What the Witch Left (6 page)

Almost every afternoon after school Tad and Nora went to see Maggie Brown. Sometimes she gave them fudge, but never more than one piece. Nora always made sure Tad ate his. She was afraid of what might happen if he collected three or four pieces. She always ate hers too because it was so delicious and because it seemed the safest thing to do.

Maggie’s closets were full of shoes and hats. She no longer wore most of them, and she let Nora play with them. “You can take them home if you like,” the witch told Nora.

There was a big box of old beads and earrings without mates on the floor of one of the closets. “You can have any of that
stuff you want,” said Maggie. At first Nora thought the jewelry might be enchanted, but it never made her disappear or learn how to fly. It was just fun to dress up in.

Tad spent his time making and fixing things. He painted all the doorknobs with glow-in-the-dark paint. And he made a false bottom in the kitchen drawer in case Maggie needed to hide something.

Maggie’s kitchen table wobbled. When Tad tried to even up the legs, he made it two inches shorter. Maggie didn’t mind.

Meanwhile Maggie’s family was getting bigger. There was a baby sparrow that had fallen out of his nest. Maggie put him in a shoe box lined with cotton. Tad was afraid Henry would get him, so he made a little cage for the sparrow.

Maggie found a litter of kittens someone had left in the vacant lot around the corner. She brought them home, and Tad helped make a bed for them. Maggie put a hot water bottle in it to keep the kittens warm. They snuggled against it as if it were their mother. Tad and Nora helped Maggie feed the kittens with an eye-dropper. “As soon as they’re big enough,” she said, “I’ll give them to Gimbel’s pet shop. I used to work there.”

Four pairs of pigeons came to be fed every morning, and the squirrel brought his mate with him to the kitchen window.

Wherever Nora went in Maggie’s apartment, the lizard went with her. Nora didn’t think he was ugly now. She liked his sad brown eyes. And she even liked the way the lizard’s forked tongue would suddenly flash out of his mouth. It usually meant that he was excited about something—or glad to see her.

One afternoon Tad went with Maggie Brown to the hardware store around the corner. He helped Maggie choose a new set of hinges for her kitchen cabinet. When they came out of the store, Tad noticed a little black cat sitting in front of the new delicatessen next door.

“That’s Whiskers,” said Tad. “Doesn’t he belong to Mr. Samuels who used to have the grocery store here? I wonder why Mr. Samuels didn’t take the cat with him when he sold the store.”

“Whiskers made his home in the store,” said Maggie. “He wouldn’t be happy anywhere else. Mr. Samuels told me he gave the cat to Mr. Hellman—the man who bought the store.”

Maggie went into the delicatessen. Tad followed her.

“Mr. Hellman,” said Maggie, “what’s old Whiskers doing out on the street?”

“I can’t have a dirty animal in my store,” said the delicatessen man.

“But Whiskers has never been out of the store.”

“He’s out now,” said Mr. Hellman.

Tad watched the little black cat. It was huddled against the storefront, trying to keep out of the way of people passing by.

A big striped tomcat strolled around the corner. He stopped to hiss at little Whiskers, who ran under a parked delivery truck.

“He’ll get killed!” said Tad. “Please, Mr. Hellman, let him back in the store. He’s a clean cat.”

“I won’t have a cat getting into my salami,” said Mr. Hellman. “If you’re so fond of the cat, you take him.”

Maggie pressed her lips together. Her green eyes glinted. She looked hard at the delicatessen man. “I won’t be buying anything more from you,” she said, “and don’t be surprised if rats get into your salami.” She took Tad by the hand and marched out of the store.

Outside on the street Maggie stopped to coax Whiskers out from under the truck. Tad scooped him up. “Are you going to keep him, Maggie?”

“I guess I’ll have to. Henry won’t like
it, but I’ll keep Whiskers in the living room. Henry can still be king of the kitchen.”

After supper Tad told Nora about Whiskers. “Why doesn’t Maggie just feed the delicatessen man some of her fudge?” Nora asked.

“It wears off, silly,” Tad reminded her.

“Sometimes,” Nora said, “I wonder if we dreamed all that stuff about the fudge. Nothing magic happens anymore.”

“Well, why don’t we get out that fudge I swiped and test it?” asked Tad.

“I can’t trust you to stop at two pieces,” said Nora. “And I’m saving it till we really need it. Now, go do your homework. I still have my arithmetic to do.”

Tad and Nora were coming home from school. They passed Hellman’s delicatessen just as a lady came running out. She was carrying a little boy, and she seemed very upset. “No, no, Tommy. That was
not
a squirrel, and you can’t pet it!”

Mr. Hellman came out of the store after the lady. “It won’t happen again. I’ll get rid of them. I promise.” Mr. Hellman caught sight of Tad. “Boy,” he said, “come here.”

“What do you want, Mr. Hellman?” Tad asked.

“I’ll give you a dollar if you bring that cat back.”

