Karen's Little Witch Read online

  For my parents and my sister

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 Morbidda Destiny

  2 Two Families for Karen

  3 Ghouls and Goblins

  4 Druscilla

  5 She’s He-ere!

  6 The Little Witch

  7 The Herb Garden

  8 Boo!

  9 Pippi Longstocking

  10 No Way!

  11 The Little Witch’s Party

  12 Mr. Pumpkinhead

  13 “I Told You I Was Sick!”

  14 Pippi and Charlotte

  15 The Halloween Parade

  16 The Night Before Halloween

  17 The Face at the Window

  18 The Pumpkin People

  19 Halloween Night

  20 November

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Morbidda Destiny

  Hum, de-hum, de-hum.

  I was sitting at my desk in my classroom. I was looking at my teacher, Ms. Colman. I had noticed that one of her earlobes was larger than the other.

  Hum, de-hum, de-hum.

  I was not supposed to be staring at my teacher’s earlobes and humming. I was supposed to be filling in a math worksheet. That’s what everyone else was doing. But I had finished. I hoped my friends would finish soon, too.

  Ms. Colman stood up. (I could not see her earlobes as well.) She asked us to hand in our worksheets. When we had done that, she said, “Guess what, class. I have an announcement to make.”

  Yippeeeee! Ms. Colman’s announcements are usually surprising. I just love Surprising Announcements.

  Oh, by the way, I am Karen Brewer. I am seven years old. Ms. Colman is my second-grade teacher. I am the youngest kid in my class. That is because I skipped a grade.

  Ms. Colman is the first teacher I have met who makes Surprising Announcements.

  “Class,” said Ms. Colman, “I know it is not October yet, but we should start thinking about Halloween. In a few weeks — ”

  “Oh, Ms. Colman! Oh, Ms. Colman!” I cried.

  “Indoor voice, Karen,” Ms. Colman reminded me patiently.

  “Sorry. I want to know if we can have a Halloween party.”

  “As a matter of fact,” Ms. Colman said, “our school is going to have one big party. We are going to have a costume parade, too. Your families will be invited to watch.”

  “Cool!” cried Ricky Torres. (Ricky sits next to me. Once, we got married on the playground.) “I want to be a gumball!”

  “You can dress as a gumball when you go trick-or-treating,” said Ms. Colman. “But every class is being given a costume theme for the parade. Our theme will be Favorite Story Characters.”

  Goody, I thought. That was perfect. Every year I dress up as a witch. I have never dressed as anything else. My witch costume is fantastic. (I am not bragging.) If we were supposed to dress like our favorite story characters, then I could be the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. Or I could be the witch from The Witch Next Door.

  I have quite a few books about witches. I love to read witch stories. Guess what. A witch lives next door to me. Honest. Daddy says she is just a funny old woman. He says her name is Mrs. Porter. I know better. She is a witch and her witch name is Morbidda Destiny.

  Morbidda Destiny wears long black dresses. She keeps a broom on her front porch. She has a black cat named Midnight. She planted an herb garden in her backyard.

  I am pretty sure that I have seen Morbidda Destiny ride her broomstick out of a bedroom window and fly into the night.

  I am afraid of Morbidda Destiny.

  So are my friends Hannie Papadakis and Nancy Dawes. Hannie and Nancy are my best friends. We call ourselves the Three Musketeers. We are all in Ms. Colman’s room. (But Nancy and Hannie get to sit in the back row. I have to sit in front with the kids who wear glasses. The glasses-wearers in my class are Ricky, Natalie Springer, Ms. Colman, me.)

  Anyway, even if I am afraid of witches, I do not mind living next door to Morbidda Destiny. That is because I don’t have to live next door to her very often. Only two weekends each month, and on some holidays and vacations. The rest of the time I live with my mother and stepfather.

  Two Families for Karen

  My parents are divorced. They do not live together anymore. (This happens sometimes.) Mommy and Daddy used to be married. When they were married, they loved each other. So they had me. Then they had Andrew. (Andrew is my little brother. He is four going on five.) After awhile, my parents decided they did not love each other anymore. They loved Andrew and me but not each other. So they got a divorce.

