Page 12 of The Neighborhood Witch

“I win,” Hugo whispered, and then paused. “I miss you so much. Please. Please, tell me what to do.”

He focused on the moon, keeping his eyes closed for a moment before opening them. A dark shadow flew past and disappeared behind a tree. Hugo struggled to see exactly what it was.

What was that?Hugo thought.It was too big to be an airplane. An owl? No. It was moving too fast to be an owl.

Hugo listened for any hint of sounds. He scanned the sky for any signs of movement. There was only silence.

Max’s bark cut through the silence. Hugo snapped his attention over to where she was standing. She barked again.

“Max!” Hugo yelled. “Knock it off.”

Max stood her ground, defending her yard from all intruders. Her barks echoed throughout the night sky. A cat moved along the tall privacy fence. Max rushed to the fence to defend her yard. The cat jumped off into a neighboring one.

“Stop barking!” Hugo commanded in a hushed tone.

A light turned on in an upstairs room of the newly painted purplehouse. The light caught Hugo’s attention. He snapped quickly back toward Max with an angered face.

“See what you did?” He pointed to the window. “You woke the neighbors. Get inside.”

Max blankly stared back at Hugo. She wagged her tail before plopping into a downward dog position.

“Get inside,” Hugo commanded again as he moved closer.

Max sprung up and ran circles around the yard.

“Max, this is not playtime,” his voice grew louder. “Come here, girl.” He let out a low whistle.

She ran around the yard. Hugo kept a wide base, feet spread shoulder width apart, in anticipation of which way Max would run. A futile attempt to catch her. She juked toward the center of the yard. Hugo tripped as one of his pajama pant legs caught under the sole of his shoe. She escaped to be chased once again.

“Max! Come here!” Hugo yelled, no longer in a hushed voice.

“You won’t catch her,” a voice came from behind Hugo.

“I’m sorry,” he replied. “My dog is being stubborn at the moment.”

Hugo turned to see who was talking. A woman’s face framed by a brimmed black hat peered over the top of the fence.

“You won’t catch her by chasing her. Come here.” She summoned him to the fence. “She’ll come to you in time.”

Hugo moved toward the mysterious woman.

“Keep your back to her. She’ll be over in a moment. Just wait,” she commanded.

Max stopped running and laid down on a bed of leaves.

“I’m sorry… She’s not usually like this,” Hugo explained. “She saw a cat and got all excited.”

“Hopefully, that poor little kitty cat wasn’t too mean to your dog,” she replied with a slight smile. “I’m Alice, by the way. Alice Primrose.” She extended her arm over the fence. Her hand emerged from inside the sleeve of her black jacket.

Hugo took her hand. It was cold to the touch, as if she had been outside in the crisp fall air for a few hours.

“Hugo Dodds,” he replied as they shook hands. “I hope we didn’t wake you.”

“Not at all. I was already up. I never miss a beautiful moon.”

“You moved in pretty fast. I never saw a moving truck. I like what you did with the house color, by the way. It’s…. different.”

“Yeah, it’s more my style now.” She nodded approvingly at the house. Hugo glimpsed what could be purple hair in the moonlight. She focused back on Hugo. “I hope that’s not a problem.”

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