The Witch Kittens at Niagara Falls

The Witch Kittens were getting so saucy that they turned up early one autumn in broad daylight. This time they had two brooms with them - one each. The witch was being visited by another witch and they had left both of their brooms by the front door, so it had been very easy for the kittens to take them. "They'll gossip all day," said Blackberry. "We've got plenty of time

before we have to put the brooms back."

"Did you come to pay us a visit?" asked Peter. "Do you want to see what Holywood is like?" "Oh no," said Lilac "We had a look at it when we were here before". "But it was night," said Peter. "Did no one ever tell you cats can see in the dark?" asked Blackberry. "How ignorant some people can be," said Lilac. "I think you're a very rude to pair of kittens," said Peter, and he walked off to the summerhouse where Ruth was sitting doing some drawings with Sheba. It's a good thing for the kittens that Sheba didn't see them.

"Well that leaves two of you," said Blackberry, looking at lain and Andrew. "And we have two brooms. That's just right. On you hop and off will pop." lain and Andrew were a bit doubtful but they thought that if Peter had made this journey they could too. So they straddled the broomsticks which were hovering conveniently low over the lawn. The kittens jumped up

and off they went.

In a moment they were standing on the grass in a large park in front of an enormous floral clock. A great many other people were standing around watching it. lain and Andrew stood holding the brooms and Lilac and Blackberry crouched down beside them trying not to be

noticed. But lain and Andrew were noticed all right, holding their brooms, because a friendly looking man came over and said "Going curling? It's a bit early for it isn't it?" lain and Andrew just smiled and nodded, and moved away.

Once they had gone a little way, Andrew asked the kittens "What's curling and why is it too early for it?" "Oh," said Blackberry, "It's a game people play with brooms on the ice. They

sweep away anything that could get in the way of the weight they play with, so that it can move around." "Do you play it?" asked Andrew. "Oh no," said Blackberry, "We would wear out our precious brooms and the ice would be much too cold for our little paws. Besides we're not big

enough to hold on to the brooms and move them around. They would have to sweep by themselves and that would look odd. We stay out well away from games like that."

"I know what curling is," said lain. "They play it in Scotland. Are we in Scotland?" "No,

we're in Canada," said Blackberry. "In fact we're at the edge of the Niagara Parks near Niagara Falls." "We're near Niagara Falls?" asked Andrew. "Yes, we brought you here to show them to you," said Lilac. But you'll have a little bit of a walk to the actual Falls because people would

notice if we went through the town on broomsticks. There are quite a few people here who believe in Witchcraft and that kind always notice anything like that. So just hide the broomsticks behind a tree and we'll put a little spell on them, so that we can be sure of finding them again." Andrew and lain watched in fascination as the kittens danced around the broom

widdershins, making growling and hissing and chirruping noises. "Now we can be on our way," said Blackberry. "Pick us up and hide us beneath your jackets. We'll be less noticeable that way and at the same time we can tell you which way to go."

The boys walked down a fairly long Street which was called Victoria Avenue. The kittens explained that the Canadians used to be very fond of Queen Victoria. Then they turned to

the right, then crossed the street over a railway line, went down a short street with a figure of an acrobat balancing on a wire above it, turned to the right and found themselves on a road with another park to the right, a river to the left and the Falls straight ahead.

They were amazed at the tremendous sight of the masses of water pouring over the cliffs, with spray rising up all around and a rainbow caught in the spray. They hadn't known that there are actually two Falls and they stood gazing at the sight for some time. But you can't look even at Niagara Falls for ever, so they set off to walk beside the river which led in a winding way back to the park with the floral clock.

There was a low stone wall running along the edge of the path. On the other side of the wall there was a long steep slope, with bushes growing on it, running down to the river. The kittens explained that the slope was known as the Niagara Gorge and that the river was Niagara River. "There's the United States on the other side", said Lilac. "Naughty people swim across or row across because they don't want to go through Customs and Immigration but they often get drowned because the current is very strong. We wouldn't do that would we Blackberry?" "No", said Blackberry giggling, "We'd use our broomsticks!"

Andrew and lain got up on the wall to get a better view, but just then a gang of unpleasant-looking youths, who had been hanging around near them, came running up, gave lain a push and then ran away again, lain fell forwards off the wall and went rolling down the slope quite a long way. He clutched at the bushes as he went, but couldn't stop himself. Finally he

managed to come to rest against a particularly large bush, but it was clear that he could not remain in this position long.

"Oh dear oh dear", said Andrew. "If only I had my rock climbing gear, I could get lain out of there. But it's all at home in Holywood. "Can't you do anything you kittens?" "I'm very sorry," said Blackberry "But the only way we could help would be with the broomsticks and it would take too long to go and fetch them. But we can run down and see if lain is alright. Cats are very sure-footed." So Blackberry and Lilac ran down and asked him if he was alright. They soon came scampering back to say that there were no bones broken, although lain was a bit scratched but he didn't dare move for fear of slipping further.

"We'll have to get help," said Andrew. "There's a restaurant on the other side of the road.

I'll go in and ask there. So off Andrew went while the kittens hid. The manager of the restaurant listened very kindly to Andrew and said "Yes, I know what to do. We'll have to call the police and they'll send round the fire brigade." So he called the police and very soon a bright yellow

fire engine with a kind of expanding pickup on top of it, came along with its siren screaming. A police car with flashing lights came close behind.

The fireman lowered the pickup with two of them clinging to it until they reached lain.

Then they loaded him onto it and raised him up in the air until they had him on the fire engine.

After that the policeman in the car wanted to ask some questions. He started out by asking for

their names addresses and birthdates. Then he asked what they were doing in Canada. They said

they were visiting with friends which was true enough.

After that the policeman wanted to know about the accident. They told him about sitting on the wall and how lain had been pushed off, but Andrew could not describe the youths because the whole thing had been so sudden and he had been looking the other way at the time. The policeman told them they had been very silly to sit on the wall and he hoped this would be a lesson to them. They could very easily have been killed. As it was, it was a marvel that they hadn't. Then he asked them if they were unhurt and could get back to their friends alright. Since the kittens were hiding this was rather an awkward question, but just then Blackberry popped her head out from under the fire engine and said "Say yes!" so they did. From then on it was just a question of walking back to the park with the floral clock, collecting the broomsticks, and flying back to Holywood. But after this alarming experience, there was much less bounce and sauce in the kittens, and the boys were quite glad to be home.