Free The Witch by Jean Thompson Page B

objected.
    â€œTwo incomplete halves made whole. Finding each other against all odds. Is it destiny? Enchantment? Scientists fail to find explanations. Poets keep trying. Our boy here, he might suffer from a small, hardly noticeable intellectual deficiency. But his heart is an off-the-charts genius. Did we mention he has a little money?”
    Royboy turned to Angela. “Teach me some of the whaddyacallit. Signs. How do you say ‘Hello’?”
    â€œIt’s like a salute,” Angela said. “Hand up to the forehead. That’s it.”
    Royboy saluted. He watched Laura’s hand waver, then slowly, slowly come up to return his greeting. Hello. Hello. Destiny? Enchantment? Magic? Mistake? Shall wedance?

CANDY
    Her mother liked to stand at the bottom of the stairs and shout up at her. Her mother had knee problems from being totally gross and fat and she didn’t climb stairs unless she had to. “Janice! Jan-
ice
!”
    Janice let her mother go on for a while, then she opened the bedroom door and looked out. “What?”
    â€œDon’t what me. Turn that noise off, nobody wants to hear it. I need you to take Nana’s supper to her. You are not wearing that. I don’t care. You turn right around and put on a real shirt.”
    Janice took her time. When she got downstairs, her mother gave her one of her looks. “What?” Janice said again.
    â€œWhat do you do up there all day anyway?”
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œWell, you can do nothing downstairs.”
    Janice didn’t bother answering. Her mother didn’t really want her hanging around downstairs where they’d have to put up with each other. She was just being her usual hag self. Janicewent into the kitchen and sniffed at the plastic container on the counter. Dark beads of moisture bubbled up under the plastic lid. “What’s this?”
    â€œChicken and noodles.”
    â€œIt looks like dead worms.”
    â€œNice. It’s your supper too.”
    â€œI don’t want any, I’m on a diet.”
    â€œYou don’t need to be on any diet, you need to not eat chips and soda and all that greasy crap. Go ahead, don’t believe me, someday you’ll wake up with three or four extra inches on your hips and wonder how they got there. Now heat this up on the top of the stove with a little water, put it in a bowl for her, and make sure she’s eating. Then come straight home.”
    Only her mother would make chicken and noodles when it was a hundred degrees outside. Her mother was the last one to be talking about what to eat. Her butt was as big as a garbage truck.
    Her mother tied a plastic bag tight around the plastic container, then put it in another plastic bag. You could have shot the thing out of a cannon and still been able to eat it. She flapped her mouth some more as Janice was leaving, about how Janice wasn’t as smart as she thought she was and it was all going to catch up with her someday and Janice said, “Yeah, sure.” Her mother made it sound like she’d be glad if something really horrible happened, just so she could say she was right.
    Janice opened the kitchen door and went down the back outside stairs. Their tenant in the basement apartment, Mr. Grotius, had his air conditioner blasting. He was probably sitting right in front of it in his old-man underwear. It was the hottest part of the day. Nana always ate her dinner way too early. The sky wasflat and gray with heat, like another sidewalk reflected overhead. It was only June and already Janice was bored with summer.
    Once she’d reached the alley and turned the corner, Janice took off her cotton shirt and tied it around her waist. Her mother wouldn’t let her wear tank tops outside the house, which was so ignorant. Janice texted Marilee to meet her at the A&W and Marilee texted back OK. It wasn’t like there was some big hurry to get to Nana’s. Nana didn’t think about