SPELL SONG

Dolly, Holly, and Molly stood in silence. They stared at the dark brown, solid oak front door of the five-story mansion. The windows frowned at them, warning them with a whisper, ‘Do not enter,’ into their minds. A collective shiver went through the trio.

The girls were small for their age. The very white, with very auburn hair. Their eyes were a shade of gold that seemed like they were reflecting the early morning sun from within. Dolly was the largest, though not by much. Her auburn hair had natural green tips on their ends. It didn’t matter how often their Mama cut the tips out, they always stayed. Holly was skinny, but tall, with legs that looked like that of a bird. Even her toes splayed outwards. Molly was tiny, wispy, and fragile. She was the lightest of the three. You could look and look at her and you could see that you never were quite seeing all of her. The windier it was, the harder she was to see. They were each dressed in deep purple sundresses. The sundresses had two huge pockets on the front of the lower half. They wore matching sandals, as it was the middle of summer holidays.

Dolly glanced at her sisters. They were all the same age as her, born on the same day. Dolly shrugged, “I don’t care what the dumb old house says. I say we go in. What do you say, Holly?”

Holly glanced down at her sandalled feet, shrugging. She examined the toenail polish flaking from the nail, leaving them exposed.

“Molly?” harassed Dolly.

Molly gave Dolly a level glare, shoving her pinkie finger up a nostril. Squeezing her eyes shut, she withdrew it, pulling out a large booger. Molly held Dolly’s eyes, flicking the booger on the ground. “Whatever. Yep.”

Dolly turned around, placing both hands on the heavy wood. Taking a deep breath, she pushed, grunting. The door didn’t budge. “I need your help, Molly.”

Molly glanced at her sister, shaking her head. Striding to the door, she grasped the knob and twisted, left and right, left, and right. Dolly placed a shoulder against the door above both hands and shoved. The door refused to open. “Holly, help us!” Molly ordered.

A raven landed on a sill to the left of the girls, tapping at the glass. It jumped from the sill to a small varnished, blue ceramic pot beneath the sill and next to the door. The raven tapped the side of the pot.

Holly glanced up from her perusal of her flaky, red toenail polish. She looked at her sisters. The raven tapped the side of the pot again, this time more vigorous. Holly looked at the raven and walked up to the pot. “You need a key, silly. I bet the old people who used to live her kept a spare key beneath the pot, just like Mama does.” Holly lifted the small pot and withdrew a rusty old-fashioned key.

“You and the birds. You’re always talking to them. They’re always telling you things, aren’t they?” Dolly grumbled.

Holly shrugged. She took mincing steps to the old oak door. Holly slipped the key into the knob. Molly turned it. Dolly shoved. The door swung open with an echoing crash. It hit the inside wall, allowing the girls to sprawl forward onto the floor. Dust flew everywhere. The three girls coughed. They each stood up and dusted themselves off, coughing even more. The looked down the gloomy, long hallway. To either side of it were several doors. In the dimness they could see the large frames of either photos and paintings, or mirrors, or both. At the very end of the gloomy, long hallway they could see a back door.

The girls heard a pitter-pat, pitter-pat sound behind them. Dolly, Holly, and Molly froze. The pitter-pat, pitter-pat sound came closer to them, overtaking them. Before them, in-between them and the gloomy, long hallway stood the raven. It opened its beak and said, in the voice of English gentry, “Thank you for that, girls. I was wondering when someone was going to try to get in here.”

Holly smiled. Dolly and Molly stared at the bird with trepidation. “You can speak our language?” Dolly stated in a matter-of-fact voice.

“Well, yes. I used to be a human,” replied the raven.

“Oh,” said Molly.

“Well, why didn’t you tell us where the key was?” Dolly queried.

“Ah, because only when I am in the house can I speak human. When I’m out there in the ordinary world, I can only speak bird. It’s a good thing your sister, Holly, knows fluent bird speak.”

Dolly became suspicious, “You know our sisters name?”

The raven nodded his head, “Yes. I know you’re Dolly and booger picker next to you is Molly. Neither of you speak bird. But Molly speaks weather, and you speak trees and flowers.”

Dolly frowned, “How do you know all this?”

“Because I’ve been watching you three for thirteen years since you were born. I knew you would be the ones to help me with my problem.”

Dolly’s face grew red. The muscles on her arms bunched up. She leaned in towards the raven and opened her mouth.

Holly interrupted, “Okay Mr Bird. You know our names, but we don’t know yours.”

The bird hopped back into the darkness of the house. “My name is Sir Walter Wizdummy.”

Holly flicked one leg in front of the other and bent at her knees, imitating a curtsy. “Pleased to meet you Sir Walter Wizdummy.”

Molly glanced at Dolly and then towards Holly, also performing a curtsy. “Pleased to meet you Sir…”

A double squawk came out, and then another. The raven lifted a clawed foot to its beak. “You must excuse my laughter. I haven’t laughed in long a time. Please, just call me Walt.” The raven placed his foot back on the floor and rested his eyes on Dolly.

Dolly glared back. “Okay, Walt. Now that we know who you are, what now?”

