LULA'S BREW
By Elizabeth O. Dulemba
565 word count
Endpapers:
Title Page:
Lula wanted to be a famous chef with her very own restaurant.
But her Aunties Zelda, Tippy, and Dink, were notorious witches, and they were determined that Lula would be the wickedest witch of them all.
The Aunties made Lula read stacks of books on magic spells and potions.
"You can make people do anything you want," they said, "or turn them into toads!"
“How boring,” Lula thought and studied cookbooks instead.
The Aunties showed Lula how to scare the bejeezers out of children and catch them with a butterfly net.
“Bejeezers are very good for making potions,” they said.
"Whatever," Lula replied and handed out home-made cookies.
The Aunties taught Lula how to make gruesome potions that bubbled and oozed with frog eyes and lizard tails.
Lula added basil and truffles when they weren’t looking.
“Your potions don’t work!” her Aunties complained. “Try again.”
“Here’s a simple potion even Lula can’t mess up,” Zelda said. “It causes warts!”
“You’ll need swamp slime and mouse toes,” Tippy said.
Lula picked spinach and called it swamp slime. She pulled baby carrots and said they were mouse toes, then mixed them into her brew.
“It smells too good,” Zelda yelled. “You got it wrong again!”
Tippy sniffed. “This won’t grow warts on anybody!”
The Aunties looked down their noses at Lula’s brew.
“This is not a proper potion,” they said. “Lula, go to your room!”
Dink sipped a spoonful."Sisters, you should try this. It tastes pretty good."
The steam from Lula’s brew snaked up the chimney carrying the rich fragrance through the night sky. It traveled across the town and in through the Mayor’s bedroom window.
He awoke nose first and hungry. “I smell stew!" he declared.
The Mayor left his home and joined the good people of Rockdale who already filled the streets. Together, they followed their noses to the Witches' house.
Knock, knock.
“Who’s there?” screeched Zelda, Tippy, and Dink.
The Mayor asked, “Ladies, do you mind sharing the wonderful-smelling stew you cooked this evening?”
“It’s a potion, not a stew,” they said, “and we didn’t cook it, it’s a brew!”
“Please,” the Mayor begged. “I must have a taste. I won’t last a day if I don’t.”
The Aunties looked at each other, “That would be a powerful potion indeed!”
The Aunties invited everybody in and dished up bowls of Lula’s brew.
“MMMMMM,” the people cooed. “YUUMMM,” they moaned. “This is the most delicious stew!”
Their eyes glazed over, and they grinned like happy toads.
“Seconds please?” a little boy asked.
Zelda had a wicked idea. “Sweep the floor,” she said, “and you can have some more.”
The little boy immediately went to work.
“More please?” the Mayor asked.
“Scrub the dishes,” Tippy croaked, “and I’ll give you another bowl.”
The Mayor immediately went to work!
“This is the most powerful potion we have ever made!” the Aunties laughed.
“Ahem,” Lula interrupted. “Pardon me, Aunties, but I made that brew, not you.”
Just then, the spoon scraped the bottom of the empty pot. The good people of Rockdale looked confused and slowly wandered home.
The Aunties screeched, “Lula, you have to make it again!”
Lula had a wicked idea. “On one condition. I want . . . a restaurant.”
The Aunties immediately went to work!
They gathered tables, chairs, and silverware
while Lula planned her favorite gourmet dishes.
Lula’s restaurant was a hit. The Aunties helped by scaring the bejeezers out of everybody . . .
which Lula used to make dessert.