  Mommy and Daddy and Andrew and I used to live in a big house. It was the house Daddy grew up in. After the divorce, Mommy moved into a little house. (Both of the houses are right here in Stoneybrook, Connecticut.) Andrew and I moved with her. Then Mommy got married again. She married Seth. He is my stepfather. Seth lives with us at the little house. So do his cat, Rocky, and his dog, Midgie. And so does my rat, Emily Junior.

  Daddy got married again, too. He married Elizabeth. She is my stepmother. Elizabeth already had four children! They are my stepbrothers and stepsister. Charlie and Sam are old. They go to high school. David Michael is seven like me. But we go to different schools. David Michael goes to Stoneybrook Elementary. I go to a private school called Stoneybrook Academy. My stepsister is Kristy. She is thirteen. I love having a big sister. Kristy is one of my most favorite people in the whole wide world. She can baby-sit. Sometimes she baby-sits for David Michael and Andrew and me. Also for Emily Michelle. Emily is my adopted sister. She is two and a half. Daddy and Elizabeth adopted her. She comes from a country called Vietnam. Someone else lives with my big-house family. That is Nannie. She is Kristy’s grandmother, so she is my stepgrandmother. Nannie takes care of Emily while Daddy and Elizabeth are at work. Some pets live at the big house, too. They are Boo-Boo (Daddy’s old tiger cat), Shannon (David Michael’s puppy), and Goldfishie and Crystal Light the Second (Andrew’s and my goldfish).

  Andrew and I live mostly at the little house with Mommy and Seth. But every other weekend we live at the big house. Andrew and I do not mind going back and forth. We like having two families. (I call us Karen Two-Two and Andrew Two-Two. I made up those names after Ms. Colman read a book to our class. The book was called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.) Andrew and I are two-twos because we have two of so many things. We have two houses and two mommies and two daddies and two cats and two dogs. We have toys at the little house and toys at the big house. Same with books and clothes. And I have two bicycles, one at each house. And two stuffed cats. Moosie lives at the big house, Goosie lives at the little house. Guess what. Hannie is my big-house best friend. She lives across the street and one house down from Daddy. Nancy is my little-house best friend. She lives next door to Mommy. See why I like being a two-two?

  Well, I like being a two-two most of the time. But not always. I do not have two of everything, of course. I have only one pair of roller skates. And I used to have just one Tickly, my special blanket. I kept leaving Tickly behind at one house or the other. Finally, I had to rip Tickly in half so I could keep a piece at each house. (I hope that did not hurt Tickly.)

  Also, when I live at the little house, I miss Crystal Light the Second and my big-house family. And when I live at the big house, I miss Emily Junior and my little-house family.

  Another thing I have only one of is Morbidda Destiny. No witch lives next door to the little house. That is fine with me. A part-time witch is enough.

  Ghouls and Goblins

  “ ’Bye, Mommy!” I cried.

  “ ’Bye, Mommy!” cried Andrew.

  “See you later, alligato
rs!” said Mommy.

  “After awhile, crocodile!” Andrew and I replied.

  Mommy had driven my brother and me to Daddy’s. It was a big-house weekend. We had arrived just in time for Friday night supper.

  “Come on, Andrew,” I said.

  I closed the car doors. Mommy drove away. Andrew and I walked to the big house. We were each wearing a knapsack. And I had remembered my skates.

  Suddenly, the front door began to open. I had not even touched it!

  Inside, the hallway was dark.

  “Helloooooo,” wailed a voice. “Do not beeeeeee afraaaaaaaid. Pleeeeeease come in.”

  “Is today Halloween?” Andrew asked me.

  “No,” I said. “And the door did not open by itself, either. David Michael is standing behind it. I can see him.” (I couldn’t really see him, but I knew he was there.) I marched inside. “Hi, David Michael,” I said loudly.

  “Very funny.” David Michael stepped into the hall. He turned on a light. “Hi, Professor,” he greeted me. (He calls me “Professor” because of my glasses.) “Hi, Andrew.”

  “Hello! Hello!” The rest of my big-house family came to meet Andrew and me.

