Soul Brothas

She’d swore, if she heard kids cursing or talking down to each other, one more time, she’d turn the vulgar misfits into frogs.  Not long after making that declaration, a five-year-old shouted to another on the playground, “What chu lookin’ at retard!” The old witch grabbed her wand and nearly cast a spell, in front of the other child, but she decided not to send the so-called “retard” running home with tales of witches and crap in his pants.  And she considered that turning the foul-mouth kid into an amphibian would not improve the boy’s respect or manors.

So, later that day, she changed both the ill-mannered child and his father into toads.   She picked them up and zipped them in her pocket until she got home. Into a single jar she put them, and she watched as they tirelessly jumped about.  She scolded them until they finally stopped jumping. 

The father promised, with several croaks, to teach all of his kids, indirectly or otherwise, respect for all people. 

She believed him, as he’d drowned himself with warts. She erased the boy’s memory, knowing what early frog memories could do to a growing mind, and promised to reverse the spell if the father spoke a word to anyone about her. With a twist of her wrist and a point of her wand, they metamorphosed into humans and were spun outside her apartment. 

That afternoon, she decided to take the path along the high school as a short cut to the store to buy worms for her soup.  As she was passing the high school, she saw two teenagers in the parking lot.  She watched as they got into fighter’s stance.  They each had their fists in the air.  Just as both gave each other an uppercut, she twirled her wand.  Lightning struck them and their bodies fell to the ground.