How To Dip a Witch in Five Minutes or Less (standard:drama, 1958 words)
Author: heather	Added: Oct 23 2000	Views/Reads: 3706/2290	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
After much critiquing on the part of a fellow literature lover, I decided to remove the first "How To Dip a Witch", revise, and resubmit. Reread and re-enjoy.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

from Parris' house, why did you do so?" he asked. 

"I did not mutter, but I thanked him for what he gave my child," she
replied quickly so he couldn't interrupt. 

"Have you made no contract with the devil?" Worth asked her. 

"You already asked me that question!  I said no!" Sarah said with
annoyance. 

"Oh, are you going to cast hexes upon me now, Sarah?" he asked with mock
fear in his voice. Worth walked away from the stand and over to the 
benches where six girls sat. 

"Children, please look upon the face of Sarah Good.  Is this the one
that torments you?" he prodded them. 

"No," moaned the children. 

"No?  She does not torment you?" Worth asked faltering slightly.  This
was an unexpected change in events. 

"We cannot look!" 

"Oh!" Worth said with relief.  "Oh, just look, will you?" 

"No!  We cannot!  Our eyes, our eyes!" 

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Worth asked, annoyed. 

"The pins!  The pins!" they cried. 

"The pins?  What pins?  You've got pins in your eyes?" he inquired. 

"Yes!  Yes!" they cried. 

"Why on earth have you got pins in your eyes, you twits?" he hollered. 

"It's her!  It's her!" 

Worth slapped them each smartly across the face. 

"Will you quit saying everything twice!" he roared. 

"We can't!  We can't!" 

"It's her!  It's her!" 

This set up a loud moaning among the six. 

Sarah Good rolled her eyes. 

"You see, you've lied again!  Look at them moaning like a bunch of sick
sheep!" Worth accused her. 

"It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the pins in their eyes?"
Sarah retorted. 

"The pins you put there!" Worth ventured. 

At this, the moaning became more loud and insistent. 

"Ridiculous!  How could I?  I was sitting in that mud hole of a cell you
beasts had thrown me in, and my hands were bound tightly!" Sarah said 
defensively. 

"She lies!  She lies!" the children cried. 

"Will you shut up!" Worth yelled. 

The populace gasped again, and the court stirred nervously.  Once things
were calm again, Worth continued. 

"I ask again.  Why do you torment these children?" 

"I do not torment them!" Sarah repeated. 

"Well, somebody's putting pins in their eyes!  Who have you employed to
torment them?" 

"I employed no one!  I scorn it!" she cried. 

"How came they thus tormented?" Worth pressed her. 

"What do I know?  You bring others here, and then charge me with it!"
Sarah said carelessly. 

"Why, who was it?" Worth got excited. 

"I know not, but it was someone you brought into the meeting house with
you!" she said. 

"We brought you into the meeting house!" Worth stated suspiciously. 

"Yes, but you brought two more, did you not?" Sarah asked. 

"Who is the interrogator around here?" Worth shouted angrily.  "I am the
interrogator!" 

He turned to the court. 

"Who is the interrogator?" he prompted. 

"You are the interrogator," the people replied, the six girls in front
replying twice as was fitted to their condition. 

"That's right." he said. "Anyway...who was it that tormented the
children?" 

"It was Osburn," Sarah answered. 

"I thought you said you didn't know!  Are you lying again?" Worth
snapped. 

"If I say the negative, how will you know if it is truth?" Sarah asked
sharply. 

Worth whirled around to the court. 

"Someone tell her who's the interrogator?" he roared. 

"He is!" the crowd roared back, pointing to Thomas Worth. 

Worth nodded with satisfaction, then turned back to Sarah and paused,
contemplating his next move, but he could not resist. He quickly turned 
around. 

"Who?" he asked, barely audible. 

"You!" the crowd roared. 

"Ah, yes, I'd forgotten." 

Sarah threw up her hands with exasperation. 

"Ooh!  She's doing spells, spells!" the children moaned. 

"Are you doing spells?" Worth roared. 

"No!" 

"What were you muttering when you walked from Parris' house?" he asked
quickly, catching her off guard. 

"If I must tell, I will," Sarah replied. 

"I wouldn't be asking if I didn't want you to tell me, you fool!" Worth
roared, wiping his sweaty face off with a sleeve. 

