Chapter 2
HAPPY THANKSGIVING GRISELDA
It was remarkable how quickly Griselda learned to become a good cook. In less than a month, she was cooking better than most people who had been doing it for many years.
Griselda continued to go to the library to get new cook books. It was there that she learned about Thanksgiving, a very important holiday for people who like to cook and eat. Griselda found some recipes for a complete Thanksgiving dinner and flew home to cook the meal.
When she was done, Griselda had made as good a Thanksgiving meal as anyone in the country. She even set the table nicely, with a table cloth and some flowers in the middle. She was very proud of her work.
Griselda's mouth watered as she sat down to her very first Thanksgiving dinner. Everything looked and smelled delicious. For the first time since learning to cook, she stopped to think how lucky she was to be eating such good food and to be enjoying cooking so much.
Then Griselda began to eat.
First she ate the turkey. All of it. Including the stuffing. It was delicious.
Then she ate the whole bowl of cranberry sauce.
Then the sweet potatoes and the green beans.
It was the most delicious meal she had ever eaten. There was only one problem. By the time she had finished everything on the table, she was so stuffed with good food that she felt just as sick as she had when she had eaten all the candy.
She felt so sick that she didn't even want to eat the pumpkin and apple pies warming in the oven, or the bowl of fruit, or the nuts. Instead she went to bed.
The next day she went back to Dr. Morton.
"I don't understand it," she said. "I ate only good food and not a bit of candy. Why am I feeling so sick?"
"You're not the first one of my patients to come in complaining of a stomachache today," said Dr. Morton. "Tell me what you ate yesterday and how much."
Griselda told him about her delicious Thanksgiving meal that she had eaten all by herself.
"No wonder you're sick, Griselda," Dr. Morton said. "You're not supposed to eat a whole Thanksgiving meal by yourself. Don't you have any friends you can share the holiday with?"
Griselda shook her head. "Are you kidding?" she said.
"Not even some other witches?" he asked.
"Oh, no," Griselda scowled. "Witches are usually very unfriendly, even with each other."
"Well, I think you should try to make friends with some people then," Doctor Morton advised.
"People?" Griselda scoffed. "I don't think any people would want to be friends with me. I look too scary." And she showed him one of her ugliest faces just in case he didn't believe her.
Doctor Morton folded his arms and looked thoughtfully at Griselda. "She seems proud to be so scary," he thought, "but she looks a little sad too. I bet she would really like to make friends. She just doesn't know how."
"You don't look scary to me," he said.
Griselda slumped in her chair. "I don't?" she said. "That's my problem, Doc. I've been having trouble scaring people lately. In fact, most of the time I don't even want to do it anymore. I'm just not myself these days."
"Well, maybe you'd like making friends, then," he said. "It's really more fun than scaring people."
"How could I?" Griselda asked.
"Well, I suggest you start off by smiling at people," Doctor Morton advised.
"Smile?" Griselda said, thinking it over. "I don't think I can do that."
"Hmm," Doctor Morton frowned. This was a most perplexing case. He had never had a patient like Griselda before. Then he had an idea. He opened his mouth and flashed his friendliest smile at her.
"It's like this," he said. "Now you try. Look in the mirror so you can see yourself."
Griselda looked at Doctor Morton with curiosity. Nobody had ever smiled at her before and she was fascinated by his bright face and twinkling eyes. Then a strange happy feeling began to creep up inside her. To her surprise, she felt like smiling too.
"What's happening to me," Griselda wondered. She wasn't used to feeling so light-hearted and happy and at first it scared her. But then she found she couldn't help herself. "What the heck," she thought. "I tried new foods, I'll try this too."
She looked in the mirror and opened her mouth wide, showing all her teeth, the way Doctor Morton did. But it looked more like a growl than a smile.
Doctor Morton continued to smile at her and offer encouragement. "That's good," he said enthusiastically, "But try turning your mouth up a little more."