  “I hope you two are hungry,” said Nannie.

  “Hey, Karen, your epidermis is showing,” said Sam.

  “Sam. I already know that joke. You taught it to me. Epidermis is skin.”

  “Just testing,” said Sam.

  Andrew and I put our knapsacks in our rooms. Then we went to the kitchen for dinner with Daddy, Elizabeth, Nannie, Kristy, Sam, Charlie, David Michael, and Emily. I got to sit next to Kristy.

  “Well, Halloween is almost here,” I announced while we were finishing dinner.

  “It is?” said Andrew.

  “Not for a month,” said Charlie.

  “Of course, I am going to be a witch again,” I said.

  “Of course,” replied David Michael.

  I looked across the table at Andrew. “Oh, witchy, witchy, witchy,” I murmured.

  “Karen,” warned Daddy.

  “I didn’t do anything!”

  “Yes, you did. You are singing witch songs,” cried Andrew.

  “You know, tonight’s a full moon —” I began.

  “Karen, you may be excused,” said Daddy.

  Darn. I had learned a good Halloween story to tell Andrew. Now I would have to wait. At least I had already eaten my dessert.

  I went to my room. I sat on my bed and looked out the window.

  There was the full moon.

  There was Morbidda Destiny’s house.

  A light was on in an upstairs room. Was it the witch’s bedroom? I turned off my own light so I could see better.

  There are not many rules at the big house, but one of the rules is NO SPYING ON THE NEIGHBORS. Well, sometimes I cannot help myself.

  I couldn’t see anything at Morbidda Destiny’s house. But I remembered something I had seen a long time ago when I was six. I had seen a meeting of witches and warlocks there. (Warlocks are boy witches.) Or I thought I had seen a meeting. I had never been sure. That’s the problem with witches. You just never know about them.

  Druscilla

  When I woke up on Saturday morning, I thought, “What a peaceful night.”

  Sometimes I dream about witches. But I had slept well the night before. I did not remember any dreams at all.

  “ ’Morning, Moosie. ’Morning, Tickly,” I said. (I always sleep with them. I hope I don’t squish them or anything.)

  I ran downstairs. In the kitchen were Elizabeth, Nannie, Andrew, and Emily. We ate breakfast together. Everyone else was still asleep. Except for Daddy.

  “Where”s Daddy?” I asked Elizabeth.

  Elizabeth pointed out the window, into the backyard. “In the garden,” she said.

  “Oh, goody! I think I will help him today.”

  Daddy loves to garden. He has planted gardens all over our yard. But his special flower garden is in the back. Sometimes Daddy lets me dig holes for new plants. Or pull up weeds. Or water with a watering can. I like watering the best. That is gigundo fun. (I know lots about gardening because once I visited my grandparents on their farm, which is in the state of Nebraska.)

  After breakfast I got dressed in gardening clothes. I put on my overalls and a shirt and my straw hat. (I bought the overalls and the hat in Nebraska.)

  “Hi, Daddy,” I said. “I’m here to help you.”

  “ ’Morning, Karen. Do you feel like watering?”

  “Oh, yes!”

  Daddy showed me which plants needed to be watered. I got right to work. I walked all around the garden with the can. I was at the back of the garden when I heard Daddy say, “ ’Morning, Mrs. Porter!”

  Mrs. Porter? Yipes! The witch!

  If I ran through the yard and into the house, would Morbidda Destiny see me? I wondered. Probably, since she’s a witch. I decided to try it anyway. But before I had put down the watering can, I heard Daddy say, “Karen? Honey? Come say hello to Mrs. Porter.”

  So I had to say hi to the witch. She was wearing a long, black dress, as usual. And her gray hair was all frazzly.

  Morbidda Destiny does not always say much. But that morning she talked a lot. She said, “Have you heard the news? My family is moving to Stoneybrook. My daughter and her husband and their little girl. Druscilla is your age, Karen. She’s seven. Actually, Druscilla is coming first,” continued the witch. “Her parents want her to start in her new school as soon as possible. She’ll be here in just a few days.”

  “Her new school?” I repeated.

