find. The bedroom door was slightly ajar, so I eased it open. Mrs V was lying on the bed; her eyes were closed. For a moment, I feared the worst, but when I checked her pulse, it was strong.
“Mrs V! Wake up! Mrs V!”
She didn’t stir at all.
This wasn’t normal sleep. She was under a strong ‘sleep’ spell which took all my focus to reverse. This was obviously the work of a very powerful witch; my money was on Ma Chivers.
“Jill? What are you doing here?” Mrs V sat up. “What time is it? Am I late for work?”
“I think you must have been poorly, Mrs V. You’ve been asleep for a couple of days.”
“What? Really? Oh dear. The last thing I remember I was getting ready to go to work, but then someone came to the door.”
“Do you remember who it was?”
“No, sorry. I can’t remember a thing after opening the door. I suppose we’d better get a move on.”
“Stay where you are.” I put my hand on her shoulder. “There’s no need for you to come in today. You need to rest up for a while until you’re feeling better.”
“Okay. I guess you’re right. I do feel a little lightheaded.”
I made Mrs V a cup of tea, and took her some biscuits. Only when I was sure she was okay, did I leave.
***
I should have known better than to think I’d seen the back of Alicia and Ma Chivers. Even though I’d racked my brain, I couldn’t think what Alicia had been looking for in my office. There was nothing to find there.
Jack had finished work early, and was picking up the kids from Kathy’s. I’d said I’d go straight home, and organise dinner for us all. I may have forgotten to mention to Jack that dinner would be takeaway pizza.
What? All kids love pizza, don’t they?
“Hey, Jill.” Blake called from across the street, and then came over to join me. “You’re home early, aren’t you?”
“I’ve got my sister’s kids coming over tonight. We’re babysitting while she and her husband go and see some pop star at Washbridge Arena.”
“Murray Murray?”
“Yeah? How did you know?”
“We tried to get tickets, but they’d already sold out.”
“I’ve never heard of him.”
“You must be the only person in Washbridge who hasn’t. I bet you’re looking forward to having the kids over, aren’t you?”
“Oh yeah.” I lied. “How is Jen?”
“Great, thanks. Things have been so much better between us since I told her about you know what. We had a long talk about the importance of keeping it a secret. I thought we needed to, after what happened when Jack and I went bowling.”
“And do you think she’s got the message now?”
“Yeah. Everything’s cool now. By the way, have you seen that someone is moving in next door to us?”
“I hadn’t realised that the house was for sale.”
“That’s not surprising. It was sold before they even had a chance to put the ‘for sale’ board up.”
“Have you met your new neighbours yet?”
“No. The only reason I know it’s been sold is because I spoke to our old neighbours before they moved out. They were quite chuffed to have made such a quick sale. Anyway, I’d better get going. Have a good evening with the kids.”
***
“Auntie Jill!” Lizzie came rushing into the kitchen.
“Auntie Jill!” Mikey was a couple of steps behind her.
“Hi, kids. You’ve got crisps?” There was a trail of crumbs behind them.
“Take your coats off, kids.” Jack appeared in the doorway.
“You bought them crisps?” I gave him a look.
“They said they were hungry, so we stopped off at the minimarket.”
“What about their dinner?”
“I knew it would be some time before you had it ready, so I thought the crisps would keep them going.”
“I can’t see any point in my slaving over a hot oven now the kids are full of crisps. I guess I’ll just order takeaway. And I was so looking forward to cooking a proper dinner. Oh, well.”
Jack eyed me suspiciously. He was onto my ruse.
“Do you have any toys, Auntie Jill?” Lizzie asked.
“No. Your mummy said that you were going to bring some with you?”
“They have,” Jack said. “I’ve left them in the car. I’ll just nip out and get them.”
A few minutes later, Jack was back with a couple of board games, and something I hoped I’d never see again. Lizzie grabbed the Frankensteinesque beanie from him.
“This one is my favourite.” Lizzie held it out to me—I backed away. “It’s a pandoceros. Can you guess which animals it’s made from?”
“At a wild guess, could it be a panda and a rhinoceros?”
“How did you know?”
“Something about the name gave it away.”
Mikey had finished his bag of crisps, and had dropped the empty packet onto the floor.
“Pick that up, Mikey, please.”
“Will you show us some more magic tricks, Auntie Jill?” He had ignored my request to pick up the crisp packet.
“Auntie Jill doesn’t know any magic,” Jack said.
“Yes she does.” Mikey was still ignoring the litter situation. “She showed us a magic trick once before, didn’t you, Auntie Jill?”
“Yes, but that was the only trick that I know. Now, why don’t you three set up one of the board games while I order the food?”
Chapter 6
I went through to the kitchen so I could hear myself think, but before I had the chance to order the pizza, I felt a chill in the room, and knew immediately that a ghost was about to appear.
