Friday, September 10, 2010

Magpie tale # 31

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.




18 comments:

  1. Very interesting. After all she had been through, and going there in spite of her fear and not believing, I was half expecting the shop owner to offer her something other than her hat.

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  2. Overcoming fear can bring about a whole new aspect to our lives...she not only realized her own mother and Mrs. Turner who took them in where the true Holy Mothers to her, but that the fearful one became one too...in her eyes. Nicely done.
    The shop owner's apparent fear was a surprise to me...cool

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  3. oh nice...glimpses of the unseen world...not enough for belief but maybe enough to doubt...nice mag!

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  4. A wonderful story, I was living every thought the poor girl had, sad but beautiful too.

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  5. Suz, lovely, Maisie was on to something. Great story, as a child brought up Catholic, Mary was always who the females prayed to in times of crisis, I still do sometimes.

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  6. I am glad the statue didn't seem scary anymore. Sometimes things r so desperate, that we have 2 talk 2smone or smthing. and even tho she didn't believe, talking can help.

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  7. i think a second look always helps to conquer fear.. nicely said.

    My Magpie

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  8. This was wonderful. A change in perspective makes so many things look different.

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  9. I believe in miracles. Wonderful Magpie, Suz.

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  10. She'd just say it was a miracle.

    Perfect ending.

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  11. Wonderful memory, children have. Always larger than life.

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  12. great write suz...begins back memeories of believing and not believing...they are there until you realize that all of life is a miracle....bkm

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  13. she works in mysterious ways!

    excellent magpie.

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  14. I enjoyed this a lot - gave me shivers! I love stories like these.

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  15. this was perfect and childlike...I swear I even felt my feet getting cold :)

    Rene

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  16. 'she'd just say' it was a miracle... when in reality the Holy Mothers were the true miracles here. Great magpie!

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