Finally
he lifted his eyes, smiled at them and then folded the paper and
slipped it into his pocket.
“You shall have everything by this time tomorrow night.
Do I deliver?”
“Not necessary,” Aggie answered. “My dear sweet
friend will be glad to come for them, won’t you, Bertha?”
Bertha smiled her approval of Aggie’s suggestion and arm
in arm, they went back through the narrow hallway.
When they reached the door, Aggie turned, and fixing Augustin
once again with one of her famous stares, she said threateningly,
“You understand what we expect of you now, don’t you?”
Augustin seemed almost to cower then and in a sheepish voice,
he replied, “You shall have it all. Every item on the list,
I assure you.”
****
“Oh,
Bertha,” said Aggie in her excitement. “Imagine the
treat this will be for all. Our dearest and closest friends, gathered
together once again, in remembrance of all of our loved ones who
were taken from us. Nothing will keep
us from it. Nothing.”
Aggie was so enthused that Bertha thought she might get carried
away and harm herself in her passion. She attempted to calm her.
“Please, darling,” she said soothingly.” “Let’s
try to get our minds off the dinner, for a while at least. Then
tomorrow I can go to pick up the ingredients, bring them back,
and we can set out in earnest to make this the memorable occasion
it should be.”
Aggie agreed. She smiled and taking Bertha by the hand, she said,
“You are right, as usual. I do tend to ham it up a bit,
sometimes, don’t I?”
Aggie and Bertha then spent the rest of the evening just chatting
about the past.
Aggie’s recollections were both bitter and sweet, recalling
how she and Bertha played together as youngsters, how they even
shared some spells together.
“Do you remember,” Aggie asked, “the time we
decided to cast that little spell on the old lady who refused
to give us a drink of water?”
|
