The Witch Family (6 page)

Sure enough, at this moment, all the little witches swept up. "Surprise!" they squealed. "Surprise!"

Little Witch Girl was speechless with delight. She was truly surprised, and she forgot, for a moment, her wish. What a swishing about of little witch girls on broomsticks! "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you!" they sang. (Some witches, especially those Amy knows about, do sing the same songs as we.)

Old Witch then uttered a famous rune. The little witches, hearing the Head Witch's expert, expressive enunciation, drew back in awe. When the rune was finished, the gifts and the party table all became visible. It was a pretty sight. The little witches made a dive for the hoppy toads to cast warts on themselves and to cast them off again. Old Witch thought that the little witch girl had forgotten all about her wish.

But Little Witch Girl had not forgotten her wish. "Gammer," she said. "Remember your promise. I said I wished Amy and Clarissa could come up here. It's even better now. They can come to the party."

"No," said Old Witch with a horrid croak. "Any wish but that."

"You are breaking your promise," rebuked the little witch girl, and she sat down on the porch in her little red rocker and would not fly with the others. Then, suddenly, the little witch girl remembered an important rule concerning little witches' birthday parties when they occur on the fourth day of the fourth month, and at four o'clock. The rule is that at exactly four minutes past four on that important day, any abracadabra at all will work for the little birthday witch girl.

All fours. Fourth day, fourth month, fourth hour, and fourth minute past four—the combination was magic.

Little Witch Girl rushed into the house. She hopped onto her copy stool, and, just as the hand of the great owlie clock that stood in the cobweb corner reached four minutes past four, it said, "Whoo-whoo, whoo-whoo, whoo-whoo, whoo-whoo," four times, showing how magical a moment this was. It usually whoo-whooed only on the hour and the half hour.

A hush fell over the group as the little witch girl solemnly chanted the following abracadabra:

"Abracadabra
Cadabra
Cadee
Flying through the air to me
Those two girls from down below
Those two girls—ho-ho, you know."

The wind wailed more loudly than it had four minutes ago upon the arrival of the little witches. Hail fell again, and again the thunder boomed. Suddenly these phenomena ceased. The violet vapors that had accompanied the great blow cleared. And there, sitting in the middle of the room at their little yellow table, were the two ordinary real girls, Amy and Clarissa! The brave banquishers! They were just sitting at their little yellow table, drawing and coloring pictures.

The little witch girls stood back and watched them in silence. To all appearances, Amy and Clarissa thought they were still at home on Garden Lane, in the big bedroom behind the high and lofty ginkgo tree.

This was not a true impression. Presently Amy, without looking up from her drawing and speaking in a very low voice, said to Clarissa, "We are in a haunched house."

Clarissa knew that the word for "haunted" is "haunched," for Amy had taught it to her.

"Haunched!" she said in her high little voice.

"Yes, sh-sh-sh! Haunched," said Amy.

Little Witch Girl looked at Amy and Clarissa in wonder and delight. She had not known that her abracadabra could be that powerful! Old Witch, not knowing either that the rune of a child witch could be that powerful, was waving her hands over a big black pot, paying no attention, interested only in perfecting her brew. Amy, not taking her eyes from her paper, gripped her pencil so hard that her knuckles grew white. Finally, she dared to peek at Old Witch from the corner of her eye. Then, without raising her head, she said to Clarissa, "We be invisible to Old Witch. But remember," she cautioned Clarissa, "not to speak out loud, not to shout, for the house
be
haunched!"

Recovering from their astonishment, all the little witches fluttered around Amy and Clarissa. They felt Amy's light blue dress and Clarissa's pink one. They had never seen pink or blue dresses before, only witch black ones. Even witch party dresses have to be black!

Gradually, Amy and Clarissa grew accustomed to being in this "haunched" witch house, and they did not mind being here, since Old Witch could not see them. Having Old Witch look right through them with her beady eyes made them feel odd, but they grew accustomed to this, also. Once, to test her invisibility, Clarissa stuck out her tongue at Old Witch. Old Witch did nothing, which proved without the shadow of a doubt that she could not see Clarissa or Amy.

"I never heard of being invisible to one person and not to the rest," whispered Clarissa, though she saw that, in this situation, nothing could be more ideal.

Amy told Clarissa that, invisible or not, she must not stick her tongue out at Old Witch, or any of the witches. It was not polite. Clarissa saw little sense in this. Why be invisible and not take advantage of the situation and stick out your tongue at mean people? However, she obeyed, and chewed her bubble gum harder instead.

Now the party games were going to begin. The first game was to be a race on broomsticks around the top of the glass hill. Old Witch was going to stand at the edge of the hill and hold out her broomstick to the flying witches. On her broomstick she was going to have a great many glass rings and one real gold ring. As they flew past, the little witches must reach for one of these rings. Naturally each witch longed to be the one to get the gold ring and be the winner.

