Part 2 of 5
We didn’t stop running till we reached the school yard. The
swings and teeter-totters for the elementary kids looked like the most
benevolent place in the universe. Jimmy collapsed on the merry-go-round and
sobbed. “I’m doomed. I didn’t know it was her cat. Ah, God, I didn’t know.”
“You’re not doomed, Jimmy,” Tyrone said, sitting beside him,
fingers clasping the metal bar between them.
Jimmy ignored him. “Colton
I couldn’t argue. I just stared at the deep wallow that hundreds
of feet had dug around the merry-go-round and listened to him sob.
“My mom’ll be next. She’ll die of the plague or something and
I’ll have to go live with grandpa. I hate cows!”
“What’s he talking about, Colt?” asked Adam, looking sicker than
ever. I told him and Ty about the rock Jimmy threw all those years ago.
“I never had my tonsils out,” cried Jimmy. “I don’t want to go
back to the hospital. The food’s terrible and those nurses treat you like meat,
then they hand you a balloon like everything’s gonna be okay, but it’s not. I’m
doomed.”
I sighed. “Well, this time we’re all doomed together. Maybe the
curse will just stick to us and not bother our families. We can die heroes.”
Adam finally caught on. “Cursed?
Ah, shit, man, we’re dead.”
“You think she’ll eat us?” asked Tyrone. “My Auntie Tisha said
the witch had a sister who used to live with her. But they fought and the witch
poisoned her and fed her to them cats.”
“Nobody’s gonna eat us, Ty,” I said, though my tone lacked
conviction. “Y’all come sleep over at my house tonight. We’ll go to church in
the morning and pray that the curse don’t take hold.”
“What about Trev Reynolds and the others?” Tyrone asked. “We
gotta bring ‘em a cat, or they’ll kill us before any curse will.”
I had to puzzle that one out. “We’ll sleep with the slingshots.”
“We only got two!” cried Adam.
“I got a BB gun,” said Ty.
“Okay, go get it, and be at my place by dark.” I’d rarely felt
so exhilarated. All we needed was an Ennio Morricone soundtrack playing in the
background. On top of dodging bullies and waiting for the shootout, we’d been
cursed to boot. Life couldn’t get more adventurous in Saint Claire.
#
We sat in a solemn row on the front pew of the Calvary Baptist
Church midnight , Adam swore he heard Randy’s truck
growling past the house, and the streetlight shone through the oak tree on our
front lawn, casting a shadow across my wall that at 2 a.m. looked just like the witch’s wild black
hair.
After church, the four of us shook hands. “Well,” I said, “I
hope to see y’all on Monday. If I don’t, well, no crying at my funeral. Hear?”
“Gotcha, man,” said Jimmy. “Everybody stay low. Keep in touch.”
We parted ways. I can’t explain the sorrow I felt when I
considered that I might never see those guys again. Peering in the rearview
mirror, Dad saw me moping and asked, “Guilty conscience, kiddo?”
“Nah, I just don’t feel too good.” At first I thought it was
just a lie, to get out of explaining the curse, but the more I thought about
it, the more I really did feel queasy. The certainty struck me that a tumor was
growing in my guts. I was sure it was already the size of a baseball.
My little sister scooted as far from me as the car door allowed.
“Don’t you puke on me, Colton Brisby!” Melissa crossed her index fingers to
ward off the evil of invisible germs.
“Ain’t gonna puke on nobody, big baby.”
Mom turned around in the passenger seat and frowned. “I’ll pick
up some Pepto when I go in for the milk.”
“No, Mom, I’m fine.” How to explain that I was dying and Pepto
Bismal wouldn’t help? We pulled into the lot of the grocery store, and Dad kept
the car running while Mom and Melissa went in. I squirmed in the backseat for a
minute before deciding that sitting still thinking about it was a bad idea. I
hurried after Mom and offered to push the cart. She looked at me like I’d lost
my mind, then smiled and humored my moment of selflessness. She put a bottle of
Pepto in with the milk, the box of Rice o’ Roni, and several bags of Halloween
candy. When she hurried ahead, I discreetly put the Pepto back on the shelf and
pressed at the achy place in my stomach where the tumor was sucking the life
out of me.
At the checkout counter, ol’ Mrs. Beals dropped our stuff into
plastic bags while she ooh’d and aw’d over how big Melissa and I had gotten.
Melissa rolled her eyes, because Mrs. Beals told us that every Sunday. I thanked
Mrs. Beals, polite as I could, hoping to earn God’s favor. Then at the next
counter, I glimpsed a flutter of fingers that snagged my attention like a grub
on a hook. A woman flashed some hand signs just like the witch. A little girl who
could only be her daughter, flashed more signs in reply.
