“I told you,” said the witch, “HOLD THE WAND LOWER!”

“Sorry,” said the girl. “What should I do now?”

“I know this is Magic for Beginners 101, but you were just supposed to make the water turn purple, not blow up New York!”

“I guess I did something wrong.”

“No kidding!” said the witch, pacing back and forth. “Tell me what were you thinking about.”

“Uh, I was thinking that I wanted it to be hotter outside.”

“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THINKING ABOUT TURNING THE WATER PURPLE!”

“Oh, yeah. I guess I was.”

“Have you learned nothing in class? Rule Three: WHAT’S IN YOUR HEAD COMES OUT OF YOUR WAND!”

“Are you sure? I thought it was something about Harm None.”

“That’s Rule Number ONE, and it’s, FOR THE GOOD OF ALL AND THE HARM OF NONE, not something about it, that IS it!”

“You’re shouting,” she said.

The witch counted to twenty-five, looked at the burning city and said, “You’re right, I’M SHOUTING, I’m sorry. It’s just that you killed a lot of people and destroyed the city.”

“Yeah, but you can fix it, can’t you?”

“You did it. You fix it,” said the witch, glaring at her.

“How? This is only my first day in the field.”

“It’s funny, when you think about it,” said the witch, watching a building crash to the ground. “People worry about bombs, and meteors, crashing into the earth, but really, you took out the city all by yourself, on your very first try.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, it means you’re powerful but not very bright, and that means, that you’re dangerous.”

“I’m not that dangerous,” said the girl nervously. “Really. I’ll try harder.”

A gray cat joined them and looked at the burning city and then at the witch. “Did she do that?”

“She did.”

“You gonna fix it? I have friends who live there, you know.” he said, licking his paw.

“I’m so sorry,” said the girl, miserably. “I would never hurt a cat. My familiar is a cat.”

“Good to know,” he said, flicking his tail. “Well, I’ll let you two clean up. I have a date,” he purred, walking away.

The witch reversed the spell, although New Yorkers were all talking about the nightmares they had the night before.

The girl was grounded for six months, and had special classes before and after school, so she could learn to control her power.

The witch knew that the girl would be amazing and one day start her own coven.

So, all and all, it wasn’t a bad first day in the field. Really. It wasn’t.

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I’m an artist, a writer, a vegetarian, an animal rights activist, and quite a few other things as well. I love books, cats, philosophy, good conversation, Chicago and the arts. So my blog is full of bits and pieces but it’s the bits and pieces that make life interesting to me. You can read more of my writing at Rethinking Life