Time of the Witch

by Mary Downing Hahn

"Will she be okay?" I looked back at Tanya Marie crawling along the sand, poking at twigs and pebbles and chuckling to herself.

  "Sure, she's a real good baby, but she weighs about two tons." Wanda groaned. "She was a year old last week and I sure wish she'd start walking. She's just too fat to get her fanny off the ground."

  "She's so cute." I smiled at the baby. She had pretty pink cheeks and blonde curls and two little dimples when she smiled.

  "She looks just like Eddie. There's no way he could lie about being her daddy," Wanda said.

  "That reminds me." I dropped my voice so Jason wouldn't hear us. "Remember what you told me about Charlene getting the love potion from Maude?"

  Wanda nodded. "Yeah, but I told you it didn't do her no good."

  "I'd still like to talk to her about it." I paused. Jason and Tanya Marie were laughing and a breeze was sighing in the leaves over our heads. "I want to go see Maude myself."

  Wanda stared at me. "Are you crazy?"

  I shook my head. "It's on account of my mother and father. I want to stop them from getting a divorce. Maude could cast a spell or something, I'm sure she could."

  Wanda swung one leg back and forth in the water. "Maude can't do anything about a divorce. I told you she didn't bring Eddie back. It won't do no good to go see her, Laura."

  "Well, maybe not—but do you think Charlene would tell me about her?"

  "Sure, she'll tell you all about her and anything else you'd like to hear about. The problem is getting her to shut up. I've seen her keep customers talking at the Dairy Queen till their ice cream starts running down their arms."

  "When does she get home?"

  "Oh, round six-thirty. But you better wait till seven-thirty or eight before you come over. Charlene likes to lie down after she gets home. Says she's tired from standing on her feet all day, but I think it's working her jaws that tires her out." Wanda glanced at Tanya Marie. "Hey, get that out of your mouth!" she shouted as Tanya Marie started chewing on a stick. "Get that away from her, Jason!"

  Jason looked up from his sand castle and grabbed the stick. Tanya Marie immediately burst into tears.

  "Sometimes I wish I was old enough to get a job," Wanda said. "Seems to me I work harder doing nothing than Charlene does at the Dairy Queen, and she gets paid for it. It just ain't fair." Wanda waded out of the water and scooped up Tanya Marie. "Oh, what's the matter, baby?" she crooned. "Did that mean old boy take your best stick away?"

  Squatting next to Jason, Wanda tried to interest Tanya Marie in building a castle. But she seemed more interested in wrecking Jason's than in building one of her own. Every time Wanda turned her back, the baby picked up a stone or a stick and put it in her mouth.

  "Maybe she's hungry," Jason said, shoving her away from the tower he'd just built.

  "Could be." Wanda picked up Tanya Marie. "You want to go home? See Annabelle? Have lunch?"

  "Annabelle! Bye-bye! Bye-bye!" Tanya Marie bounced around on Wanda's hip, grabbing at her hair for balance.

  "Maybe Twyla will still be there. You'd like to see her, wouldn't you?" Wanda asked Tanya Marie.

  As the baby shifted her interest to my hair, I said, "Twyla's really beautiful, isn't she? She looks like a gypsy or a princess. Wouldn't you love to look just like her?"

  Wanda snorted. "Even if I dyed my hair black, I wouldn't have a chance in this world of looking like Twyla. Would you believe she's my cousin? Once or twice removed, of course, which must be why she's so beautiful and I'm not. But you know something? As pretty as she is, she's not married or nothing. Isn't that peculiar?"

  "Look at my Aunt Grace. She's not married either and she's really pretty too. Maybe neither one of them met the right man."

  "Yeah, you're probably right," Wanda agreed. "Both of them are kind of strange, though, don't you think? I mean your aunt's always up at her house drawing or working in her garden and Twyla spends all her time in her little craft shop, sewing up pillows and skirts and dolls bigger than she is with weird faces made out of old nylon stockings. Seems like they both live kind of funny lives."

  "Well, at least they'll never have to worry about getting divorced."

  "That's true."

  "Bye-bye! Bye-bye!" Tanya Marie bounced up and down and yanked hard on Wanda's hair.

