Free Wart by Anna Myers

"but it's all we've got right now."
    They had just spread the onions on the countertop when Georgia came bouncing in. Stewart hurried out the front door to talk to Gran, so that she wouldn't come in.
    Back in the kitchen, Ham and Rachel had the wooden chopping board full of onions. "I guess I ought to do the cutting up. I mean it is my life we're trying to save."
    "We'll all have a turn," said Rachel. "We're in this with you."
    Ham had chopped most of the onions when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Georgia called from the family room, where she was watching TV.
    "Wait," Stewart headed toward the front of the house. "You know you aren't supposed to go to the door by yourself."
    "It's okay," called Georgia. "It's just Wanda. I can see her through the window."
    "No," Stewart yelled. "Stop! Don't let her in," but he could already hear Ms. Gibbs's voice saying hello to his little sister. He whirled to look back through the kitchen door. There was Ham, knife in hand, standing beside Rachel who held garlic.
    Before Stewart could say anything, Ms. Gibbs was beside him. "Stewart," she said, peering around him into the kitchen, "how nice that you have your friends here." She stepped around him and into the kitchen. "Hello Rachel, Andrew, whatever are you doing?" She reached out to touch an onion that lay unsliced beside the chopping board.
    "It's for supper," Ham said. "We're helping Stew get ready for supper."
    "Gran already made supper." Georgia had come into the kitchen behind Ms. Gibbs. "She made a chicken pot-pie." She pointed toward the refrigerator. "It's in there. Remember, she told you to put it in the oven at five?"
    "Oh yeah," said Stewart, and he knew his voice sounded shaky. "That's right. I kind of forgot, and we were making... soup. Onion soup, it's one of my favorites."
    "Such a lot of onions and garlic too," said Ms. Gibbs. "I think you may have overdone it slightly. I can't think of any recipe that would call for that much of either ingredient."
    "We... ah," Stewart tried to say something, but gave up.
    "I hope you didn't get a recipe off the Internet. You know you can't trust what you find there. I even read a bunch of nonsense there once about how to stop a witch's powers by using onions and garlic." Ms. Gibbs laughed. "Isn't that ridiculous?" She laughed again. "So foolish, believing in witchcraft! I mean this is the twenty-first century." She turned back then to the family room and took Georgia by the hand. "Come along, dear," she said. "I want to measure you because I am going to make you a new dress." She took a measuring tape from her purse. Stewart stepped just inside the room, but he didn't go far from Ham and Rachel, who stood in the doorway between the rooms.
    "Oh yes," said Georgia. She grinned and clapped her hands. "I love new dresses. What will it look like?"
    "It will be a very special dress." Ms. Gibbs dropped to her knees and put the tape around Georgia's waist. "A dress so special you could wear it to be a flower girl in a wedding. Doesn't that sound nice?"
    Georgia squealed. "What color will it be?"
    "Oh," said Ms. Gibbs. "I don't think the color scheme has been decided yet for the wedding. Do you have any suggestions?"
    "Pink," said Georgia. "I love pink."
    Stewart swallowed hard. "Black," he turned toward the kitchen and mouthed the word to Ham and Rachel.
    Ms. Gibbs measured from Georgia's waist to the floor, took a pad and pen from her handbag, and wrote down some numbers. "I must fly away now." She laughed. "Of course, I don't mean that literally, but I do have to go. Ozgood's lesson is almost over, and I must pick him up." She rose and moved toward the door.
    "What kind of lessons does Ozgood take?" asked Rachel.
    Ms. Gibbs turned back slightly and smiled. "Well, aren't you sweet to be interested in a little boy's lessons? I could tell the other night that you and Ozgood had made a rather special connection. He is at the aquarium. Today I think he is scheduled to learn about the lives of