WITCHY WOMAN

Maggie Mae and Molly crouched in the bushes, shrinking back a little each time the woman spun around in their direction.  With a strange mixture of bewilderment, fascination and fear, they could not remove their eyes from the sight dancing around in the graveyard right before their very eyes.



Completely mesmerized, Molly’s mind flashed back to the point in time when she first heard about the ghost in the graveyard.  A recent transplant from Brooklyn, their family enjoying the solitude of country life, the last thing Molly expected was drama. 



Their new house was just about a quarter of a mile from a small country church and parsonage.  “Finest country living at its best” declared their father upon their arrival, followed by an exaggerated inhalation of clean, crisp country air.  “It doesn't get any better than this, kids.”  Though not completely enthused, Maggie Mae and Molly were open to possibilities.  At 10 and 11 years of age, neither of the children had an opinion one way or the other about country living.  They were simply happy to be living far, far away from the 88th Street Bully.



Not long after the move, the children made the acquaintance of 12 year old Ned, who lived down the road in the opposite direction from the church.  It was Ned who alerted them to local legend and the strange sights in the church graveyard.  According to Ned, a ghost appeared with each full moon.  The ghost was thought to be the wife of a town councilman who was killed while drinking and driving.  She was known to dance like she was possessed when drunk.  The apparition was visible from shortly before Midnight and appeared to be dancing among the headstones for no more than an hour.  When asked for more detail, Ned made it clear that there was no way he would go near the graveyard at night.  And so, it was left up to the sisters to satisfy their curiosity on their own.



Now, sitting all scrunched up in the bushes, Maggie Mae and Molly did indeed satisfy their curiosity.  Eyes bulging, taking in each movement of the “ghost”, both allowed the scene to register every little motion in their mind so that they would not miss a single detail when relaying their discovery to Ned.  The sisters knew that the truth was scarier than fiction…



Ned was indeed shocked to hear who was in the cemetery and why.  At the next full moon, all three children crouched in the bushes to watch their very own Sunday school teacher, completely naked, chanting, stepping and whirling while jumping and spinning around the headstones in what looked like a frenzied dance ritual.  Arms stretched as if reaching for the moon, she was completely oblivious to the young audience.  Her golden hair and pale white skin did, indeed, look like a ghost from a distance, but now they all knew that she was really a witch!



Gosh!  Everyone in town was soooo relieved to learn there were no ghosts in the graveyard…