The Witches

‘Maybe your rich father will get you a special little mouse-fridge all to yourself,’ I said. ‘One that you can open.’

‘You say a witch did this to me?’ Bruno said. ‘Which witch?’

‘The one who gave you the chocolate bar in the hotel lobby yesterday,’ I told him. ‘Don't you remember?’

‘The filthy old cow!’ he shouted. ‘I'll get her for this! Where is she? Who is she?’

‘Forget it,’ I said. ‘You don't have a hope. Your biggest problem at the moment is your parents. How are they going to take this? Will they treat you with sympathy and kindness?’

Bruno considered this for a moment. ‘I think,’ he said, ‘that my father is going to be a bit put out.’

‘And your mother?’

‘She's terrified of mice,’ Bruno said.

‘Then you've got a problem, haven't you?’

‘Why only me?’ he said. ‘What about you?’

‘My grandmother will understand perfectly,’ I said. ‘She knows all about witches.’

Bruno took another bite of his sandwich. ‘What do you suggest?’ he said.

‘I suggest we both go first of all and consult my grandmother,’ I said. ‘She'll know exactly what to do.’

I moved towards the doors, which were standing open. Bruno, still grasping part of the sandwich in one paw, followed after me.

‘When we get out into the corridor,’ I said, ‘we're going to run like mad. Stick close to the wall all the way and follow me. Do not talk and do not let anyone see you. Don't forget that just about anyone who catches sight of you will try to kill you.’

I snatched the sandwich out of his paw and threw it away. ‘Here goes,’ I said. ‘Keep behind me.’

Hello, Grandmamma

As soon as I was out of the Ballroom, I took off like a flash. I streaked down the corridor, went through the Lounge and the Reading-Room and the Library and the Drawing-Room and came to the stairs. Up the stairs I went, jumping quite easily from one to the other, keeping well in against the wall all the time. ‘Are you with me, Bruno?’ I whispered.

‘Right here,’ he said.

My grandmother's room and my own were on the fifth floor. It was quite a climb, but we made it without meeting a single person on the way because everyone was using the lift. On the fifth floor, I raced along the corridor to the door of my grandmother's room. A pair of her shoes was standing outside the door to the cleaned. Bruno was alongside me. ‘What do we do now?’ he said.

Suddenly, I caught sight of a chambermaid coming along the corridor towards us. I saw at once that she was the one who had reported me to the Manager for keeping white mice. Not, therefore, the sort of person I wanted to meet in my present condition. ‘

Quick!’ I said to Bruno. ‘Hide in one of those shoes!’ I hopped into one shoe and Bruno hopped into the other. I waited for the maid to walk past us. She didn't. When she came to the shoes, she bent down and picked them up. In doing this, she put her hand right inside the one I was hiding in. When one of her fingers touched me, I bit it. It was a silly thing to do, but I did it instinctively, without thinking. The maid let out a scream that must have been heard by ships far out in the English Channel, and she dropped the shoes and ran like the wind down the corridor.

My grandmother's door opened. ‘What on earth is going on out here?’ she said. I darted between her legs into her room and Bruno followed me.

‘Close the door, Grandmamma!’ I cried. ‘Please hurry!’

She looked around and saw two small brown mice on the carpet. ‘Please close it,’ I said, and this time she actually saw me talking and recognized my voice. She froze and became absolutely motionless. Every part of her body, her fingers and hands and arms and head, became suddenly as stiff as a marble statue. Her face turned even paler than marble and her eyes were stretched so wide I could see the whites all around them. Then she started to tremble. I thought she was going to faint and fall over.

‘Please close the door quickly, Grandmamma,’ I said. ‘That awful maid might come in.’

She somehow managed to gather herself together enough to close the door. She leaned against it, staring down at me white-faced and shaking all over. I saw tears beginning to come out of her eyes and go dribbling down her cheeks.

‘Don't cry, Grandmamma,’ I said. ‘Things could be a lot worse. I did get away from them. I'm still alive. So is Bruno.’

Very slowly, she bent down and picked me up with one hand. Then she picked Bruno up with the other hand and put us both on the table. There was a bowl of bananas in the centre of the table and Bruno jumped straight into it and began tearing away with his teeth at one of the banana skins to get at the fruit inside.

My grandmother grasped the arm of her chair to steady herself, but her eyes never left me.