Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen The Scarecrow and Angorian

The lady appeared again. The flower shop opened the next day.Like Hal said, it couldn't be easier.Every morning, they just turn the purple sign on the doorknob to open the door, and gather flowers in the floating green mist.Soon this became the norm.Sophie walked about with her cane and scissors, talking to the cane, probing muddy ground with it, or hooking high rose branches.Mike brought his own proud invention.It was a large silicon bucket filled with water, and it was floating in the air, following Mike in the bushes.The Dogman followed suit.He runs wild on wet green paths, plays with butterflies, and hunts down merry birds that feed among flowers.As he ran about, Sophie picked a huge bouquet of hibiscus, and Mike filled buckets with orchids, roses, gypsophila, bright vermilion flowers, and whatever flowers he liked.They all enjoyed the time.

Then, before the heat in the bushes got too thick, they went back to the shop with the day's flowers and displayed them in the various jugs and buckets that Hal had collected from the yard.Two of the buckets are actually seven-mile boots.As Sophie stuck a few bunches of gladiolus in it, it occurred to her that nothing could be more indicative of Howl's complete loss of interest in Letty.He didn't care if Sophie used them or not now. Hal was almost never there when they picked flowers.Door handles are always turned black marked down.He usually comes back from a late breakfast, absent-minded, still in his black coat.He would not tell Sophie which black dress it was. "I'm in mourning for Mrs. Pentstemmon," was the most he could say.If Sophie or Mike asked Hal why he kept disappearing at certain times, Hal would look hurt and say, "If you're going to talk to a teacher, get her before school." Will disappear into the bathroom for two hours.

Meanwhile, Sophie and Mike put on their best clothes and open their shop.Hal insisted that they dress respectably.He said it would attract customers.Sophie insisted that they all wear aprons.In the first few days, people in Qiping Town just looked in the windows and did not enter the store. After that, the store's business began to improve.Word of mouth said Jenken's had flowers they had never seen before.People Sophie had known since childhood came in and bought bundles of flowers.No one recognized her, which made her feel weird.They all thought she was Hal's old mother.But Sophie had had enough of being Howl's old mother. "I am his aunt," she said to Lady Cesarey.So people started calling her Aunt Jenken.

By the time Hal arrives in the matching black apron, the store is usually pretty busy.His arrival made the shop even more busy.That's when Sophie began to be sure that the black coat was actually a cursed gray-red dress.The lady whom Hal greeted left with at least double the flowers she had asked for.Most of the time Hal tricked them into buying ten times as much.Before long, Sophie noticed that the ladies would peep inside, and would not come in if they saw Howl in the shop.She doesn't blame them.You certainly don't want to be forced to buy three dozen orchids if you just want a single rose in your buttonhole.Sophie didn't stop Hal from spending hours in the shed across the yard.

"I'm building a defense against witches, I tell you," he said. "When I'm done, she'll have nowhere to go." Leftover flowers are sometimes a problem.Sophie couldn't bear to see them wither overnight.She discovered that if she talked to the flowers, they would stay fresh.Since discovering this trick, she often talks to Hua.She had Mike help make plant nourishment spells, and she set up buckets in the sink, or pitchers in the shed where she used to trim hats, to experiment.She found that she could keep some plants fresh for days at a time.So she naturally experimented with more varieties.She collected soot from the yard and planted plants in it, murmuring incessantly.Sophie grew a blue rose in this way, much to her delight.Its buds are charcoal black, and grow bluer and bluer until they are almost as blue as Calcifer's.Sophie was overjoyed, and experimented with a shoot from each bag hanging from the beam.She said to herself that she had never been so happy.

This is not true.Something was wrong, and Sophie couldn't figure it out.Sometimes she thought it was because no one in Chipping recognized her.She dared not go to see Martha, for fear that even Martha would not recognize her.For the same reason she dared not take out the flowers from the Seven Mile boots and go to Lettie.She just couldn't accept her sister seeing her as an old woman. Mike always went to Martha with a few bouquets of flowers.Sometimes Sophie thinks this is the source.Mike was in such high spirits, and she was left alone in the store more and more.But that's not quite the case.Sophie quite likes selling flowers herself.

