The night of the Halloween party finally arrived, and like a cauldron of mixed spells, I was a mess. The cobwebs needed replacing, and the bat I brought for the occasion decided he wanted to hibernate.
Nothing was going right – I was convinced nobody would come. Charlie tried her best to cheer me up. She found a CD, at our local flea market, from my favourite singer Meatloaf. I love the song Bat out of Hell.
Within seconds I am singing along to the track, and all of my nerves have gone. I am finishing off the touches to my monster, cookie cakes when Charlie crashes through the door on her broom. She leaves silver skid marks on our tiled floor.
‘Charlie, I nearly dropped the cakes,’ I say.
‘Sorry, I think the brakes have gone on my broomstick. I’ve just spent the last few minutes avoiding some old dear with a trolley. You’re lucky the spell ran out just before I got here.’
I couldn’t help but laugh – she called the old dear old, but she isn’t much younger.
‘Don’t ask me how I am then?’ She says.
‘Sorry, you okay?’
‘Just, but I can’t say the same about my broom.’
We pick up the broken pieces of her broom and put them in the cupboard. Our guests will be here any minute. I wasn’t sure how magic could repair it this time, but it was her birthday soon.
Perhaps a new, or old broom was in order. She helped with my party, and I had brought her an early present anyway. I wanted to wait until the party was in full bat mode before I gave it her.