“That man is driving me insane!” My mother was standing beside the kitchen table.
“Mum? What are you doing here?”
“Jill?” Jack’s voice came from the other room. “Did you shout?”
“No. It’s okay. I just dropped something.” And then in a whisper, I said to my mother, “Mum, this isn’t a good time. I’ve got my sister’s kids in the other room. Can’t we talk about this another day?”
“Your father is painting the front of his house red.”
“So?”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? He’s painting it red. It will bring down the tone of the whole neighbourhood.”
Just then, the kitchen door opened, and in walked Lizzie.
“Who are you talking to, Auntie Jill?”
“No one. I was just talking to myself.”
“Who’s that lady?”
I glanced at my mother. Thankfully, she took the hint and disappeared.
“What lady?” I said.
“The lady dressed all in white. The one you were talking to. Where has she gone?”
What was going on? How had Lizzie seen my mother’s ghost? Could she be a parahuman?
“I think you must have imagined it, Lizzie.”
“I didn’t. She was standing over there, but then she disappeared. Is she a ghost?”
“Ghost? No. There are no such things as ghosts.”
“Yes, there are. There’s on
e at our school. Her name is Caroline.”
“Who’s Caroline?”
“I told you. She’s a ghost.”
“Have you seen Caroline?”
“Yes. I often see her. In the main hall.”
“Is she a lady?”
“No. She’s a girl—like me.”
“Has anyone else seen her?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Did you tell one of the teachers?”
“Yes. I told Miss Brakes, but she said there are no such things as ghosts.”
“Did you tell your mummy or daddy?”
“I told Mummy, but she said I was being silly.”
“It might be better not to mention the lady in white to them.”
“Okay. Can I have a drink of pop please?”
***
‘One Minute Takeaway’ lived up to their name yet again; the pizza was at the door almost as soon as I’d finished placing the order. The kids and Jack had wanted to eat in the lounge while playing board games. No chance! I could only imagine what kind of devastation that would cause. Instead, I insisted that they come through to the kitchen where the four of us could eat at the table.
Fortunately, Lizzie didn’t mention the woman in white again. Maybe she would just forget all about it.
“Can we play the board games now?” Mikey said. His face was covered in pizza.
“When I’ve cleaned you both up.”
After I’d wiped the kids’ faces and hands, they rushed off. Jack stood up, and was about to follow them.
“Hold your horses, mister. Where do you think you’re going?”
“I thought we’d do the dishes later?” He looked confused.
“I wasn’t talking about the dishes. Come here.”
I took his hands and wiped them with the flannel. Then I wiped his mouth. “You’re as bad as the kids.”
“I want to play Ludo,” Mikey said.
“No.” Lizzie stamped her foot. “Ludo is boring. I want to play Snakes and Ladders.”
“Ludo!”
“Snakes and Ladders!”
“Hold on there, kids,” Jack said. “This is what we’ll do. I’ll toss this coin, and whichever one of you calls correctly, can decide which game we play first. Okay?”
The kids nodded in agreement.
“Mikey, call.” Jack tossed the coin into the air.
“Heads.”
“It’s tails. Lizzie gets to choose which game we play first.”
Mikey frowned, but didn’t argue with the result. Since when had Jack been such an expert with kids?
I’d forgotten just how tedious Snakes and Ladders could be. And it wasn’t just me who thought so. After thirty minutes, the kids had grown tired of it, and moved to the sofa to watch TV. It was a kids’ program I’d never seen before, and it was incredibly noisy.
I made to stand up, but Jack caught hold of my arm. “Let’s finish the game.”
I knew why he’d said it. He was in the lead, and he sensed the opportunity to beat me at something.
“It’s boring, Jack.”
“If you’re afraid of losing, you can always concede.”
Concede? I never conceded. “No. We’ll keep on playing.”
Twenty minutes later, there were only five squares between him and victory.
Now, it’s not that I’m a bad loser, I’m just a much better winner. He rolled the dice and got a three which should have taken him clear of the final snake. I quickly cast a spell which caused that snake to move one position to the left, which meant that Jack landed smack bang on top of it.
Snigger.
He stared at the board in disbelief. “That snake wasn’t on that square.”
“What do you mean?” I said, all innocent-like. “Are you suggesting it moved?”
“No—I—err.”
“Are you going to move your piece or not?”
He slid it onto the square which now contained the snake. I leaned over, took hold of it, and slid it down the snake to the bottom of the board.
“Unlucky.” I smirked. “And you were so close to winning.”
Ten minutes later, I slid my piece onto the winning square.
“I win! Again!”
What? I did it for his own good. I didn’t want him to get big-headed.
***
We tried to get the kids to play Ludo, but they were much more interested in watching TV. Jack, on the other hand, was determined to beat me at something. Unfortunately for him, he lost at that too. And no, I didn’t cheat. Much.
