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

and two little dimples when she smiled.
    "She looks just like Eddie. There's no way he could lie about being her daddy," Wanda said.
    "That reminds me." I dropped my voice so Jason wouldn't hear us. "Remember what you told me about Charlene getting the love potion from Maude?"
    Wanda nodded. "Yeah, but I told you it didn't do her no good."
    "I'd still like to talk to her about it." I paused. Jason and Tanya Marie were laughing and a breeze was sighing in the leaves over our heads. "I want to go see Maude myself."
    Wanda stared at me. "Are you crazy?"
    I shook my head. "It's on account of my mother and father. I want to stop them from getting a divorce. Maude could cast a spell or something, I'm sure she could."
    Wanda swung one leg back and forth in the water. "Maude can't do anything about a divorce. I told you she didn't bring Eddie back. It won't do no good to go see her, Laura."
    "Well, maybe not—but do you think Charlene would tell me about her?"
    "Sure, she'll tell you all about her and anything else you'd like to hear about. The problem is getting her to shut up. I've seen her keep customers talking at the Dairy Queen till their ice cream starts running down their arms."
    "When does she get home?"
    "Oh, round six-thirty. But you better wait till seven-thirty or eight before you come over. Charlene likes to lie down after she gets home. Says she's tired from standing on her feet all day, but I think it's working her jaws that tires her out." Wanda glanced at Tanya Marie. "Hey, get that out of your mouth!" she shouted as Tanya Marie started chewing on a stick. "Get that away from her, Jason!"
    Jason looked up from his sand castle and grabbed the stick. Tanya Marie immediately burst into tears.
    "Sometimes I wish I was old enough to get a job," Wanda said. "Seems to me I work harder doing nothing than Charlene does at the Dairy Queen, and she gets paid for it. It just ain't fair." Wanda waded out of the water and scooped up Tanya Marie. "Oh, what's the matter, baby?" she crooned. "Did that mean old boy take your best stick away?"
    Squatting next to Jason, Wanda tried to interest Tanya Marie in building a castle. But she seemed more interested in wrecking Jason's than in building one of her own. Every time Wanda turned her back, the baby picked up a stone or a stick and put it in her mouth.
    "Maybe she's hungry," Jason said, shoving her away from the tower he'd just built.
    "Could be." Wanda picked up Tanya Marie. "You want to go home? See Annabelle? Have lunch?"
    "Annabelle! Bye-bye! Bye-bye!" Tanya Marie bounced around on Wanda's hip, grabbing at her hair for balance.
    "Maybe Twyla will still be there. You'd like to see her, wouldn't you?" Wanda asked Tanya Marie.
    As the baby shifted her interest to my hair, I said, "Twyla's really beautiful, isn't she? She looks like a gypsy or a princess. Wouldn't you love to look just like her?"
    Wanda snorted. "Even if I dyed my hair black, I wouldn't have a chance in this world of looking like Twyla. Would you believe she's my cousin? Once or twice removed, of course, which must be why she's so beautiful and I'm not. But you know something? As pretty as she is, she's not married or nothing. Isn't that peculiar?"
    "Look at my Aunt Grace. She's not married either and she's really pretty too. Maybe neither one of them met the right man."
    "Yeah, you're probably right," Wanda agreed. "Both of them are kind of strange, though, don't you think? I mean your aunt's always up at her house drawing or working in her garden and Twyla spends all her time in her little craft shop, sewing up pillows and skirts and dolls bigger than she is with weird faces made out of old nylon stockings. Seems like they both live kind of funny lives."
    "Well, at least they'll never have to worry about getting divorced."
    "That's true."
    "Bye-bye! Bye-bye!" Tanya Marie bounced up and down and yanked hard on Wanda's hair.
    "Okay, okay." Wanda gave her a big kiss. "You come on over around eight o'clock, Laura,