Johnny and Megan

For the Friday Challenge 2/20/09:


Megan's stomach hurt. It hurt almost every night, and she couldn't get to sleep. Even though she was only eight years old, she knew there wasn't enough to eat. Father wasn't able to earn very much money cutting wood, because most everyone in the village was too poor to buy it.

However, she also knew that her friends in the village had garden vegetables to eat, because their mothers worked all day tending their gardens. Megan's mother had a small garden, but she preferred to spend her time making potato wine instead of weeding the greens and picking beans.

Johnny's stomach didn't hurt at night because Mother gave him more to eat. She said he was bigger -- he was nine years old -- and he was a boy, so he needed more.

Every night Megan waited until she could hear her father's snores, and then she would creep silently out of the cottage and go into the garden to look for any vegetables that were ready to eat. Tonight she thought the peas were probably ripe. Peas were good raw.

It seemed like it was taking a long time for Father to fall asleep. She listened extra hard, and she thought she could hear her mother talking. She got up and tiptoed into the large front room and stopped outside her parents' bedroom.

"We will all starve if we don't do this!" her mother was saying. "The only way we will survive is to take the children into the forest and leave them. We MUST do it tomorrow. We only have one loaf of bread left."

"How can I abandon my own children?" her father moaned.

"If you don't, I will leave you! I will tell everyone in the village you are an evil man who beats his wife and children, and nobody will buy any wood from you."

Megan was shocked by what she heard, but she immediately clenched her little fists and vowed to thwart her mother's plan. It would not be the first time she had needed to take care of herself.

She moved on to the outer door and quietly opened it. While she was eating the raw peas, she thought about what she could do. As she looked around for ideas, she saw the pile of round pebbles she had brought up from the creek yesterday. They were bright in the moonlight. She loaded up her nightgown with as many as she could carry.

Back in her room, she put the pebbles in the pockets of her dress, which were many and large. Climbing back into bed, she fell asleep now that her hunger pains were silenced for the moment.

The next day her mother was cheerfully rattling on about a trip into the forest. They would all go with Father while he found some good wood to cut up. She would pack them a lunch of jelly sandwiches. It would be an adventure! Father was silent.

Mother made four jelly sandwiches and distributed them. One and a half for Father, one for Mother, one for Johnny, and one half for Megan. They started off into the forest, Mother still talking cheerfully about the adventure they would have. As they got farther and farther away from the part of the forest that was familiar to Megan, she began to drop the pebbles one at a time along the path.

It was almost lunch time when Megan dropped the last pebble. She asked her mother if she could stop and eat her sandwich. Johnny wanted to eat, too. Mother smiled and said that would be fine, and she and Father would go look for wood to cut. They would be back when it was time to go home.

Megan and Johnny sat under a tree and ate their sandwiches. For a while, they played at drawing pictures in the dust, but they were so tired from walking all morning, they fell asleep. When they woke up, it was dark.

Johnny was frightened. "How will we find our way home?" he cried. "It's dark and we've never been so far into the forest before!"

"Don't worry, Johnny," said Megan. "The moon is shining, and I can see the pebbles I dropped for a trail." She ran to the first pebble and picked it up. "See? They shine in the moonlight."

It didn't take them very long to get back home, running from pebble to pebble until they began to recognize where they were. They burst into the cottage, shouting, "Father! Mother! We are back!"

Mother and Father were very surprised to see them. "Why did you sleep so long?" Mother asked. "We thought you didn't want to come home."

Johnny proudly told them about Megan and the pebbles. He thought she was very clever. Mother frowned and said, "You must be very tired. To bed with you!"

Megan waited as usual for her father to begin snoring. Her stomach was hurting again, and she couldn't sleep. After waiting quite a while, she got up and listened at her parents' door.

"We must try again tomorrow! You will lead us in a different direction. I have made sure she won't get any more pebbles!" her mother hissed angrily.

Sure enough, when Megan went to the outer door, she saw the big wooden bar had been dropped in its place high up where she couldn't reach it. She was locked in! Her fists clenched and she stood still, thinking hard. A new determination came into her face. Yes, she knew what she would do.

The next morning, Mother was all cheerful again, rattling on about the new adventure they would have today, going with Father to look for wood. She packed four jelly sandwiches and distributed them as before. Megan put her half sandwich into her empty pocket. They set off into the forest.

