hopeonfire | (no subject)

"I am telling you Druscilla Porter is a witch," my step-sister Karen insisted reverently. "I saw her cast a spell with her grandmother last night!"

I rolled my eyes. Karen has always insisted that our neighbor Mrs. Porter was a witch and when her granddaughter Dru come to live with her that she was a witch as well. As far as I knew neither Dru nor her grandmother were witches and I decided to tell Karen that. "They are not witches."

"Druscilla has cast a spell on you to make you think that!" Karen shouted loudly enough that I was sure that Martians could hear her. She looked solemnly at me. "Do not worry David Michael. I will figure out a way to save you from that witch."

"No one has cast a spell on me," I told her bluntly. "Dru would not do something like that. She's a nice person. You are being ridiculous."

Not surprisingly, Karen didn't believe me although I knew my girlfriend a whole lot better than she did. "Of course you would say that," she began, looking around the room as if she was expecting to find the room bugged. "It's part of the spell she put on you."

Talking to my step-sister sometimes was like talking to a brick wall. A complete and total waste of time. I could say anything and she would think it was because of a spell. I sighed in frustration. "We not getting anywhere with this and I have a date I need to get ready for." I gave her my best threatening look. "If you keep this up, I swear I will tell Watson you were making up stories about the Porters again." And he would believe me too. She had been insisting our neighbor was a witch for ten years now.

Karen gave me an indigent look. "I am not making up stories!" she insisted. "It is true! Since I am the only one immune to their witchy magic, I will prove it." With a look of determination on her face, she stormed out of the family room.

"Or maybe you're just crazy," I yelled at her retreating figure, wondering for the millionth time how she could be Watson's daughter. Maybe she and Watson's real daughter were switched at birth. I just hoped the discovery would be made soon.

****

"How do you think she will try to prove it," Dru asked worriedly after I told her about my earlier conversation with Karen. She was always worried that Karen would finally do something that would hurt her grandmother. With my step-sister it was a legitimate concern.

I put my arm around her shoulder and squeezed her arm reassuringly. "I dunno. I've stopped trying to guess what Karen is going to do years ago. But don't worry Dru, I've told Watson and he promised he would keep an eye on her." I wanted to kiss her, but we were sitting in a booth at Thelma's and my girlfriend wasn't really a fan of kissing in public for everyone to see.

Dru sighed as she moved her food around on her plate. "Why is your step-sister so stubborn?" she asked not really expecting an answer. She knew how Karen was like. She put her fork on the plate and pushed it forward. "What do I have to do to convince her that my grandmother and myself are not witches?"

I shrugged. I wished I could have given her a surefire way to convince Karen of the truth, but once Karen got an idea in her head, it was nearly impossible to get her to change her mind. I've tried many times and nothing worked. I shook my head and laughed when a thought came to me. "You would think the fact she believes you two were witches would be proof that neither of you were," I explained when Dru glared at me. I couldn't really blame her. Nothing about the situation was funny anymore. Karen could actually do some damage this time. "I mean wouldn't your grandmother have put a spell on her to make her stop. Karen thinks she is immune to magic, but if your grandmother was the powerful witch Karen believes she is then she would be able to do it."

"It would seem like logical proof to you and myself, but your sister doesn't seem to think logically," Dru said tiredly.