It was almost eleven o’clock when Kathy and Peter arrived back from the show. Jack and I went out into the hallway to greet them. We didn’t want to wake the kids who were both fast asleep. Lizzie was in the armchair; Mikey was stretched out on the sofa.
“How are the kids?” Kathy said, as soon as she walked through the door.
“They’re both fine. They’re asleep in the lounge.”
“Have they been good?” Peter asked.
“Good as gold,” Jack said. “They’ve been watching TV for most of the evening. I think the board games were too boring for them.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t because Jill wouldn’t let them win?” Kathy grinned.
“What do you mean?”
“You never could bear to lose at any game. When we were kids, you always used to sulk if you lost.”
“I did not sulk.”
“If you say so.”
“How was the concert?” Jack changed the subject.
“It was fantastic!” Kathy gushed. “Murray Murray was great, wasn’t he, Pete?”
“Yeah, he was really good.”
“Mummy! Daddy!” Lizzie appeared in the doorway. “I thought I heard you. Did you have a nice time?”
“Yes, pumpkin, we had a really nice time. Did you enjoy yourself?”
“Auntie Jill doesn’t have any toys. And she wouldn’t show us any magic tricks.”
“I don’t know any more tricks, Lizzie.”
“She does have a ghost, though, Mummy.”
Kathy, Peter and Jack all looked at me. I shrugged.
“What do you mean, Lizzie?” Kathy said.
“There was a lady in Auntie Jill’s kitchen. She was dressed in white. Auntie Jill was talking to her.”
“Jill?” Kathy looked to me for an answer. I shrugged again, and beckoned for her to follow me into the kitchen. “What was that all about?” she asked, once I’d closed the kitchen door.
“I have no idea. They’ve both been asleep. Maybe Lizzie was having a dream about ghosts?”
“I guess that must be it. Anyway, thanks for having the kids. We had a great time. I’d love to meet Murray Murray in person. He seems like such a great guy.”
When we went back into the hall, Mikey was standing next to his dad.
“Can we?” Mikey looked up with big sad eyes. “Please, Daddy?”
“You’ll have to ask your mum.” Peter passed the buck.
“Ask Mummy what?” Kathy said.
“Can we go and see the dragon, Mummy? Everyone from school has seen it already.”
“Yes, Mummy!” Lizzie said. “Katie said it’s really cute.”
I gave Kathy a puzzled look.
“They’re talking about that new promotional display that your grandmother has set up in the window of Ever.”
“Do you know where she got it from?”
“Beats me.” Kathy shrugged. “It wasn’t there when I left in the evening, but then the next morning, there it was. I asked your grandmother where she’d got it from, but she never gave me an answer.”
“Please, Mummy, can we go to see the dragon?” Mikey pulled at Kathy’s skirt.
“Yes, I suppose so. Seeing as you’ve been good for Auntie Jill, I’ll take you to see it tomorrow after school.”
“Yes!” Mikey jumped for joy.
“Thanks, Mummy!” Lizzie beamed.
***
“That was great, wasn’t it?” Jack said, as we settled down on th
e sofa with a glass of wine.
“The board games? Yeah, I really enjoyed those.”
“Not the board games. I meant having Mikey and Lizzie around here. It’s nice having kids in the house, don’t you think?”
I took a long drink of wine. “They’re okay in small doses, I suppose. Very small doses.”
“They bring the house to life.”
“The house is already alive enough for me, thank you very much. Look at the mess they’ve made.” I pointed to the crumbs that were scattered across the carpet.
“When we have kids, you’ll have to get used to a few crumbs.”
“Back up a little. When we have kids?”
“Yeah. You can’t have a tidy house when you’ve got children.”
“I get that. I just missed the part where we’d talked about having them.”
“I just assumed. You do want children, don’t you?”
“I guess.” I couldn’t picture myself as a mum; I didn’t feel mature enough. Time to change the subject—for now at least.
“I kicked your ass at the board games tonight, didn’t I?”
“I still don’t get how you won that first game of Snakes and Ladders.” Jack scratched his chin. “I was sure that snake wasn’t on that square.”
“Poor loser, Jack. That’s you.”
Snigger.
Chapter 7
“Good morning, Jill,” Megan shouted, as I stepped out of the house the next morning.
“Morning, Megan.”
“Did I see Kathy and Peter come over to your house last night?”
“Yeah. We were babysitting for them while they went to see Murray Murray at the Washbridge Arena.”
“Really? I’m jealous. I love that guy, but I couldn’t get a ticket. Did they enjoy it?”
“Apparently.”
“I thought about coming around to thank Peter for all the help he’s given me. Without his assistance, I doubt I’d have so many clients already.”
“You should have come over.” Kathy’s face would have been a picture.
“It was rather late, so I decided it would be better to thank him another time. Do you think he’d let me take him out for lunch or dinner some time?”
