Fiction: The Witches Next Door

The July prompts for Words for Wednesday are provided by Hilary Melton-Butcher and is hosted at Elephant's Child's blog here. This week's prompts are: sonorous, trenchant, cackling, hurley-burley, confined, semolina and/or nourished, grid, blue, atmosphere, notepad, porridge. I used all of them though using semolina is a bit difficult so that ended up as a name.

Fiction: The Witches Next Door
From next door, the sonorous cackling of the witches sent a chill down the spines of the members of The Ladies of the Gentle Ways Society. It was a time for relaxation and gentle thinking not a hurley-burley occasion where one would expect something to explode at any moment.
    The atmosphere had always been peaceful until the witches moved in next door. They never could confined the noise within their house but they never failed to have their meetings on the same days and even the same hours as The Ladies even when their leader, Mrs. Coppermind, changed their schedule many times.
    A scream of great vigor echoed. Semolina 'Lina' Bread nearly choked on her tea. Quickly, she put down her teacup and wiped her mouth. The other ladies, Mrs. Coppermind, Mrs. Honor, Mrs. Pickle, Mrs. Soso, Mrs. Jackpod, Mrs. Herbal and Mrs. Horseradish screwed up their faces but kept a tight grip on their teacups. Lina wondered what her mother would say about the stains on her blue tablecloth.
    The Ladies were enchantresses, a term Lina found a bit snobbish though witches wasn't any better as they hardly practiced any magic. Mrs. Coppermind always said, 'We ladies are here to practice the art of calm and peaceful thinking.' Though she had drawn a grid of where each lady should sit, how much tea and cake they should have and only magic relating to housekeeping and baking was allowed.
    Sometimes Lina wondered how many days of tea sipping and housework talks could she stand before she would freak out. Putting strawberry jam into their porridge was as daring as The Ladies would go. Lina nourished the thought of going next door and demanded they take her as a member but since no witches can belong to more than one societies, she could not do that. And as Lina inherited her place from her mother, she couldn't quit without being seen as dishonoring her mother.
    A loud boom rocked the ground and Lina sighed as she took a sip of her cold tea. The witches must be doing something grand or fun. Lina could only imagine.
    Mrs. Coppermind clapped her hands. "Time for lessons."
    The ladies, except Mrs. Coppermind, all stood up from the table and walked to the wall with a spot of stain where space had been cleared around it.
    Mrs. Honor, a short and wide lady, stood next to the wall with the ladies surrounding her. "Now, Lina, removing stains from a wall is pretty easy. Just a small chant and you're done."
    Lina nodded and smiled. Cleaning it with a rag would have been easier but she kept quiet.
    "Listen carefully, Lina." Mrs. Honor chanted a brief incantation, waved her hand over the stain and bits of the grime began to drip leaving a small, clean spot. The ladies clapped. Mrs. Honor beamed and waved at the clean spot. Lina refrained from complaining about her dirty floor where the grime had fell.
    Glancing their way, Mrs. Coppermind, said, "That was quite nice, Mrs. Honor but next time, let's not be so dramatic. Now, Lina." Mrs. Coppermind returned to writing in her notepad.
    Lina said the same spell, waved her hand but instead of dirt sliding down, the wall began to crack and then it exploded. The ladies ran just as a piece of the wall fell down right behind Mrs. Coppermind, missing her by a few inches. Perhaps it was lucky that Mrs. Coppermind was as deaf as a doorknob and didn't hear anything. When Mrs. Pickle nudged Mrs. Coppermind, her face reddened at the sight of the fallen wall so close to the chair she had been sitting on.
    Lina started to laugh but pursed her lips but Mrs. Coppermind already spotted her. Deaf as she was, Mrs. Coppermind had trenchant eyes. Using a spell, she could hear when someone talk but for whatever reason, she hears insults better than compliments. "Miss Bread, do you think this is amusing?"
    Lina shook her head. "No, Mrs. Coppermind but no one was harmed."
    "No one was harmed? I'd almost died, Miss Bread. If it wasn't for your mother, we weren't have taken you in. You are dishonoring her right now."
    Lina dipped her head and stared at the floor. If she got a slice of cake every time Mrs. Coppermind scolded her on dishonoring her mother, she would have a mountain of cake by now. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have laughed."
    "Youwhoo! Anyone home?" Mrs. Quiescent stood at the hole looking in. "May I come in?"
    "Come in, Mrs. Quiescent." Lina was glad for a reprieve from the scolding. But then she noticed Mrs. Coppermind had her arms crossed over her large bosom and a very pronounced frown on her face. The ladies behind her worn similar looks. "How dare you allow none-society members into our meeting, Miss Bread!" Mrs. Coppermind said. She raised a thick, blond eyebrow.
    "I... She's my neighbor. I was just being polite." Lina smiled though she wished lightning would come and strike her down.
    Mrs. Coppermind didn't smile. "Is that so, Miss Bread? I spotted you many times being polite to your neighbor. Were you telling her the hour and day of our meetings?"
