Beatrix Bobbit's Parents Take a Vacation: Part 2
Beatrix skipped up the stairs, managing not to trip on her long black cloak. From underneath her bed, she slid out the black cauldron she'd brought home in secret only one week prior. Waiting for this exact night. The Autumnal Equinox.
It wasn't that hard to convince Mr. and Mrs. Bobbit that this particular weekend was the weekend they had to go away. Yet, it had still been a relief when the car finaly spluttered off, and Beatrix was left behind with Sybil and Penny.
"Need any help?" Sybil bounded into the room, all smiles.
Beatrix tapped the cauldron, tried to lift it, and collapsed to the floor with a thump.
Ring Ring, Ring Ring, Ring Ring
Beatrix and Sybil looked at each other as the red wall phone rang out from the kitchen. Abandoning the cauldron, they ran down the stairs, grabbing the phone. Only Beatrix was out of breath.
"Who is it?" Beatrix said.
At the same time, Sybil answered, "Bobbit household. Sybil speaking!"
"HELLO? BEATRIX, DEAR? SYBIL, DEAR? CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
Both Beatrix and Sybil had to pull back from the phone as Mrs. Bobbit's screamed at them from miles away.
"We can hear you!" Sybil said, managing not to shout in return to Mrs. Bobbit's yelling.
Thump, Thump, Thump
Beatrix looked at Sybil who scrunched her brow up and shrugged. Beatrix passed her sister the phone and turned to the sound of the thumps. She searched the room for something that had fallen, gazing at the stack of books by the door, the...
Beatrix's lips parted in surprise. The cauldron was in the living room, at the base of the stairs. But that wasn't the strangest part.
Penny was sitting beside it. Her little nose twitching.
"Yes, mom. The kitchen is very clean! No more petals on the stove!" Sybil was saying. Beatrix noted when her eyes widened as she too saw the rabbit and the cauldron. Sybi pointed at Beatrix and waved her hand around.
"It wasn't me," Beatrix shook her head.
"We know, Penny eats promptly at six. In fact, we really should be prepping her dinner..."
Even from several feet away, Beatrix heard Mr. Bobbit shriek. "HER DINNER IS PREPARED!"
"Right! I was just testing you, Dad! Everything is under control. Have fun, and we'll see you tomorrow!" Sybil leapt on tip toes to hang the phone back on the wall before either Mr. or Mrs. Bobbit could make another disturbing sound.
"You didn't charm it here?" Sybil asked.
They were both standing over the cauldron and Penny now.
"I only tried to make it lighter, but, maybe that was wrong," Beatrix said. That had to be it. It was the only explanation. There was no way she'd bought a Cauldron that could move on its own from the garage sale in the cottage on the other side of the woods.
Outside, the sun was beginning to set, making the green leaves shine golden. They needed to hurry.
"I'll feed Penny, you get everything setup in the garden," Sybil scooped the rabbit up and pranced off to the kitchen, leaving Beatrix to tend to the cauldron and other ingredients.
This time, when Beatrix picked the cauldron up, it was so heavy, she almost toppled over. Yet, somehow, she managed to balance it as she stumbled through the kitchen where Penny was eating a four course meal divided into sections on a yellow plate.
Sybil opened the door so Beatrix could keep her momentum going, depositing the cauldron on the grass by the sunflower stalks. She left it there as she went back inside to retrieve her saucepan of ingredients which was a sludge of brown. It was as if all the colorful petals and leaves had their color melted off as soon as Beatrix put them in that pot.
As Beatrix carried the sludgey pot back to the cauldron, she tipped it over, then, immediately pulled it backwards before a drop of brown goop could fall in.
The cauldron was already full of colorful petals of pink and red and yellow. They were smashed to a fine dust that shimmered in the orange rays of the setting sun.
"Pretty!" Sybil said as she peered into the cauldron. "What's in the pot?"
Beatrix held it out, unable to speak at the moment. But Sybil only scrunched up her nose, and said, "Oh, it's empty." Then she petted Penny who she was holding in her left hand.
Beatrix couldn't believe it. Not until she looked for herself and saw the sludge free inside of the silver pan. Not only was the concoction gone, but the pan itself was sparkling.
Not sure what to do, Beatrix set the pan down on the black iron bench. She took a breath as she stood over the cauldron, and pulled out a crumpled set of instructions from her sleeve. Reading the words steadied her nerves after things had gone a bit oddly all evening. But, it was unseasonably warm outside. Maybe she had dumped the crushed petals in the cauldron. Maybe the pot had never contained brown sludge and it had all been an illusion of bad lighting courtesy of Mr. Bobbit's preference for low wattage bulbs.
"Alrighty, Sybie, come stand on this side with Penny. We just need a sprinkle of her fur," Beatrix approached the rabbit. Sybil held her closer, cooing in her long floppy ear while Beatrix used a small pair of scissors to trim a small tuft of her fur from her back.
Then, Beatrix let the black hairs flutter downward into the colorful dust below, just as the orange sun dipped behind the trees.
It was impossible to say what happened first. The sun vanishing or the cauldron emitting a large black cloud.
Beatrix couldn't see anything.
"Sybie, you okay?" She asked, feeling for her sister's hand.
"Penny, oh no! Penny! Where is Penny?"
Beatrix's heart skipped. She was afraid to move. What if Penny was on the ground and she stepped on her?
"We'll find her," Beatrix said, just as a very deep voice responded.
"I'm right here."
The black cloud Beatrix thought had enveloped them was not in fact a cloud at all. Nor did it have anything to do with the sun setting.
It was the black fur of a gigantic black rabbit.
"Penny?" Sybil whimpered.
"Come here," Penny responded in that horribly deep voice.
Then, she leapt through the air, landing with a great, quaking thud. Beatrix looked at Sybil whose blue eyes were wide and watery.
"What do we do, Bea?"
Beatrix looked back at Penny just as she took another earth shaking hop into the trees.
"We follow her."
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