Beyond the Witches' Home 2/5

Esmerelda and Dulcibella sat miserably by their fire. They had a large cauldron full of water hanging from a tripod made of sticks and had been trying to get it to boil all morning.

"The wood's always damp and when you do get it to burn, the wind blows the smoke in your eyes. I don't fink this curse is ever going to boil properly."

"'Ere, watch your manners, there's one of them toffs from the Gate comin'."

"Only one? And walking, too. She must be pretty powerful stuff to risk comin' out 'ere on 'er tod."

The two witches turned and watched Jennifer Jane walk towards them.

"I expect it'll be another lecture about pollution and that thing they all seem to have about greenhouses. Never could understand that bit."

"Good morning," said Jennifer Jane.
"Mornin', dearie," said Esmerelda and Dulcibella together.

"Isn't it a lovely day for a walk? What are you cooking?"

"What's cookin', she says; coo you are a card. Just because we don't wear pointy hats and fings like your lot, don't mean we can't make spells."

"You mean you're witches making spells the old-fashioned way in that cauldron, over an open fire?" asked Jennifer Jane.

"Quick, ain't she?" said Esmerelda, "of course we are, we don't have all that new-fangled rubbish like you've got over there. The old ways is best, like my granny allus said and the old ways is what we sticks to."

Jennifer Jane didn't answer. Behind the two witches, something huge was moving through the trees. A moment later, a giant strode across to the fire. He was dressed very much like the giant in the wood behind Jennifer Jane's home but somehow he didn't seem to look so nice.

"What have we got here today then, girls?" asked the giant.

"One of that lot from the Gate," said Esmerelda, "we was just having a bit of a chat, friendly like."

"S'right," said Dulcibella.

"Bit young for a witch, ain't she?" said the giant.

"Excuse me," said Jennifer Jane "but I'm not a witch."

"Oh goody," said the giant and he bent down and picked her up and put her in his pocket.

"And we was wasting our time bein' perlite to an orn'ary human," said Esmerelda. "Come on, Dulce, bung some more wood on that fire."

The giant started walking back through the forest. Jennifer Jane was wondering what on earth was going on. It was dark and nasty and smelly inside the giant's pocket and she started to try and climb out to see where she was going. He was singing a tune that she recognised, 'Twenty One Today' but something strange had happened to the words. As she got nearer to the top of the pocket, she could hear more and more distinctly and they didn't sound all that nice:

"Yuman beans today,
Yuman beans today,
Nice and tender, juicy and sweet,
Yuman beans are a special treat"

Jennifer Jane finally got her head out into the fresh air.

"Hey, Mr Giant, wait a minute," she said.

The giant looked down at her with a nasty grin on his face. "Hello small bite, what's the matter?"

"I know I said I wasn't a witch but that's because I'm still only an apprentice," said Jennifer Jane.

The giant stopped walking and looked serious. "Oh drat," he said, "there goes supper. Wait a minute though, how do I know you're not telling me porkies? You do some magic to prove you're telling the truth."

Jennifer Jane hadn't expected that. She desperately tried to remember one of Abigail's finger wiggles. The only one she could think of was Abigail's favourite for chocolate Swiss rolls.

"Put me down on the ground, please," she called. The giant took her out of his pocket and put her gently on the grass.

'Oh well, here goes,' thought Jennifer Jane. She pointed her first and little fingers at the ground, wiggled the two middle fingers three times and then gave a little flick sideways with her thumb. To her amazement, something actually happened. As far as she could see, she had magicked up a very small, flat, chocolate cake, which might just have passed for a tiny Swiss roll if only it had been rolled up.

"If that's the best you can do, you're back on the supper menu," leered the giant and he bent down to pick her up again.

"Just a moment," said Jennifer Jane, "I'm only an apprentice, I think I deserve another try."

She looked round, trying to see if she could run away if the giant lost interest in her but she wasn’t really sure which way to run and the giant didn't take his eyes off her for a second. She tried the same wiggle once more. There was a tremendous bang, a cloud of smoke and a really giant size chocolate Swiss roll appeared. It was absolutely perfect and Jennifer Jane stared at it in amazement. So did the giant.