A loud crash and a thud reverberated throughout the house. Walt and the girls glanced at where the noise came from. Walt spread his wings, leaping into the air. As he flew towards the doorway, he yelled, “And that is one problem.”

Another loud thud and crash echoed again. This time it was closer to the girls. They looked toward the right side of the hallway.

“Wizdummy! Wizdummy, is that you? Have you come to set me free? Wizdummy, change me back, right now! Wizdummy!” screamed a shrill voice that sounded neither like a man nor a woman.

Molly turned to run from the house. As she went to pass through the doorway the door moved, slamming shut. The lock clicked and the key fell from the knob with a rattle. Molly slammed at the heavy old oak door.

Dolly’s eyes widened as she began to shake without control. Running to Molly, beating on the door with her fists, she turned to her sister and yelled, “Holly, help us!” Ka-thud, ka-thud, ka-thud, ka-thud, ka-thud, ka-thud, came the thumping from the right. The heavy thudding sound drew ever closer to the girls.

“Holly, help us!” screamed Molly. “Stop standing there like an ostrich and help us!”

Holly stood, silent and taking a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut.

The thudding sound stopped. The shrill voice spoke in softer tones, “That’s not you, Wizdummy. No, that isn’t Wizdummy. That is someone else. A different someone else. A nice someone else. A someone else that has come to help. Can you help me?”

Holly, eyes still squeezed shut, nodded her head.

Dolly turned to stare at Holly. “What are you doing?” she hissed.

Holly shrugged, and turned towards her sisters, placing her finger to her lips. Dolly and Molly stopped smashing on the door. Holly smiled.

The thud was on the same floor as they were. The sound wasn’t as pronounced.

“Holly, come on. Come near the door. Whatever is coming, it’s getting closer,” Molly said in a hushed voice.

Holly opened her eyes. They were glowing. “It’s okay Dolly, Molly. Sheba isn’t going to hurt us.”

Dolly looked at her sister. “Sheba?” she asked.

The door to the immediate right of the girls swung open on its hinges with a creak. Holly turned towards it. In the doorway, standing in the light of Holly’s eyes, was the largest ostrich the girls had ever seen.

“Hi,” said the ostrich.

Dolly and Molly stood still with a frozen expression. It was hard to tell if it was horror or hilarity they felt.

“Hi, Sheba,” Holly gave another curtsy. “I’m Holly. These are my sisters Dolly and Molly. I don’t know if we can help you, but we can try.”

“Well. I’m not Sheba. I’m a queen of Sheba. But Sheba will do because I am the only queen of Sheba around here. I am not the only queen here. I am the most important one.”

The ostrich placed a leg before the other and bent at her knees, imitating the curtsy Holly had given. The long neck arched forward, and the beak touched the floor. The body wobbled. Feathers flew everywhere.

Molly looked at Sheba. “You’re a real queen?” she enquired.

The ostrich bobbed its head up and down, up, and down. “I am,” replied Sheba.

“How come you’re an ostrich?” asked Dolly, voice filled with suspicion.

“Ah, that would be that devious devil Sir Walter Wizdummy. Or whatever his real name is. It has been so long that I forgot it. He wasn’t Sir Walter Wizdummy when he did this to me. His last few victims have all said that he told them his name was Sir Walter Wizdummy.”

Dolly gasped, “I get it. He turned you into an ostrich?”

“He is a wizard!” Molly exclaimed, “Isn’t he?”

“Not exactly. He is more of a want to be wizard. His spells don’t work for him. His spells only work if we sing it over ourselves. Be very careful of him in the future if he wants you to sing a spell for him,” Sheba replied.

“Why did he turn you into an ostrich?” Holly asked.

“Because I wanted to look like a young woman forever. A handsome man called Solomon that I had known had given me eternal life, but I was aging. When I got to about 2000 years old, which was about 1000 years ago, I had no skin or hair, or nails left. I looked terrible. The man who had given me eternal life was long dead. Unless the wizard who sings you, unsings you, you are stuck as you are. I met Sir Walter, or whatever his name was, in England 1000 years ago. He sang over me to look like a beautiful young woman. It didn’t work. So, one night, when he was away helping a king get a sword from a stone, I sand over myself and turned into this. And now I can’t turn back. I haven’t seen him since.”

Dolly drummed her finger on her chin and tapped her foot, “So, you did this to yourself?”

The ostrich’s head bobbed up and down again. “Yes. I did this to myself. And I cannot find that wizard to help me change back.”

The girls heard rapping on the outside of the door. Sheba glanced at it with a wariness in her eyes. “That isn’t him.”

Outside, the girls could hear muffled voices. The sound of a key slipping into the lock resounded through the house.

“I must go.” Sheba fluffed her feathers and vanished into the room. Holly slipped a feather into her pocket.

The door to the right slammed shut as the tumbles in the lock slid home and the oak door opened. Flashlights were shone in the girls faces.

“There you are girls! Are you all, right?” shouted a male voice. Uniforms spilled into the hallway. The girls could see it was night-time outside.