Molly Brandon was the daughter Lilith Brandon, a waspish and vaguely unattractive woman with prematurely white hair. She worked for Milton Falls' single elementary school, not as a teacher, but an office assistant and the children, as children tend to do, spread stories of her sinister mastery of magic, possibly based on an overheard conversation by their parents on the topic of Lilith's previous career as a "no-good pagan hippy." In truth, Lilith held not a magical bone in her body, and her most pagan tendencies since her early twenties happened to be a propensity for soy products and a large amber stone she sometimes wore around her neck.
Molly, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter. And the stories spread across the play ground held with them a kernel of truth dismissed by Milton Falls adult population. The occasional strange occurence around the girl was written off as happenstance: Children's sudden sickness after refusing her a turn on the swings, Jasper Williams ending up in the top of the oak tree by the school yard when the boy could barely climb a staircase without falling... all dismissed. Her teachers, however, all noted her strange, focused green eyes and found themselves uneasy in punishing her frequent misdeeds.
So when Molly Brandon lost the school beauty pageant and swore a plague upon the houses of Milton Falls. only the children took heed.
The next day was Friday, and people across the small town awoke to find their fish tanks recently vacated, not even a stray scale left behind. Lies were consoled to howling children, and stories were swapped and found to be uneasily similar.
Late Friday night, though it had been clear all weak, a loud, heavy rain berated the towns rooftops.
Saturday began like its fellow days except for the preponderance of frogs in the tall grass, and the children had contests of who could catch the most.
At Sunday church, there was an increase of squirming and scratching amoung the pews, even more then then usually provoked by Reverend Tannessy's drawling sermon.
On Monday, the children sat in the school house, still squirming and watching 20 or so fat, blue flies buzz just above their heads. The windows were opened in an attempt to draw them outside, but only succeeded in drawing more in.
Tuesday, Mr. Landing's old dairy cow dropped dead of seemingly natural causes. The children were diagnosed with a lice outbreak, each one's hair laboriously tested positive by the school nurse and sent home with an instruction sheet directing them to buy certain shampoo's and avoid sharing hats. All of them, that is, save Molly Brandon whose black hair was curiously lose-free. The school nurse send her home with the instruction sheet anyway for good measure.
Wednesday, what had at first appeared to be a strangely simultaneous outbreak of chicken-pox was found to be an inexplicable outbreak of boils. The boils were confined to several members of Molly Brandon's second grade class, though Molly Brandon herself was untouched. The rumors now leaked into the adult community. The newly busied pediatrician prescribed anti-itch cream.
Thursday, despite the mild April weather, a hail storm struck the town. It hailed from 4 am in the morning until 11 that night, and school was cancelled, more out of the shock of the staff than any actual danger to the children.
Friday, Molly Brandon did not attend class. Not many of the children attended class, and those that did were sent home, as an infestation of locusts had come upon the school during the night and it had been condemned. The pest control men found it odd that locusts had chosen to infest a building, a very out-of-character behavior for them.
That afternoon, a troop of boil-free children headed up to the Brandon's cottage. They pleaded that Molly come out to face them, and, failing to call her out, threw rocks at the windows only to be chased away by Lillith. Lillith, who was not particularly concerned about attending work, but more so about the safety of her daughter and her windows, decided to ground Molly for a month if she refused to fix whatever havoc she had wrecked upon the children of Milton Falls. Molly was despondent. Only when Lillith threatened to repeal her dessert, television and library privileges did Molly give in, and stomp off to her room.
Saturday was quiet. The children not dare emerge from their houses.
Sunday, it was found that nothing had happened the previous day. A scant congregation attended church. The children played carefully.
Monday, the school reopened, to both the relief and sorrow of its attendees.
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