Short Story:The Sea and Little Fishes
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Boffo is the science of meeting expectations. Witches use it a lot. Missing expectations by a mile can be quite startling, and if it's Granny Weatherwax doing it, terrifying.
A self-appointed committee led by Letice Earwig has formed to organise the Witch Trials. They feel that Granny should give way and allow someone else a chance at winning the trials. Strangely, Mistress Weatherwax acquiesces and is nice about it. In fact, she goes around being nice to everyone. Nanny Ogg tries to dissuade her, to no avail. The general consensus is expressed by dairy farmer William Poorchick: "She's got no right to go around being cheerful at people!"
One is tempted to say "no good will come of this!", but in the end, everything remains as it was.
- Published in the anthology Legends (1998), but widely available online. Later republished in A Blink of the Screen along with an additional deleted extract.