  "Okay, okay." Wanda gave her a big kiss. "You come on over around eight o'clock, Laura, if you want to see Charlene. Your vocal cords will get a good rest, but your ears will just shrivel up and fall off your head."

  After Wanda had gone, I sat on the sand watching the creek ripple over the stones, sparkling as it flowed from sunlight into shadow and back into sunlight. Overhead a crow cawed harshly, and I jumped, startled. Just as before, the crow was perched right over my head and regarded me with yellow eyes. Reaching for a stone, I threw it as hard as I could. The crow shifted its weight on the branch, spread its wings, and slowly lifted itself into the air.

  Jason and I watched it land on another limb only a few feet away. He looked at me. "I don't like that bird," he said. "It's ugly."

  "I know," I picked up another stone and threw it at the crow, missing again. This time it didn't bother to change its perch. It stayed where it was, its shoulders hunched, and opened its beak wide. "Krrrrk?" it said.

  "Let's go home," Jason said.

  As we started up the path, a figure stepped out of the underbrush. "You children should know better than to throw stones at birds," Maude said, glaring at us. "How can a poor helpless crow possibly harm you? You should be ashamed." Standing there with her walking stick raised, she looked as if she planned to attack us.

  Jason scurried behind me, burying his face in the small of my back, his arms wrapped around me. "I didn't hurt it," I said, trying to control the shaking in my voice.

  "You could have put his eye out, you careless, thoughtless girl." Looking up into the branches, Maude called, "Soot, Soot, my pretty, my precious, come here and let me comfort you." The crow flapped down from the tree and settled on her shoulder, fixing its eyes on me.

  As Maude crooned over the crow, I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't know he was your pet." I hoped she'd forgive me. Otherwise I hadn't a chance of getting her to reconcile my parents.

  She looked at me, her face thoughtful. "Never throw a stone at a bird again, Laura Adams," she said, her voice still angry.

  I shook my head, hoping she didn't think I was the kind of person who threw stones at birds habitually. "I won't," I whispered. I felt so ashamed I could barely look at her.

  Stepping closer to me, she smiled. "I'm sure you won't, Laura. Now, when are you coming to visit me? It makes me so happy to see you and think of Margaret. You would like to make an old lady happy, wouldn't you? Come sit with me and talk, tell me about yourself and your aunt and your mother, and I'll tell you about your grandmother, all the things I remember from our girlhood. It's such a pity you never knew Margaret, such a pity." Her eyes glittered as she spoke and one wrinkled hand crept up and down my arm, keeping me there close to her.

  "I'll come soon," I promised, aware of Jason whimpering behind me. "We have to go home for lunch now," I added, moving away from her.

  "Yes, your little brother isn't too sure of me, is he?" Maude peered around at Jason and he moved to my other side, trying to keep me between him and Maude. "Such a fine-looking little boy, so strong and healthy," she said.

  "Aunt Grace is waiting for us. We really have to go." I sidled around Maude, aware that the crow was watching me. This close, it looked enormous, its beak long and sharp and deadly.

  "Yes, yes, run along then, children, run along. I'll be here when you need me, Laura. Don't forget that I can help you."

  "I won't. Good-bye, Miss Blackthorne." Trying to keep Jason from running, I walked away from Maude, but until the path curved sharply around a tree, I could feel her eyes following me.

  Chapter 9

  "Why don't you stay here while I go over to Wanda's?" I asked Jason.

  It was evening and we were sitting out
on the front steps eating cherry Popsicles. Aunt Grace was lying in the rope hammock she'd hung at one end of the porch. It was warm and soft outside, calm with birdsong and sweet with the smell of cut grass. I wanted to be by myself for a while, free of Jason and his sticky little hand.

  "I want to meet Charlene too." Jason stood up and wiped his hands on his shorts, obviously ready to go, bright red mouth and all.

  Aunt Grace looked up from her book. "Why don't you stay here, Jason? It's almost your bedtime and you haven't had your bath yet."

  "I want to go with Laurie." Jason stuck out his lower lip, a sure sign he was getting ready to cry.

  "Not this evening, Jason." Aunt Grace stirred awkwardly in the hammock and got up. "Come on. I'll read you the next chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and then I'll pop you into the tub."

  "You'll read it right now?" Jason's lower lip retreated.

