Puddlebrain

Chapter Forty Two

When the world turns upside down, it has a habit of righting itself rather quickly. Quentin Bopsidy was back headmastering at the school the very next morning. Gemini's appetite hadn't abated and her toe nails were as rancid as ever.

Edna, however, had a newfound respect for her youngest sister. She started to ask Puddlebrain's advice when mixing her potions. She bit her tongue, sometimes literally, when a conversation threatened to take a turn along the sarcasm side-street. Habits were difficult to break, but she tried.

Brimley kept his magic purse a secret, but freely gave money away if he felt someone might need it. The school gained a library. Windermere, the old man who lived at the end of Shadowmoss Lane, was given a new house. It was nothing grand (Brimley was finding generosity a difficult playmate and they would often fall out), and Windermere complained it was too small to walk about on his crutches, even though it was much bigger than his rundown old shack.

Henry Pesterdear visited Gemini every other afternoon at precisely thirteen o'clock, fully laden with treats.

Billy's leg did heal, though he was correct in that he never did dance the tango. He didn't know how and never had danced at all before, so it wasn't important.

And Puddlebrain was noticed. Villagers smiled at her. Hugged her, in fact. They crossed the street to say hello rather than to avoid her.

The family of green silverfish that lived in the witches' garden continued with their own lives, oblivious to the near catastrophic events that had occurred around them.

The Grimace was not ventured in to again. Puddlebrain, for a long time, would visit its edge daily but the branches were never opened to invite her in. Thistle never greeted her. The forest remained as it had always been.

Forbidden.