On rejoining cousin Karen outside Mrs Hegitey’s office I felt both a sense of relief as well as a sense of dread.
Whereas I sensed a feeling of relief to be out of Mrs Hegitey’s office, I could not help feeling a certain amount of dread as to what was going to happen in the future.
What’s more, I was to now be privately tutored by this tall eccentric lady we had only all just met.
It was as if Mrs Hegitey had made a drastic change from a fairly friendly amenable shop manageress whilst downstairs to the demon headmistress once she got upstairs into her office.
My ever-astute cousin Karen sensed my confusion and distress as I stood next to her.
There was a silence between us for a minute or so whilst I grabbed my thoughts together,
After this minute or so cousin Karen started to ask questions.
Although cousin Karen had heard the unmistakable noises of a cane landing on its target, she sensed that I was not overly distressed.
Bearing this all in mind she came to the conclusion that I could not of been caned whilst in the office.
However, she was curious as to what the noise had been.
As well as this she was frightfully curious as to what had actually gone on in the office.
Cousin Karen never thought anything of ear wigging on other people’s conversations.
Since being very young she had learned to fully manipulate the art of earwigging in order to gain information on other people.
This information she gained she would store to possibly be used at a later date.
As well as this, cousin Karen had appeared to fully master the art of interrogation.
Much the same as what appeared to be the way Mrs Hegitey said she would be running my private tuition, this could be done the easy way or the hard way.
Cousin Karen could either gently coax information out of someone, or she could demand people give her the information.
Either way, she would get the information she felt she was entitled to know.
However, at this moment in time, she had decided to show a degree of compassion and gently coax the information out of me.
I started to explain how I was now to be privately tutored by Mrs Hegitey at Nanny Mitchel’s house and how I would not be returning to my current school.
“But she is a Witch,” responded cousin Karen cutting into my explanation.
I looked into the eyes of my cousin, dumb-struck as if to question why she had reached this conclusion.
“Honestly Patricia, she is a witch I tell you,” cousin Karen further interjected.
“But there is no such thing as Witches,” I finally replied.
“Yes there is,” cousin Karen quickly responded, “And she is trying to put a spell on all of us. “I should know, I am a witch myself.”
Once again I looked at cousin Karen quite dumbstruck at this latest revelation.
“But I thought Witches were things of fairy tales and fantasy,” I said, once again in a confused state.
“No,” said Karen, stamping her foot down as if to emphasize her point. “Witches do exist and Mrs Hegitey is one. She is manipulating and putting a spell on Nanny Mitchel as we speak. I can tell.”
It appeared cousin Karen was now in full flow.
However the information cousin Karen was coming out with was possibly going to all happen at a later date.
When I informed cousin Karen that Mrs Hegitey had given Nanny Mitchel school clothing vouchers as well as a twenty-pound note, it seemed that she already knew.
How she knew was totally beyond me.
I wondered to myself had she been ear-wigging?
However, I was also starting to wonder to myself if it was true that Karen could see into the future.
It appeared that cousin Karen had been right about many things.
It also appeared that cousin Karen had already known that I was going to be transformed from a boy into a girl.
As well as this it appeared that once I was transformed into a girl cousin Karen’s attitude would change towards me and would become much more friendly as if I was a twin sister.
I had already noticed that cousin Karen had started to call me Patricia instead of Peter.
Why had she been so quick to do this?
Was she in on this as well?
Had everyone sat down at a table and plotted what was to become of me.
To say my mind was boggled would be an understatement.
Cousin Karen herself appeared to be deep in concentration as if she was having some form of Psychic Prophecy.
Both of us stood silent as she was doing so.
It was then that cousin Karen started to explain to me what may be happening in the future.
She told me that she could not as of yet work out as to whether Mrs Hegitey was a good witch or a bad witch.
However one thing was for sure, she was certainly a witch.
It was at this time I noticed that cousin Karen began to falter a little.
On reflection being so young at the time, this was bound to happen.
She had yet to fully master the art of being a witch.
One trait myself and cousin Karen did share was that we were both fairly resilient.
Bearing this in mind Cousin Karen carried on with her prophecies for the future.
She told me that she thought that the private tuition Mrs Hegitey was going to give me was only the start of a much wider picture.
She went on to inform me that Mrs Hegitey was going to become an integral part of everyone’s lives.
It was also possible that eventually, Nanny Mitchels house was going to be eventually transformed into a school for special girls.
By special girls, she meant girls who were not really girls but ones that showed female traits.
Once again Karen was starting to falter a little.
It appeared that these revelations that Karen was coming out with were even too much for her bright young mind.
Meanwhile back in the office, it appeared that Mrs Hegitey and Nanny Mitchel were getting up to all kinds of shenanigans.
Instead of drinking cups of tea, which was the original plan, Mrs Hegitey had bought out the sherry and both Nanny Mitchel and her were having a little tipple whilst discussing the future.
For Mrs Hegitey the future was looking bright.
Finally, she could resume her role as a Headmistress.
For Nanny Mitchel, the future was also looking promising as she had a new friend.
However, after a glass or two of sherry, this friendship was appearing to become a little more frivolous.
The conversation about Mrs Hegitey’s use of chastisement as a headmistress had made Nanny Mitchel somewhat curious.
This curiosity had resulted in Mrs Hegitey offering to demonstrate her discipline techniques on Nanny Mitchel.
At first Nanny Mitchel declined her offer, however after her second glass of sherry she appeared to be taking on the traits of a giggling school pupil.
This had not gone unnoticed by Mrs Hegitey who promptly offered nanny Mitchel a third glass of sherry, which she gladly accepted.
“If nothing else it will keep me warm when I go back outside,” said Nanny Mitchel whilst downing her drink.
“I have something else that could keep you warm,” replied Mrs Hegitey in a matter-of-fact kind of manner whilst picking up the slipper that had been on the table.
“It is a well-known fact, Dorothy, that one should never administer discipline that they would not be prepared to receive themselves,” said Mrs Hegitey once again in a matter-of-fact kind of voice.
With this Nanny Mitchel giggled as if she were someone much younger.
She had often wondered to herself what it would be like to receive a spanking instead of administering one as she had done so often.
Mrs Hegitey sensed this and took full advantage of the current situation.
Meanwhile back outside the office Myself and Cousin Karen were starting to hear the giggles and laughter of Nanny Mitchel and Mrs Hegitey.
These giggles however were broken when we heard the unmistakable sounds of six of the best coming from the office.
