Katie and the Forgettfulness Spell.下

At the end of school, Katie normally tookthe bus home with Isis - but this time Katie just missed the bus because shewas talking to Samantha about what colour stockings she wore at the weekend.And so she walked home on her own. As she went down the high street, she had afeeling - it was like a little tingle in her ear. What was that? She stoppedand looked around to see if anyone was following her. There didn’t seem to beanyone. Then she noticed that she was standing by the window of a mobile phoneshop. Her gaze fell on a new and attractive wafer-thin, edge to edge, pinkmodel. It was an expensive phone, but it was selling at a third off the usualprice. Right away she knew. That was Isis’s stolen phone.

She took out her own phone, and called Isison her home number. Isis had just got in.

“Hey, Isis I’ve just seen your phone in a shop window.”

“How do you know it’s mine?”

“It’s pink.”

“Is that all? There must be lots of pink phones.”

“But this one’s yours. Just trust me. Come over quick and bring thereceipt and the serial number and we’ll prove it to one of those crooks. Ifthey don’t hand over the phone we’ll call the police.”

“That sounds really embarrassing,” said Isis. “What if it’s not myphone? We’ll just end up looking really dumb.”

“Listen, I know it’s your phone,” insisted Katie - but oh - it wasfrustrating - she could not say how or why she knew.

“Look we’ve been friends for ages, have I ever let you down?”

“Have we been friends for ages?” said Isis. Katie was stunned. Theyhad indeed been the very best of friends almost forever. “I hardly even knowyou,” added Isis.

Katie had to give up. She had to go homewithout challenging the shop about the phone, because without the receipt shecouldn’t prove anything. That evening she called Great Aunt Chloe on thecrystal ball and complained: ‘I thought you were going to make everyone forgetthat I am a witch, not forget about me altogether.”

“Well I’m sorry dear,” said Chloe, “but almost everything you haveever done with Isis has involved you being a witch. Even when you haven’tactually been doing magic it has been an important thing about you, perhaps themost important thing about you. If Isis is to forget all about you being awitch she is going to have to forget almost everything there is to know aboutyou.”

“Oh,” said Katie, “that’s a pity.”

And for the rest of the week she spoke toSamantha and Isobelle about TV, the weather, clothes, and boys - but to behonest - she wasn’t that interested in anything they had to say because intruth she did not feel any connection with them. They were really rather boringwhen they weren’t being spiteful.

The week dragged on - it felt like ages andages - and on Saturday, when Great Aunt Chloe asked Katie if she wanted her torenew the forgetfulness spell, Katie replied that no thank you, on the wholeshe would preferred it when people did remember who she really was after all.

And so she called Isis again. And this timeIsis said that she could not understand why she didn’t want to go with Katie tothe phone shop earlier on. Perhaps she had just been feeling a bit blue becauseof the weather. She printed off the receipt for the phone, and the two friendsheaded for the high street.

When they reached the shop, they asked tosee the pink phone. The man who worked there took it out of the glass cabinetand showed it to them. The girls turned it on - found the serial number - andshowed him the receipt to prove that it really belonged to Isis. The man gotangry and said that he would call the police because they were accusing him ofbeing dishonest in front of his customers. But when Katie took her phone outand started to call the police herself, he started to back track, and offeredthe girls a “special deal” so that they could buy the phone back really cheap.Katie called Isis’s dad - and when he turned up the man handed over the phonewithout any charge. There was a scratch on the screen, and Isis’s dad demandedthat the man pay for it to be repaired - so he took out ￡100 from thetill and gave it to them. Now it was all very friendly. There were lots ofhandshakes all round, and the man said that honest to God, he was an hardworking businessman, and he would never knowingly sell stolen goods, and thathe was only too happy to help a young lady find her lost christmas present.