Sometimes the source seems to be Calcifer.Calcifer was bored.He had nothing to do but keep the castle moving slowly along the grassy paths, around the various ponds and lakes, and make sure that they arrived at the new stronghold every morning to pick different flowers.His blue face was always stretched eagerly over the fireplace when Sophie and Mike came back with flowers. "I want to see the outside world," he said.Sophie brought him fragrant leaves to burn, which made the castle room smell as strong as the bathroom, but Calcifer said that what he really wanted was company.They always stayed in the store all day, leaving him alone.

So Sophie asked Mike to spend at least an hour each morning tending the shop while she talked to Calcifer.She invented the guessing game to keep Calcifer occupied even when she was busy.But Calcifer wasn't satisfied yet. "When will you break my contract with Hal?" He asked more and more frequently. Sophie was always procrastinating. "I'm trying," she said. "It won't take long." It didn't.Sophie simply didn't want to do it unless she had to.When she put Mrs. Pentstemton's words together with all that Hal and Calcifer had said, she found herself having some strong and terrible thoughts about the contract.She was sure that breaking the contract would be the end of the day for both Hal and Calcifer.Hal may have gotten what he deserved, but Calcifer didn't.Since Howl seemed to be working hard to avoid the witch's other spells, Sophie didn't want to do anything unless it could help.

Sometimes it occurred to Sophie that maybe it was just the Dogman affecting her mood.He is so blue.His only happy hour is the early morning chase along the green path among the bushes.The rest of the time he followed Sophie, shuffling in frustration and sighing deeply.As Sophie could do nothing for him either, she was rather glad when, as it approached mid-summer, it was getting hotter, and the Dogman ran out into the yard to lie in the shade to catch his breath. Meanwhile, the roots Sophie has planted become quite interesting.The onion grows into a small palm tree, sprouting onion-flavored nutlets.Another root grows into a pink sunflower.Only one grows very slowly.When it finally spit out two green leaves, Sophie couldn't wait to see what it would look like.The next day it will look like an orchid.Its pointy leaves are speckled with lavender, and a long green stem emerges from the center, capped with a large flower bud.Another day later, Sophie put the flowers in the tin bucket and couldn't wait to come to the small room to see how it was growing.

The bud has opened into a pink flower resembling a crushed orchid.It is flat and attached to the stalk by a small dot.Four petals bloom from the pink plumpness in the middle, two facing downwards, and two facing upwards and stretching halfway to the sides.As Sophie stared at it, a strong scent of spring flowers reminded her that Howl had entered, standing just behind her. "What's that?" he asked. "If you were expecting an ultraviolet violet, or an infrared geranium, you're mistaken, Mrs. Mad Scientist." "It looks like a squeezed baby to me," said Mike, who had come to watch.