When Griselda finally did it right, it looked and felt so funny to her that she burst out laughing. "Ha ha ha," she cackled, in a wild, witchy voice that made even Doctor Morton shiver.
"You've got it now, Griselda," he said laughing too. "Just try laughing a little more quietly, if you don't want to scare people."
"All right," Griselda said. "Is that all I have to do is smile at people and laugh quietly?"
"Well, it helps to talk to them, too," Doctor Morton said. "Perhaps you can find some people to talk about cooking with."
"I'll try that," said Griselda.
When Griselda left the office she got on her broomstick and flew around Somerville, to look for some friends. She flew over the roof tops of the two and three-family houses, darting in between the plumes of smoke coming out of the chimneys. It was a chilly day, already beginning to get dark, and few people were out.
As she approached Davis Square she saw a small crowd of people in the park. But as she got closer, she noticed that they were just bronze statues. Nobody in the park was alive except for a few pigeons.
Just then a stream of people began to pour out of the subway station. Griselda swooped down and landed her broom on the sidewalk. She tried smiling the way she had in doctor's office but without the mirror she wasn't sure she was doing it right. The people who passed her hurried by. Some of them stared. Others pretended not to notice. Nobody stopped to talk to her about cooking or even smiled back. Soon she was standing alone on the sidewalk, watching the dried brown leaves swirl around her feet in the wind.
"This doesn't seem to be working," Griselda frowned. She rubbed her cheeks, which had become sore from smiling. "My face isn't used to this. I'm going to have to get in shape."
Griselda got on her broomstick again flying a little lower than she had before. She was passing a yellow house on Ossipee Road when she happened to look into a second story window. She hovered in the air to get a good look.
Inside she saw a tired looking man and a disgusted looking woman, staring at a kitchen full of dirty dishes and left over foods. A little girl and a baby boy were playing noisily on the floor. An older girl was sitting at the table reading a book.
"What are we going to do with all this leftover turkey?" the man was saying. "Should we make soup?"
"I suppose so," said the woman. "But it's so much work. It'll take us forever to scrape off all that turkey, and we don't have a recipe."
"Life was easier when we were vegetarians," the man said.
Griselda was delighted to hear this conversation. Here, certainly were some people who would be interested in talking about cooking with her. If she offered to help them with the soup, maybe they would want to become her friends.
Griselda landed her broom gently on the porch and rang the door bell. The man answered.
"Excuse me for interrupting," she said, "But I was riding by on my broomstick and couldn't help but overhear that you are having some cooking problems. I happen to be an expert cook and I would be happy to give you some tips on how to prepare a fine turkey soup. I can even help you make it."
The man was puzzled by this short, green faced woman, with the broom in her hand. She looked like a wicked witch, but she was flashing a peculiar-looking toothy grin at him. Was she up to no good, or maybe trying to sell him something?
"No thank you, we're not interested," he said. But before he could shut the door, a black cat darted past him and down the front steps.
"Zephyr, come back here," the man called. He started after her but it was too late. Zephyr had already scurried into the bushes.
"Oh shoot," the man said. "Once she gets into the bushes, it's impossible to get her out."
He shook his head and sighed. Then he crouched down by the bushes and reached in. "Here, puss, puss, puss," he cooed. But Zephyr just backed away, further out of reach.
The man stuck his arm in a little further, but he lost his balance and fell against the branches. "Ow," he said, and he stood up and brushed himself off.
"Maybe I can help," Griselda offered.
"Be my guest," the man said, hugging himself against the cold. "What are you going to do? Chase her with your broom?"
"I'm a witch, not an ogre," Griselda answered. "A witch can do better than that."
Then Griselda crouched down on all fours near the bushes. It was evening now, and her face didn't look so green in the dark, but her green eyes glowed, almost catlike.
"Meow," Griselda said. And then she made some very catlike cooing sounds in her throat. There was a rustle in the bushes, and in a moment Zephyr was out. She sniffed Griselda's nose and then rubbed against her.
