Time of the Witch by Mary Downing Hahn Read Free Book Online Page A

go for a little walk?"
    "Come on, Tanya Marie!" Wanda held out her arms and the baby launched herself into them. "Want to go bye-bye?"
    "Bye-bye! Bye-bye!" Tanya Marie bounced up and down and grabbed Wanda's hair. "Go bye-bye?"
    "Yes, please," Annabelle said. "I just got to get this kitchen cleaned up. Lord knows what Laura and Jason must be thinking. I was so busy doing the wash and changing the beds I forgot all about it." Annabelle began scooping up dishes and dumping them into the sink.
    "Come on, you all." Wanda shoved open the screen
door and led us outside, leaving Annabelle singing along with the radio and running hot water into the sink.
    Just as we started down the back steps, a black Volkswagen painted all over with flowers pulled into the driveway.
    Wanda grinned and waved. "Hey, Annabelle, guess who's here?"
    "Well, I'll be!" Annabelle came down the steps faster than I would have thought possible. "Hi, Twyla. How are you, honey?"
    Out of the car stepped a woman shorter than I was. Dressed in a gauzy blouse and a long batik skirt, she wore her black hair in a thick braid down to her waist and she moved across the grass with the grace of a dancer. To my surprise, the dogs didn't bark; they just lay in the shade of the house, thumping their tails lazily as Twyla walked past them.
    Taking Tanya Marie from Wanda, she hugged her. "Look at you, you great big beautiful baby, how you've grown!"
    Tanya Marie laughed and grabbed at one of the silver hoops dangling from Twyla's ears.
    "No, no, you little imp." Twyla held the baby's hands and bounced her gently on her hip.
    "What brings you out here?" Annabelle asked.
    "Oh, it was just too hot in Harrisburg. I had to get away from the shop for a while, so I thought I'd drive out here and see how you all were doing."
    "Well, you sure are a nice surprise, isn't she, Wanda?" Annabelle smiled.
    Wanda nodded, still grinning. "This here's my friend Laura Adams and her brother Jason. They're staying down at Miss Randall's house."
    Twyla smiled at me. "You must be Grace's niece. You can always tell a Randall by that red hair. Are you staying long?"
    "All summer," I said, as if it were a prison sentence.
    "You don't sound too happy about it." Twyla shifted the baby from one hip to the other, setting her bracelets jingling. "Are you homesick?"
    I shrugged. "Sort of."
    "Why don't you give the baby back to Wanda and come on inside?" Annabelle asked. "You look like you could use a nice cold glass of iced tea."
    Handing Tanya Marie to Wanda, Twyla said, "Nice meeting you, Laura and Jason. Be sure and say hello to Grace for me. Tell her I'll be happy to display some of her pictures in my shop if she's got any to sell. The last batch sold fast."
    She looked at me as if she were about to say something else, but she turned to Wanda instead. "Take good care of my favorite baby," she said. "Don't take her too deep into the woods."
    "Don't worry." Wanda swung Tanya Marie up and down till she squealed. "See how good I treat her?"
    As Wanda led us into the backyard, I thought I heard Twyla asking Annabelle about Maude. I turned around, hoping to hear more, but their voices were too low. For a second, though, Twyla's eyes met mine, and I had a feeling she was concerned about me. She actually looked worried and I thought she was going to call me back, but Annabelle took Twyla's arm and drew her up the steps into the house.

Chapter 8
    Taking a path through the woods, Wanda led us down to the creek. She plopped Tanya Marie down on the sand, then waded out into the water. I splashed in behind her.
    "Will she be okay?" I looked back at Tanya Marie crawling along the sand, poking at twigs and pebbles and chuckling to herself.
    "Sure, she's a real good baby, but she weighs about two tons." Wanda groaned. "She was a year old last week and I sure wish she'd start walking. She's just too fat to get her fanny off the ground."
    "She's so cute." I smiled at the baby. She had pretty pink cheeks and blonde curls