LONG STICK THE ASTRONAUT BROOM

Long Stick was a thin ash wood broom, strong but elastic, much loved by the other brooms and brushes, inhabitants of the world of the Four Sides.
Only an inner sorrow depressed her, the witches from a hundred kilometers around rejected her as a means of transport.

-But, ma'am... - ...I begged Long Stick every time I met a pointy-hatted witch... Why won't you fly with me?
-Lightning, toads and snakes," exclaimed the witch of the North Side of the West Corner in anger. A lady with very bad fleas, indeed. - You know they made you so perfect, so straight, you're no good as a broom for the witches' union.
-But I can fly very well... and very fast.
-Mmmm... I said no! Now get out or I'll turn you into firewood to heat my potion-making pot.
And our broom, with its head down, saddened, went off to cry its sorrows, to a corner of the ramshackle hut of the witch Four hairs.

Next to the pot, in which the witch prepared her potions, a large, dark-furred cat was sleeping and warming its round body with the embers of the now extinguished fire. Hearing the cry of the grieving broom, he purred, yawned, stretched his supple body, and waving his long whiskers mewed at the sad Long Stick:
-I have the solution, my dear. And shut up, I am an old romantic cat who cannot watch a young broom shed its tears.  
 -Is it true, Mr. Cat?" she replied hopefully, our friend.
-Of course. The solution is very easy. The profession of the future is to be a broom astronaut.
Long Stick opened his eyes without really understanding what the cat had said.
-What's that? -What's that?
- You have to modernize, my dear. You know how to fly... don't you? The broom nodded, waving its finely twigged feet. - So if you can fly and you're fast... it's clear: broom astronaut.
That cat with the coal-colored fur had lost his mind. Long Stick thought... but if he was right...
-And where do I have to go to get that astronaut job? -I don't know.
-Go to the West Side of the East Corner. That's where the Green hairs Witch lives. Say you're going on behalf of Charcoal, the cat of the Hairless Witch, she's a good friend of my family.

After flying for several hours from one side of the country of Live with the Magic to the other, our young broom arrived at the cabin of the witch Green hairs.
That two-story house was covered with antennas and radars of all sizes and colors.
I was about to knock on the door, when a voice rumbled through a small speaker.
-Welcome, Palo Largo.
Through the window beside the entrance there appeared a figure of a witch with elongated features, a pleasant smile, with a bush of green hair and a huge blue hat.
-Come in, little one, Charcoal has already warned me of your arrival.
-Thank you, ma'am, that's very kind of you. 
When Palo Largo entered the great cabin, he found himself in a room full of consoles with enormous panels, full of buttons and multicolored screens on which one could see everything that was happening, in the world of the Four Sides.
-So you want to be an astronaut broom...
-Mmmm... Yeah. That's what I wish.
-Do you know what an astronaut broom has to do?. -Mmm.
Long Stick shook his head as he looked enthusiastically at the many buttons and knobs.
-At my command I have the best airborne broom squadron you can find in all the corners of this world of ours. They are my messengers, and they carry the mail from one witch to another.
-I have an empty seat right now. One of my brooms has crashed and I need to cover the place. Are you interested?
Long Stick couldn't believe his ears. Finally, someone offered him a job.
-Of course he did! -When do I start?
-Right away. You must take this message to the Witch of the West Hole on the South Corner of the East Side. You won't get lost.
-No, Mrs Witch. I know the world of the Four Sides, like the bunch of twigs that hold me.
And so, with hard work and professionalism, Long Stick became the general manager of the astronaut brooms of the Four Sides world. 

END

Javier Sanchez