Authors: Nancy Krulik
Witch Switch (9 page)
“Oh, yum!” Emma W. said excitedly. “I love toasted pumpkin seeds. My mother makes them on Halloween, too. This was a great idea, Katie.”
“It sure was,” George agreed. “Mrs. Hamilton, hurry up and show us how to carve a jack-o'-lantern, will you, please?”
“Why are you in such a hurry, George?” Katie asked him curiously.
“Because the sooner we carve, the sooner we get to snack on those seeds!”
Mrs. Hamilton cackled slightly. “George, you're absolutely right. Let's get started. First, I'll take this paper pattern and pin it to the pumpkin.”
The kids all watched as Mrs. Hamilton pinned a piece of paper onto the front of the pumpkin. Then she took a small knife and poked little holes along the lines she had drawn on the paper.
“It's very important to keep your pattern simple,” Mrs. Hamilton told the kids. “That way you will make fewer mistakes.”
“Where did you learn to do this?” Mandy asked her.
“My mother taught me when I was a little girl. She was an artist. A sculptor, actually. Usually she made statues from stone. But on Halloween she sculpted pumpkins, instead.”
Katie smiled, remembering the beautiful sculpture of a mother and child inside Mrs. Hamilton's house. Her mother must have made it.
“What kind of jack-o'-lanterns do you have at your house?” Emma S. asked Mrs. Hamilton.
“This year I've made a cat, a skeleton, a bat, and a ghost,” Mrs. Hamilton told them.
“I'd sure like to see those,” Emma W. said.
“Me too,” Kadeem agreed.
“Well, they'll be out on my front porch tonight,” Mrs. Hamilton told the kids. “I hope you'll all come by and see them while you're trick-or-treating.”
“We sure will,” George said excitedly. He was obviously not afraid of Mrs. Hamilton anymore.
“We should tell the kids in 4B about the jack-o'-lanterns,” Emma S. suggested. “Maybe they'll come see them, too.”
Katie smiled. Her friends weren't afraid of Mrs. Hamilton anymore. Her plan had worked!
Mrs. Hamilton carved really quickly. She'd obviously had a lot of practice at making jack-o'-lanterns. In about half an hour, she was finished.
“Okay, that should just about do it,” she told the kids. She reached into her bag and pulled out a long white candle. She placed it inside the center of the jack-o'-lantern. “Okay, Mr. Guthrie,” she said. “You can turn out the lights.”
Mr. Guthrie flicked the switch. The room went dark.
“Ta-da!” Mrs. Hamilton announced as she turned the pumpkin around.
The pumpkin had a girl's face carved into it. The girl had big round eyes, a bright smile, and pigtails.
“It's me!” Katie told the class proudly.
“It sure is,” Mrs. Hamilton agreed. “I hope you like it.”
“I love it!” Katie exclaimed. “In fact, this is the best Halloween treat I've ever gotten!”
Chapter 17
“Katie, there you are,” Suzanne shouted as Katie made her way over to where the fourth-graders were lining up in the school yard for the Halloween parade later that day. “I didn't think you were going to make it.”
“Sorry I'm late,” Katie said, apologizing. “This green makeup was harder to put on than I thought it would be.”
“It looks great, though,” Suzanne complimented her. “Really scary.” She twirled around so her lacy skirt blew all around her. “How do you like
my
costume?”
my
costume?”
“It's beautiful,” Katie told her. “You look a lot like the Glinda in the movie. I really love that crown.”
“Me too,” Suzanne agreed. “It's so glittery. And it matches my wand.” She studied Katie's costume. “Hey, where's your broom?”
“Oh, no!” Katie moaned. “I must have left it in the classroom.”
“Well, you'd better run back and get it,” Suzanne insisted. “You can't be the Wicked Witch of the West without your broom. That's the most important prop in the whole movie! Except for the ruby slippers that
I
give Dorothy, of course.” Suzanne smiled proudly.
I
give Dorothy, of course.” Suzanne smiled proudly.
“You're not really Glinda,” Katie teased Suzanne.
Suzanne rolled her eyes. “I know. Now go get your broom. We only have a few minutes.”
“Okay,” Katie agreed. She turned and headed back toward the building.
As Katie neared the school, she heard a familiar sound.
“Mew. Mew.”
Quickly, she turned around. There was the black kitten she'd been seeing all around town.
“Mew. Mew.”
Quickly, she turned around. There was the black kitten she'd been seeing all around town.
“Are you following me?” Katie whispered.
The cat looked back at her with its big green eyes.
“Well, don't worry. As soon as this contest is over, I'll get you a big saucer of milk,” Katie promised the cat. “But right now, I've got to get going.”
The school building was completely silent as Katie went inside. Everybody was already outside waiting for the parade to begin.
Katie hurried toward class 4A so she could get her broom. But before she could reach her classroom, she felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She raised the collar on her cape, trying to block the draft.
But a cloth cape was no match for this wind. After all, it was no ordinary wind. It was the
magic
wind.
magic
wind.
Within seconds the magic wind picked up speed, blowing harder and harder until it was a wild tornado blowing only around Katie.
Whoosh!
The magic wind was so powerful that Katie was sure it would blow her away. She shut her eyes tight and tried not to cry.
Whoosh!
The magic wind was so powerful that Katie was sure it would blow her away. She shut her eyes tight and tried not to cry.
And then it stopped. Just like that. The magic wind was gone.
Katie sighed. She knew what that meant. Katie had been switcherooed. Now she was somebody else.
The question was ... who?
Chapter 18
Katie opened her big green eyes slowly and looked around. She blinked slightly with surprise as the images around her came into focus.
Boy, that's weird,
she thought to herself.
The grass looks green and the sky looks blue, but everything else looks kind of gray.
she thought to herself.
The grass looks green and the sky looks blue, but everything else looks kind of gray.
Katie rubbed her eyes with her front paws and looked around again.
Wait a minute,
she thought
. Paws? I don't have paws!
she thought
. Paws? I don't have paws!
She looked down at where her hands were supposed to be. All she saw were two tiny black paws.
Cat paws!
“Oh, no!” Katie shouted. “I don't want to be a cat! Not now. Not before the parade!”
But all that came out of her mouth was
“Meow! Meow! Meow!”
“Meow! Meow! Meow!”
Just then, Katie spotted a little sparrow flying out of a nearby tree. It landed on the playground and began nibbling on a piece of a cookie someone had dropped there.
Katie didn't want to chase the bird. She really didn't. But she was
so
hungry. She couldn't help herself.
so
hungry. She couldn't help herself.
Katie ran over to the bird. She was amazed at just how quietly and gracefully she could move. The bird didn't even seem to know she was there. Katie moved closer and closer. She spread her claws and got ready to ...
“AAAAH! It's a black cat!” Suzanne screamed. She ran as far from Katie as she could.
“Don't let it cross your path!” Jessica Haynes added, following after Suzanne. She had a hard time running in her big rubber clown shoes.
“Achoo!” Sam McDonough sneezed from behind his monster mask. “I'm allergic to cats!”
“Keep that black cat away from me!” Emma S. said, dashing across the playground in her red, white, and blue American flag outfit. “I worked too hard on this costume to get bad luck now.”
“I didn't work on my costume at all,” Kadeem told her, pointing to his own store-bought Joker costume. “But I don't want any bad luck, either.”
It seemed to Katie that everyone was screaming very, very loudly! Her little kitten ears were ringing with noise. She had to get out of there.
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