In Our Words Canadians Reading Together

Carefully she lifted one and then the other from the basket and sat in her rocking chair. Buster rose and went to sit beside the mother’s prone body on the cot. After administering the potion, she unbuttoned her gown and placed the babies at her breasts to suckle. The mother stirred on the bed and Buster let out a low snarl. Nicki turned and smiled, “Thank you for bringing my children to me.” Nicki’s smile grew as she watched the horror fill the mother’s face. Even from the other side of the room the mother could see the babies growing into toddlers. “The potion I conjured is working. See how healthy and strong they become.” The mother shuddered and placed her hands on her abdomen. “Can you feel him growing already?” she laughed out loud, “He will be a strong one. Now, now, none of that.” She cooed softy as the mother started screaming. “We will be a very large, happy family soon. You’ll see. You’re going to have to stop that screaming sooner or later you know. It’s not like it will do you much good way up here.”

The mother stopped screaming and glared at Nicki. “I came here for help. The people in the valley village said that you were a witch and that you could help me. Please” the mother begged. Nicki smiled, “I am helping you. I sent out a spell for a lonely, older virgin to mother my children and you appeared at my door. Tell me, did you begin to feel pregnant around mid-summer’s eve by any chance?” The woman’s terrified gasp was her only reply. “Yes, I could never have given birth to them myself, so I sent for you and you came. It will all work out, you’ll see. And in a few months when Three is born you will feel better. If you behave I might even let you rest awhile before giving you Four.” That was the last thing the mother heard before her horror filled brain began to shut down and she quietly slopped into a welcome oblivion.

Nicki calmly sat One down on his feet to watch him take his first steps, while Two struggled to get down also. “Patience my darling. Let One find his feet then it will be your turn.” She gazed down lovingly at the seemingly four year olds. “Now our life will be complete.”