She had never liked the old lady next door.
Ever since, thinking that she might be interested, she’d tried to tell her about some of the advances she had made with her magic spells. She was shocked at the response. The woman had laughed and told her that she shouldn’t be so silly. She said that as a school pupil she should be concentrating on her homework and not fooling around with that kind of nonsense. Because she had been so happy with the success of her spellcasting, after finding the old book tucked away at the bottom of an old box of junk in the basement that no one ever used, she felt that she had to tell someone. It had obviously been a mistake to take the woman into her confidence, however, it did give her an idea.
Although a number of incantations she had used had given encouraging results, like moving things around without touching them, making things levitate and having spiders curl up and drop off their webs, there was a section of the book that dealt with enchantments that involved people. Some of them looked very interesting, most were fairly horrible, but she’d not had anyone in mind to practice on. Not until the ignorant old biddy next door had been so dismissive, that is.
It was for this reason that the girl found herself ringing the woman’s front door bell holding a wicker basket containing the required accoutrements. The woman opened the door with a frown.
She scowled. “What do you want?”
“I’ve come to show you how my spells really work,” cooed the girl, giving her best neighbourly smile.
“Humph!” was all the woman said at first. Then she peered down into the basket and said, “What have you got in there?”
Delighted with the request, the other began lifting items out, one at a time. “These are black candles,” she said, “and I have a book of spells, a folded plastic sheet, a stick of blue chalk, a roll of sticky tape and a large knife.”
The woman gasped when she saw the knife. She stepped back, obviously preparing to close the door. “Well, young lady, if you think you’re coming in here with all your nasty bits and pieces, you’ve got another think coming!”
At this point, putting the basket down, she took the book out again. She placed the book on the upturned palm of her hand, laid her other hand on top and began mumbling something the woman couldn’t quite hear. When she’d finished, the girl asked, “Would you like a demonstration?”
The woman seemed to brighten. With a pleasant smile, she said, “Oh! That sounds nice, dear. Do come in.”