Magpie tale # 31

Willow,at http://magpietales.blogspot.com

host a weekly prompt

Using the below photo write a vignette or poem

Holy Mothers

I was afraid of the lady with the long gown

who stood in the window of the shop on the corner

near my school. I had to pass her each and every day.

My friend Maisie said she was the Holy Mother,

but to me she was just a huge statue placed there

to scare kids.

Maisie said I could pray to her in time of need. Now why would I pray to

something that scared me?

Then my grandma died, and our house caught fire,

and my dad lost his job, and my mother

was going to have another baby,

and we were a family without a place to call our our own,

and I was often hungry and my mother cried a lot.

So I left the house we were staying at one night and walked over

to the shop on the corner and took off my knit hat

and stood in front of the window and I tapped on the glass and whispered,

"Holy Mother, Maisie said I could pray to you. I don't believe in you

but our family needs help and I am hungry." 

Rain started to fall in large drops and the lights inside of the store went on

casting the Holy Mother in golden light.

I waited but nothing happened and my stomach began hurting from hunger

and my feet were getting cold.

Maisie lied I said under my breath. I don't believe in anything. The only holy mother is my own.

So I turned around and started heading back to where I was living, Mrs. Turner's house. She was our neighbor, and the night our house burnt down she gathered us up and took us in, all of us. She's a holy mother,too, not that hunk of statue. I was almost home when I realized that I had left my hat in front of the store, so I headed back despite the fact that my feet were cold and soaked. When I got to the store Mr. Howard,the shop's owner, was out in front of the window with my hat in his hand.

 "This yours young lady?"

I was about to answer him when I was struck with fear.  The lady in the window... Holy Mother... was now facing the window and staring right at me.

 "Well, is it or isn't it?" he asked.

I pointed at the window, my mouth wide open in shock. I was scared right down to my cold,wet, feet.

And as he turned around and looked up, his mouth opened in shock also.

"Who did that?" he called out, "She's going to fall right over...  Excuse me miss, here's your hat. I have to go take care of that before it crashes through that window."

I stood there watching as he went inside hollering as he struggled to turn the lady around. The windows were beginning to fog up and the reflection of waving leaves in the window made the sight all the more frightening.

  So I stashed my red knit hat into my pocket and was about to run away when I mustered up the courage to take one last look at her.  And this time... her face wasn't scary at all. It was soft and kind with a little bit of sadness in her eyes.

I stood there still not believing, but I didn't fear her anymore either.

On the way home I wondered... what would I tell Maisie....and would it matter...

she'd just say it was a miracle.