Page 44 of Hansel and Gerhardt
“A… small creature. A gnome, possibly. It attacked us.”
“A gnome?” Herr Candy clicked his tongue. “You’re lucky you got away.”
Emboldened, Gerhardt said, “Then a wolf. One that could speak.”
“A wolf like that?” Herr Candy shook his head. “I’m surprised you’re still alive.”
“And then a tree,” Gerhardt continued. “A huge and horrifying tree, and mad as it sounds, it tried to kill us both.”
Herr Candy gave a knowing nod. “You have to be careful out here in the forest, boys. It’s eat or be eaten.”
He took a long sip, thoughtful, before saying, “How about this…” He strode to a small wooden side table, and pulled out a biscuit tin. The lid was off, his hand was in, and he took out a pink and pretty biscuit, deep folds of gooey, fluffy marshmallow clinging to it, dappled with shards of coconut, split apart with scarlet jam. He placed it on the side of Gerhardt’s saucer, thenre-lidded the jar without so much as a glance at Hansel. “How about,” he carried on, returning to his seat, “you stay here with me for a while?”
“We’re going to Hallin,” Hansel spat out, some searing panic rising in his chest. “He just told you that.”
“That’s right,” said Gerhardt. His brow clouded. “I mean, thatwasthe plan.”
“Thatisthe plan,” Hansel corrected, pinning him with a sharp glare.
“Eat, dearest,” Herr Candy said softly, eyes on Gerhardt.
Gerhardt nodded an apology, took the biscuit up, and dipped it into the tea. “Hansel’s right. We did say—”
“Eat,” the sound of the ‘t’ coming like a needle in Hansel’s spine.
Gerhardt gave him a small, anxious smile, then took a bite of the biscuit. On contact, his eyelids quivered closed, his lips trembled, and his shoulders shook with soul-deep enjoyment of the treat.
Herr Candy watched him a moment, his lazy smile deepening. “You were saying?”
Eyes still closed, fingers splayed out long on lace, “We’d love to stay.”
“What?” Hansel shouted the word.
“That’s wonderful,” Herr Candy drowned him out. “Only, naturally, I will want something in return…”
Hansel hated the way his eyes seemed to lick Gerhardt’s precious skin when he said that. “We’re not staying. We’re leaving. Right now.”
“What do you want?” Gerhardt asked, his voice coming drowsy, long and slow.
“Oh, nothing dreadful,” Herr Candy laughed out. He twirled a hand in the air. “Some odd jobs. I don’t suppose you’re any good at… cutting wood, are you?”
Gerhardt sat up tall, eyes popping open in enthusiasm. “Why, that’s exactly what we do! We’re woodcutters!”
“Now, just imagine that!” Herr Candy trilled. “Then you’ll stay here and cut my wood.”
“We’ll stay here and cut your wood,” Gerhardt repeated, pupils seeming to dance about in his eyes.
“No,” said Hansel. He reached across the table for Gerhardt’s hand. “You want to go to the city. You said we were going to the city. You don’t want to live in the forest and cut wood. That’s exactly what we were leaving.”
“I…” His eyelashes trembled as he held Hansel’s gaze, but his lips closed tight.
The sharp scrape of Herr Candy’s chair brought Hansel’s gaze across. The man stood. He walked around behind Gerhardt and settled hands onto his shoulders. “Gerhardt’s going to stay and cut my wood. You heard him, didn’t you?”
Gerhardt withdrew his hand from Hansel’s. “I’m going to stay and cut his wood.”
Herr Candy’s fingers tightened at the edge of his neck. “And you’ll do whatever else I need done, won’t you, Gerhardt?”
“I…” Gerhardt’s chest rose and fell a little faster.
