The Floods #3: Witch Friend

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Chapter One

When Betty Flood was born, there wasn't a single child the same age as her anywhere on Acacia Avenue. There were some older girls who went past her house each day on their way to school, and there was a strange boy at number 27 who should have gone to school but didn't because his even stranger parents decided they could teach him everything he would ever want to know themselves. Which they couldn't?#8212;though the strange boy, Nautilus, did know much more about earthworms than anyone else in the town, apart from his father, who obviously knew a bit more because he had taught Nautilus. Nautilus also knew an amazing amount of stuff about slugs, which his mother had taught him, but he didn't know how to cover them in chocolate and turn them into delicious snacks like Betty and her mother, Mordonna, did.

Nor did Betty have any cousins to play with. In fact, she didn't even know if she had any cousins. Her mother said Betty had an Aunt Howler back in Transylvania Waters, but Mordonna thought it very unlikely that Howler had married. If she did have children they probably wouldn't be the sort of cousins Betty would want to play with, unless she was wearing a radiation protection suit and enjoyed being bitten by things with green teeth. Betty's father, Nerlin, wasn't sure if he had any brothers or sisters because his parents didn't like to talk about that sort of thing.

As soon as she was old enough to do stuff in the kitchen, Betty decided to make her own friends. She made gingerbread friends with raisins for eyes, in a pan that had enough room to make six friends at a time. After Betty had eaten five of them, she took the last one up to her room and, because she was a witch and could do magic stuff, she made it come to life.

At first it was great having a little friend to talk to and play with. Betty dressed it up in dolls' clothes and the two of them ran around the yard chasing butterflies and birds, though sometimes the birds turned and chased Betty's little playmate and tried to peck out its raisin eyes?#8212;especially the magpies, which are famous for liking raisins.

The trouble was that although she had made the gingerbread friend come to life, it still smelled like gingerbread. So as the afternoon wore on and lunchtime became further and further in the past and dinner was still a long way off, Betty began to get hungry. She kept looking at her little friend happily skipping through the grass, leaving a trail of crumbs behind it, and instead of dressing it in tiny clothes and tucking it in bed, Betty wanted to bite its head off and tuck it in her tummy. Because she was a kind child, Betty turned her friend back into a cookie before she ate it, but she still felt a bit miserable afterward.

"Well, it's your own fault," said Mordonna. "That's what happens if you eat between meals."

This went on until Betty was ten years old. One week she would make gingerbread girls. Another week she created marzipan twins and then a butterscotch boy, but her favorite friend was a meringue man, who was big and bouncy and full of sugar. She tried to bring gummy bears to life, but they were too small to play with and she kept stepping on them.

During the summer vacation when Betty had her tenth birthday, a new family arrived on Acacia Avenue three doors away at number 19. Mordonna and Betty hid behind a big bush in their front yard and watched as the new family's furniture was unloaded.

There was a man, a woman, and two children and they all looked seriously old-fashioned, which is another way of saying boring. There was a baby, who was probably a boy, though it could have been either, and there was a girl who looked about the same age as Betty.

"Look, darling," said Mordonna. "Someone your own age to play with at last."

"Oh yes, wonderful," said Betty. "Mr. and Mrs. Nerd and their nerdy daughter."

"Now, now," said Mordonna. "How many times have I told you that you should never judge a book by its cover?"

"Never, actually," said Betty, who was not in a good mood. She'd been hoping someone her own age would move to Acacia Avenue, but now that it had actually happened the newcomer looked about as exciting as a wet fish in a bucket of mud.²

"I'm sure I have," said Mordonna. "Take our family for instance. Just imagine what people would think if they looked at us but didn't really know what we were like."

"They'd probably think we were a bunch of witches and wizards," said Betty.

"Well, yes, but . . ."

"Which we are."

"Yes, I know. But people might look at us and think we do all sorts of weird and dangerous magic," said Mordonna.

"We do do all sorts of weird and dangerous magic," said Betty.

"Well, yes," said Mordonna, "but what I mean is, people would look at us and think we're really evil."

"But we?#8212;," Betty began.

"No, we're not," Mordonna interrupted. "We're really nice. What I mean is, appearances can be really deceptive, darling. Look at your brother Winchflat. Some people would think he was terrifying, but he wouldn't harm a fly."

"Well, no, he wouldn't harm it, but he might give it an extra head or make it become a foot long," said Betty.

"By the way, when did you see him last?"

"Can't remember."

"I think it was nearly a week ago," said Mordonna, "when we had those fabulous braised maggots for dinner."

"I wouldn't worry," said Betty. "You know what he's like. He'll be off somewhere creating some brilliant invention."³

"I'm sure he is," said Mordonna. "But just remember him when you judge people by their looks. Things are not always what they seem."

Excerpted from The Floods #3: Witch Friendby Colin Thompson Copyright © 2008 by Colin Thompson. Excerpted by permission.
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