A recipe for cherry cake 4/4

Mary hurried indoors. Jim had done his usual wonderful cleaning job and she only had to get the tea ready. Jennifer Jane came in from school just as she was trying to get her courage up to make a cherry cake, so they sat and chatted about her first steps in magic, while they waited for Dave to come back from work. He arrived a bit later than usual.

"It's getting very foggy out there," he said, "it's particularly bad down in the village. Very unusual for this time of year."

Mary couldn't wait to tell him that she'd visited Abigail and been taught how to make cherry cake. She went into the kitchen and came back with a large piece of greaseproof paper and placed it on one end of the table, 'in case of accidents'.
Jennifer Jane clapped her hands with delight, while Dave looked puzzled, as Mary, frowning in concentration, wiggled her fingers. They all agreed that the result was the best tasting cake they'd ever eaten, although as Dave said, "It's a bit unusual to scrape cake off a piece of paper with a spoon."

"So have you done anything else today?" asked Dave, "or have you spent all the time at the Witches' Home."

"Crikey, there's Frosty," said Mary, "I'd forgotten all about him."

She explained how she'd broken the cloud controls and had to leave him in the big freezer at the butcher's.

"We'd better go and get him out," said Dave, "the poor butcher will have a fit if he's still in there tomorrow when he opens his shop." He opened the door to go out. "I think we'd better walk to the village, the fog's even worse now than it was when I came home."

As Dave had said, the fog became thicker as they approached the village. By the time they had found their way to the butcher's shop they could hardly see each other. Strangely at this time of night, the door was open and as they walked in they could hear laughter coming from the back of the shop.

"That's where the freezer is," said Mary, "I wonder what's going on?"

"Leave this to me," said Dave and he tiptoed quietly up to the freezer door. He listened carefully for a moment. "Someone inside is telling a joke"

They all jumped in surprise as a hearty voice behind them said, "Is this where the party is?"

Jennifer Jane and her family looked round at the same time. A strange snowman was walking towards them. They moved out of his way as he walked past and opened the freezer door.

A voice inside said, “of course he did, that’s why you've got a carrot for a nose"

A roar of laughter greeted this statement.

They all looked in through the freezer door. There were at least ten snowmen inside laughing and joking and having a wonderful time.

"Hello Mary," said Frosty, "best thing you ever did bringing me here. It's wonderful. I haven't felt like this for ages. Lieutenant Moonshine asked one of my colleagues to come and get me but he liked this place so much that he went back and told his friends and now we're having a terrific party."

"Of course, that's why it's so foggy," said Jennifer Jane, "it's because all the snowmen’s clouds are parked outside. I think you'll have to leave now, or the butcher will be upset when he gets here in the morning and sees you all."

"That's his problem," said one of the other snowmen, "we're having far too much fun to want to leave now."

Dave winked at Mary. "Oh well, I suppose we'd better go and tell Lieutenant Moonshine where all her cloud transport has got to."

"Spoilsport," said the snowman. "Come on you guys, let's go back before old Moony gets upset. You'd better come with me Frosty."

They all trooped out and very soon the fog lifted as they flew back to their places of work.

"Well," said Mary as they walked back home, "as I was saying to Abigail earlier today, once you're involved with the fairy folk there's never a dull moment.