really.Hal glanced at Mike in horror, and picked up the flower pot together.He lifted the flower out of the pot and picked it up in his hand, carefully parting away the white spindly roots, the soot, the remnants of the Nourishment Charm, until he found the forked brown roots Sophie had originally planted. "I should have guessed it," he said. "It's the datura root. Sophie hit the right side again. You've got something, don't you, Sophie?" He put the plant back carefully, and handed it to Sophie, who followed Palely walked away. This makes the spell almost come true, Sophie thought, arranging the flowers in front of the window.The mandala root has had babies.There's only one thing left: the winds that let sincere hearts soar.It occurred to Sophie that if it meant Howl's heart had to be honest, the spell might never come true.She told herself Howl deserved it anyway, courting Miss Angorian every morning in the enchanted dress, but she still felt worried and guilty.She put a bouquet of white lilies in her seven-leaf boots.She climbed into the window to arrange them when she heard a regular cough, cluck, cluck from the street.That's not the sound of hooves.It sounded like a stick hitting a stone. Before she had time to look outside, Sophie felt a strange feeling in her chest.That's right, that's the scarecrow, slowly and purposefully jumping over from the middle of the street.The cloth fluttering from its outstretched arms was tattered and grayer, and its withered turnip face was determined, as if it had been bouncing since Howl had abandoned it, until it came back. Sophie was not alone in her horror.A few passers-by who had gone out early ran as hard as they could, trying to stay away from the scarecrow.But the scarecrow continued to dance without any scruples. Sophie hid her face. "We're not here!" she whispered sternly. "You don't know we're here! You can't find us. Jump away!" As the scarecrow approached the shop, the clatter, clatter of bouncing sticks slowed down.Sophie wanted to call Howl, but the only thing she could seem to do was to keep repeating, "We're not here. Get out of here!" As she had commanded him, the jumping quickened, and the Scarecrow skipped the shop and headed for Chipping.Sophie thought she was going to faint.But it looked like she was just holding her breath.She took a deep breath and relaxed, staggering a little.If the Scarecrow comes back, she can drive him away again. Howl was out when Sophie returned to the castle room. "He looked so depressed," Mike said.The black mark on the doorknob faces down.Don't be so depressed!she thinks. Mike was out, too, and that morning went to Cesare's, where Sophie was alone.Hot weather.Despite the spells, the flowers withered and few wanted to buy them.Adding the mandala root and the scarecrow, Sophie's emotions seemed to accumulate to the extreme.She is completely devastated. "Maybe the spell is wandering around trying to catch up with Hal." She sighed at Hua'er, "but I think it all comes down to it because I'm the boss. Look at me! I wanted to go out for a break, but I went back to the original place and didn't say anything. Old as a mountain!" The dog-man stuck his smooth red nose out of the yard gate, howling.Sophie sighed.The little thing checks on her every hour. "Yes, I'm still here," she said, "where else would I go?" Dogman enters the shop.He sat up, paws stretched out stiffly in front of him.Sophie realized he was trying to transform into a human.poor guy.She tried her best to treat him well, because after all, he was more miserable than her. "Try harder," she said. "Try hard. You can be human if you want to." The dogman straightened his back, tensed, tensed again.Just when Sophie was convinced he was about to give up, or fall backwards, he managed to get up on his hind legs, transforming into a disturbed, ginger-haired figure. "I'm jealous—Hal," he gasped. "Doing this—so easy. I'm—the dog in the hedge—you helped. Told Letty—I know You—I'll keep watch. I—was here before—" He began to bend back into the dog again, howling angrily. "In the shop with the witch!" he wailed, dropping his palms to the ground and growing a lot of gray and white hair at the same time. Sophie stared at the big shaggy dog ​​standing in front of her. "You are with the witch!" she said.She remembered.The anxious ginger-haired man staring at her with fearful eyes. "Then you know who I am, and that I'm cursed. Does Letty know?" The large, shaggy head nodded. "She called you Gaston," Sophie remembered. "Oh, my friend, she's been very hard on you! So much hair in this weather! You'd better find a cool place." The dog nodded again, and shuffled glumly to the yard. "But why did Letty send you?" Sophie wondered.This new discovery distraught her.She went upstairs, through the broom cupboard, to Calcifer. Calcifer wasn't much help either. "It doesn't matter how many people know you're cursed," he said. "Dog people don't get any help, do they?" "No, but—" she began, when the castle door clicked open.Sophie and Calcifer looked over.They saw the doorknob still with the black mark down and thought Hal would come in.It was difficult to say which of them was more startled, for it was Miss Angorian who had slipped in cautiously. Miss Angorian was equally astonished. "Oh, sorry!" she said, "I thought Mr. Jenkins would be here." "He went out." Sophie said coldly, wondering where Hal had gone if