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Sally Mullin&039;s Cafe

It was the usual quiet winter&039;s evening in Sally Mullin&039;s cafe A steady buzz of conversation filled the air as a e wooden tables that were gathered around a s stove Sally had just been around the tables sharing jokes, offering so the oil lah the dull winter afternoon She was now back behind the bar, carefully pouring out five o Special Ale for solanced over at the Traders she noticed to her surprise that the usual look of sad resignation Northern Traders were known for had been replaced by broad grins Sally s a happy cafe, and if she could get five dour Traders laughing before they even had their first tankard of Springo Special, then she was doing soht the ale over to the Traders&039; table by theand set it skillfully down in front of the a drop But the Traders paid no attention to the ale, for they were too busy rubbing the stea out into the gloo outside, and they all broke out into raucous guffaws

The laughter was spreading around the cafe Other custo out until soon the entire clientele of the cafe was pushing for a place by the long line of s that ran along the back

Sally Mullin peered out to see as causing the merriht light of the full moon, the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Mada like a madwoman on top of the ht Sally, that&039;s not possible

She peered through the sain Sally could not believe what she saw There indeed was Madam Marcia with three children - three children? Everyone knew that Madam Marcia could not abide children There was also a wolf and souely familiar to Sally Noas it?

Sarah&039;s no-good husband, Silas I&039;ll-Do-It-Tomorrow Heap That&039;s who it was

What on earth was Silas Heap doing with Marcia Overstrand? With three of the children? On the rubbish dump? Did Sarah know about this?

Well, she soon would

As a good friend to Sarah Heap, Sally felt it was her duty to go and check this out So she put the Washing-up Boy in charge of the cafe and ran out into the way of the cafe pontoon and ran through the snow up the hill toward the dump As she ran, her mind came to an inescapable conclusion

Silas Heap was eloping with Marcia Overstrand

It all made sense Sarah had often complained about how Silas was obsessed with Marcia Ever since he had given up his Apprenticeship to Alther Mella and Marcia had taken it over, Silas had watched her aress with athat it could have been hio, Silas had, if anything, been worse

Co, that&039;s what Sarah had said

But of course, e pile of rubbish and was painfully scrabbling her way up, Sarah was not entirely innocent either Anyone could see that their little girl was not Silas&039;s child She looked so different from all the others And once when Sally had very delicately tried to bring up the subject of Jenna&039;s father, Sarah had very quickly changed it Oh, yes, so on between the Heaps for years But that was no excuse for what Silas was doing now No excuse at all, thought Sally crossly as she stumbled her way up toward the top of the du their way down and were heading in Sally&039;s direction Sally waved her arms at them, but they appeared not to have noticed her They see a little as if they were dizzy Now that they were nearer, Sally could see that she was right about their identities

"Silas Heap!" Sally yelled angrily

The five figures jumped out of their skins and stared at Sally "Shush!" four voices whispered as loud as they dared

"I will not shush!" declared Sally "What do you think you are doing, Silas Heap? Leaving your wife for thisfloozie" Sally waggled her forefinger disapprovingly at Marcia

"Floozie?" gasped Marcia

"And taking these poor children with you," she told Silas "How could you?"

Silas waded through the rubbish to Sally "What are you talking about?" he demanded "And will you please be quiet!"

"Shush!" said three voices behind him

At last Sally quieted down "Don&039;t do it, Silas," she whispered hoarsely "Don&039;t leave your lovely wife and family Please"

Silas looked bemused "I&039;m not," he said "Who told you that?"

"You&039;re not?"

"No!"

"Shushhh!"

It tookstumble down the dump to explain to Sally what had happened Her eyes widened and her et her on their side - which was prettySilas realized that they not only needed Sally&039;s silence; they could do with her help too But Marcia wasn&039;t so sure Sally Mullin was not exactly the first person she would have chosen to help Marcia decided to step in and take charge

"Right," she said authoritatively as they reached the solid ground at the foot of the dump "I think we can expect the Hunter and his Pack to be sent after us any minute now"

A flicker of fear passed over Silas&039;s face He had heard about the Hunter

Marcia was practical and calm "I&039;ve filled the chute back up with rubbish and done a Lockfast and Weld Spell on the rat door," she said "So with any luck he&039;ll think we&039;re still trapped in there"

Nicko shuddered at the thought

"But it won&039;t delay hi - and asking" Marcia looked at Sally as if to say, And it will be you he&039;ll be asking

Everyone fell quiet