CHAPTER 2
Life* went on in the small little town no one knew about or really cared mostly it was farmers getting up at 3 am in the morning yelling at the cow and throwing a bucket at it and then go back to sleep for the whole day. However, to one Girl life was very Different she was riding her first broom stick and, in most cases, ending badly. She is tall with a long neck like swan dressed in a blue dress with a white apron and a pair of brown ballet flats**
*One day your 2 and wondering when you'll get a sweetie from Nan next thing you know lifes says "im sorry but the next 16 years are going to be complicated but hey sport at least your not like those poor kids in klatch who draw water from some desert well
**Esme had be against these she thought it was not right for a man to see a witches feet she felt a witch ought to have good boots at that point Gytha said something like "I had a pair like that when I was a gel" Yes and if I recall you painted them fingernails red too gytha"
She had big brown eyes and kept her hair in a ponytail another point of contention amongst her grandmothers but right now she was dusting her self off from the failed attempt. "I told ya I cant do It Granny Esme"
"Belle a witch does not the know the meaning of the word failure"
"Granny Esme? Yes, we do it means lack of success"
Granny rolled her eyes and let out a sigh "Be thankful your broomstick starts on the first go why when I was a gel, we used to run up these hills to get my old broom to start" Granny grumbled "it still has trouble" she said sourly
Belle simply smiled she loved doing that because she knew it drove Esme into such a tizzy Belle was a nice girl who was raised by two witches, but people still talked "Grandmother Esme?"
Granny Weatherwax knew when headology was being used and it was being used right now
"Oh no you don't my girl! You want to go off to that bookstore again and learn ideas from stories"
"Grandmother Esme I just read the books nothing wrong with that" Belle squinted
"That's my point first you read these stories and you get funny ideas and thems leads to cackling my gel do you want to end up funny in the ed? Reading stories gets in the way of proper learning!" She said folding her arms*
*this meant the argument was over however it was not
"Granny please just one book?"
Granny folding her arms rolled her eyes and said "Oh no my gel! You must learn how to fly it's a proper witch skill"
"Oh, come now Esme let the gel go into town that way people know how to respect her" Said nanny ogg coming up the road "Besides nothing wrong with a bit of reading" Granny never trusted books she felt they held too many secrets
"Oh no you don't Gytha Ogg don't be filling her head with ideas its bad enough she don't have proper boots and wears blue! Next thing you know she'll be wearing red and wearing" Granny added darkly "Trousers"
"Nothing wrong with a bit of red esme I wore red when I was a gel"
"you wore red Nan?" said belle innocently
"Oh my yes many a young man would come calling on my house"
"Yes and if I recall they ended up staying the whole night!"
"Esme nothing wrong with that! They often stayed for a bit of supper"
"And other things I shant repeat infront of you my girl"
"Esme you daft old biddie"
Belle giggled and let her two grandmothers' bicker while she quietly snuck away to the village book and broomstick in hand. It was an early autumn morning the sun was shining like Glod* and the birds were singing** All in all it was a lovely day here in the village of Lancre
*Glod was a dwarf in copperhead who found himself transported to several different locations and copied due to several Deities who could not spell I.E. everything he touched turned to Glod to this day the people of ali beeb are short and foul tempered
** as is the case that kind old mother nature reserves for birds and lost baby birds so the local wildlife I.E. wolves and bears and foxes can find them quickly and efficiently
Lancre where anyone different even if shes a witches granddaughter is talked about behind there back. Still even today with hard work ahead of her and a talking too from Grandmother Esme about how nice gels shouldn't be reading books.
It was nice to get away once and a while. Somewhere she could forget the village witch she was destined to be and something that her grandmothers had been preparing her since she was small. She thought today why not read a story about a daring sword fight atop a castle roof* where hero and villain duke it out over the love of a lady fair. Belle had always disliked the heroines in these books she felt all they did was sit and wait and look pretty, perhaps sing a song to some lost bird or bunny**. She felt they were not at all accurate most of the girls of the village worked all day in the fields and pined over the men for whom eventually they would marry.
Of course, in every little town in the multiverse there is the town hero usually rewarded the title because he ate the most hotdogs or slew a dragon or in this case hunted a pack of wolves all by himself… of course there were trappers and other hunters, but they did not matter because he was good looking and had bigger muscles. In this town that heroes name was Gaston even nanny ogg blushed when he came walking down the street and winked at her*** Whenever belle saw him however she felt he was boorish brute of a man but was willing to tolerate him because he commanded respect from the town sort of like a male version of a witch, the townsfolk respect him but in a way would fear him if decided to go off the deep end that's why they appease his worse appetits and this is why perhaps he can be so forward with Belle the granddaughter and witch in training because he knows he deserves it.
She knows how to confound him however she mearly need mention she must go to Grandmother Esme and he buttons up. Esme Weatherwax a name to be respected and perhaps a bit of fear.
*Whereas all the action would stop as inevitably the bad guy falls off the roof after being heroically pushed by the hero
**This also Attracts Bears,Wolves and Foxes
*** Hes just an ole softy