Read Online Time of the Witch by Mary Downing Hahn - Free Book Online

something. And it was even worse when I got to Maude's place. She was waiting for me and there wasn't a light anywhere. Just the moon shining down through the trees. She lit one candle and took me inside." Charlene took out another cigarette and busied herself lighting it.
    "Everytime you tell this story it's different," Wanda said. "You just keep adding and adding till I get so bored I could fall asleep sitting here." Wanda yawned widely.
    "You want to take flying lessons, Wanda Louise? You want to see how far I can throw you?" Charlene glared across me at Wanda.
    "You just never said nothing bout her lighting one candle before, Charlene. That's new." Wanda slid down the railing, putting a. little distance between herself and Charlene.
    "What happened next?" I whispered, giving Wanda a look that meant for her to be quiet.
    "Well, it was dark in her house, even with the candle. I could hardly see my hand before my face. And it smelled funny too. Not bad exactly, just strange, like maybe she was burning herbs or something. She sat me down near the fire and she asked me all these questions about Eddie and she kept staring at me all the time. The crow was sitting up on the mantelpiece and he was staring at me, too. I was so scared I could hardly talk."
    "Hmmmph!" Wanda snorted. "Wish I could hire Maude to keep you scared."
    Charlene rolled her eyes and ignored Wanda. "She took all these herbs and things and mixed them together and she chanted a lot of mumbo jumbo and wrote things down on paper and burned things. I never saw anything like it. I mean she just carried on, worse than a preacher at a revival."
    "And then what?"
    Charlene shook her head. "She charged me ten dollars and I left and that was six months ago and I ain't seen Eddie yet." Charlene sighed and tossed the second cigarette butt after the first one. "I guess she's just a crazy old lady like everybody says. She ain't no more a witch than you or me or Wanda. She just knows how to put on a good show."
    The light from the sunset had dwindled to a narrow band of pink sky just above the mountains, but even in the twilight I could see the disappointment in Charlene's face. "There's still time for it to work," I said. "Maybe Eddie's too far away for the spell to reach him."
    Charlene shrugged. "I used to tell myself that, but
six months, shoot. That's a long time, honey." She gazed past Wanda and me at the mountains. "It sure would be nice if he came back, though, it really would. I get so tired of slaving away at the Dairy Queen. If Eddie came back we could go away to someplace like California or Hawaii where it's always sunny and I'd never have to see a Dairy Queen again."
    "They got Dairy Queens in California and Hawaii, Charlene. I hate to tell you, but they got Dairy Queens all over the world," Wanda said.
    "Well, I wouldn't be working in one, Wanda. I could just look the other way and keep on going whenever I saw one."
    "Hey, Charlene," Annabelle called from the living room, dark now except for the television's blue glow. "What are you telling those girls?" Then Annabelle appeared in the doorway.
    "Oh, nothing. They just wanted to hear about Maude and that dumb love potion." Charlene yawned and stretched, seeming bored with the whole subject.
    Annabelle looked at us. "What do you want to know about Maude for? She hasn't been bothering you, has she?"
    "Course not," Wanda said. "She couldn't bother me if she tried."
    Annabelle turned to me. "You sure she hasn't pestered you none?"
    I shook my head. "She's talked to me a few times. She told me about my grandmother and her, how they were friends and all." I tried to picture Maude and my grandmother as young women, girls like Wanda and me, but I'd never seen my grandmother and I couldn't imagine someone as old as Maude ever being young.
    Annabelle frowned. "I've heard they were friends once." Shifting her weight from one hip to the other, she stared at me as if she wanted to tell me something but didn't have the words