Catweazle

Catweazle. ‘Now thou canst wake, and he snapped his
fingers and blew on her face.
    ‘Wake!’ he commanded. Theda’s eyes popped open. She looked straight
through Catweazle as if he wasn’t there and then turned to Carrot.
    ‘Anything you want washing?’ she asked calmly, and went to look in the
clothes bin.
    ‘Fantastic,’ breathed Carrot, as Theda left with a bundle of washing.
    Catweazle was pleased. He had impressed the young magician.
    ‘I too have the Power,’ he said proudly.
    ‘How long will she stay like that?’
    ‘At sunset the Power will fade.’
    ‘Can you hypnotize anyone? Er - you know, what you call the Power?’
Carrot asked excitedly. The old man gave an enigmatic smile.
    ‘We will do many things, thou and 1.1 will summon up Spirits to ride thy
invisible horses.’ He paused. ‘Would that Touchwood were here,’ he said sadly.
And then seeing the boy’s puzzled expression, ‘My familiar,’ he added, ‘in
that... other time.’
    Carrot, who didn’t want to start him talking about the Normans again,
looked round for the robe. It was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly they both
realized what had happened: Theda had taken it. She was going to wash it! They
looked at each other in horror.
    ‘We’ll have to wait until she hangs it out,’ said Carrot. ‘Come on.’
    They sneaked downstairs and out through the front door. Taking refuge in
the gooseberry bushes they waited for Theda to bring the washing to the
clothesline.
    After what seemed like hours, Theda came staggering out with the wet
things and began pegging them out. Sam, who had finished mending the window,
strolled over to talk to her just as she took Catweazle’s robe from the wicker
basket and began to hang it on the line. The sight of this infuriated
Catweazle.
    ‘ ’Tis mine! And I will have it!’ he muttered, as Carrot frantically
tried to restrain him.
    ‘Sam’ll see you!’ he warned.
    ‘Unhand me, thou acorn,’ said Catweazle savagely as he rose out of the
bushes and charged towards the clothes-line.
    Sam looked in terror at the apparition running across the lawn at him.
He couldn’t move. His mouth opened and closed like a fish. Theda, to whom
Catweazle was still invisible, went on unconcernedly pegging out the clothes as
the old man reached the line, snatched his robe from it, and ran off through
the bushes.
    ‘I will see thee at the little house,’ he hissed at Carrot as he
scampered past their hiding-place.
    For a moment Sam stood, stuttering incoherently. The old monk!’ he
finally managed to gasp.
    ‘Eh?’ said Theda, turning to him with a clothes peg in her mouth.
    ‘The old monk! The old monk!’
    Theda stared at him with alarm. She had never seen him so excited.
    ‘He didn’t have anythin’ on!’ Sam continued, gesticulating wildly in the
direction of the gooseberry bushes. Theda, convinced that Sam had gone mad,
dropped the washing and ran off round the house calling to Mr Bennet.
    Sam sat down shakily on an old box and tried to recover. He glanced
round nervously. He had seen something, he was sure of that, and nothing
anyone could say was going to change his mind.
    Carrot watched from the bushes as Theda came running back with his
father.
    ‘Now Sam,’ said Mr Bennet, hurrying up, ‘what’s the matter? Been at the
cider again?’
    Sam sighed. ‘Look Mr Bennet,’ he said, ‘I ain’t makin’ of it up. There’s
an old feller runnin’ round this here farm stark naked.’
    ‘All right Sam,’ said Mr Bennet. ‘If I see him, I’ll tell him to go
away.’
    ‘You think I’m seein’ things, don’t you?’ said Sam angrily.
    ‘I’m sure of it.’
    ‘But you was with me, Theda,’ he pleaded, looking up at her.
    Theda and Mr Bennet exchanged a glance.
    ‘Listen, Sam, you’ve had some sort of hallucination if you ask me. Now
you don’t want to worry about it. Just try to forget it. Lots of people see
things.’
    Sam stared at him. ‘But he looked so real!’ he said.
    ‘Oh, he would,’ agreed Mr Bennet. There was a silence while Sam thought
about it. A hallucination? Was that what he’d seen? One in the yard with
clothes on, and one on the lawn with no clothes on?
    ‘I’m sorry I’ve held things up, boss,’ he said finally-‘But I ain’t
never seen a hallucination before.’ He got to his feet. ‘I’ll go an’ work it
off on somethin’. Nothin’ like hard work for clearin’ yer head.’
    ‘Good man,’ said Mr Bennet with considerable relief.
    ‘What
about