The Humpbacked Bridge

My writing group piece on the theme of time travel. A hunchbacked witch lives on the humpbacked bridge, and for a penny-bun from the bakery, she'll tell your fortune. To William Dunn the swineherd she tells of a successful fishing enterprise on the lake. To Jane More the candlemaker she tells of acclaim for her tapestries. To Oliver Hamm the carpenter she says, “You will leave the village.” “Where do I go? What do I do?” “How should I know?” she replies with a shrug. “You leave the village.” When the magistrate's wife arrives, great with child, the witch sighs. “Are you certain? Everyone wants to know their fortune - until it is bad. Then it's pitchforks for me.” “Yes,” the woman says, holding her belly. Handing over four buns, which is very persuasive. “But I like my cottage.” “Hovel,” the woman corrects. True the witch curls up in her blankets at night because there is no angle she can lie straight. But it is her hovel, that she first saw years ago on a postcard, when it was owned…