  "I'll go right in and get it. You and I can cuddle up in the hammock together and find out what the White Witch plans to do with Edmund."

  "She's going to give him candy, isn't she?" I heard Jason say as I jumped off the porch and over the chinaberry bush. Landing on the soft grass, I sprang to my feet, turned three cartwheels and ran down the hill to the road. It was the first time I'd gone anywhere without Jason for days and I felt wonderful.

  As the road dipped down into a grove of trees, I walked more slowly, thinking about Stoneleigh. At this time on a summer evening, my friends would be at the park, sitting around the fountain, talking and laughing and watching the boys cruise by on their ten-speeds. For a minute, I closed my eyes and imagined myself sitting next to Kim, laughing at one of Lisa Weinstein's jokes. I could almost hear the fountain and the shouts of kids on the playground and I wanted to go home so badly I felt like crying.

  Then I thought about Maude. All I needed to do was let her help me. Why was I so afraid? I saw the park again, only this time I let Maude walk into the picture. Down one of the sandy paths she came, striding along in her rags, Soot on her shoulder, stepping around mothers pushing strollers and little kids on big wheels. Right up to the fountain she came and Lisa made a crack about her appearance. While we laughed, Maude brandished her stick at us, but she couldn't scare us. Back home in Stoneleigh no one believed in witches. At least not in broad daylight.

  But it was different here in the mountains, miles away from shopping centers and housing developments and superhighways. Things I would have laughed at in Stoneleigh seemed real here. In this grove of trees, already filling with shadows, Maude was more than a weird old lady to laugh at. Here she was a witch, and here I was afraid of her.

  Shivering, I glanced around me at the trees crowding silently together, casting long shadows from the setting sun across the road. Afraid that Maude was near, watching me silently, I ran out of the grove and up the hill toward Wanda's house.

  By the time I got there, I was hot and out of breath. Giving the yard a quick survey for dogs, I sprinted up the driveway. Wanda was sitting on the front porch railing waiting for me. "Come on up," she yelled. "Don't pay the dogs no mind. They're tied up out back."

  Sitting down next to her, I took a handful of peanuts from the jar she handed me. Inside the living room, I could see the back of Annabelle's head. She was watching a game show on television. "Mississippi!" she yelled at a contestant. "Mississippi, you dummy!"

  Wanda rolled her eyes. "She just loves watching those greedy fools jumping up and down like idiots cause they won a refrigerator or something."

  Just then the screen door opened and a girl stepped out onto the porch. She had long blonde hair and eyes as big and blue as Tanya Marie's. Although she didn't look old enough to be anybody's mother, I knew she must be Charlene.

  "You must be Laura," she said. When she smiled she had dimples like Tanya Marie's and a gap between her teeth like Wanda's. "I'm Charlene." She flipped her hair out of her eyes and sat down beside me. Taking a pack of cigarettes out of her back pocket, she lit one and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Want one?" she asked me.

  I shook my head, amazed. Nobody in my whole life had ever offered me a cigarette. "I don't smoke," I said, feeling very unsophisticated.

  "Give me one." Wanda reached for the cigarettes, but Charlene put the pack back in her pocket.

  "You're already too little and skinny and short, you know that. You want to grow up to be a midget or something?"

  "Aw, come on, Charlene. You were going to give Laura one." Wanda tried to grab the cigarette Charlene was smoking.

  "I said no, Wanda Louise, and I meant it!" Charlene slapped Wanda's hand. "Laura's company. And she's tall enough so it won't hurt her none." Charlene gestured at the back of Annabelle's head. "And you know what she'd do if she saw you with a cigarette in your mouth!" Charlene exhaled a pale cloud of smoke and watched it linger for a second in the air.

  "Wanda says you're from Washington, D.C. Is that right?" Charlene looked at me.

  I nodded. "Actually we live in the suburbs, sort of out in the country, not too far from Gaithersburg."

  "Gaithersburg? Never heard of it. I wouldn't mind living in Washington, though, working for the government or something. A couple of my girlfriends got jobs there last summer. They have a little apartment somewhere and they just love it. I bet you find this a real dull place, just nothing to do at all."