  “Stoneybrook Day School.”

  I let out a sigh of relief. Druscilla would not be going to my school.

  But then the witch said, “Druscilla will live with me for a few weeks.”

  “Really?” I squeaked.

  This is what I was thinking. If Mrs. Porter is a witch, then her daughter must be a witch. And if her daughter is a witch, then her daughter must be a witch. So Druscilla was a witch. Two witches would be living next door to Daddy’s house! A big witch and a little witch.

  Daddy let me leave then. I tore across the street. I ran to Hannie’s house. Then Hannie and I ran to Melody’s house. Melody is our new friend. She just moved here. Melody is seven, like Hannie and me. But she goes to … Stoneybrook Day School. The witch’s school.

  “Maybe the little witch will even be in your class,” I said to Melody. “Morbidda Destiny said Druscilla is seven.”

  “Oh, no,” said Melody. “She can’t be in my class!”

  She’s He-ere!

  I was sort of glad to go back to the little house on Sunday. There are no witches near Mommy’s house. No big witches, no little witches. Even so, I could not stop thinking about witches.

  In school on Monday, Hannie and I told Nancy about Druscilla.

  “Yipes,” said Nancy. “I wonder when she will arrive.”

  She arrived sometime on Tuesday. I know because Melody called me on Wednesday night. She said, “Karen! The little witch is here! She was in school today.”

  “In your class?” I cried.

  “No. But she’s next door,” said Melody. “She is in the other second-grade room.”

  “What does she look like?” I asked.

  Melody lowered her voice. “Like a witch,” she whispered.

  “Really?” I said. I said that because sometimes Melody’s imagination runs away with her.

  “Yes. Her eyes are very dark. Almost black. And her hair is black. It’s long and wild, too. But her skin is pale,” said Melody.

  “Like Snow-White’s?”

  “Yes. Just like Snow-White’s. And all her clothes are black.”

  “Ooh. All of them?”

  “Well, I did not see her underwear. But her dress and her tights and her shoes were black. And in her hair was a black ribbon.”

  “Very witchy. Did she cast any spells?” I asked.

  “No. At least, I did not see her cast any spells. But I only saw her twice. In between, she
had plenty of time to cast spells.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Oh, but wait!” exclaimed Melody. “I almost forgot about Druscilla’s lunch.”

  “Her lunch?”

  “Yes. She ate a mushroom sandwich.”

  “Oh. Gross. Mushrooms. She must be a witch.”

  “That’s what I thought,” said Melody.

  Mommy called to me then. She said it was bedtime. “I have to go,” I told Melody.

  “But I’ll see you soon. I’m going to Hannie’s after school on Friday. And I will be at Daddy’s on Saturday, even though it is not a big-house weekend.”

  “Goody,” replied Melody. “Maybe you will see the little witch for yourself.”

  The Little Witch

  On Friday afternoon, I got to ride home with Hannie. (I just love playing at my friends’ houses.) Hannie’s brother, Linny, rode home with us. And Hannie’s little sister, Sari, was sitting in her car seat. Hannie and I squished into the back seat with Sari. Linny got to ride up front with Mrs. Papadakis.

  “What are you going to do today?” Linny asked. He turned around to look at Hannie and me. (He crossed his eyes.)

  “Don’t answer him,” Hannie whispered to me. “He wants to pester us.”

  “I do not!” exclaimed Linny. “Mom, Hannie says I am going to pester her.”

  “See what I mean?” said Hannie. “He is already pestering us.”

  When we got to Hannie’s house, Linny was still acting like a great big pain.

  “We have to escape from Linny,” Hannie whispered.

  “Can we have a snack first?” I asked. “I’m starving.”

  “Okay,” agreed Hannie. “Then we will escape. Where should we go?”

  “Over to Melody’s,” I answered. “She can tell us more about the little witch.”

  So Hannie and I ate some Scooter Pies. (My mommy will not buy Scooter Pies.) Then we went to Melody’s house. Melody was sitting on her front steps. She was reading a book called The Pain and the Great One.

  “Hi, Melody!” I called.

  Melody put down her book. She and Hannie and I sat under a tree.