5

Hilda Spellman entered the kitchen and looked at her sister standing and leaning on the counter while reading the paper and drinking coffee. Salem jumped up on the counter next to her as he stood on his hind feet and pulled out the bag of bagels from the cupboard with his teeth.

"Salem," Hilda watched him. "Do you want help with that?"

"I can do it myself." His jaw moved with his words as started fussing with the bag and started wishing he had thumbs. "Help me, please." He changed his mind as a piece of paper popped up from the toaster. Zelda lowered her paper as she took the Wiccan telegram and opened it.

"Oh dear," She replied as she read it quietly. "This is from Tabitha."

"Cousin Samantha's little girl?" Hilda started pouring her coffee as she stuck Salem's bagel in the toaster oven. "What happened? Did someone marry another mortal?"

"No," Zelda removed her glasses. "Angelique got in touch with her. It seems that one of our relatives put a spell in her son."

"You know," Hilda sipped her coffee. "We really ought to visit her again. We haven't seen Angelique since she got married, and William always had a little crush on Sabrina."

"I can't think of anyone who would put a spell on William." Zelda continued as her sister rambled on about nothing as usual. "Who could have done this?"

"Hey, Aunt Zelda, Aunt Hilda," Sabrina arrived home excitedly and removed her coat to hang it up. "Guess what? Mike loved my story on New Orleans so much he's going to give me my own column to write on whatever I feel like! Isn't that great!"

"That's wonderful, sweetheart." Zelda looked up as Hilda stood sipping her coffee.

"Not only that," Sabrina continued. "But on the ride on the bus, I got three ideas for some really great novels to write." She paused as another idea popped into her head. "Make that four! I got to get busy on them. I'm going to be a novelist!"

"Great!" Zelda supported her niece as the energetic blonde rushed up the back stairs for her upstairs bedroom. As Sabrina left, Hilda took the mystical telegram and scanned it over. "I think we found William. He's inside Sabrina."

"Ooo, that's gotta be crowded…" Hilda turned to the black cat scarfing down a toasted bagel and
washing it down with coffee. "Salem, has Sabrina seen William at all in the last few months?"

"Can't... talk..." Salem mumbled with bagel in his mouth. "Bagel..."

"Let me remind you that we still have yet to get you neutered." Hilda stood over the former warlock in the permanent cat suit.

"Sabrina zapped up William last week to help on the Peterson House article." Salem spilled his guts as bagel bits sprayed from his mouth. "She told me last night that she zapped herself with talent just like his to help her on the New Orleans article!"

"That's it." Zelda turned and marched up the stairs with Hilda behind her. Sabrina's room was at the top landing as they both turned and entered the room. The former teenage witch was typing at full blast at her computer.

"This is going to be the greatest novel ever." She replied as she noticed her aunts out the corner of her eye.

"Sabrina," Zelda took charge as usual. "Did you steal William's writing talent?"

"What?" Sabrina looked up. "No. I just zapped myself talent just like his." She confessed.

"Honey," Zelda came in close. "You can't do that. You can't zap up writing abilities; you have to earn them. When you zapped them up, you took them away from William."

"Angelique and Ally are having conniptions because William's turning into a couch potato." Hilda revealed.

"But, but, but..." Sabrina bemoaned a bit. "Can't I keep just a little bit for my six novels? He'll never miss it."

"All of it." Zelda ordered her. Sabrina groaned a bit and stared at her computer screen as she waved off a gesture from her hand.

"Away talent... I was wondering why I had a sudden appreciation for that Calista Flockhart TV series." She sighed. "And this was going to be such a great book... "

"You're going to have to do it on your own." Zelda scolded her.

"Could have been worse." Hilda mumbled. "She could have zapped herself into a lady lawyer and gone all litigious on us."

In Collinsport, Ally McBeal-Collins returned home with her daughters from shopping. She peeked into the living room with her husband still stuck in the same place as she had left him. She helped her daughters off with their coats, glared over their heads to the man her husband once was and sent off her daughters to play on their own.

"Daddy," Lainey held up one of the parcels from the store. "Mommy got me new booties."

"That's fine, sweetheart." He patted his little girl on the head. "But daddy's busy watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Ally, another root beer." William sat up to see past his daughter's head, scowled like a caveman and slid his hand into his pants like a familiar Chicago women's shoe salesman he knew by reputation.

"Honey," Ally kissed her daughter. "Go play." Ally scowled aggravatedly as she placed the store bags in the chair near the kitchen. While the young girls vanished upstairs, she picked up the remote control to the television and hit the power button with irritated and frustrated emotion.

"Hey!" William took offense.

"That's it!" Ally screamed. "You haven't shaved or come to bed and you've been in front of this TV for three days! I can take being second to your work once in a while, but I will not stand in line for your attention behind a television set! You either tell me what's going on or else I'm going to Boston and leaving you behind! I want my loving husband back in five
seconds! One, two, three..."

"Ally," William hopped up rubbing his five o-clock stubble. "I can't play this game. I've got to get back to work on the computer." He kissed her angry face to calm her down. "If you can please give me the rest of the week with as little distractions as possible, I'll take you to see John and Elaine and everyone else in Boston for all of next week and we'll leave the girls with my parents. Just the two of us, I promise."

"What?" A bit of confusion entered Ally's scowl.

"I love you so much." He held her a second and kissed her deeply. As he let go, he gazed deeply into her eyes. "I need a shower, don't I?"

"What?…" Ally stood a bit confused and turned watching her husband heading up the stairs in the foyer. A few seconds later, the shower up there started up and then Ally looked back to the aluminum cans and popcorn kernels on the floor of her Collinsport home.

"I never know what's going on around here..." She mumbled to herself as if she was in a dream.

END