“Oh, Cackling Carol, dear! I can’t come after all. I’ve lost my purse! All my money was in it!”
She started to sob into a big lace handkerchief. Big Roddy, peeping out of the bedroom, noticed there were no tears.
“Oh, have some of my money!” offered Cackling Carol. “I’ve got plenty. Please come shopping. There are so many things I need.”
“Well, if you insist!” smiled Flo, the tragedy of the missing purse forgotten at once. “Off we go then.”
Cackling Carol didn’t even look back at Broom and Big Roddy as she left.
Shopping was even better than the cinema. Cackling Carol found she had enough money to buy all the things she and Flo wanted, even though Flo seemed to want an awful lot.
Cackling Carol forgot all about buying things to make spells. Under Flo’s influence she got some nice clothes that the assistant said were very “fashionable”. Cackling Carol kept one of her new outfits on and dumped the hated tweed suit in a bin.
Then Flo talked Cackling Carol into getting her hair cut short and her fingernails manicured. The manicurist was rather green in the face after she’d cleaned Cackling Carol’s fingernails.
They finished off at a supermarket. Cackling Carol brought a trolleyful of vegetables. She still didn’t trust all this modern food. Flo asked for a lot of very expensive things but Cackling Carol didn’t mind. She totally forgot about getting Big Roddy any food.
Cackling Carol was exhausted when she got back to the flat. She put down her heavy shopping and unlocked the door. She went in. Big Roddy came bounding towards her but suddenly stopped dead in his tracks! This wasn’t his mistress! This was a stranger with a bobbed hair cut and a trouser suit. He ran and hid in his cupboard!
It took Cackling Carol ages to persuade Big Roddy that she was Cackling Carol. Big Roddy recoiled from the clean fingers that reached in to stroke him. He refused to lay his head on the trouser-suited legs at supper time. He sulked all night.
Broom was pretty horrified as well, not that Cackling Carol had time to notice. Tired as she was, she went to the cinema again with Flo after quickly changing into another new outfit.
And that became the pattern of Cackling Carol’s days. She would go shopping with Flo during the day and out to the cinema at night. There were a few other things to do too, like go to the dentist to have some false teeth fitted and the opticians for some reading glasses. Cackling Carol’s piles of money grew rapidly smaller.
Her spell books arrived but she never got round to looking at them. Big Roddy spent more and more time in his cupboard and Broom hardly moved for days on end. Cackling Carol had more or less forgotten about them. She never even mentioned the subject of leaving the flat. So, one day, while she was out, they left together to find a new home on their own.
Chapter 6 Cackling Carol’s Old Friends
It was several days before Cackling Carol even realised they’d gone. She’d been particularly busy for a day or two and out very late several nights running. It was only when she decided to have a lazy morning at home that she noticed she was alone. She was putting on some face powder (Flo had advised her to get some make-up) when she sneezed and dropped the powder compact.
“Bother!” said Cackling Carol. Under Flo’s influence she had become quite tidy and house-proud. “Broom. Sweep the mess up!”
No Broom appeared.
“Broom!” she called again.
Still nothing.
“Big Roddy, come and clean the floor with your tail!” she pleaded.
Big Roddy didn’t appear either.
Now that was odd. Cackling Carol hadn’t seen either of them go out that morning. In fact, she hadn’t seen them at all that morning. Or, come to think of it, yesterday morning either.
Suddenly Cackling Carol was in a panic. Had Jill come round one day and found them? Or had they left of their own accord? No, surely not — not her faithful dog and Broom.
Cackling Carol searched every corner of the flat. She checked all the cupboards. No Big Roddy. No Broom. Cackling Carol sat down on the bed. She looked at the gleaming spell bottles, still in their boxes. She looked at the pile of neglected spell books. She looked at the clothes in the wardrobe and at the jewellery and the make-up on the dressing table. She looked at the little bit of money left in her new leather handbag.
What had happened to her?
She’d been de-witched, that’s what! Bother these interfering do-gooders! Look what they’d done to her. Look what they’d turned her into — a flat-dwelling, cinema-going, made-up and dressed-up shopaholic! No wonder Big Roddy and Broom had left her.
Something wet and warm sploshed onto Cackling Carol’s hands resting on her lap. It was a tear. Cackling Carol hadn’t cried for over two hundred and fifty years, not since her Auntie Nellie had flown off one night in a storm never to be seen again. Cackling Carol had loved Auntie Nellie (although witches rarely admit to loving anything, except mischief). And Cackling Carol loved Big Roddy and Broom.
They were her real friends. Flo was only a pretend friend. Cackling Carol could see that now. Flo only liked Cackling Carol’s money, not Cackling Carol herself.
She clenched her fists and got up. She rubbed off the make-up. She took off the jewellery. She took out her dentures. (She had to leave the trouser suit on though.) She found a suitcase and shoved as many of the spell bottles and books into it as she could. She emptied the money out of her handbag into the case, but then pulled it out. Grasping the notes and coins she stormed off to Flo’s flat. She pounded on the door.
Flo opened it a crack and peeped anxiously around the edge. “Oh, it’s you, dear, whatever ...” but Cackling Carol interrupted her.
“Here!” she spat. “Here, take the rest of my money, you scheming toad! You’ve had most of it already!” She hurled the money at Flo and stomped off, leaving Flo in a flood of tears.
She picked up her case and walked out of the flat — for good. She passed Jill who gaped at her. Cackling Carol heard Jill calling her and heard a patter of footsteps behind her. Cackling Carol whirled round and, summoning her few remaining magic powers, which she’d almost forgotten she had , she screamed some strange words and Jill was frozen to the spot. She wouldn’t be frozen for long, unfortunately, but with any luck, long enough for Cackling Carol to get away.
Cackling Carol raced out of the block of flats. She hurried along the streets until she reached the edge of town. Then she stopped for a moment.
“Big Roddy! Broom!” she called. “I’m on my way! I don’t care how long it takes, but I’ll find you! You’re my best friends in the whole world. And even if I have to go round the whole world, we’ll all be back together soon.”
And with that she strode off into the sunset to her broom and her witch’s dog.
A note from the author
Find out what happens next in Witching Again, another free ebook about Big Roddy, The Witch’s Dog. There’s going to be a happy ending, don’t worry!
I’ve always loved writing. I wrote my first stories when I was about 7, all about Apple and Carrot! English was my favourite subject at school and I went on to study it at Oxford University. I did a postgrad degree in Publishing Studies and Stirling University and then began working as a desk editor. I took a few years out to be an accountant, but when we moved to Ireland from England in 1992, I set myself up as a freelance editor and indexer, and I’ve been doing that ever since. I’m married to Chris, have three children - Benjamin, Caitlin and Ruadhri - and since 2006 we’ve all lived in France on a 75 acre farm. We run a gite and carp and farm llamas, and also edit ebooks.
My first books were published in 1996. I have around 30 to my name now and I’m moving into adult fiction and non-fiction, as well as carrying on writing for children and young adults.
Follow my blog about our life as expats, which is never dull, at https://www.bloginfrance.com and find out about my other books at https://www.booksarecool.com. Follow me on Twitter too: https://www.twitter.c
om/@booksarecool23
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