Nataliya Bogoluibova - The Button Witch. Part One

Quick and agile, the mouse jumped from its burrow to find food. It would often sneak into barns and cellars in search of grain. But today, the mouse wanted to treat itself and sneaked into the library.

"Book pages are so delicious! They taste just like potato chips," thought the mouse as it happily ran around the shelves in search of a book it could chew on. Two hours passed. Finally, the mouse's belly was full and satisfied.

"Shoo! What have you done, you stupid, greedy mouse? You've robbed me of the joy of reading my magic books! How dare you?" The wizard shouted and grabbed the mouse by the tail. "I could have crushed you with a single spell, but I have no right to kill a living creature. But you shall have your punishment, for you are the cause of my loss of so many precious books! I may never get those rare magical pages back!" The wizard's eyes fell on the buttons of his vest.

He said, "You will never eat anything but tasteless buttons again! Your life will be so meager and gray that you will look with envy at other people who live happy lives. Your hunger will never be satisfied. You will have to eat dozens of buttons every day just to survive." The mouse flashed its black, beady eyes in anger.

Olivia, a nine-year-old girl, was busy making a snow sculpture. A snow dog, to be exact. The girl grabbed a fist of snow and pressed it where the dog's paws would be. It was so exciting! She tried to remember the puppy she had seen in her sleep. But the picture in her head was too fuzzy. She felt a little sad, but soon the girl was distracted from these thoughts.

The wicket creaked and swung open. The girl saw a cat creeping cautiously along the garden path. The cat wore a white hat, glasses, and a checkered scarf. He was accompanied by a huge, fluffy-bear-looking dog.

The cat squinted mischievously and whispered to his partner. "Look! She's got six buttons on her parka! What luck!" The dog slipped as his paws got stuck in the snow.

The annoyed cat muttered, "You're so clumsy, Dean! Don't frighten this nice little girl! We're guests here and should be respectful to the owner of this precious parka with so many buttons." The cat smiled and said, "My name is Fargo. This is Dean the dog. What's your name, little girl?"

The girl blinked in surprise and said, "Hi. My name is Olivia." The cat frowned and whispered, "Human names are so weird! I'd rather call you Cotton or Snow. "By the way, do you really need so many buttons?" The cat put his paws in a pleading position, showing great interest.

Olivia hesitated. "I don't think my mother would be happy if I came home without buttons on my parka. What do you need buttons for?"

"Never mind," the cat frowned and stepped back.

"I have some candy!" The girl said, taking the chocolate candies out of her pocket. "Would you like some?"

"No, thanks. I'm on a seafood diet," the cat said.

"What does that mean? A seafood diet?" Olivia asked.

"Well, if he sees food, he eats it," Dean replied, smiling. "Just kidding. Actually, he likes meatballs and sausages!"

"Why aren't you in school, Olivia?" Fargo questioned.

"We don't usually have classes on Sundays," the girl said.

Fargo yelled, "Cats usually study on Sunday and skip the other days of the week because they're very busy."

"Doing what?" Olivia asked.

"Well, they usually scratch the couch or chase rats. Sometimes they sleep on the windowsill and bask in the sun."

"Do they give out grades at the cat school?"

"No. But if a cat learns a lesson well, they give him a tuna candy as a reward. Those candies are so delicious! Just thinking about them makes my mouth water!"