Bruno Schmidt walked toward his family’s chicken coop, a pail of chicken feed carelessly swinging in his hand. He took a deep breath, savoring the clear early morning air. A shout split the silent atmosphere.
“Bruno!”
Bruno sighed and kept walking, a little faster.
The call came once again, this time more insistently.
“Bruno! Bruno! Now!”
HE dropped his bucket where he stood and marched resignedly toward his house.
“Bru-“
Bruno opened the front door of his cottage with a loud creak. The screech cut off abruptly. He spotted his parents in the far corner, opposite the fireplace. They were involved in some sort if heated debate- or his mother was, anyway. His father was simply standing there and agreeing with everything his wife said by means of a series of emphatic nods. Bruno sat down on a three-legged brown stool and waited for his presence to be acknowledged, listening to the subject of the tirade.
It was the usual argument his mother used these days- she wanted to leave Karstbaum, their tiny village, but everything they had was here, and Bruno’s father didn’t want to move. He also didn’t like constant arguments from his wife. She had been very upset by what had happened to Bruno two years ago, and she had been trying since to convince her husband to move.
Today she was shouting that she wanted to go to England, to go to where Bruno could be safe, and if she couldn’t convince Otto, her husband, after all these years of pleading, she would drag him. The argument appeared to culminate with Mrs. Schmidt spinning around and catching sight of Bruno.
“There you are, Bruno!”
He nodded wearily.
“Bruno, don’t you want to move to England? You’d be so much safer there, and I want you to have a great education. I’ve heard about a school there that would give you a much better one than you could ever get here in Karstbaum.” Bruno’s mother, Brunhilda, pleaded. Bruno could tell she just wanted him to admit a desire to move to help sway his father. Otto’s family had lived here for generations.
Bruno moved his head noncommittally.
“What about Hans?” he asked his mother in his usual raspy voice. His tone was rather more deep and low than most eight-year-olds.
‘Oh, you can write, don’t worry about him,” said his mother dismissively. “The Berggs will be fine without us, you may be sure. I intend to write to Hilda myself, it would be a shame to lose touch with them. But we really must go! It’s not even a choice; I simply can’t stay here any longer!” She stopped and looked at Bruno, who had suddenly stood up.
“Can I go back outside? The chickens are hungry.”
Mrs. Schmidt sighed. “I suppose so, Bruno. I’ll get breakfast ready for us, then.”
Bruno quickly got up and without a word marched back to where he had left his bucket. He walked on slowly, swinging it once more. His mother kept trying to convince him- not that he minded so much, but did she have to do it so early in the morning? Besides, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to move. Was it better to go? Or to stay where he knew everyone- he liked his life now…
The loud squawkings of hungry chickens interrupted Bruno’s musings. He gave them their food, and ran off to the woods behind the chicken coop before anyone could stop him. He ran to a small clearing in the trees, and stood, looking around, when suddenly he heard a loud, “BOO!” right in his ear. He leapt forward, startled, and tripped over a branch. He landed hard on the ground.
“Bruno? Are you all right? A concerned Hans looked down at him. “I didn’t mean to”- He stopped, interrupting himself mid-sentence. “I think you hit your head on a rock or something, your forehead is all bleeding.”
Hans helped him up, apologizing the whole time, as they walked back to Bruno’s house. They finally arrived at the doorway. “Mrs. Schmidt?” Hans called anxiously. Brunhilda came bustling into the room, carting a big basket of laundry.
“What is it, Hans? I’m rather busy”-
Her laundry basket fell to the floor with a loud crash, which went completely unnoticed.
“Bruno!” she gasped, “what happened?”
Bruno stared up at the ceiling, feeling a little too unsteady for speech. Silence is probably a good idea right now, he decided. He could feel the wet blood on his face from his cut, and decided to let Hans do the talking. Hans realized that Bruno wasn’t up to explaining, and said, “He fell and banged his head on a rock after I startled him.”
“Thank you, Hans. I’ll treat him; you had better go home now.”
Hans nodded and left, with a lingering glance back at his friend.
“All right, Bruno, I think this injury of yours calls for the Book.” Brunhilda hurried over to the windows, which she carefully peered out of, to check that the coast was clear, and then shut them tightly. She tiptoed to a picture hanging on the wall and lifted out from behind it a wand and a dusty yellowed volume. There were faded green letters on the front, spelling out “The Booke of Moste Powerful and Useful Charmes and Cures.”
Brunhilda flipped reverently to the back of the book, mumbling to herself. She found the spell she was looking for in the index and turned to a page about halfway through the book. She sat there studying the page for quite some time, occasionally making twitching movements with her hands or mumbling something under her breath. Finally, she stood up.
“All right, Bruno. Here goes.”
She gently lifted the wand off the rough wooden tabletop and pointed it at Bruno. She was obviously very nervous, and at the same time a little bit excited. Her hands shaking, she performed the same jabbing movement she had been practicing earlier, and in a clear voice, said,
“Reparo Foreheadio!”
There was a flash of light from the wand, hitting Bruno straight in the forehead.
Bruno felt a curious sensation on the top of his head, which before had been starting to throb with pain. Now it felt better but- he reached up and felt it with his hand- oddly lumpy.
He heard his mother sigh. She wiped off his forehead with a damp rag.
“You know, Bruno,” she said, “sometimes I feel like there must be more to magic than this kind of spells. And I know it is important to make sure no one sees it being done, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder why. I don’t even know for sure who else in Karstbaum does magic! And I don’t dare to ask them, since I know you aren’t supposed to talk about it. But I wonder if they too were told by their mothers not to let anyone find out, ever. And if they have a book of spells too. You know, Bruno, I can’t have fixed you up right; you still have a mark. I think it’s going to be a scar. At least it’s fixed up a bit. Are you feeling any better, do you think?” Bruno nodded, still not quite sure if he was steady enough to speak.
She continued wiping his head. “That spell just doesn’t feel right somehow- it almost sounds the same as the one for fixing broken pots your father used on that broken vase last year. That can’t be how it should be- but what do I know of this stuff? I just feel something is strange- plain instinct, I guess. Someday I’ll have to teach you these spells, I suppose- though hopefully in England by then!”
Bruno sat up. “I feel much better now, thanks, you can stop cleaning me off. Can I have breakfast now?”
His mother laughed. “Glad to see you’re back to normal! Of course you can.”
Some time later, Bruno was scraping off the last dregs from his plate, a happy, contented smile on his face. Brunhilda had gone outside for a minute to tell Otto about Bruno’s injury and bring him some food. Bruno picked up his plate and put it in the sink. He was about to wash it when he heard a loud knock on the door. He wondered vaguely who it was as he ran to answer the door.
The door swung open with its usual creak, letting in a shaft of sunlight and revealing the tall, bronzed stranger standing in the entryway.
Author's Note: The spell is boring on purpose. I know, I know. I wanted it that way. The magic in Karstbaum is very skewed. The fact that the spell is like that shows how magic, when confined to indivduals who never went to school and who are unable to do magic beyond what is contained in one dusty old (innaccurate) book, becomes warped. This was in a review response and on my author page, but now I'm putting it here in case this bothered anyone. Please review!