A Tale of 3 Witches by Barbra Annino, Christiana Miller Page A

pie is homemade, the pump is full-service and quirky is a compliment. He has a Mediterranean look about him and a slight temper to match. Mostly when I put myself in life threatening situations. Which was hardly ever.
    "Look at that burn too," Leo said to the EMT.
    "Nah, it's fine," I said. "The aunts and Birdie will take care of it." No co-pay when you lived with witches.
    Thor was leaning against me, licking the beer off his backside and I began to towel him off with my tarp.
    Leo said, "You two get in the car and stay warm. Give me a minute to straighten out this mess and then you can tell me what happened."
    I looked over at the crowd. It had developed its own heartbeat.
    "I need to find Cinnamon, Leo."
    Leo pulled out his radio and called to Gus, his right-hand man. He opened the door to the backseat and Thor and I slid in.
    A few minutes later he knocked on the window.
    "She's fine. Not a scratch. Now sit tight, so I can ask you some questions before the Mayor has a coronary and I have to explain why my girlfriend is always caught up in the chaos that surrounds this town like the Twilight Zone on steroids."
    He shut the door again and a firefighter approached him.
    I drank in the scene around me. Some people were directing traffic, some were throwing buckets full of water on the flames (the whole bucket too, not just the contents), some were snapping photos and one guy, I recognized as a regular of the Black Opal, Scully, was clutching a stool and crying.
    It was like the bleacher seats at a Cubs game when the beer gets cut off, but how was that my fault?
    Before Leo turned back towards the car, a small group of men, all dressed in purple polo shirts with plastic badges, approached him.
    "Chief, where did ya want me?" A man asked.
    "I can close off the streets," another offered.
    "Hey, I called that," said a third.
    I rolled down the window. "Leo, what's this?" I asked as the three men neared the squad car.
    Leo turned back and said in a low voice. "Remember I told you we were hosting a citizen's academy class?"
    I nodded.
    "Today was graduation."
    I winced. In a matter of seconds, the rent-a-cops swarmed Leo like a group of bees in a bed of sunflowers. Actually, they weren't even rent-a-cops. They were rent-a-cop wannabes. It was disturbing.
    While Leo fought them off, I seized the opportunity to slip away. Thor and I snuck out the other side of the car and headed down the street.
    I needed to find my cousin. See her. Touch her.
    We made it about a block when I noticed, displaced from the crowd, a pimply-faced teenager with hair like a Brillo pad staring at me, an oddly satisfied look on his face.
    I stopped and stared back. He smiled, wildly. Then he bolted like a cat attached to a firecracker.
    And a chill rumbled through my veins.
     
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