Oh, The Stories Grandma Tells.
Helga (talking to Luke): "When I was a little girl, my best friend, Erica, went missing. We were both about 8-years-old at the time. One morning, her father had sent her to Larson's, a small convenient store which was located about five minutes from her house, to buy a liter of milk. He said that he had ordered the girl to come straight home after leaving the store while he finished up with his latest painting. He wanted it to be a surprise. Mr. Erikson, Erica's father, was a most remarkable painter. His wife, a homemaker, was in the kitchen at the time baking pies.
Erica promised to do as her papa had asked and would come straight home upon leaving Larson's, not going anywhere else. Erica kissed her father goodbye, then left for the store. She never returned. The empty milk carton which her father had given her was found in an empty alleyway by the police after her parents reported her as missing -- but Erica herself -- was never found. Everyone in the town assisted in the search for her. We searched for miles around, but there was no trace of Erica and there were no clues as to what had become of the girl. It was as if she had completely disappeared.
Personally, I believe that the creepy old woman who lived across the street from Erica's family took her. I always believed that she was a witch. Mr. Erikson used to tell us stories about witches, he would tell them to Erica and me, you see. He told us that the world's first witches had appeared in Norway. They were as real as the devil. They were the gospel truth. The witches hate children, he told us, and they come up with all sorts of terrifying ways to get rid of them because - to a witch - children smell of dogs' droppings. See that little girl in the painting over there? That's Erica in the painting. I painted it about 60 years ago, while I was a student at Oslo University."
Luke (talking to Helga): "Grandma, have you been forgetting to take your medication again? Dad told me you went to Oslo University and won an award for that painting of the little girl, but from what he told me, you didn't have any friends when you were a kid because everyone thought you were crazy. He said that your mother told him when he was a boy that Erica was the name of your imaginary friend. Dad said that the couple who lived across the street from you, the Eriksons, never had any children.
Dad said that your mom told him that one day you started raving that Erica stopped talking to you and that you believed she had 'been taken away by an evil witch' -- and that's why she no longer talked to you. Dad said that great-grandma told him that Mr. Erikson was the one who told you the stories about 'real witches' but that no one ever understood why you took his stories about witches so seriously."
Helga (talking to Luke): "Lies, all lies! What your father told you isn't true. What my mother told your father isn't true. Erica was REAL, I tell you! She was NOT imaginary, and it WAS the witches who took her -- and if YOU'RE not careful, Luke -- they'll get YOU, too! Witches are real, and if you don't want to be taken by them, you need to know what witches are really like and what they can do so that you can protect yourself from them."
Luke (talking to Helga): "You're crazy, Grandma".
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