The man stepped in and picked up the cat. "That's amazing," he said. "It's almost like you were talking to her. Thank you very much."
"We witches have a way with cats," Griselda said. "I was glad to help. It was a friendly thing to do, wasn't it?" And she flashed that silly looking grin again.
"Yes it was," the man answered. "But I really don't understand why you are here. You're not a wicked witch, are you?"
"Oh, no," Griselda answered. "I'm a cooking witch. I make marvelous foods and they're all very nutritious. I'm here because Doctor Morton told me I should make some friends. My name's Griselda."
"Oh, you go to Doctor Morton? So do we," the man said. "Well as long as you're not wicked, I suppose it would be all right. My name's Josh. Come upstairs and I'll introduce you to my family."
Griselda followed Josh up the stairs. The little girl was staring at her from under the dining table but the baby crawled over to them, shrieking with delight.
"This is my son, Evan," Josh said, picking up the baby. "And this is my daughter Arielle." The little girl was now climbing onto her father's back. "Melanie, here, is my big girl, and this is Marcia, my wife."
Melanie glanced away from her book for a moment but didn't seem to notice. Marcia was a little annoyed that Josh had invited this strange witch into their home, but when she saw what Griselda could do, she changed her mind.
Using her magic, it took Griselda only a minute or two to set a kitchen knife in motion and carve all the meat off the turkey. Meanwhile, she told Josh and Marcia to get a pot of water boiling and to get the rest of the ingredients.
"You'll need some onion, and a bit of leftover stuffing. No dressing on the salad? Good. We'll use it for the stock."
She set another knife to work chopping the onion. "Fry this in olive oil," she continued. "Do you have any parsley? Add some bay leaf to the stock."
Josh and Marcia followed Griselda's instructions dumbly, too amazed at all the magic taking place in their kitchen to speak. The three children watched in awe. Even the little ones were quiet and Melanie put down her book.
When Griselda asked Josh and Marcia if they had any dried spiders to put in the soup, they just shook their heads no. But she could tell from their faces that they thought this was a bad idea.
"Don't worry," she said, cackling quietly, so she wouldn't scare them. "I won't put any witch food in it if you don't want."
In about fifteen minutes, the three of them had added the last ingredient to the pot and the smells of delicious soup began to fill the house.
"Griselda, you're truly amazing," Marcia said to her. "This one of the quickest meals we've ever prepared. And it smells delicious. Where did you learn to cook like this?"
Griselda told Josh and Marcia about her short but marvelous cooking career. "Of course, the magic helps," Griselda admitted as they sat down to eat, "but I really seem to have a knack for this."
"You certainly do," Josh agreed. "This soup tastes even better than the meal we made yesterday." The rest of the family agreed. Even Arielle had seconds and Melanie had thirds. Evan was so excited by his mashed up soup, that he bounced up and down in his high chair as he ate. Josh and Marcia had to take turns giving him spoonfuls in order to keep him happy.
What was even more surprising to the family than the delicious soup was how much they enjoyed Griselda herself. Once they got used to her funny looks and her witchy ways, they found that she was very interesting and fun to be with.
Griselda especially enjoyed playing with Melanie, Arielle and Evan. She liked making them laugh with her funny faces. With the children, she could still act like a witch, without being stared at, as long as she remembered to cackle quietly. This gave her a chance to practice her smiling until she got it right.
"Thank you so much for all your help," Marcia said to Griselda as she was leaving later that evening. "Feel free to drop by any time to help with the cooking and have dinner with us."
"It was my pleasure," said Griselda. "If you really mean that, I'll be back often. I've never eaten with people before. It's much more fun than eating alone."
True to her word, Griselda came to visit Josh and Marcia's family several times a week. Each time was a wondrous eating experience and a lot of fun for all of them. It was to her credit, that in spite of being alone for all of her life, Griselda fit right into this noisy, boisterous family. She had found some friends at last.