The First Witch of Boston

by Andrea Catalano

“When I am gone, do not be weighed down by sadness. Be lifted by hope—the hope that we have always shared. Be rid of this life, be rid of every vestige of it—of me!”

She had said it was because they had been made for each other, intended from the time they ceased to be stars and took their first breaths in the world of the living.

The widow was like a pale spring tulip kissed by the sun, his wife like a bloodred rose in full bloom at dusk.

power resides in gold, and gold resides in power. It matters not who sits on the throne or who controls Parliament. This is the way it always has been and the way it always will be.”

The men in power could not abide by a woman speaking her mind and gaining the admiration of others.

Thomas thought to himself that the sentence handed down by these men spoke volumes of how precarious their control of this little City Upon a Hill might be, that they so feared the words of one woman.

He knew this sentiment well. When one has such a spouse, one can only study them in awe, then look round at everyone else to see if they were just as awed. And usually they were. And that was a wondrous feeling, a pride that warms and lifts.

You see, I had only known men who threw their weight and voices round as though they were kings, as though it were their divine right. Most think they know everything and speak like they do, when it is nothing but empty words. They know naught, most of them. And the louder they are, the less they know. The more they boast, the less they have. The more show they put on in front of lasses, the less show they’ve got for you under the bed linens.”

“I wanted a man who had enough faith in his own worth, his strength, and his mind that he had no need to put on some absurd stage drama. I wanted a man who was confident enough in himself to handle the likes of me.”

When a woman caused too much trouble or spoke too plainly, it seemed, there were those who would take umbrage and use piety as excuse and reason to take her in hand.

One must always seek justice, renounce corruption, and deal honestly.

“My friend Maggie,” she declared in a low voice made raspy by anger and sadness, “dared to be a woman with a profession, a talent, and a sharp tongue. Heaven forbid such a thing, in a woman.”

Men are governed by their whims and passions far more than us women, yet they ascribe such traits to us. It is the purest form of hypocrisy there is. It has existed since the dawn of our time.

the Devil tempted Eve with knowledge, and she thought to better herself. And so she took the bait, and then Adam grew curious and envious and wanted a piece of it all. Just like a selfish child. But go ahead and tell me again how man is governed by his mind and woman by her heart. They have lied to us from the beginning.

“War is terrible.” I shivered, feeling foolish for saying something so obvious in the face of his tragedy. He laughed a little. “Men know of no other way. ’Tis their very nature.”

For you are about to execute an innocent woman. You are about to execute an innocent woman for the crime of being a woman, a woman who lived fully, spoke plainly, listened intently, observed acutely, intuited wisely, loved passionately. I am too much for this world

God damn this war, all wars. In the end, it were always the powerless and the innocent who suffered most.