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The witch I tell this story a lot This is maybe the third or fourth retelling In the town of San Fernando on the island of Ticao in the Philippines There lived an old lady She didn't look fragile She was sinewy And her skin was leathery and shiny Every summer my mother would take us to visit our grandparents My Filipino family was very very cuddly And I was starved for physical affection Even though my family was one of the biggest and oldest The other kids called us the American kids We weren't even American back then They chased me into a chicken co-op once yelling HOW ARE YOOOU HOW ARE YOOOU I cried in the coop and screamed IM FINE IM FINE They were just being friendly I didn't understand how to be social (still don't) I observed I found them huddled together near the old lady They looked curious and wary She had folded long leaves into the shape of a bird, she tugged on it somewhere and its wings were flapping The kids found this delightful for all of 10 seconds then scampered off I wanted a closer look The old lady was done, she had to go somewhere and she motioned for me to follow I walked behind her into the trees Her strides were very purposeful She didn't hold my hand We came to a creek that wrapped around a hut, her hut Because it was shadowy under the trees, her hut seemed to glisten in the sun I was distracted and found that the old lady was already crossing the creek on a fallen tree Seemed like three elegant bounds for her I was nervous but didn't want to show it so I took a few steps in before my knees turned to jello I gripped the bark with white knuckles and looked up at her panicked She laughed this deep throaty belly laugh And I felt a bit silly It felt like she was saying it's okay So I mustered up some courage and stumbled across She graciously showed me her hut I was more interested in her warthog who was leashed with wicker string My grandparents raised pigs so I mistakenly thought he would be like my piglet friend and put out my hand to pet him He growled and I jumped and grabbed the old lady's leg in fear She found this very amusing too and the awesome throaty laughing shook the air again She dragged me along (I was attached to the leg) to the low part of her roof She reached up and broke off a stick and handed it to me I tried to feed it to the warthog More laughing She grabbed it and made jabbing motion at his face and he backed off Like that The warthog didn't find me as convincing and I dropped the stick and yelped She fussed around her house for a bit while I crouched within a safe distance of the warthog Bit of a stare down She offered me some food but I wasn't hungry I remember she walked me all the way home and that time did hold my hand I never questioned why everyone knew where my grandparents were, I just assumed that everybody was family somehow When my mama opened up the gate her eyes widened a little and her smile was nervous I scurried in and she quickly closed the gate behind me and grabbed me before I could run off What are you doing with the witch? What witch? The old lady? She was old when I was your age, everyone is afraid of her Cool! Don't talk to her again. I fully intended to talk to her again but I didn't see her around the town And I didn't know the path through the trees If I ever visit San Fernando again I'm going to look for her |