“What’s a smeet?” asks Gretel.

“I’m not sure.” Hansel shrugs. “Let’s find out!”

The children approach the vehicle. Gretel taps on the glass window, tinted so they can’t see inside.

“This person is rich.” Hansel whispers.

The window rolls down creakily. Inside, they see a small, old looking woman at the wheel.

“Hello, dear children. Would you like some cakes and sweets?” The woman’s voice was frail and shaky.

“Oh yes!” Hansel and Gretel cried in unison. The woman beckons them to sit in the back, and they clamber into the automobile.

“Here, children, have some cakes. Have some sweets.” The woman holds out beautiful little boxes of cakes and colorfully wrapped sweets. Hansel and Gretel reach for them greedily and began feasting. The woman starts driving.

“Now then,” the woman says as the children stuff themselves with sugary foods, “I can take you home and butcher you.”

“I’m sorry?” Hansel says.

“Times are hard, dear children!” The old woman laughs, the sound like a screech. “I have to eat too, you know.”

“You can’t eat us!” Gretel cries, aghast.

“Says who?” The woman chuckles.

“No!” Hansel yells.

Gretel drops her sweets on the floor of the automobile. She brings her little legs to her chest and slams them into the back of the old woman’s driving seat in front of her.

The woman exclaims loudly, and Gretel continues to kick her seat.

“Stop that!” The woman hollers.

Hansel cranks his window down and sticks his head out. “Police! Help!”

His yelling and Gretel’s kicking cause the old woman to slow and eventually stop her flashy automobile. A policeman comes to Hansel’s window.

“Sir, we’ve been kidnapped. Please help.”

“Lies!” The old woman screams. “Lies, these children are my niece and nephew.”

“No we aren’t!” Gretel yells. “She’s gonna cook us to eat, mister policeman. Help us!”

The policeman quickly opened the back door of the car. The children scrambled out and hid behind him while he talked to the frantic old woman.

After the woman was away in handcuffs, Hansel and Gretel stuffed their pockets with sweets from the woman.

The policeman escorted them back to the Hooverville, where they were met by an anxious mother and father. They had heard that the children did not make it to their Aunty Carla’s house and were worried.

But the children told their tale with great drama and emptied their pockets for all the sweets to be seen. Their parents were wide-eyed with surprise and joy.

“Then was all care at an end, and they lived in great joy together.”

THE END

~part two~