    "Of course not, Mrs. Coppermind. You're the one bragging about our meetings to the whole neighborhood." Lina covered her mouth with both hands but it was too late, the words were out. The other ladies gasped.
    Mrs. Coppermind turned to the ladies. "Ladies, do you hear that? The leader of our dear society, the one person keeping everyone in peace and goodness, is accused of being a traitor." She turned back to Lina. "Well, I must say, your mother must be turning over in her grave if she knew how disrespectful you are to me."
    "My mother wouldn't care—" Lina started.
    "Now, now, Miss Bread. We need not be rude. I'm sure Mrs. Coppermind never diverged anything. She's our dear leader," said Mrs. Pickle who was always very complying to Mrs. Coppermind.
    "Mrs. Coppermind, I know for a fact, Mrs. Bread did not care one wit about respecting your honor. She had long wished to leave your society but was too polite to do so," said Mrs. Quiescent. "And may I add, I heard several instances where you claimed the time and place of your meetings."
    "You know nothing, Mrs. Quiescent. As this is our meeting, you do not belong here. Leave at once," said Mrs. Coppermind.
    Mrs. Quiescent chuckled and turned to Lina. "Well, Miss Bread, I will go if that is your wish."
    Lina looked from Mrs. Quiescent to Mrs. Coppermind.
    "Miss Bread, if you allow this witch to stay, then I will have to dismiss you from our society. You will be dishonoring your dear mother," said Mrs. Coppermind.
    Lina pictured another piece of cake landing on the mountain of cakes. How had she kept dishonoring her mother so easily? She turned to Mrs. Quiescent. "Mrs. Quiescent, you may stay."
    "Miss Semolina Bread, I am very sorry but you are hereby dishonorably dismissed from our society. From this moment on, all the comforts and privileges of our society is stripped from you. Come along, ladies, we will finish our meeting at my house." Mrs. Coppermind started for the doorway but Lina blocked her.
    "Mrs. Coppermind, since I'm no longer a member of your society, please note my yearly contribution from here on will ceased as well as my monthly supply of cakes and tea." Lina smiled and stepped aside..
    Mrs. Coppermind lifted up her chin and stomped out of the sitting room, down the hall and out the door. The six other ladies followed her.
    "I am very sorry for getting you kicked out of your society, Miss Bread," said Mrs. Quiescent.
    Lina waved her off. "It wasn't your fault. And besides, you've saved me a lifetime of dull meetings. By the way, why are you here?"
"Oh, I have forgotten. I saw the hole and I wanted to see if you're alright." She turned to the hole and then back. "If you need help with that, I still have a few of your mother's spells," said Selma.
    "My mother's spells? I thought she was a quiet witch like the Ladies."
    "Quiet? Who told you that? She would have joined the Wicked Society if she could but she had inherited her mother's place in the Ladies and cannot quit. Oh, she tried to get herself thrown out but they just wouldn't let her go. Perhaps she was the one providing the cake and tea or perhaps they just didn't want to lose another member. She sometimes come to our meetings as a guest, sort of testing the water, before deciding if she wants to join."
    "But doesn't your society choose who should join?"
    "Oh, no, we don't operate that way. Our members can join and leave anytime. But of course, you must practice witchcraft and bakery or else there's no point in joining. But we also have very strict rules and one of them is we never pretend to enjoy something we do not," said Mrs. Quiescent."
    Lina grinned. "That is a very sensible rule, Mrs. Quiescent."
    "Please, call me Selma. We're not as formal as other societies. It's one reason we called ourselves the Wicked Society. We're not polite enough for likes of Mrs. Coppermind. " Mrs. Quiescent smiled.
    "And you may call me Lina."
    "Well, Lina, if you aren't bothered by the noise, you're welcome to come to our meeting right now. We have cake, lots of them, if Ginger hasn't eaten them. Ginger is my sister. She has a sweet tooth, a couple of them, actually." Selma grinned.
    Lina laughed. She might get all the cakes caused by Mrs. Coppermind's scolding after all. "I'll come join you in a moment, Selma. I must talk to my housekeeper first."   
    "I'll see you next door then." Selma turned and walked out the hole.
    "Mrs. Muse, will you come in here for a moment?" Lina called though she knew her housekeeper was probably listening by the door to the kitchen. She surveyed the hole. It wasn't that bad. She laughed remembering Mrs. Coppermind's red face.
    Mrs. Muse, the housekeeper, came in. She glanced at the hole and then at Lina. "Well, Miss, what are your instructions?"
    Lina smiled. "I'm going to join the party— I mean, the meeting next door and maybe have a slice of cake or two. Don't worry about the wall. I think I'll have a solution when I returned. Just clean up the tea things."
    Mrs. Muse smiled. "That is what I am here for. Did you said something about cake? I hear their strawberry cobbler is heavenly. Bring me a slice if you can."
     "I'll ask if I may bring you a slice, Mrs. Muse." Lina chuckled. And she definitely will ask Selma why her mother had spells for fixing holes in walls.