In the Moment
They had predicted good weather this week. They had said it would be so warm out we would forget it was fall.
I don’t think I had ever heard a bigger lie in my entire life.
The three of us trudged through the sleepy neighborhood, our heads down against the driving wind. Small snowflakes gusted into our faces, gathering on our eyelashes and stinging our skin with icy coldness.
My hands were stuffed under my armpits, but it did little to keep them warm. I didn’t have gloves. Valerie and Erica did though. I’d never been more jealous.
“Just one more house,” Valerie said, her teeth clacking as she looked down at her clipboard.
I looked up ahead, my eyes falling on the house looming at the end of the street.
It was small, but quaint, more like a cottage than a house, and puffs of smoke were rising from the chimney. Oh, the things I would do to be huddled by that fire…
The house was painted a forest green, with natural-looking wooden and doors and shutters. Vines covered almost one entire side of the house, reaching all the way up the chimney. A pretty hedge bordered the property, lightly dusted with snow. Leaves fluttered across the yard in the wind.
As we approached the driveway, I heard Erica say; “I hear she’s a witch.” Valerie’s eyes widened.
“Who?” I called over the wind.
Erica simply nodded to the door we were nearing. It was adorned with a wrought-iron dragon knocker.
The three of us gathered on the doorstep, huddling for warmth.
“Do you think it’s true?” I asked, a chill running up my spine, and not from the cold.
“Just look at the place,” Erica said, gesturing. Valerie nodded in agreement.
“Maybe we should just go back. We can say she wasn’t home,” Valerie offered. I shook my head without hesitating.
“We should at least try. She is a child of God, just like you or I. She deserves a chance.” Valerie and Erica glanced at their feet. Taking a deep breath, I raised the knocker and clapped it against the door three times.
There was a pause, then, over the racket of the gale, I heard a bustle from within. The door creaked, then swung inward.
The woman that stood before us was not what I had been expecting.