"If I must tell, I will," Sarah repeated.  "It was a commandment.  I may
say my commandments, I hope!" 

"Which was it?" 

"If I must tell you, I will, it was a psalm." 

"What psalm?" Worth inquired. 

The court room was silent for many minutes, until Sarah answered.  Worth
awoke with a start. 

"Tell me, Miss Good, who do you serve?" Worth asked quietly. 

"God," Sarah answered firmly. 

"Which god?" 

"The God that made Heaven and Earth," she replied. 

Worth nodded and stepped from the stand. 

"Who?" he asked the court. 

"You!" 

"Oh, all right," he said with glee. 

After some time, the judges of the court stopped their whispering and
faced forward. 

"We have found Sarah Good guilty on all counts of witchcraft
and--putting pins in children's eyes..." Judge Hathorne said akwardly. 

"The pins!  The pins!" the children moaned. 

"Shut it!" Hathorne hissed at them.  "Therefore," he continued with
great dignity, "Sarah Good shall be hanged tomorrow.  There will be 
refreshments and games afterward, perhaps some speeches, who can say, 
but don't miss it, it'll be good." 

At this, another judge whispered something in his ear. 

"Hang on!  Strike that.  We'll dip her first, then we'll hang her!" 

A great cheer rang through the court, and they bustled out of the room. 

The six girls in front pulled their hands away from their eyes, which
were quite healthy and unharmed, and stepped out of the courtroom, 
sticking out their tongues at Sarah Good. 

The following day, Sarah Good was removed from her cell by the judges,
and brought to the river, followed by the entire town of Salem, not 
including houses and trees.  A large, crudely-constructed cage stood 
next to the river with some ropes attached to it. 

"What's that for?" Sarah asked. 

"What have I said about you asking questions?  Who is the interrogator
here!" Thomas Worth roared. 

A few sleepy replies scattered the crowd, and Worth looked disappointed.


"Nevertheless, we shall answer your question, seeing as you are about to
die," Judge Hathorne said.  "That is for your dipping." 

"My dipping?" Sarah inquired. 

"You will find out soon enough," Hathorne snickered cruelly. 

Sarah was taken by two men on either side of her to the cage and placed
her ZXinside. 

"How is this going to tell is she's a witch?" one asked the other
quietly. 

"You idiot!  We hold her under the water for a minute or five, and if
she lives she's a witch!" replied the other man. 

"Oh," the first man said with embarassment.  "Well, what if she drowns?"


"Oops!" the man answered, laughing maniacally. 

The first man's eyes widened with fear. 

"Here, take the rope and shut it," the other man said with exasperation.


"Are you sure this is a good thing to be doing?  Isn't this murder?" the
first man asked fearfully. 

"Course it is!  But they don't know that.  Nobody likes her, so we're
drowning her," the other man replied. 

"That's preposterous!" the first man said. 

"Do I feel a fit coming on?" the other man threatened. 

"Well, shove her in already!" the first man said, a grin upon his face
that did not succeed in disguising his fear. 

"Oh, I feel better all of a sudden!" the other man said shrewdly.  With
that, he shoved the cage into the water, which was thirty feet deep in 
that spot.  He had given Sarah Good no notice of it, and she had no 
time for a breath. A few young villagers swung their mugs of beer, 
cheering. The first man got anxious. 

"Oh, let her up!  That's long enough!" 

"Ow!  Pins!  Something's pricking me!" the other man screamed. The first
man fell silent again. A few bubbles rose to the surface, then stopped. 


"Raise the cage, gentleman!"  Judge Hathorne instructed, a knowing smile
upon his face. 

The men pulled the ropes until the cage bumped again onto shore.  The
limp, soaked body of Sarah Good lies inside, her eyes wide in terror, 
her skin a dull blue. 

The crowd gasped. 

"Oops!" cried both men. 

"Oh, damn!  She wasn't a witch?  Too bad." Judge Hathorne said with mock
concern. 

"There will be no hanging today!" another judge announced over the
hubbub. 

The crowd groaned with disappointment, and the two young men with the
mugs of beer booed loudly. 

"Shut it, all of you, we've got twenty-four more people to falsely
accuse and unrightfully murder, so quit your yappin'!" The crowd was 
subdued, and gradually dispersed. 

"That was wrong!" the first man at the cage whispered. 

"Shut it, or I'll make that twenty-five!" Hathorne hissed at him. 


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