And Katie felt that although it wassometimes hard being a witch, it was actually a wonderful thing to have specialpowers, and to be able to help her friends from time to time.At the end of school, Katie normally tookthe bus home with Isis - but this time Katie just missed the bus because shewas talking to Samantha about what colour stockings she wore at the weekend.And so she walked home on her own. As she went down the high street, she had afeeling - it was like a little tingle in her ear. What was that? She stoppedand looked around to see if anyone was following her. There didn’t seem to beanyone. Then she noticed that she was standing by the window of a mobile phoneshop. Her gaze fell on a new and attractive wafer-thin, edge to edge, pinkmodel. It was an expensive phone, but it was selling at a third off the usualprice. Right away she knew. That was Isis’s stolen phone.

She took out her own phone, and called Isison her home number. Isis had just got in.

“Hey, Isis I’ve just seen your phone in a shop window.”

“How do you know it’s mine?”

“It’s pink.”

“Is that all? There must be lots of pink phones.”

“But this one’s yours. Just trust me. Come over quick and bring thereceipt and the serial number and we’ll prove it to one of those crooks. Ifthey don’t hand over the phone we’ll call the police.”

“That sounds really embarrassing,” said Isis. “What if it’s not myphone? We’ll just end up looking really dumb.”

“Listen, I know it’s your phone,” insisted Katie - but oh - it wasfrustrating - she could not say how or why she knew.

“Look we’ve been friends for ages, have I ever let you down?”

“Have we been friends for ages?” said Isis. Katie was stunned. Theyhad indeed been the very best of friends almost forever. “I hardly even knowyou,” added Isis.

Katie had to give up. She had to go homewithout challenging the shop about the phone, because without the receipt shecouldn’t prove anything. That evening she called Great Aunt Chloe on thecrystal ball and complained: ‘I thought you were going to make everyone forgetthat I am a witch, not forget about me altogether.”

“Well I’m sorry dear,” said Chloe, “but almost everything you haveever done with Isis has involved you being a witch. Even when you haven’tactually been doing magic it has been an important thing about you, perhaps themost important thing about you. If Isis is to forget all about you being awitch she is going to have to forget almost everything there is to know aboutyou.”

“Oh,” said Katie, “that’s a pity.”

And for the rest of the week she spoke toSamantha and Isobelle about TV, the weather, clothes, and boys - but to behonest - she wasn’t that interested in anything they had to say because intruth she did not feel any connection with them. They were really rather boringwhen they weren’t being spiteful.

The week dragged on - it felt like ages andages - and on Saturday, when Great Aunt Chloe asked Katie if she wanted her torenew the forgetfulness spell, Katie replied that no thank you, on the wholeshe would preferred it when people did remember who she really was after all.

And so she called Isis again. And this timeIsis said that she could not understand why she didn’t want to go with Katie tothe phone shop earlier on. Perhaps she had just been feeling a bit blue becauseof the weather. She printed off the receipt for the phone, and the two friendsheaded for the high street.

When they reached the shop, they asked tosee the pink phone. The man who worked there took it out of the glass cabinetand showed it to them. The girls turned it on - found the serial number - andshowed him the receipt to prove that it really belonged to Isis. The man gotangry and said that he would call the police because they were accusing him ofbeing dishonest in front of his customers. But when Katie took her phone outand started to call the police herself, he started to back track, and offeredthe girls a “special deal” so that they could buy the phone back really cheap.Katie called Isis’s dad - and when he turned up the man handed over the phonewithout any charge. There was a scratch on the screen, and Isis’s dad demandedthat the man pay for it to be repaired - so he took out ￡100 from thetill and gave it to them. Now it was all very friendly. There were lots ofhandshakes all round, and the man said that honest to God, he was an hardworking businessman, and he would never knowingly sell stolen goods, and thathe was only too happy to help a young lady find her lost christmas present.

And Katie felt that although it wassometimes hard being a witch, it was actually a wonderful thing to have specialpowers, and to be able to help her friends from time to time.