As they went beyond the part of the forest with which she was familiar, Megan reached in her pocket and pulled a crumb of bread from her sandwich and dropped it beside the path. She was sure the bread would shine in the moonlight, too. Maybe not as brightly as the pebbles, but enough to guide them home.

When she ran out of bread crumbs, it was lunch time, and she asked if she could stop and eat lunch. She and Johnny sat beneath a tree and Mother and Father went off to look for wood. Johnny pulled out his sandwich, but then he noticed Megan didn't have hers.

"Aren't you going to eat?" asked Johnny.

"I dropped my sandwich," replied Megan. Johnny immediately offered her half of his, and they ate together happily and drew pictures in the dust. After a while, they fell asleep, and when they woke, it was dark.

"Where are your pebbles?" asked Johnny expectantly.

"I didn't have any pebbles this time," replied Megan. "I dropped bread crumbs from my sandwich instead." She ran back along the path, looking for the first bread crumb, but there were no crumbs to be seen.

"The birds must have gotten them," said Johnny.

Megan looked horrified. "I didn't think of that!"

Now both children were frightened, but they decided to follow the path and try to find their way back home. They walked all night and all the next day, but still they didn't see anything that looked familiar. Exhausted, they fell asleep.

The next day they began walking again, and a short time later, they came upon a funny-looking little cottage in a small clearing. They ran eagerly up to it and knocked on the door, but the door felt strange. It was soft and flaky. It was a big cinnamon roll! They couldn't help it, they were so hungry, they pulled off great chunks and stuffed them into their mouths.

Then they noticed the shutters were made of chocolate! They explored the rest of the cottage. It was all made of various kinds of desserts and breads, cookies and candies, each one more delicious than the last. They ate and ate and ate! Just as they were beginning to feel they couldn't eat another bite, the door opened, and out came an old woman, leaning on a cane.

"Are you lost, children?" she asked.

They explained what had happened, and she made them come inside and gave them water, for they were very thirsty after eating so much sweets. She said they should stay with her and before they knew what she was doing, she had pushed Johnny into a soft bed inside a cage and locked the cage door.

She turned to Megan. "You will be my housekeeper. You will clean and wash up for me, and you will feed your brother until he gets nice and plump. Then I will cook him and eat him!" She cackled wildly. "And if you don't do what I say, I'll eat YOU!"

For a month, the old witch, for that's what she was, kept them locked in the cottage. Every day she brought them plenty of desserts and rich food, made with the same magic she used to make her house. She had trapped many children with her magic candy house, and then she fattened them up and ate them.

The witch was half blind, so every day she felt Johnny's finger to see if he was getting fat enough, but Megan was hiding most of the food so they wouldn't get fat, because she didn't want them to be eaten. Since the witch was so blind, it was easy to hide the food.

After a month of this, the witch became impatient and decided to cook Johnny anyway. So she told Megan to climb into the oven to see if it was hot enough for baking. The witch's oven was a very large outdoor oven with steps leading up to it and a big heavy door.

Megan suspected immediately that the witch was planning to shut the door on her and cook her, so she said she didn't know how to see if the oven was hot enough. "Here, I'll show you," the witch said angrily. She climbed up the steps and stuck her head and shoulders into the oven.

Megan had followed right behind her and shoved her into the oven and shut and latched the door so the witch couldn't get out. Ignoring the witch's screams, she ran into the cottage and unlocked Johnny's cage. The children danced and hugged each other in celebration. Then they ate their fill of the witch's cottage. While Johnny was eating, Megan packed all her pockets would hold of the jewels and gold she had found in the cottage while cleaning. At last they were free to set out for home.

After only a few hours, they realized they were near their cottage. When they ran into the clearing, they saw Father working in the garden. He was very surprised to see them, and kept hugging them and saying, "I searched all over the forest for you. Every day I went looking. But I couldn't find you."

"Where's Mother?" asked Johnny.

"She got sick," Father said with a sob. "I came home and found her. She had been drinking the potato wine, and she got very sick. I took her to the doctor in the village, but it was too late. He couldn't help her."

Johnny burst into tears, but Megan turned away to hide the look of triumph on her face as she pictured her mother drinking the poisoned wine.

"It will be alright, Father," she said. "I found a gold coin in the witch's cottage. You can buy food for us, and we won't be hungry any more." She dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out a large gold coin.

The other gold coins and jewels she didn't mention, but kept them to herself. She never had to be hungry again for the rest of her life, and when she grew up, she lived in a beautiful house and had lots of servants to wait on her, but she never trusted anyone, so she lived alone.