Feeling safe and invisible from Old Witch, Amy and Clarissa longed to take part in this game. Little Witch Girl wanted her guests to play, and urged them to try to ride the broomsticks. But Amy and Clarissa could not make them go. Then Little Witch Girl remembered about two mechanical toy broomsticks that an inventor witch had once given her. One was red and one was blue. These did not work for little witches, but they might work for real little girls. They did! They worked perfectly for Amy and Clarissa, two real, regular little girls, who were used to modern times and mechanical toys and who were not in the least medieval.

First—to practice—Amy and Clarissa flew around the room. Old Witch could not see Amy and Clarissa, but she could see the mechanical broomsticks, all wound up and flying with, seemingly, no one on them. "Get those toys out of here," she said with a croak, "while I'm cooking!" She also took a swat at them as they went past her, so Amy and Clarissa flew their broomsticks outdoors. They were followed by the seven little witches, who shouted, "Head Witch! Head Witch! Come out. We want to race."

So, Old Witch stopped stirring the brew and came out to conduct the gold ring game. She was quite surprised to see the two riderless (to her) broomsticks flying around the top of the hill with the real broomsticks that had each their little witch rider. And she was still more surprised when the red one (Amy's) won. This red mechanical broomstick looked odd flying around the hilltop with the gold ring going along beside it like a little planet. Amy was quite used to this game of reaching for the gold ring, for she had seen it played at the merry-go-round in the amusement park above the Potomac. There, however, she was not allowed to reach for the gold ring, lest she fall off her flying horse. Here, she could reach as much as she liked, and—see what had happened! She had been the lucky one to get the gold ring and win the game.

Old Witch glowered suspiciously. She had a deep mistrust of newfangled mechanical things and relied entirely on ancient runes to make things go, for runes do not break down...

"
IF THEY BE NOT FORGOTTEN
!" hummed a voice gravely in Old Witch's ear.

Old Witch bit her tongue in vexation. If only she could find that lost Malachi rune!

Clarissa had not liked the game on the broomsticks. She didn't like merry-go-rounds or riding ponies. No wonder she did not like broomsticks. And neither she nor Amy liked the careful scrutiny that Old Witch was paying their mechanical broomsticks. Surely Old Witch could see them? Clarissa dared to stick out her tongue again, testing. Nothing happened.

Instead, Old Witch said that it was time for the eating part of the party to commence. They all went into the house, and Old Witch chanted an abracadabra that was so powerful the house shook. The invisible rare herb food came into view! Unfortunately, the invisible real little girls also came into view for Old Witch as well as for the others!

"Oh, to glory be!" gasped Old Witch.

Amy and Clarissa shook in their shoes. They could see that they were no longer invisible to Old Witch, for now her beady eyes were fixed
on
them, not
through
them. "Oh, dear," thought Amy. "Now is the time for poison apples or for being baked in the oven!"

"They've been here all along," sang the little witches merrily. "And you didn't know it!" The little witch girls did not realize that Amy and Clarissa were the cause of Old Witch's banishment or they would have been careful not to tease.

"Did too," muttered Old Witch. Then she became very angry. She did not like the idea of having appeared stupid in front of the little witch girls who, no doubt, would tell their teacher. "If you and your partner have come up here playing 'I spy,' " she said to Amy, "you'll find I've been good. Not a rabbit, not a nothing. I haven't been off this hill. You can't revoke Halloween ... my little rabbits!"

Amy did not like the way that Old Witch said "little rabbits." It sounded like stew for the brew. Once Amy had been to Williamsburg, and there she had had Brunswick stew, which is made with rabbits. "I be not a rabbit," she said. This was the first time that Amy had ever spoken directly to Old Witch, and she thought that she should speak in this special way.

"That may be," said Old Witch. "But there be ways of changing you into one."

Little Witch Girl did not like these words of Old Witch. "Gammer," she said, "you did not mind Amy and Clarissa being here when they were invisible. Why should you mind now that they are in sight? You know you must not be rude."

"
BE NOT RUDE
!" echoed an emphatic voice.

"Malachi!" Amy whispered in Clarissa's ear. "Be not afraid."

"I be not," said Clarissa, who was really frozen with fear.

At the sound of the spelling bee, Old Witch, making a great effort, put some softness into her voice. "Come then, my dears, eat," she said.

While visiting in the witch house, Amy's appetite was not very good. But Clarissa, who had been taken in by the Old Witch's change of manner, had a good appetite regardless of the type of house she was in. Being called "my little rabbit" did not bother her. She had never been to Williamsburg to have Brunswick stew, and she did not get the connection between rabbit and that famous stew. She started to eat her herb ice cream right away, and the little witch girls did too.

But Amy did not eat one bite of anything. She had not forgotten the poison apple in "Snow White" and the gingerbread house in "Hansel and Gretel." She knew far more about witches and their wicked ways than Clarissa did, for she had thought up not only this witch house and the family in it, but the glass hill as well. She was not going to eat one thing!