Puddlebrain

Chapter Fifteen

"Got an itch?" asked Gemini.

"Got fleas, more like," said Edna.

The sisters had managed to sit themselves up and brush themselves off. Dust mites still danced in the air, playing catch me if you can with the witches nostrils. Their faces were red and puffy and they were shaking. Billy stood to one side where he'd jumped to just before the witches had shot their magic at him. He had one hand on his hip and a foot resting on Edna's overturned stool.

"Don't you lot ever stop bickering?" he said. "It's my job to cuss and crow at you. You've been doing it yourself for years and look where it's got you - sitting on a dingy cellar floor with faces like pomegranates. Not exactly something to be proud of."

The sisters stared sullenly at that dingy cellar floor, apparently examining something that wasn't there but they wished was. Puddlebrain drew abstract pictures in the dust with her finger.

"I thought so," Billy said. "Nothing to say for yourself. Typical. Ninnies. That's what you are. Ninnies with a capital Nin." He stepped over Gemini's splayed legs and stood back in the middle of the room. "I can't believe such all powerful witches couldn't figure out such a simple thing."

"Oh..." Edna was going to say 'shut up' but thought better of it. She looked at the rosy faces of her sisters. Something had happened here, and she wasn't sure what.

"Shut up." It was the most intelligent thing she could think of to say in the end. She said it without much force, making the words feel like a deflated balloon breaking wind on the floor.

"How did you do that?" asked Gemini, as deflated as Edna's balloon.

"I didn't do anything," said the gnome. He spoke as if he were talking to a child, one who couldn't see the nose on their face or the spots in front of their eyes.

"But one minute you were there, and the next you'd gone! How did we miss you?"

Billy scratched his head. He wasn't the only thing they were missing. He knew Gemini was a meat pie short of a baker's dozen, but the other two were usually sharper than this.

"Oh, that," he said. "Just a little trick I learned back home. Comes in useful not to be in a certain place sometimes, especially when that certain place might get you hurt like, say, from a blast of magic."

"But how did you do it?" Gemini wanted to know.

He sat down facing Gemini. Puddlebrain and Edna were on either side still staring at the floor. Billy smiled gently, something that looked out of place on his gnarled old face. He took Gemini's hand in his and rubbed it softly.

"Tell me something," he said as gently as he was stroking her hand. "Do you suffer from neck or back ache?"

Gemini frowned. What?

"What?" she asked.

"Because you people are the DENSEST witches I've ever known!" Billy cried, flinging Gemini's hand down. He jumped to his feet. "It's a wonder you've lived as long as you have without magicking yourselves into oblivion the way you carry on!"

He circled the floor, shoving his face so close to theirs they could see the veins pulsing angrily in his forehead.

"Honestly! It takes you nearly eighty years to figure out the simplest thing and when you finally do, thanks to me I might add, you still don't see it! Open your eyes," he ranted. "Open your bimbling eyes!"

The witches stared at the gnome with blank expressions on their faces. What was he on about? How did he vanish when they shot their...

Ah.

Magic.

They shot their magic at him.

Ah.

The witches blinked. Their faces lit up as if the sun had suddenly risen in the combined twilight of their minds.

Ah indeed.

Billy saw the look on their faces as the witches' eyes met his. Finally! Oh, but he had his work cut out for him here!

"Well goody for you! It's finally sunk in! About time is all I can say!"

"You dived didn't you," said Gemini, looking so proud of herself she could burst like a ripe melon with her pinky finger. "You saw our hands come up and dived out of the way, that was all, wasn't it?"

Billy slapped his forehead in despair. So the ship had finally sunk in the harbour of Gemini's head. He just didn't believe this.

"Gemini" Edna snapped. "Think about it."

Puddlebrain nodded her head vigorously. "Yes. We've got it back. We've got it back!"

She jumped to her feet, forgetting the low ceiling. The ceiling, as ceilings often do, reminded her of its presence by not moving out of the way when her head collided with it. She sat back down with a thump, smiling insanely.

"We've got it back," she moaned. A bruise quickly decorated the top of her head, right at the hairline. It looked like a purple star commending her wondrous revelation.

"Yes, " Billy said. "That you did."

Gemini looked confused. "I wasn't aware we'd lost anything," she said. "I mean, I've misplaced my swan brooch that I like to wear on Sunday and Wednesday afternoons, but I'm sure it'll turn up sooner or later. I just have to stop looking for it then I'll find it. Things like that are always in the last place you look. I tried to make it the first place I looked but it didn't work. I guess that was because it wasn't the last..."

"Gemini!" Edna interrupted Your brooch is in the bottom of your wardrobe where it fell off your dress. That's where it always is! That's not what Puddlebrain means! We got It back!"

"It? It? What is it?" Her stomach groaned. She patted it understandingly. "Can we get something to eat? It must be well past thirteen o'clock by now."

Puddlebrain and Edna looked at each other and shook their heads. Their sister could be such a chore sometimes, and much worse than having to wash, dry and put away the dishes.

"Why don't you show her," suggested Billy.

Edna frowned. She wasn't sure just what magic had been recovered, let alone how it had happened. She might try to cast a spell and have it rebound on her simply because she was out of practice. That was certainly something she didn't want to risk – not again. But her sister was so slow sometimes, growing hair was faster. But what to try? How to show her?

Gemini's stomach growled again and Edna knew what to do. She lifted her hand hesitantly. She looked at Puddlebrain, who nodded briefly, obviously pleased it was Edna who was taking the risk. Even the gnome took a step backwards. It was a simple spell, one of the easiest to perform. The minimum flick was required, and that was all Edna gave it.

On the dusty cellar floor beside Gemini appeared a bowl. In the bowl, gurgling away happily, swam bladderwrack leaves in a thick chicken broth. Gemini's favourite. She made a grab for it and was just about to tip it to her mouth when she stopped suddenly, frozen as if she'd been stuck in a heartbeat and needed a kick to get started again. She put the bowl back down slowly, realization spreading across her face like a sunrise across a spring meadow, or in Gemini's case a well ploughed field.

"We got it back?" she whispered, flexing her fingers.