Chapter 9
‘It wasn’t real at all. It was only a play.’
Sophie was still saying this when they arrived back at Aunt Hazel’s house. Mrs Jenkins was complimenting Aunt Hazel on her acting skills.
‘You were so realistic, wasn’t she girls?’ She turned to her daughters who nodded mutely.
‘We thought she was a real witch,’ said Jessica at last.
‘What on earth do you mean?’
Sophie raced to the bedroom to collect the notebook and they showed their mother the list.
1.Black cat
2.Belongs to Witches Incorporated
3. Name on bottle from Pharmacy. Witch Hazel.
4. Has to put face on each morning.
5. Turns people into jugs
6. Wears witch hat and cloak
7. Casts spells from book
8. Has broomstick and knows how to make it fly
9. Wears Witches Britches
10. Uses Vanishing Cream
11. Eats frogs
12. Has book of spells
Mrs Jenkins took one look and began to giggle. She passed it to Aunt Hazel and the two of them howled with laughter as they read through the list.
‘What a wonderful game you must have had,’ spluttered Aunt Hazel after a while. ‘No wonder you girls have been giving me such strange looks. But all these things can be explained. Lots of people have black cats and Malachi could never be a witch’s cat. He is not nearly fierce enough.’
‘He seemed fairly fierce to us,’ protested Sophie.
Jessica added, ‘We put a spell on him and he vanished. Even you said he must have vanished when he didn’t come for his tea.’
‘I never thought he had really vanished,’ said Aunt Hazel kindly. ‘I knew he would turn up again in a few days. He often disappears for days at a time when he goes to visit his lady friends. Let me see, what haveyou written next. Oh, yes. Witches Incorporated is the name of our play but WI also stands for Women’s Institute, which is the group we all belong to. I wrote the play myself,’ she said proudly.
Mrs Jenkins pointed to the list. ‘Witches Britches are a type of underwear. They were very popular many years ago and even girls your age would wear them. I had a white pair with lace on the edges. I didn’t even know they were still available.’
‘They’re not,’ said Aunt Hazel. ‘I have to sew them myself. They are wonderfully warm under a skirt in the winter. I seem to feel the cold a lot more than I did when I was younger.’
‘Witch-hazel is the name of the stuff that people put on their skin to close the pores,’ explained Mrs Jenkins. ‘Anyone can buy it at the pharmacy. It is made from a plant.’
‘Oh, and when I said I was putting on my face, I meant that I was putting my make-up on,’ explained Aunt Hazel. ’It is just an expression.’
‘But I saw you when you were asleep,’ blurted out Sophie. ‘You looked awful.’
‘So did I,’ agreed Jessica. ‘Your face was all green and slimy.’
Aunt Hazel looked embarrassed. ‘That was an avocado face pack. It’s supposed to make your skin softer if you put it on overnight. I’ve been experimenting with some old herbal recipes of my grandmother’s. I would show you, only I seem to have lost the book. I was using it as a spell book for the play because it looked so old and realistic.’
‘I know where it is,’ muttered Sophie and collected it from under her mattress. Now that she looked at it properly, it did look like recipes for cosmetics and ointments.
‘Why do you put cucumber on the eyelids?’ asked Jessica anxiously. ‘Is it to make people blind?’
Aunt Hazel giggled. It’s to rest the eyes and take away the dark rings under them. I haven’t tried that one yet.’
Jessica nodded but didn’t look convinced. ‘What about the enchanted people on the jugs?’ she demanded.
Aunt Hazel shuddered. ‘Those are Toby jugs. They all look like that. They belong to my sister, only she left them with me when she moved to Australia. She used to collect them. I can’t bear them, which is why they are in a cupboard. I can’t throw them out in case my sister ever comes to stay.’
‘What about the vanishing cream?’ asked Sophie.
Aunt Hazel sighed. ‘That’s for the face as well. It’s supposed to make spots and wrinkles vanish away if you use it. When you get to my age you try anything to keep you looking younger.’
‘But you said you had a frog in your throat,’ protested Jessica, and explained how Sophie had made her kiss a frog in case it was an enchanted prince.
Mrs Jenkins and Aunt Hazel fell about laughing over this and eventually even Sophie and Jessica joined in.
‘Sophie how could you?’ exclaimed her mother. ‘You surely didn’t believe that?’
‘It might have been true,’ said Sophie defensively.
‘Then you should have kissed the frog instead of making poor Jessica do it,’ scolded her mother. Jessica put out her tongue at Sophie who kicked her in the ankle when her mother wasn’t looking.
‘People of my generation often say they have a frog in their throat. It’s an expression,’ gasped Aunt Hazel. ‘They say it when they have a husky voice. Oh dear, I haven’t laughed so much for years.’ She laughed again and dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief.
‘But what about the broomstick,’ persisted Sophie. ‘You said it would fly if we used the magic words.’
‘I thought it was a game,’ said Aunt Hazel. ‘It’s the sort of thing my children played when they were young. I even made them witches hats.’
‘I remember that,’ said Mrs Jenkins. ‘We spent one summer trying to make potions out of rose petals and seaweed, and looking at all the old ladies around to see if any of them could be a witch. We were never lucky enough to find a real witch like you girls did, though.’
Aunt Hazel chuckled. ‘I remember that too. The seaweed smelled terrible and you would insist on bringing it inside all the time. I’m sorry to have to disappoint you girls, but after all, I was only acting at being a witch. I think you deserve the biggest ice creams the shop can make as a reward for all your detective work.’
They loaded the car with their bags and then Mrs Jenkins drove them to the grocer’s, where Sophie and Jessica each had four different flavours of ice cream with chocolate dip and sprinkles.
‘They’ll probably be car sick all the way home now,’ said Mrs Jenkins with a rueful smile. ‘But thank you Hazel, for looking after them.’
‘They were no trouble at all. Perhaps you’d like to come back sometime in the summer, girls? The beach is a lot more fun then.’
Sophie and Jessica nodded and accepted gratefully through mouthfuls of ice cream.
Ending
Jessica sighed in satisfaction as they drove home.
‘I’m glad she wasn’t a witch after all, but it was very exciting while it lasted.’
‘I’m not so sure we should go back,’ said Sophie thoughtfully.
‘Why not?’
Sophie looked up to make sure her mother was concentrating on her driving. She pulled back a corner of her bag to reveal the Toby jug of the gypsy man. Jessica gasped in dismay.
‘You can’t take that. It doesn’t belong to you.’
‘I’ve only borrowed it,’ said Sophie carefully.
‘But why? Why did you take it, I mean borrow it?’
Sophie looked around again then turned to a wide eyed Jessica and hissed dramatically, ‘because when I took him out of my bag he winked at me.’
Jessica stared in horror for a few minutes then began to laugh uncertainly.
‘Oh, you’re only teasing me,’ she said. ‘You are teasing, aren’t you?’
‘Maybe,’ said Sophie mysteriously. ‘But maybe not!’
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