  "It's nice here," I said, not wanting to hurt Wanda's feelings. "It's different though. We don't have anybody like Maude where I live."

  Charlene laughed. "You really want to hear about that old crackpot? I tell you the truth, honey, she didn't do a thing for me. It's been over half a year since she sold me that love potion and I ain't seen Eddie yet."

  "Well, what happened? What was it like to go see her? Was it scary?" I stared at Charlene, wanting to hear every detail. The pink sky behind her turned the ends of her hair gold and she looked like a movie star sitting there enjoying all the attention I was giving her.

  "Well, one day when Tanya Marie was about six months old, I was in Blue Hollow doing some errands. I was really feeling down, you know? Seeing all these places Eddie and me used to go, looking at all kinds of couples, teenagers and adults and everybody. Seemed like everybody had somebody but me. All I had was this cute little baby and a dumb job in the Dairy Queen. I mean, what kind of a life is that?" Charlene flicked her cigarette butt out across the yard and watched it burn itself out in the grass.

  "Then I saw Maude, hobbling along with that crow on her shoulder, mumbling to herself like a crazy woman, and the thought came to me that maybe she could help me. I'd heard lots of talk about her doing stuff for people romantically, so I decided to ask her."

  Charlene flipped her hair back and looked at me. "Now, Laura, I have never been a brave person and all my life I been scared to death of that old woman, but I was so desperate to get Eddie back that I walked right up to her and asked if she could help me. Well, she just stood there staring at me, she and that bird both, and my knees felt like they were turning to water. I thought I was going to faint dead away in the street when she reaches out and grabs my wrist like this."

  Charlene grabbed my wrist so hard she scared me to death. I almost fell right off the railing.

  "Then she says, 'What do you need? A love potion?' Just like she could read my mind, I swear."

  Even though it was warm there on the porch, I shivered.

  "'Yes,' I says in this squeaky little voice," Charlene continued. "'Come see me tonight, my dear, I'll give you what you need,' Maude said. And she laughed just like a witch in a fairy tale, I swear she did." Charlene raised her right hand.

  "Then she walked away and that night I went to see her and I was so scared going through those dark woods I thought I'd die before I got there. I was shaking and crying and cussing Eddie 'cause it was all his fault I was out there all by myself where anybody could grab me and knock me on the side of the head or something. And it was even worse when I got to Maude's place. She was waiting for me and there wasn't a light anywhere. Just the m
oon shining down through the trees. She lit one candle and took me inside." Charlene took out another cigarette and busied herself lighting it.

  "Everytime you tell this story it's different," Wanda said. "You just keep adding and adding till I get so bored I could fall asleep sitting here." Wanda yawned widely.

  "You want to take flying lessons, Wanda Louise? You want to see how far I can throw you?" Charlene glared across me at Wanda.

  "You just never said nothing bout her lighting one candle before, Charlene. That's new." Wanda slid down the railing, putting a. little distance between herself and Charlene.

  "What happened next?" I whispered, giving Wanda a look that meant for her to be quiet.

  "Well, it was dark in her house, even with the candle. I could hardly see my hand before my face. And it smelled funny too. Not bad exactly, just strange, like maybe she was burning herbs or something. She sat me down near the fire and she asked me all these questions about Eddie and she kept staring at me all the time. The crow was sitting up on the mantelpiece and he was staring at me, too. I was so scared I could hardly talk."

  "Hmmmph!" Wanda snorted. "Wish I could hire Maude to keep you scared."

  Charlene rolled her eyes and ignored Wanda. "She took all these herbs and things and mixed them together and she chanted a lot of mumbo jumbo and wrote things down on paper and burned things. I never saw anything like it. I mean she just carried on, worse than a preacher at a revival."

  "And then what?"

  Charlene shook her head. "She charged me ten dollars and I left and that was six months ago and I ain't seen Eddie yet." Charlene sighed and tossed the second cigarette butt after the first one. "I guess she's just a crazy old lady like everybody says. She ain't no more a witch than you or me or Wanda. She just knows how to put on a good show."

  The light from the sunset had dwindled to a narrow band of pink sky just above the mountains, but even in the twilight I could see the disappointment in Charlene's face. "There's still time for it to work," I said. "Maybe Eddie's too far away for the spell to reach him."