Free Fortunes of the Heart by Jenny Telfer Chaplin

and
nodded with satisfaction.
    “Right. That’s us. I’ll just get into my costume now, while
you go into your own house to get yours fixed up.”
    Kate’s eyes widened in alarm.
    “Oh. but, Granny, I haven’t got a fancy dress. I never
thought for myself.”
    Granny, far from being put out in any way by this piece of
news, instead grinned in delight.
    “Aye, I thought as much.” Here she bent down and retrieved a
newspaper-wrapped bundle which she then held out to her young neighbour. In
some wonder, Kate unwrapped the parcel. Inside was an old bit of blanket, cut
into a triangular shawl pattern, and over the rough material were several
scorch marks as if a flat iron had rested too long.
    Kate, totally bemused by now, frowned.
    “But ... I don’t understand, Granny ... what’s it supposed
to be? What am I to do with it?”
    Hardly able to contain her mirth, Granny stood back, arms
akimbo, and cackled: “Nothing to it, lass. Just away next door for ten minutes,
brush out your hair, as if getting ready for your bed. Throw the bit blanket
round your shoulders and carry a wee candle in a candle-stick. And that’s you
dressed for Hallowe’en .”
    Having delivered. herself of this speech, Granny started
giggling like a naughty schoolgirl to such extent that she had to hold on to
the table for support.
    “But Granny ... I still don’t get it.”
    Granny Gorbals wiped the tears of
laughter from her eyes.
    “Kate. You’re not very quick on the uptake, are you? Do you
still not see what it represents?”
    Again Kate shook her head.
    “Kate. It’s a night with Burns. You know ... they say he was
a great one for the lassies. So ... night with Burns. Get it?’
    Kate put a hand to her mouth, as if scandalised.
    “Granny, I’ll wear it ... but just to please you, mind. And
for goodness sake, don’t let on to either Pearce or the bairns as to what it’s
supposed to be. Just let them think what they like.”
    On a wave of laughter, Kate left Granny to get her own fancy
dress ready, whatever that might be.
    On her return, Kate was surprised to see that the old woman
looked much as usual, except that she was now wearing a tall black hat.
    Granny grinned.
    “Ach, well. Folks hereabouts say that I look like one
anyway. So, no better time to be a witch than at Hallowe’en .”
    When the children came back with their spoils of a few
farthings, toffee apples, and puff candy, they were already in a high old state
of excitement. But when they entered Granny’s darkened room in which the only
light came from the eyes and mouth of a turnip lantern, they really went wild
with excitement. When they saw Granny with her tall witch’s hat and even Mammy
dressed up as a rag wife, their excitement knew no bounds.
    Granny leant forward and, drawing her adopted family close,
she intoned in what she fondly imagined to be a witchy voice: “Now we’re going
to dook for apples. Right, Daniel, you can be first.
Show the wee ones. Kneel on that chair, hold on to the back of it, hold the
fork in your mouth and when I say the magic word, abracadabra, you drop the
fork and try to spear an apple.”
    By the time that each child eventually had his or her own
apple, everyone was drenched and the linoleum floor was awash with a puddle of
water.
    Granny gave Kate a rag with which to mop up the floor, while
she herself watched in delight as the children devoured their hard-won apples.
    There was yet one more surprise which Granny had in store,
but for added excitement, she wanted the children themselves to be the first to
discover it. As yet, not one of them had paid it a blind bit of notice.
    She chuckled to herself at the thought: ‘I wonder if they
think I normally have such items hung up to air on my clothes pulley?’
    Since still nobody had remarked on either the pulley or the
strange object dangling from it, Granny raised her eyes and gazed heavenwards.
As is the way with people everywhere, if one person looks up with a puzzled
frown as