14. We make brooms

"And that's all? Good luck with it and now go, okay?" Hilda started walking past Ribaldo, keen on getting into the house and attend to her own business.

"My lady witch, if you allow me...", Ribaldo said, not easily thrown off. Years of experience in dealing with even the most reluctant customers had made him an excellent businessman. He only moved slightly, not really getting in the way of Hilda as she walked up, but just enough for her to take notice of him being there. Ribaldo knew that this was a fantastic move.

Hilda was not used to people being this annoying. She stopped in front of Ribaldo, her nose almost against his. "Look buster, I gave you some of my time, okay? I suggest you'd better step aside and get away as long as you are still able to. I have things to do, as I am sure you have. And I bet you that these things have nothing in common."

The wicked witch wanted to walk around Ribaldo, who then made the biggest mistake in his life. His arm held out to prevent Hilda from walking on, he said: "Dear lady witch, wouldn't you have a look at our brooms? I told you we make brooms-"

Hilda held up her hand, and the wand appeared. Ribaldo stared at it, his words frozen in his throat.

"Ribaldo. I told you I am not interested. You are bugging me. But you have convinced me... the things I have to do right now have something in common with the things you do."

Ribaldo's face lit up, as he felt a good transaction coming up. "Wonderful-", he started, when Hilda interrupted him.

"Did you know that I make brooms also?", the wicked witched asked him.

Ribaldo looked a bit surprised, hardly noticing the wand that was moving.

"Oh yes. And my brooms obey." Hilda pointed her wand to her own broom and said: "Scopae percussus actor."

"How cute," was what Ribaldo managed to say, before the broom lifted off and raced towards him. The flying magical broom started pounding Ribaldo in every spot it could reach. There was hardly a spot it could not get to. The broom salesman made a few futile attempts to ward off the rain of whacks the broom delivered, then tried to run away from his wooden punisher. The broom was not giving up just like that and kept banging on Ribaldo's body, no matter where the man in black tried to escape to. As Hilda had said, her brooms obeyed.

Ronaldo and Regina had gotten to their feet and tried to get close enough to the raging broom to grab it and force it to the ground, but the stick was moving so rapidly that they did not stand a chance. An icicle in hell would beat its odds. They had to stand back, or they'd be slapped black and blue as well.

Hilda looked at the scene, shaking her head. "Accio scopae." The broom stopped beating Ribaldo and took position next to the witch.

"Had enough?", Hilda asked. Her face showed that she had gotten beyond that point already, long ago.

Regina turned to Hilda. "What the hell was that for?", she yelled as she came walking up to Hilda, anger and murder in her eyes.

"He was in my way. I told him not to do so, and he didn't listen." Hilda kept her cool, but her eyebrows lowered themselves into battle-formation as Regina grabbed the wicked witch by the arms.

"Let go of me," said Hilda, emphasising each word with icy undertones.

"Apologise to my man first,"Regina demanded. She did not know Hilda, but that was only a matter of time. Little of that also.

"Scopaeros in diliculum," Hilda simply said, and a broom dressed in very colourful clothes fell to the ground, much to the surprise and shock of Ribaldo and Ronaldo.

"Regina!", cried the former as he charged forward and fell to his knees, hugging the broom. "Where is she?", he then howled at Hilda, "I want Regina back!"

"Hey, I wanted you to go away, and did you care to listen?", Hilda retaliated. She turned towards her house and walked to the front door, her flying broom floating after her like a pet. Before she went inside, she turned to Ribaldo. "See, I told you I make brooms also."

The door closed quietly as she disappeared from view. Regina would remain a broom only until the break of the new day.

Hilda leaned against the door, her head against the comforting wood. "Why do I always get the nutcases...," she sighed. Then she took the broom and put it in its place.

The two men were packing up their belongings, Ribaldo taking extra care in placing Regina among the other brooms and folding her clothes nicely, and then they headed out of the vicinity of the witch's house as fast as the horses were able to pull the wagon!

The wicked witch positioned herself in front of the magical mirror after fixing a cup of tea. "Let's see what the little guys are upto..."

As she saw that they were indeed keeping up their part of the plan, she nodded, satisfied. "Good boys." She then turned her attention to the remaining preparations for the meeting on Scary Mountain. Babs and she were really going to steal the show, she was convinced of that.

Two of the dwarfs, Happy amd Bashful, were on their way to the village. It would take them a while to get there, as they were too proud to ask for a lift, and their legs were quite short. They persisted though, and towards the evening they reached their destination. Happy had proposed that they would take a bit of a detour, since he was not very eager to pass the house of the witch.

"It talks to me," he had explained to Bashful, who had blushed.

"Houses don't talk, Happy," the timid dwarf had replied, pointing his gaze to the ground.

"This one does, believe me. It is the house of a witch, and that's the difference." Happy nodded as they walked along.

The two small men came to the house of Johan the mirror-maker and Happy knocked on the door.

Johan opened the door and stared into the falling darkness. "Who's there?"

"Hey, down here," said Happy as he was waving for attention of the tall human.

Johan smiled as he kneeled down. "Well, hello there little men. Why are you here on this late hour, so far from your land over the hills?"

"Oh, some dinner and a beer would be most welcome," Happy grinned. Bashful heard that, turned red again and tried to hide behind his partner's back. "But actually we are here for with sad request."

Johan frowned. "A sad request? Do come in, little friends, it is not proper to leave you waiting outside my door. My wife will certainly be able to prepare dinner for you, and there is some good ale in my cupboard."

Happy and Bashful entered the home and were guided into the living room where Johan introduced them to his wife. The woman, Katrina, was thrilled by the small visitors and did not lose time in making a nice meal for the two small hungry men.

As she was working in the kitchen, Johan lifted the two upon chairs and then he was interested to hear what sad request they had.

"A good friend of ours has died," Bashful said, "and we want her to be buried in the most wonderful way. That is why we want you to make a glass coffin."

Johan was silent for a moment. "A glass coffin... I have never made something like that, I have to admit. It must be someone very special that you want to bury like that."

Both the dwarfs nodded, Bashful letting out a soft sigh as his gaze went fuzzy for a few moments as memories raced by him. Then Katrina broke the spell, as she put down plates with food and glasses with beer.

The dwarfs started eating, as Johan began drawing a coffin, scribbling down sizes, glass thickness, started thinking about the way he should glue and tie the whole thing together. By the time he was almost finished with his draft designs, the two dwarfs were rather tipsy as the glasses with beer were quite a bit larger than they were used to.

Johan and Katrina laughed as the two started dancing through the room, stumbling over their own feet. Even Bashful, who usually was the quiet type, was quite expressive for a while. The end of course came when the two dwarfs tumbled to the ground and did not get up as alcohol-induced sleep took over.

The mirror-maker was grateful that they had a spare bedroom, so he and his wife put the two snoring visitors in the bed and closed the door.