Mini-Witch Sees a Psychiatrist

"Mersina, Dear," Miss Robbins began, "Billy tells me you think you're a witch."

"That's right," Mersina nodded. "I am a witch."

Miss Robbins smiled. "Children your age often imagine things like that. But you must learn how to tell the difference between what you imagine and what is real."

"Oh, I really am a witch," Mersina protested. She looked up at the clock on the classroom wall. "Can't I go home now, please, Miss Robbins? I promised my horse I'd take her out for a ride as soon as I got home from school, and she'll be worried if I'm late. And she gets awfully bored sitting up on the mantel all day."

"You keep your horse on the mantel?" Miss Robbins asked.

"Oh, yes," Mersina nodded. "We don't have room to keep a real horse in our house, so I maker her small after I'm finished riding her. She isn't really a horse, you know. I changed her from an ant with a magic spell."

Miss Robbins sighed and reached for a pad of paper and a pen. Quickly she wrote out a note. "Please give this to your mother, Dear," she said. "I think you need some help."

Mersina peeked at the note on the way home. "I wonder what a psychiatrist is," she thought.

When her mother saw the note, she exclaimed, "Mersina, haven't I told you not to get into trouble? Why do you have to go around telling people you are a witch? Don't you know how unkind they can be to someone who is a little different?"

"But you tell me I should always tell the truth, Mother," said Mersina.

Her mother sighed. "Well, I guess you'll have to see this psychiatrist."

The next day Mersina was lying on a couch in Dr. Hugo's office. "And what makes you think you're a witch, little girl?" the psychiatrist smiled.

"I can do things that only witches can do," Mersina explained. "Look, I'll show you." She pointed at his desk across the room. Half a dozen pencils and pens stood up and began to dance in the middle of the blotter.

"That was pretty good," said Dr. Hugo. "But of course, it was just hypnosis. I've done some tricks like that myself."

Mersina looked around the room. She pointed at the bookshelf. Suddenly a book popped off the top shelf. It hung in mid air and opened its pages. A deep voice out of nowhere began to read the words on the page. A second and a third book leaped off the shelves and began to read themselves, too. Soon there was a babble of voices as more and more books sailed about the room, fluttering their pages.

"My, that is a good trick," said Dr. Hugo. "But of course, they aren't really there." He got up and walked over to the nearest book. As he reached toward it, the book jumped right into his hand. Now it began to read itself faster and louder than ever.

The psychiatrist scratched his head and looked at the book carefully. "I'm not sure how you're doing it," he said, "but you've got to stop thinking that you're a witch. There really aren't any witches. They're only make- believe."

Mersina was getting annoyed now. She pointed at the psychiatrist and said a magic word. Suddenly Dr. Hugo felt strange. The book he was holding seemed to be getting bigger. Actually he was getting smaller. Soon he was smaller than the book, which was still hanging in mid-air. He looked down at the floor. It seemed like miles below.

"Help! Help! I'm going to fall!" Dr. Hugo shrieked.

Mersina got up from the couch and skipped over to the middle of the room. She picked him up from the book and held him in her hand. "Now do you believe I'm a witch?" she giggled.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" the tiny psychiatrist whimpered. "Just put me down!"

A moment later, Dr. Hugo was stretched out on the couch. Mersina was perched on a stool behind him with a pencil in one hand and a notebook in the other.

"Now, Dr. Hugo," she beamed, "just when did you first get this fear of high places?"

©1972, 2013 The Silversteins