The one with the pumpkins

 - Burn the witch! Burn the witch! - yelled the crowd outside. The wolf looked at the Fairy with barely hidden fear in his eyes.
- Are you going to do anything about it soon? - he asked. - They have torches. Lit torches.
- Burn the witch! Burn the witch! - yelled the voices. They seemed to be mostly female, and rather young.
The Fairy, lying on her favourite chaisee-longue, slowly turned the page of the book she read.
- Did you know that chimpanzees can learn to swear, if you teach them sign language?
- Oh for fuck's sake! They are going to burn us alive! Do something!
- ... And if you give children paper and crayons, they will draw just for the fun of it, but if you offer them a prize, they will engage in the activity for half the time and produce worse pictures...
- DO SOMETHING!
The Fairy rolled her eyes. The little clock on the mantelpiece started to chime midnight. There was a sudden silence.
The wolf put his paws on the windowsill and looked outside. Then he turned to the Fairy.
- Where have they gone? And why are there so many pink pumpkins lying around the hut?
- I don't know - answered the Fairy without looking up. - But if you want to know where they come from, I can tell you one thing: that's what you get when you mistake natural talents with vocational training, and then start to sell this training to those who have enough money. Like princesses.
- What? Don't tell me it's still about that stupid school where you temped three years ago!
- Apparently they ganged up. Probably something has gone wrong recently. I don't know. I've heard rumors about magic mirrors refusing to work and spells that backfired. So you know, I set up the easiest one around my home, just to teach them a lesson. Stupid geese couldn't even detect it....
The wolf sat on the floor and looked at the Fairy with disdain.
- And tell me, darling - he said. - What do you plan to do with all these pumpkins?
It was a very nice, sunny and warm autumn Saturday just before Samhain. The Fairy set up her stall quite early in the morning and filled it with mountains of pink pumpkins in different shapes and sizes. Now she sat on the stool and read, propped against one of the poles that supported the canopy. The wolf sprawled on her left boot.
- I thought you hated selling stuff - he said.
- Nah - answered the Fairy. - I'm quite okay with it, and actually they say I have a gift for it, you know. Runs in the family, my grandma once sold a pile of hay to a prince and told him it was her golden hair. I have no idea how she did it, she was a natural brunette. I just hate it when someone confuses schools with shops.
- Oh - said the wolf.
They sold all pumpkins by midday and went home.
- Do you really think they are suitable for vegans? - asked the wolf somewhere in the middle of the way.
- Can we not talk about it?
- Sure. Are you going to miss him?
The Fairy stood still, fished the tobacco and papers from her pocket, rolled a cigarette, lit it up slowly and looked at the wolf through the smoke.
- Whom?
- This magician you've met back at that school.
- I am - said the Fairy. - But I doubt he is going to miss me.
Poznań, 21082018

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Untitled

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