Crystal the cat and her witch

nce upon a time in a small, run down cottage in a wood in a far away land, called Mystanium, lived a cat and her witch. The cat's name was Crystal and her witch was called Vella.

Crystal was a wise, old, tabby cat, she had looked after Vella since she was a little fluffy ball. Vella was a bad witch and needed a lot of looking after! When I say a bad witch I don't mean she was the sort that fattened little boys for dinner... No Vella was bad at spells, which is very embarrassing if you're a witch!

Crystal had helped Vella out of all sorts of sticky situations... like the time Vella was trying to magic up a birthday cake for her best friend Melba and nearly turned Melba into a goat, although many say they wouldn't have noticed the difference!

So one day, while Vella was doing a dab of Spring cleaning, and rearranging the cobwebs and dust so they looked much, much better, there was a knock at the door. Now this didn't happen very often because people in those parts had this preconceived idea that the only thing witches were good at was turning you into a toad... and all Vella's friends had long ago stopped visiting since they considered it a health hazard!

As you can imagine then, Vella had quite a surprise. She was too lazy to climb down the step ladder and go to the door so she looked at it and twitched her nose. Crystal sighed inwardly, she recognized those signs of trouble, Vella was going to try to magic the door open. Crystal imagined all the possible things that could go wrong next and shuddered... so she muttered and meowed gently and the door opened with a slight groan to reveal the wood outside.

And there standing in the doorway was Vella's brother, Claud, and his scruffy little terrier hound, Boggins. Crystal sighed again. Last time Claud and Boggins had visited (about 200 years past) Boggins had left her with some very bad memories. Dogs are so tiresomely stupid and have this awful habit of making their mistakes look like somebody else's fault. Crystal quietly slipped away to her basket next to the boiler in the kitchen and curled up... hoping wistfully that this was all a bad dream.

Claud shuffled his feet and coughed loudly... "Err 'ello Vella, I erm, I've lost my wizarding hat and I can't do magic without it."

"What?", said Vella, "Oh no!" and she invited him in for afternoon tea; scones, cucumber sandwiches and lemonade.

After a very filling and fattening afternoon tea Claud began to explain his dilemma. "Well, as I've already said, Vella, I've lost my hat, but the main problem is that the little Princess is five soon and I've got to entertain her at the party. What can I do, I'll lose my job as Royal Wizard if I tell the King I can't do it?"

"Oh dear", sighed Vella.

Meanwhile in the kitchen... Crystal stirred as she heard Boggins enter her sanctuary. "What do you want?" she hissed at him. "My masters very upset, he's lost his hat" yapped Boggins. "Well what am I supposed to do about that, you stupid dog?" she snapped. "Claud wants Vella to stand in for him at the Princess's birthday party that's all." replied Boggins.

"At last," thought Crystal, "that dog has actually been helpful but what am I going to do? I'll never get into the palace, no animals are allowed because our hairs make the King cough too much and I can't possibly leave Vella to entertain the Princess and her friends by herself." Crystal got up out of her basket and strolled into the living room.

"I'd love to stand in for you Claud... it would be awfully exciting. What sort of tricks were you going to do? I'd better start making a list. Oh and which gown should I wear, the black one with the moons or the black one with multicoloured stars? I'm so excited I haven't been to a party for years."

"Oh dear," thought Crystal "too late... my only hope now is to find a way into the palace... I wonder if that stupid dog can make himself useful?"

A few days later Claud and Vella were still inventing new tricks and spells to do. They'd also finally found a recipe for sparkle dust which didn't explode so violently to rattle all the shelves with the best china on or frizzle pathetically... but banged surprisingly and made small puffs of gaily coloured smoke in the air.

Crystal and Boggins were putting the final touches to their plan to get into the palace.

At last, a week after the knock on the door, it was the eve of the birthday party, Vella and Claud set out to the palace. Crystal and Boggins slipped out of the cat flap and followed... in a small spotted handkerchief around her neck Crystal carried their disguises... they'd spent the last four days making them and knew if these didn't work nothing would.

Next day preparations started at dawn, the stage was set up for the acts and the food was prepared. Guests and their parents began to arrive and the entertainers were shown in by the side entrance... there were clowns, acrobats and musicians.

Crystal and Boggins stopped behind a bush near the palace and watched the people come and go. They unfolded the handkerchief and climbed into their disguises... they had worked perfectly the night before in the tavern they'd stayed at, and this fact boosted their ego greatly.

Crystal turned to Boggins, "Now remember, I'll do all the talking and when it comes round to our turn just hold your trumpet like you did last night and leave it to me to provide the music."

They walked up to the side door... "Name please", said the palace guard. "The Sparkling Duo" said Crystal. The guard looked on his list, "Ah they've forgotten to put another one on the list... never mind... go in and it's the door on the right."

Crystal and Boggins followed his instructions... "Phew" exclaimed Crystal.

At 2 o'clock the celebrations began. Crystal and Boggins's act was to go on third and Vella they found was on seventh. The first act was a juggle... he tossed balls and umbrellas and all sorts of things in the air but he didn't drop anything once. Next there were some clowns, the children laughed and laughed. The n Crystal and Boggins went onto the stage... Crystal introduced them and took up her clarinet... she muttered under her breath and when she put the clarinet to her mouth music filled the air... this time it was a jolly, jazzy tune and the children danced and sang to it.

Soon it came round to Vella's turn... Crystal moved and sat next to the stage in the wings. Vella mounted the stage throwing sparkle dust in her path... the children clapped enthusiastically and the King smiled. Crystal had seen Vella and Claud go through the routine several times and knew the order well now.

Vella reached up her sleeves and showed the children that they were empty then she looked at the ceiling and twitched her nose... Crystal muttered under her breath and as Vella brought her arms up above her head and opened her hands three white doves flew from between her fingers and circled the room. Next Vella brought out a saucepan and a box of matches, she struck a match... she brought the match down to the brim of the pan and as she let go twitched her nose... Crystal muttered again.

Vella let go of the match and the pan burst into flames and when she blew them out she drew out a grey, droopy eared bunny from the pan. The children clapped and the King smiled and nodded with approval. Vella bowed and stepped down from the stage, "A very happy birthday to you dear." she said and handed the bunny to the little Princess. The Princess was delighted.

Later, when they got home Vella remarked again and again on how well she'd coped by herself and Claud was still wondering how his hat turned up in the turkey stuffing... but all in all everyone was really content... but happiest of all was Crystal because she'd had a wonderful meal after the acts had finished... turkey and strawberries and cream galore!