'Well, that's what he said it was,' said Nanny.
'I think you're talking about a fertility idol,' said Gammer Brevis helpfully.
Granny shook her head.
'Doesn't sound much like Magrat to me - ' she began.
'You can't tell me that's worth tuppence,' said Old Mother Dismass, from whatever moment of time she was currently occupying.
No-one was ever quite sure which it was.
It was an occupational hazard for those gifted with second sight. The human mind isn't really designed to be sent rocketing backwards and forwards along the great freeway of time and can become, as it were, detached from its anchorage, seeing randomly into the past and the future and only occasionally into the present. Old Mother Dismass was temporally unfocused. This meant that if you spoke to her in August she was probably listening to you in March. It was best just to say something now and hope she'd pick it up next time her mind was passing through.
Granny waved her hands experimentally in front of Old Mother Dismass's unseeing eyes.
'She's gone again,' she said.
'Well, if Magrat can't take it on there's Millie Hopgood from over Slice way,' said Gammer Brevis. 'She's a hardworking girl. Mind you, she's got a worse squint than Magrat.'
'Nothing wrong with that. A squint looks good on a witch,' said Granny Weatherwax.
'But you have to know how to use it,' said Nanny Ogg. 'Old Gertie Simmons used to have a squint and she was always putting the evil influence on the end of her own nose. We can't have people thinkin' that if you upsets a witch she curses and mutters and then her own nose drops off.'
They all stared at the fire again.
'I suppose Desiderata wouldn't have chosen her own successor?' said Gammer Brevis.
'Can't go doin' that,' said Granny Weatherwax. 'That's not how we do things in these parts.'
'Yes, but Desiderata didn't spend much time in these parts. It was the job. She was always going off to foreign parts.'
'I can't be having with foreign parts,' said Granny Weatherwax.
'You've been to Ankh-Morpork,' said Nanny mildly. 'That's foreign.'
'No it's not. It's just a long way off. That's not the same as foreign. Foreign's where they gabble at you in heathen lingo and eat foreign muck and worship, you know, objects,' said Granny Weatherwax, goodwill diplomat. 'Foreign can be quite close to, if you're not careful. Huh,' she added witheringly. 'Yes, she could bring back just about anything from foreign parts.'
'She brought me back a nice blue and white plate once,' said Nanny Ogg.
'That's a point,' said Gammer Brevis. 'Someone'd better go and see to her cottage. She had quite a lot of good stuff there. It'd be dreadful to think of some thief getting in there and having a rummage.'
'Can't imagine any thief'd want to break into a witch's - ' Granny began, and then stopped abruptly.
'Yes,' she said meekly. 'Good idea. I'll see to it directly.'
'No, I'll see to it,' said Nanny Ogg, who'd also had time to work something out. 'It's right on my way home. No problem.'
'No, you'll be wanting to get home early,' said Granny. 'Don't you bother yourself. It'd be no trouble.'
'Oh, it won't be any trouble at all,' said Nanny.
'You don't want to go tiring yourself out at your age,' said Granny Weatherwax.
They glared at one another.
'I really don't see that it matters,' said Gammer Brevis. 'You might as well go together rather than fight about it.'
'I'm a bit busy tomorrow,' said Granny. 'How about after lunch?'