Page 12 of The Witches


  'I've got it!' I shouted, leaping about a foot in the air. 'I've got the answer!'

  'Tell me!' my grandmother snapped.

  'The answer is CATS!' I shouted. 'Bring on the cats!'

  My grandmother stared at me. Then a great grin spread over her face and she shouted, 'It's brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!'

  'Shove half-a-dozen cats into that Castle,' I cried, 'and they'll kill every mouse in the place in five minutes, I don't care how clever they are!'

  'You're a magician!' my grandmother shouted, starting to wave her stick about once again.

  'Look out for the vases, Grandmamma!'

  'To heck with the vases!' she shouted. 'I'm so thrilled I don't care if I break the lot!'

  'Just one thing,' I said. 'You've got to make absolutely sure I'm well out of the way myself before you put the cats in.'

  'That's a promise,' she said.

  'What will we do after the cats have killed all the mice?' I asked her.

  'I'll take all the cats back to the village and then you and I will have the Castle completely to ourselves.'

  'And then?' I said.

  'Then we shall go through the records and get the names and addresses of all the witches in the whole wide world!'

  'And after that?' I said, quivering with excitement.

  'After that, my darling, the greatest task of all will begin for you and me! We shall pack our bags and go travelling all over the world! In every country we visit, we shall seek out the houses where the witches are living! We shall find each house, one by one, and having found it, you will creep inside and leave your little drops of deadly Mouse-Maker in the bread, or the cornflakes, or the rice-pudding or whatever food you see lying about. It will be a triumph, my darling! A colossal unbeatable triumph. We shall do it entirely by ourselves, just you and me! That will be our work for the rest of our lives!'

  My grandmother picked me up off the table and kissed me on the nose. 'Oh, my goodness me, we're going to be busy these next few weeks and months and years!' she cried.

  'I think we are,' I said. 'But what fun and excitement it's going to be!'

  'You can say that again!' my grandmother cried, giving me another kiss. 'I can't wait to get started!'

 


 

  Roald Dahl, The Witches

  (Series: # )

 

 


 

 
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