Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales Paperback

I listen to Chick’s ragged breathing and I want to have it out with the old bitch.

I put a coat over my pajamas and pull on boots. I put a sweater on ? 228 ?

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Chick and swaddle her in a quilt. She’s a featherweight when I pick her up. Her eyelids flutter, then open and she looks through me with dead eyes before she closes them.

The barn’s cold. I can see the shape of my breath. The hag’s nest has been reduced by time to a rotting pile that reeks. She doesn’t seem concerned. It’s her throne.

“I want a word with you. You cheated me.”

The hag hasn’t aged, where I feel the weight of the last twelve years. She still wears a riot of once-white rags.

“She’s unique, isn’t she?” The hag clucks and coos like a proud parent. “You can’t remake her in your own image. She’s herself entirely. That’s children for you.”

Chick’s awake now. Alert. She wriggles, wanting to be put down.

“Eloise,” the hag calls.

“She only answers to Chick.”

The hag smiles at that.

“Chick, come here.”

I hate that Chick goes to her without hesitation.

“She’ll do nicely.”

“For what?”

“Our bargain. You don’t want her. I’ll take her back as payment.”

“No.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never thought of smothering her with a pillow or drowning her in the bath.”

I can’t deny it.

The hag’s fingers roam over Chick.

“She’s a fair payment. She has what my other fledglings don’t. A wishbone.”

“I’ve been wishing on it for years,” I laugh. “It’s useless.”

The hag’s quick as a whip. Chick’s across her knee, squirming and crying to be set free. “Wishbones must be broken if the wishes are to work.”

Chick’s cry rises as the hag presses on her collarbone.

“Stop!”

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“Really? I suppose you’re right. Wishing shouldn’t be an impulsive thing. And it’s strongest when the bone’s clean. I’ll boil her in a barrel.

Don’t look put out. I’ll be a sport. You can pull one end. That’s a fifty-fifty chance on the greatest wish ever made. And Chick’s hands and feet will make the finest divining bones.”

“No.”

“No?” The hag cocks her head on one side. “You could wish for a child. One that runs to you, arms out, when you call.”

“Let her go.”

“Ah, I see. You want it for yourself. Snap it and you could have a whole brood to comfort you in your dotage. Who’ll hold your hand on your deathbed and bear your genes into the future. Children to praise your name and make you proud.”

“I said let her go. Nothing of hers will be broken.”

“Really?”

“You’re hurting my daughter.” I climb onto the nest.

“But you don’t want her.” She holds Chick out of reach.

“I do. Every inch of her is mine. I’ve paid in pain and sacrifice.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because you made her pay too. She’s suffering and you can stop it.”

“I can’t make Chick different.”

“That doesn’t matter.” I wouldn’t tamper with a single cell of her.

“I don’t know what she’s sickening for. You do.”

“I can’t tell you what she needs.” The hag’s stroking Chick now.

Quieting her. “Do you know?”

The hag’s white eyes stare through me. She’s waiting.

I look at Chick. Here it is, mother’s intuition, twelve years too late.

“Yes, I know.”


When the hag stands she’s eight feet tall, most of her length is spindly legs. She looks less haggard now. She leans down and passes Chick to me, then shakes herself out. The white tatters look like ruffled feathers. There’s a sudden soft gloss about her.

“Up here.”

I follow the hag up the rickety steps to the hayloft. She stoops to ? 230 ?

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fit. A hole in the roof reveals clouds racing overhead. The birds have gathered up here, a panoply of breeds to bear witness to the glory of this morning. I can feel every thudding heartbeat.

Here it is. The biggest sacrifice.