"What cha' lookin for ...cats?! heh-heh...Aint none, hun."

Gulp ! i almost swallowed my tongue.

"Heh-heh ...Now dont ye worry. I aint gonna eat'cha boy. I just want a bit of company. Gets lonely round these parts.
Whats er name boy ?"

"J-J-Jeremiah."

"Jeremiah, huh? Like the prophet in th' good book ? "

"Yah-yes mam"

The witch took a black kettle off a potbelly stove, put two table spoons of cocoa into a wooden mug, glanced at the apprehensive guest sitting at her table, adds a third, filled it with hot water, and sat it before the lad.

Jeremiah, not wanting to be rude, cupped the vessel with his nimble fingers pretending to except the offering, but he just turned the mug in circles trying not to appear frightened. He was frightened ...very frightened.

"What's wrong, boy ? You mock me ? Its not poison . Drink up ! "

He felt childish. The woman seemed nice enough, but what did he know.

He was only 14 years old. He drank the cocoa. It was good.

"I knew you'd come."

"Wha-what ?"

"The willow tree told me a fort-night past. Spirits have been visiting the hollow. They whisper to me in the we-e-e hours before dawn."

"What do they say ?"

"Evil comes walking in the form of a man. Terrible moanings in the dark ."

"I dont understand" little Jeremiah quizzles.

"The young rarely grasp the wide world about them. You are your brothers keeper. You must warn them."

"Warn who of what ?"

"You aint listening boy. Hes coming i tell you."

"Who?" Jeremiah was about to lose controlf of himself .

"Spooky Tooth !"

Then silence yawned betwix the two sitting there midst a spell of awe.

"Spooky Tooth will come . Its up to you to warn your fellows. I've long since lost the blush of youth. Soon the worms will have me.
The machines. Huge instruments of destruction.. will plow under the forest, and build falsehoods. Where neither fox , rabbit, squirrel or deer be found.
Great horned Owl told me . "

"Who-o-o comes to vanquish the spirit of wood , sky and water ? That a desert abide. Woe unto Mother Earth.
Ie-e-e.... They will come, and with them a bloody horror; a wanderer slipping from shadow to shadow thirsting for innocense . "

The old woman pointed a bony finger at a spellbound boy and warned ,
"Mind my words boy. When the Machines thunder into Pleasantville . Before sunset. Beware. Lock your windows. Bolt the door and pray Spooky Tooth dont get cha...hee-hee-heee...."

To Jeremiahs astonishment the witch sat upright, straight and stiff as a board. Her green eyes rolled back into her head. She gasp smiting her breast ! Then something began to move under her pale skin. Worms poked out of every pore. She was devoured. Only a skeleton remained. The once clean well kept cottage transformed into a rundown derelict. Spiderwebs hang from broken rafters. Dust lay thick on everything. It was as if the woman had been dead a long time. As if it were her ghost that spoke of terrible things to come.

Jeremiah sprang up and bolted out the now open door ! He never told anyone about Aggatha or Spooky Tooth , but the windmill of time would one day grind out bitter grain of regret.