Não tanto quanto eu posso dizer. Do livro, há apenas essa discussão. Provavelmente mudou para o filme desde que um dedo mindinho encurtado foi um efeito especial mais fácil do que um polegar faltando.
"Grandmamma," I said, "when you were a little girl, did you ever meet a witch?"
"Once," my grandmother said. "Only once."
"What happened?"
"I'm not going to tell you," she said. "It would frighten you out of your skin and give you bad dreams."
"Please tell me," I begged.
"No," she said. "Certain things are too horrible to talk about."
"Does it have something to do with your missing thumb?" I asked.
Suddenly, her old wrinkled lips shut tight as a pair of tongs and the hand that held the cigar (which had no thumb on it.) began to quiver very slightly.
I waited. She didn't look at me. She didn't speak. All of a sudden she had shut herself off completely. The conversation was finished.
"Goodnight, Grandmamma," I said, rising from the floor and kissing her on the cheek.
She didn't move. I crept out of the room and went to my bedroom.