Little Witch Emily Took Her Grandmother's Advice

 Little Witch Emily loved her old grandmother so very much. She knew that her grandmother didn't want to retire, but maybe she would if her home was in a very special place. A place where she could have her cats and her library of spell books. It had to be a place where she could cook outdoors over an open fire. She could no longer cast spells like she used to, but she could cook and read and take long walks in the woods. She could count spiders' legs and toad stools and remember the good times. She just knew that she could find a home for her that would be just right. It had to have several bedrooms though, because she knew that her grandmother would want overnight guests. The house would have to have room enough for all the crystal balls that she had used over the years. If she could just remember the name of the woman that was in the real estate business.  Oh dear, oh dear, why is my memory so bad? I'm still young. What's it going to be like when I'm as old as Grandmother? Crystal balls! Of course, that's the answer. I need to find my grandmother's favorite crystal ball. Then I could see into the future or maybe even ask it a question.

It seemed like forever, but she found it at the edge of the forest. She got her spell book and started to chant. "Crystal ball, please find my grandmother the perfect place to live. I know that she has to retire, but she needs a place where we can all visit and stay overnight sometimes. Crystal ball please help me help my grandmother."

Little Witch Emily kept her chanting quiet, but steady. Over and over she asked for the perfect place for her grandmother to live when she retired. Suddenly the crystal ball started to get cloudy. Huge black spiders and bats with huge teeth and little swirls of green slime started to fill the ball. "Oh no! What did I do now? I have to get this right! All of a sudden an owl's screech filled the forest and the crystal ball cleared and there appeared her grandmother's face along with her best friend! Her grandmother started to speak to her.

"Emily, Emily! You are trying too hard. Calm down and think. You are a nervous wreck. All you have to do is relax. Just relax and it will come to you. Just close your eyes. There now little one. All is well. As soon as you wake up you will see that you have done a good job. Remember always that I love you and I always will. Happy Halloween, sweet Emily."

Sweet Emily's grandmother grinned at her best friend and said, "Not bad for a retirement spell. What do you think, will she make a good witch sometime in the near future?" Her friend grinned up at her and said, "I think so. Just like her old hag grandmother."

All the sounds in the forest were of laughter and chanting and chirping of birds and of Jimmy packing his walnuts in his cheeks to begin his journey to a farm just seven miles away. His stop here at the forest was just for a day of rest and to help little witch Emily. He knew he now had to go back to work.  His job was going to be long and hard. It was winter in Iowa and he soon would be a prisoner of not only the ice and snow but of a cage made of metal with no other shelter from the stinging snow and raging winds. 

The year could have been about 1949 Cherokee, Iowa