“Help help help help help!”
“Come in, child.”
“Hide me, hide me! They have whips!”
“No one can come get you in my hut, child.”
“Are you sure? They want me to do the dishes and the laundry and the cooking…. The steam was ruining my hair!”
“You aren’t running just from your chores, child? Who wants you to do these things? And where? We aren’t particular about appearances in this neck of the woods.”
“I don’t know! I was walking on the shore not far from my house when I found this pair of slippers in the sand.”
“Very pretty. Rubies, are they?”
“They must be. See how they shine?”
“I do. And I suppose you decided they were magic?”
“Well, I didn’t know. I tried them on and they fit and just as a joke I clicked the heels together and said ‘There’s no place like home’.”
“I see.”
“But I didn’t go home! I was in this dark, horrible place where these women grabbed me and said I was late for my chores and then took up sticks and paddles to hit me with and…and….”
“Relax, child. They aren’t here.”
“When they grabbed those things they had to let go of me, so I ran and ran and I jumped over a moat but they followed me into the forest and….”
“I can explain, dear. Unless those shoes get tapped by a good witch’s wand, they aren’t going to take you home. They go to their default setting. You were taken to the childhood home of the Wicked Witch of the East.”
”But how do I get to MY home? Do you have a wand you can use?”
“You flatter me, child. But I am interested in helping you with those slippers. I can use them myself for a few things. Where did I put that old hourglass?”
“Hourglass? But…you were melted!”
“That was my second cousin, dear. Now we’ll just set this up and, unless you know a forester with the right mettle, in about an hour you won’t need to worry about those slippers.”
