- Does she live alone, across the hallway from you, and does your daughter call her a witch? While giggling, and after you scold her, in whispers, to her friends? Does your daughter say any of the following?
- I hope we see the witch today.
- I dare you to knock on her door.
- Do you think she would teach us magic?
- Is her hair carelessly styled, is she well past middle age, and has she neither disguised these facts nor disappeared from sight?
- Nor disappeared from the courtyard occupied by women in lipstick, gathering to chat in the mornings?
- Does she duck past you sometimes, as though she were hiding something?
- Do you think she might occasionally like to disappear?
- Can the tinkling of a piano sometimes be heard from her apartment late at night? And if so, which of these might you identify?
- Beethoven?
- Handel?
- A haunting melody of unknown origin?
- Does the music occasionally leave you melancholy?
- Has a certain gentleman been seen to visit her apartment, with white hair and a low voice, who may be supposed to be a warlock?
- Does he occasionally bring flowers?
- Did you notice an unidentifiable herb mixed into the bouquet?
- Do entire days, even weeks, pass, and you see little of her, and yet the light inside the apartment flicks on and off? Could it be—
- She is on a retreat for witches?
- She is using a dark and light spell?
- She possesses the power of invisibility?
- Does she ever give you a curious smile when you pass in the hallway? And aren’t you, as well, a woman living without another adult at home?
- Are you sometimes lonely?
- Or, is it possible that feeling is an internalized norm, suggesting there is one way only to live a life?
- As a woman?
- At your age?
- Meaning, with a spouse?
- And presenting as a certain person in public?
- Who never makes others uncomfortable?
- And if you don’t present in that way, you are aware, aren’t you, that certain accusations may be made?
- Have you ever felt fatigued when passing by her closed door? Such as that might take place if someone were placing a hex on you?
- Or, are you exhausted sometimes from the burdens of parenting?
- Are you familiar with paradoxes?
- Such as the possibility that solitude can be difficult, even as you draw toward it?
- Is it possible that any of the neighborhood women envy her?
- What about the one whose husband mentioned casually he doesn’t like his wife on social media?
- What about the woman who joked that she’s waiting for retirement, when her family needs her less, to take up a hobby?
- Do you too, on occasion, wish to leave your hair unattended?
- And go without makeup?
- Ducking past the women in the courtyard?
- Quickly, as though you were hiding something?
- Is it possible that hallway smile was one of recognition?
- Does she recognize something in you?
- Your ability to do things alone?
- Such as
- Raising children?
- And bending the world a little, to your will?
- A proclivity to magic?
- Does your power frighten you?
- Or, do you find it alluring?
- Is it difficult sometimes, because of the ways in which you were socialized, to admit this?
- Can the odor of a warm broth sometimes be detected, wafting from your apartment into hers?
- Did you imagine, when you were a girl, with two parents and a large family, that you might take such pleasure, once the children were asleep, of cooking for no one in particular?
- Do you ever tire of the gaze of others?
- If you could pass an entire day, and know that no one would see you, how would you spend it?
- Would you step outside as you are, without any fuss or expectations, carelessly, let the wind tousle your messy hair, and the sun shine upon your bare face?
- You might have to be a witch first, of course. But imagine if you could live as though you were invisible. Imagine if you possessed this power already.
- Can you remember for how long you’ve wanted to learn piano?
- And dabble with powerful spells?
- And teach magic to little girls?
