Sherry White and her seven crazy brothers

Diego to the rescue

Hans

We arrived at the herb shop to find Diego stocking the shelves.

"Yo, Hans, my man! What's shaking?" Diego asked.

"Well, not me. But that's beside the point. We need your help," I said.

The girls placed their palms in the glass case. The four little men stepped from their hands to the glass top.

Diego leaned in and looked at them. "Whoa. It's four Tom thumbs." He lifted his head and looked at us. "Where you get little people?"

"I read from a book and turned them into little people. I tried to fix it and turned them into chickens. After several attempts, I turned them back into little people."

"What book did you use?"

I handed Diego the book.

Diego took it and looked through it. "Ah, that makes sense why it didn't work. You didn't use the right herbs."

"What do you mean?" Sherry asked.

"You can't chant a spell without candles and herbs. It's screws up the spell."

"How do you know this?"

"I'll show you. Grab your little people and follow me."

The girls grabbed the four little dudes and followed Diego into the back. I locked the door and flipped the sign to close while Diego was in the back. We didn't need any surprise customers.

We stood in a room surrounded by containers of herbs on shelves. Diego walked into a room with a curtain and returned with a candle. He set that on a table and grabbed a jar of herbs. We watched him place the candle in the center of the table and sprinkle herbs around it before lighting it.

"Set the four little dudes on the floor and step back. You don't want to get in the way," Diego said.

The girls set the four little dudes on the floor and stepped back.

Diego looked down at them. "Ready little dudes?"

"Ready," they squeaked.

"Light to light. Earth to earth. Return these little dudes to what they become."

We raised our hands to shield our eyes from the flash of light before lowering them. The four little dudes were now regular-size dudes.

Diego used the candle to light a magic stick and puff on it. "Now that's the good shit."

"I'm so confused. What are you?" Sherry asked him.

"I'm a warlock or male witch. But I didn't want to deal with the coven. They didn't want to deal with the magic stick. So, I opened a shop in town to do what I enjoy."

"Wait. You're a witch. Like an actual witch," Greta said.

"Yep. But covens are so fickle. You do what they want, or they kick you out. I wanted to smoke the magic stick. They didn't like that. So, I left." Diego shrugged, took a puff, and blew it out.

"So, do you practice your craft all the time?" Goldie asked.

"Nah, I prefer to spread happiness. The magic herb makes people happy." Diego grinned.

Diego wasn't wrong. It made me happy.

******
Sherry

You learn something new about people every day. I learned the guy who sold magical herbs was an actual warlock.

The others left after returning normal. Hans grabbed a bag of something before bidding Diego farewell. We walked back to the house and sat on the back porch.