“Yes, please.” Her face lit up. “Which spell can I learn?”
“I’m going to teach you the ‘grow’ spell.”
“Will that make me grow so I’m as big as you and Daddy?”
“No, darling, that’s not what the ‘grow’ spell does. It makes plants grow taller.”
“Can we do it now?”
“Yeah, let’s go into the garden.”
On our way out of the lounge, I grabbed the spell book. Buddy was fast asleep on his bed and he didn’t stir as we walked past him. Out in the garden, Florence walked around, looking at the various flowers.
“Which one shall we make grow, Mummy?”
“You can choose.”
“This one.”
“The yellow pansy?”
“Yes, please.”
“Okay, come and sit on the step next to me and we’ll look at the spell together.” Once she’d joined me, I opened the spell book at the appropriate page. “You have to remember all of these pictures to cast the spell.”
“There’s a lot, Mummy. I don’t think I can remember all of them.”
“You will. Just keep practising until you get it right. Okay?”
“I’ll try.” She studied the page, looking at each picture in turn. After a few minutes, she said, “I think I know them now.”
“Okay, why don’t you give it a try.” She put the book down on the step and walked over to the pansy. “Now, close your eyes and think about each picture in turn.”
“I have to focus too, don’t I, Mummy?”
“That’s right. That’s the most important part.”
She screwed up her eyes really tight and after a few seconds, opened them again.
Nothing had happened.
“It didn’t work, Mummy.”
“Don’t worry. Maybe you got the pictures in the wrong order or forgot one of them. Why don’t you take another look at the spell book?”
“Okay.” She came back to the step, picked up the book and studied the spell for a few more minutes. “I think I know it now.”
“Okay, give it another try.”
She closed her eyes again and within a few seconds, the pansy started to grow.
“It’s working, Florence, but don’t open your eyes yet or it will stop growing. I’ll tell you when to open them.”
I waited until the pansy had grown to twice its original height. “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”
“Look, Mummy! Look how big it is.”
“Good job!” I gave her a kiss. “Aren’t you a clever little witch?”
“Can I do it to another flower, Mummy?”
“Okay, why don’t you try the one next to it?” She did, and this time it worked first time. “Very good. That’ll do for today. Why don’t you go upstairs and play for a while and then, after lunch, we’ll go to Freaking Tweaking?”
***
Jack, Florence and I had a light lunch of sandwiches. We’d just finished eating when Kathy and Lizzie arrived. I could see straight away that Lizzie wasn’t her usual bubbly self, so when she’d gone through to the garden with Florence, I asked Kathy what was wrong.
“It’s that stupid charm bracelet of hers.”
“Is she still bugging you to buy her some more charms?”
“No, it’s not that. They’ve disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” I acted suitably surprised. “What do you mean, disappeared?”
“It’s the weirdest thing. When she woke up this morning, the bracelet was still there, but all the charms had gone.”
“Stolen, you mean? Did someone break in?”
“There’s no sign of a break-in, and nothing else has been taken. Those charms are ridiculously expensive, but it’s not like they’re solid silver. They’re not worth anything. And why not take the bracelet? Why just the charms?”
“That is weird. Is it possible she lost them and doesn’t want to tell you?”
“I thought the same thing at first, but it’s happened to her friends too. She’s spoken to several of them this morning, and they’ve all lost their charms. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”
After Florence had fed Buddy, we all made our way to Tweaking Meadows, which was just outside the village. The area had been completely taken over by the carnival. In addition to all the usual rides, there were lots of stalls, including the obligatory hook-a-duck. There was no shortage of food stalls too, although you would have struggled to find anything remotely healthy.
Kathy came up with a great idea.
Yes, I was surprised too.
She suggested that one of us should accompany the girls while the other two grabbed a rest and a cup of tea. The plan was that we’d each take a shift. Jack volunteered to go first, so Kathy and I queued at the refreshments stall where we bought what was laughingly described as tea, but which resembled and tasted like lukewarm dishwater.
“Thank goodness it was the carnival today,” Kathy said. “It seems to have taken Lizzie’s mind off her charm bracelet.”
“She seems to be having fun. They both do. I was surprised when Jack told me that Mikey had gone go-karting with Peter. I thought he’d given up on that.”
“He had, but Pete managed to persuade him to give it another go. Mikey does enjoy it once he’s there, but it’s not cool to be seen doing anything with your parents.”
When Jack came back, it was my turn to accompany the kids.
“Okay, you two. What would you like to do next?”
The kids dragged me to the ring-toss stall where you had to throw a hoop over a soft toy to win it. As always with these stalls, it was clearly fixed, but a little magic ensured both of the girls came away with a teddy bear, much to the consternation of the stall owner. Next, we went on the dodgems. Florence shared a car with me while Lizzie drove her own. I wasn’t sure if Florence would like it, but the more we crashed into