he hadn't gone to see Miss Angorian. Miss Angorian let go of the doorknob which she had been clutching in terror.She dropped the swinging door and walked up to Sophie with a pleading face, and there was nothing outside.Sophie found herself getting up and crossing the room.It looked as if she was going to block Miss Angorian's way. "Please," said Miss Angorian, "don't tell Mr. Jenken that I've been here. To tell you the truth, I encouraged him to do so because I wanted to hear from my fiancé, Ben Sullivan. I believe Ben The missing place is the one where Mr. Jenkins used to disappear. It's just that Ben didn't come back." "There's no one named Sullivan here," said Sophie.Then she thought, that was the name of Wizard Suliman!I don't believe a word of it! "Oh, I know," said Miss Angorian, "but it feels like this is the place. Would you mind if I look around to get a sense of where Ben is in life?" She brushed one side of her black hair behind her ear. Want to go inside the house.Sophie stood halfway.Miss Angorian had to tiptoe, pleadingly, to the workbench. "How interesting!" She looked at the bottles. "What a fun town!" she said, looking out the window. "That's Chipping Town." Sophie walked over and drove Miss Angorian back to the door. "What's upstairs?" asked Miss Angorian, pointing to the open staircase door. "Howl's private room." Sophie said coldly, walking on, forcing Miss Angorian to back away. "And where does the other open door lead?" asked Miss Angorian. "Florist," Sophie said.housekeeper!she muttered secretly. At this point, Miss Angorian had to sit down or go.Frowning, she stared blankly at Calcifer, seemingly unsure of what she was seeing, and Calcifer didn't say a word, just stared back at her.It made Sophie feel a lot better about her own unkindness.Only those who understood Calcifer were truly welcome in Howl's house. But Miss Angorian dodged the chair and noticed Hal's guitar leaning in the corner.Panting, she grabbed it and hugged her tightly. "Where did this come from?" Her voice was low and emotional. "Ben has one of those guitars! It could be Ben's!" "I heard Hal bought it last winter," said Sophie.She stepped forward again, trying to drive Miss Angorian out of the corner and out of the door. "Something must have happened to Ben!" trembled Miss Angorian, "otherwise he would never have dropped the guitar! Where is he? I know he can't be dead. If he were, my heart would Know!" Sophie was hesitant to tell Miss Angorian that the witch had caught Wizard Suliman.She looked in the direction of the skull.She kind of wanted to put it in Miss Angorian's face and tell her it belonged to Wizard Suliman.But the skull was in the sink, hidden behind a bucket of extra ferns and lilies, and she knew that if she walked past, Miss Angorian would take the opportunity to enter the room again.Besides, that's too bad. "May I take this guitar?" said Miss Angorian hoarsely, holding the guitar firmly, "to remind me of Ben." Miss Angorian's quivering voice irritated Sophie. "No," she said. "There's no need to be so pretentious. You can't prove it's his." She staggered closer to Miss Angorian and grabbed the guitar by the neck.Miss Angorian's eyes were wide with pain.Sophie tugged hard.Miss Angorian did not let go.There was a horrible, out-of-tune screech from the guitar.Sophie snapped it out of Miss Angorian's arms. "Don't be a fool," she said. "You have no right to go into someone's castle and take their guitar. I told you Mr. Sullivan isn't here. Go back to Wales. Come on." She took Guitar pushed Miss Angorian back through the open door. Miss Angorian retreated into nothingness until she was half gone. "You are cruel!" she reprimanded. "Yes, I am!" Sophie finished, slamming the door on her.She turned the doorknob orange down in case Miss Angorian came back, and clattered the guitar back into the corner. "If you dare tell Hal that she came!" she said petulantly to Calcifer, "I bet she came to find Hal. Everything else is a cover. Wizard Suliman lived here, how many years?" It's a matter of the past. He probably came here to escape the disgusting vibrato of this woman!" Calcifer giggled. "I've never seen anyone get kicked out so quickly!" he said. This made Sophie feel not only embarrassed, but even a little guilty.After all, she herself broke into the castle in much the same way, and she was twice as nosy as Miss Angorian. "Hi!" she sighed.She walked into the bathroom heavily, staring at the old face in the mirror.She picked up a box labeled "Skin," and dropped it.Even with a youthful appearance, she felt that her face could not be compared with that of Miss Angorian. "Hi!" she said. "Ho!" She staggered back quickly, pulling ferns and lilies out of the sink.She wobbled towards the shop carrying the dripping plants, stuffing them into buckets with nourishing charms. "Grow daffodils!" she said to them in a wild hoarse voice, "grow June daffodils, nasty ones!" The dog-man's shaggy face poked out at the gate of the courtyard.Seeing Sophie's state, he hurried back.When Mike came back a minute later, jubilantly carrying a large pie, Sophie gave him a glare that reminded him momentarily of a spell Howl had arranged for him, and fled from the broom cupboard. "Hi!" Sophie cursed behind his back.She bent over the bucket again. "Grow daffodils! Grow daffodils!" she hoarsely said.Her mood didn't improve because she knew it was stupid.