The Button Witch. Part Two. Nataliya Bogoluibova

as he jumped out of the snowdrift.

      The creature dropped the button, then turned its head, blinked at Dean, and remained silent. It was impossible to tell from its bug-eyed expression whether it was horrified or amused.

      "What are you waiting for? Get that thing!" Fargo yelled. They chased the mouse into a ravine. There was a huge dead oak tree with strangely shaped roots there. The mouse darted into the hollow covered with a pile of dry leaves. Fargo ran after it, panting. Olivia and Dean followed the courageous cat.

      "Good thing I'm thin and short," Olivia thought, "or that hollow in the oak is big enough for a nine-year-old girl to fit through."

      CHAPTER THREE

      Meeting Ron

      

      The street was filled with beautiful buildings. Yet the houses seemed abandoned and uninhabited.

      "What a strange place!" Olivia whispered.

      One of the houses had a sign that read "Catsville."

      "That's probably the name of the town," Dean suggested.

      They turned the corner and bumped into a snowman. The snowman was playing basketball, but the ball was rather strange. It looked like a hedgehog.

      Olivia asked, "Does it hurt to play basketball like that?"

      The snowman looked at her and said, "I'm a frosty creature, and I don't feel any pain. It's fun."

      Olivia was puzzled by his answer. "I mean the hedgehog. It could be hurt. Why are you throwing the poor creature in the basket?"

      "I'm playing BASKETball, you know? Where else would I throw it? I wish I had a real ball, but the ugly witch turned the ball into a piece of ice. So I'll use what's handy. Besides, the wimpy hedgehog doesn't mind being a ball."

      Olivia pleaded, "If I promise to get you a new ball, will you let the poor hedgehog go?"

      The snowman said, "I don't need a ball! I need a button!"

      The disappointed girl said, "I’ve got no buttons, sorry."

      "You're wrong, Olivia," the cat meowed quietly, pointing at the girl's parka. "You've got six big buttons on it!"

      The hedgehog looked at the girl hopefully. Olivia glanced at the poor creature with a warm smile, tore the button off, and handed it to the snowman.

      

      "Good of you!" he said, dropping the hedgehog and walking away. The hedgehog was shivering with fear and cold.

      "Are you all right?" asked Fargo. "This is an odd place to feel safe. Can you tell me why most of the houses in this town are abandoned?"

      The hedgehog looked at Fargo with a mixture of curiosity and fear. He said, "I am very surprised to see you. Sorry, I have to explain myself. We're not used to meeting cats here anymore. Things have changed a lot since the Button witch came to town. Catsville used to be a place where cats lived happily. But the wicked witch wiped them out. Close to the town is a giant ice park. There are dozens of poor frozen cats there. Just be careful. It's best to stay out of her way."

      "Thanks for your warning. My name is Fargo. This is Olivia and Dean. "What's your name? Where do you live?"

      "I'm Ron. I live over there. In the fox's burrow. It's abandoned. The fox moved to the village because he was offered a good job on the chicken farm."

      Fargo the cat said, giggling loudly, " Does the fox work on a chicken farm? Or did I hear that wrong?"

      Dean added, "That doesn't sound safe for hens."

      "Sure. The farmer looked confused when I met him last week. He mentioned that too many chickens were missing. The sly fox blamed it all on the hawks."

      Olivia said thoughtfully, "Why does the witch have such a strange name? What's with the buttons?"

      Ron the hedgehog explained, "The witch is obsessed with buttons. I think she feeds on them. The evil witch always appears when darkness falls."