There's no place like home 1/9

Jennifer Jane sat with her chin in her hands, gloomily watching the rain pour down. The weather had been perfectly fine when she’d left home, but after passing through the Witches’ Home to the alternate world she’d found a dark overcast day with heavy rain.

The witch on guard duty sat beside her and every now and again one or the other would heave a big sigh. The rain was so bad that even Esme and Dulce had stayed at home, where ever that might be.

She’d come over originally to see Abigail but had been told that she was away on one of her journeywoman assignments.

Then she’d gone across to the workshops to have a word with Robert.

“He’s been sent over to the Wish Warehouse to deliver a new batch of spells, he’ll be ages yet.” The wizard in charge of the repair shop laughed, “he’s probably taken the opportunity to have a word with Polly and once those two start talking they go on for hours.”

So there she was stuck in the guardhouse, watching the rain, with nothing else to do that she could think of, except go back home. She heaved another large sigh and got up to go. As she did so she spotted something very large coming through the woods down the path from Tornak’s cave. It had to be the giant coming from his castle to collect the villagers who wanted to visit him. Somehow he didn’t look the same shape as usual.

As he left the trees, he turned to his right and walked along the track which led towards the village. The reason for his unusual shape immediately became apparent. He was wearing a cloak that hung nearly down to the ground, while his head was being kept dry by a hood.

He looked rather like pictures that Jennifer Jane had seen of mediaeval monks in their habits. It was certainly a very effective waterproof garment! He was obviously expecting to collect some customers as he was carrying his large box to put them in.

“I’m surprised any one would want to go there in this weather” Jennifer Jane remarked to the witch on duty.

“People are coming from as far away as ten miles from Lurgin’s Bridge,” replied the witch, “the news has got around that he’s friendly, so there’s still a steady supply of people who are interested in seeing the inside of a giant’s castle and coming home to tell the tale. It’s been a long journey for those who have to walk and they’re not going home again without their visit.”

At least Jennifer Jane now had an idea about how to spend the rest of her day. She remembered Peter asking her how the giant sheltered from the winter.

If he didn’t already have something to wear, she’d now be able to suggest a hooded cloak to protect him from the worst of the weather. She said ‘goodbye’ to the guard and went back to the front of the Witches’ Home.

The beautiful sunny weather on this side of the Home made her feel cheerful again, as she put her canoe back in the river and set of for the fog and the giant’s pool.

Fortunately the giant saw her coming and made sure that he kept his tears well away from ‘Drawrof’ as she paddled towards him.

She shouted up that she’d like to stop for a chat, so he lifted her up onto his shoulder and asked her what she wanted. Rather surprisingly, now that she was close enough, she could see that he was nearly as miserable as he’d been when she first met him such a long time ago.