One Halloween night, Corey and his little sister Lee walked along
their street carrying plastic pumpkins full of candy. They visited the last
house before the road ended at the lake, then turned toward home.
    "You tired?" asked Corey.
    "Yeah," Lee said. It was late. Their house wasn't far, but taking the road
back meant winding around a hill and a small farm that grew lettuce and
corn.
    "You want to take the short cut?"
    "Okay," she said.
    They set off along the shore of the lake, a half moon reflecting in the
water. Soon they came to a cottage set right above the bank. They had
played there many times over many years when their good friend Alex had
lived there, until he moved away during the summer. Someone had recently
bought the cottage and moved in, but nothing was known about the new owner.
    On the porch facing the water several pumpkins sat beside the front
door. Candles flickered in the den, and through the kitchen window the
children could see a woman dressed as a witch, stirring a saucepan on the
stove.
    The children knocked on the door. They heard a spoon clank against the
side of a pan, and the slow shuffling of feet. Finally the door opened and
the woman peered outside.
    "Hello?" she said.
    "Trick or treat," said the children, and held out their plastic pumpkins.
    "What?"
    "Trick or treat?" they said.
    "What day is it?" asked the woman, flustered.
    The children looked at each other. "Halloween," said Corey.
    "Oh Cripes," said the woman. She looked around behind her. "I don't have
any treats."
    "But you're dressed as a witch," said Corey.
    "I am a witch," she said. "This is how I dress."
    "That's a costume," said Lee. "Witches aren't real."
    "Can you come back tomorrow night?" asked the woman.
    "It's okay," said Corey. "Thanks."
    The children started toward the porch stairs.
    "Wait," said the woman. The children turned. "You said 'Trick or treat,'
right? I can do a trick. Would you like that?"
    Corey and Lee didn't answer.
    "Just watch this," she said, and pulled a wand from her sleeve. She
pointed it at one of the pumpkins by her feet. "Cantaloupe," she said.
There was a flash and a hiss, and in the pumpkin's place was a ripe round
cantaloupe.
    The woman smiled proudly. "What do you think?" she said. The children
looked at the cantaloupe, puzzled. The woman frowned. "Too subtle, huh. All
right, how about this?" She pointed the wand at her mailbox, which sat on a
post beside the porch. "Scarecrow!" she said. Flash. Hiss. The mailbox was a
scarecrow. She turned to Corey and Lee. "Yeah? Pretty good, eh?"
    "They do that at magic shows," said Lee.
    "Gah!" said the woman. She threw open her door and pointed the wand at
her sofa. "Cat!" she shouted. The sofa disappeared in a puff of smoke,
and a little black cat trotted out of the den and into the kitchen. The
children were silent. The woman snatched her left shoe from her foot and
flung it out into the yard. "Boat!" she yelled, and a 60 foot schooner
flashed into place beside the cottage.
    Breathing heavily, the woman looked at Corey and Lee. "You just want a
peanut butter cup, don't you," she said. The children nodded.
    "Snickers bars are good too," said Corey.
    The woman's face brightened. "Aha," she said, and picked up two acorns
from the porch floor. "Snickerdoodle," she said, and offered two fun-size
candy bars.
    "We can't take those," said Corey.
    "What? Why not?"
    "We're not allowed to eat anything home made," he said.
    "But they're in wrappers, just like you'd get at the store," she said.
    "It's okay," said Corey, tugging Lee's sleeve. "Thank you." The two
children stepped down the porch stairs, and the woman watched as they
hurried off into the night. She turned sadly, shuffled back into the house
and closed the door. She stood in the tiny hall for a minute, watching her
saucepan boiling over onto the stovetop.
    There was another knock on the door. Startled, she turned and opened
it. Corey and Lee stood on the porch.
    "What. What is it now?" she asked, a little harshly.
    "We're not allowed to eat anything home made," said Corey.
    "I know," she said. "I'm not deaf."
    "But, if you wanted to... you could give us the cat," he said.
    "Her?" said the woman, as the little black cat rubbed its nose against
her shoeless left leg. "You two know how to care for a pet?"
    "We had a cat," said Corey. "But a few weeks ago he didn't come home."
    "Dad thinks he got eaten by something," said Lee.
    "That's not true," said Corey.
    The woman smiled at the cat. "Oh, nothing will eat this one," she said
with a little laugh.
    "How do you know?" asked Corey.
    "You can trust me," she said.
    Lee handed her plastic pumpkin to Corey, gently picked up the cat and
petted her. She felt warm and purred happily.
    "Thank you very much," said the children. "Happy Halloween."
    "Okay," said the woman, smiling, and she shuffled back inside the cottage.
    "We could name her Witchie," said Lee, as they walked home along the lake.
    "Sure," said Corey.

John Lengyel lives in Cohasset with four good witches and a cat.