Like a bolt a out of the blue, I realized. “She’s deaf!”
The woman across the way straightened and looked at me as though
I’d given her the finger, then wrapped a protective arm around her daughter. My
own mother pinched my arm, like she did when I misbehaved in church. “Shh,
what’s wrong with you? For goodness’ sake.”
My face burned, and I slouched out of the grocery store. Climbing
into the car beside me, Melissa said, “That’s Erin .
She’s new in my class this year. She’s mostly in special ed though. Some of the
boys made fun of her at first, but they got sent to the principal’s office. I
think she’s real nice.”
I’d rarely felt more like a complete idiot. Such was our terror
that none of us had recognized the obvious. The witch wasn’t cursing us. She
was probably cussing us out in sign language. She probably wasn’t a witch at
all, and there we were running scared from a deaf woman. Brave cat hunters,
indeed. Damn.
By the time we pulled into the driveway, my tumor was gone.
First thing Monday morning, I gathered Jimmy, Tyrone, and Adam
outside Mr. Jamison’s classroom and told them the good news. “You mean we’re
not gonna die?” asked Tyrone.
Adam sighed and sagged against the wall.
Jimmy crossed his arms and looked disappointed. “Deaf or not, I
still think she’s a witch. My dad’s still in a wheelchair.”
“He fell off a roof, Jimmy,” I said. “That could happen to
anybody. And lots of people have their appendixes taken out. It don’t mean she
cursed you.”
“Like hell it don’t.” Sulking, he went in to class.
Adam came to attention and fled in after him. A crowd of High
Schoolers approached. Books that weighed a ton looked small under their arms.
In their midst, Trev Reynolds pointed at Tyrone and me, and those cool snake
eyes promised retribution for disobeying his order about the cat.
A crowd of cheerleaders tagged along behind, giggling and
fussing with their makeup. Elizabeth McDuffy fluffed her red hair and looked
just like a model in a Pantene commercial. I swear her green eyes met mine, and
I felt ten feet tall. I couldn’t act scared in front of her. Instead, I stuck
out my chin and pointed right back at Trev Reynolds. He threw back his head and
laughed. “I’m gonna smear you into the pavement, Brisby. You and all your
little girlfriends.”
Tyrone grabbed my finger and hauled me into algebra.
For third period, Mrs. Demitri took her English class to the
library, where we had to choose something to read for the end-of-semester book
report. I hated book reports more than long division. I even hated them more
than the cafeteria food, which is saying a lot. We browsed through the achingly
dull novels, groaning and fighting the urge to flee the building. I curled my
lip at titles like The Good Earth and
To Kill a Mockingbird and almost
settled on Shane, because my dad
liked the old Alan Ladd movie, but a little farther along, the word “witch”
caught my attention. I slipped the book off the shelf and gave it a suspicious
look-over, expecting to find a trick lurking inside. The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Hmm … award-winner, skinny, and look
at that! The author’s name was Elizabeth
“We have to go back and apologize, guys.” We gathered around one
of the tables whose scarred plastic chairs were always too small.
“Apologize? For what?” asked Tyrone.
“The witch?” asked Jimmy. “Are you crazy?”
“No way!” Adam said. “I’m never going back there.”
“Shhh!” hissed Mrs. Demitri. I sat back in the tiny chair and
sulked. I didn’t want to go to the witch’s house by myself, but it seemed I had
no choice. Searching the shelves in the reference section, I found a book on
sign language. With the few minutes left of third period, I practiced making
the letters and a few other signs. All the while, I knew I was putting my life
at risk. The witch was said to have fed her own sister to her cats, after all.
After what we did, she might decide to turn me into Meow Mix next.
For the rest of the day I practiced the signs under my desk,
though I forgot half the letters by the time the bell rang. After fetching
Melissa from the front of the Elementary building, I hurried home. Melissa got
mad at me for leaving her half a block behind, but I didn’t listen. I blew
through the house at top speed.
“Where you going?” Mom called after me.
“I’m s’posed to meet the guys. At the cow pond.”
“Do your homework first!”
“Ain’t got any.”
“Since when?”
(continued next week in Part 3)
"The Witch of Mistletoe Lane" copyright 2011 by Court Ellyn. No part of the story may be reproduced without written permission of the author.
Image credits -
background: FantasyStock
texture: GrandeOmbre-stock
fog brushes: BBs-Brushes
No comments:
Post a Comment