“You mean Whiskers? I don’t think Mrs. Brown will give him back,” said Tad.

“Why not?” Mr. Hellman looked angry.

“She wants Whiskers to have a good home,” said Tad.

Mr. Hellman looked ready to explode, but he just said, “You tell Mrs. Brown I’ll be good to the cat. Now go get it.”

Tad and Nora went around the corner and down the street. Tad rang Maggie’s bell. When Maggie opened the door, Tad said, “Mr. Hellman wants Whiskers back.”

Maggie smiled. “I thought he would.”

“You mean you’ll
let
him have Whiskers?” said Nora. “Suppose he’s mean to him?”

“He won’t be,” said the witch. “And Whiskers will be happy to be back in his old home. Henry will be happy too. He hates being kept out of the living room.” Maggie went upstairs to get Whiskers.

Tad took the cat back to the delicatesseri.
Mr. Hellman forgot to give him the dollar.

Later in the afternoon Nora’s mother gave her some money and told her to buy a pound of potato salad for supper. Nora went to the delicatessen. She wanted to see how Whiskers was doing.

The cat was chasing something behind the counter.

Mr. Hellman was busy talking to Mrs. Hastings. Neither of them saw Nora when she came in.

“That Mrs. Brown you have living in your house is ruining the neighborhood,” said Mr. Hellman.

“Well, she does have too many animals in that apartment,” said Mrs. Hastings. “I’ve asked her not to feed all the stray cats, but I think she still does. It’s very annoying.”

“That’s not all she does. That woman raises
rats
,” said Mr. Hellman.

“Rats! I know she has snakes and birds and dozens of cats, but rats!” Mrs. Hastings shook her head.

“She raises them and puts them in my store,” said Mr. Hellman. “She even tried to take my cat away, but I’ve got him back now. He’ll get rid of those rats.”

Mrs. Hastings nearly dropped her shopping bags. “Oh, dear, rats! Whatever shall I do?”

“I’ll tell you what to do, Mrs. Hastings,” said Mr. Hellman. “You call the Department of Health. They’ll give her a summons and make her get rid of those animals.”

“I will,” Mrs. Hastings said. “I’ll telephone this afternoon.”

Nora didn’t wait to hear any more. She ran out of the store. She went to the delicatessen on the next block to get the potato salad.

As soon as she got home, Nora told
Tad what she had heard. “Now is the time to use that fudge we’ve been saving,” she said. “I’m going to give a piece to Mrs. Hastings. That will make her like animals so much she won’t mind how many Maggie has in her apartment. She won’t call the Health Department, because she won’t want them to make Maggie get rid of the animals.”

“But won’t she call just as soon as the fudge wears off?” asked Tad.

“I’ll keep giving her fudge. I know she likes candy.”

Nora went up to her room and unlocked her desk drawer. She took one piece of fudge out of the plastic bag and locked the drawer again. Then she put the fudge on a plate and went next door to ring Mrs. Hastings’ bell.

Mrs. Hastings was surprised to see her. “I’ve brought you some fudge,” said Nora.

Mrs. Hastings took a good look at the fudge. It had not been improved by its long stay in the desk drawer. It was dry and shriveled and white around the edges.

“It’s nice of you, Nora.” Mrs. Hastings took another look at the fudge. “But I’m on a very strict diet, and I’m not allowed
to eat candy. Thank you anyway.” She shut the door.

Nora went home and back to her room. She had to think for a while.

Tad came in to ask her to help him with his homework. Nora showed him where he could find the answers in his book. Then she told him what had happened when she tried to give the fudge to Mrs. Hastings.

“Why don’t you mix it with her coffee?” said Tad.

“I’d have to get into her house to do that.” Nora heard a scratching in the closet. She opened the closet door just in time to see a little gray mouse squeeze through the crack under the baseboard and disappear.

Of course! Nora thought. There must be a way to go next door—through the walls. But only a mouse could do that.

Quickly, Nora went to her desk drawer
and unlocked it. She took out a piece of fudge. “Can you crush this to a powder, Tad?”

Tad ran out of the room and came back with a hammer. Nora wrapped the fudge in a handkerchief and Tad pounded on it with the hammer.

“What’s that banging up there?” Mrs. Cooper was calling up the stairs.

“I’m fixing something,” Tad yelled down.

Nora went to the kitchen for a plastic sandwich bag. She put the powdered fudge in it and twisted it into as small a package as she could. Then she tied it with button thread.

Tad watched her. “What are you going to do?”

Nora unlocked the desk drawer again and took out six pieces of fudge. She gave two pieces to Tad. “Eat them,” she said.

Tad started to nibble. He made a face. “It tastes terrible, Nora. Maybe the magic has gone out of it.”

“Oh, Tad, we have to
try
it at least. All right then, you don’t have to eat the fudge until after I do. Then you’ll know if the magic is still working. And you must eat both pieces. Promise!”