John bolted and was gone from the cottage before Chris or the witch got a chance to say anything.
* Wimp! He probably thinks I'm running after him leaving the loot behind, too. How scared can he be of a little old lady? * Chris thought to himself. He put his hands up with a guilty look, thinking he could sweet-talk himself out of this as easily as he had other situations.
"Ok, ok, you're right, we did it. I'm sorry. Look around, you can see we don't have much other than what we took from your cottage. Surely we can work out a deal, can't we?"
The witch smiled. "How about you carry ALL of MY items back to MY cottage for me, INCLUDING MY GOOSE, and then you can walk away with a message for your friend about why you shouldn't steal from old ladies like me?"
Chris smiled. This naive fruitcake was such an easy mark. He'd done this a dozen times -- John and he had stolen way too much for one person to carry back in one trip. It would be an all night job of returning the stolen goods, and he would have no problem embezzling some of it during the process. Maybe John would even come back and hide some of it in the woods while Chris was gone with the witch. When the morning came, he and John might not have all this loot, but they'd still come out ahead.
"Sure thing, madam! You can be sure I've learned my lesson."
"Not yet, you haven't, but you will," she said with a cackle as a blue light shone from her wand. "Let's get you ready for your long heavy journey!"