Kissed by a Strawberry
A Short Story
Every day on the way home from school a yellow bus passes a small wooden cottage and a little brown barn on Ginger’s lane. The fifteen students onboard on this chilled October day are teasing who will be the first to see the ugly girl in her kitchen window. They pretend to scream and wail as they press their snotty noses against the windows to glare at the small home. Some students start to chatter, coming up with a cruel plan.
“Little miss Laney should go and see the ugly wench!”, squealed a shrill voice.
The students all turn to see the smallest girl sitting in the middle of the bus with her jacket pulled up to her ears, shaking.
“Wha… whyy… mm me?” Lane stumbled.
“Because you’re the best bait we have on hand to get a good look at the icky thing”, replies a blond-headed classmate.
All at once the students start crowding around the little victim and corral her to the bus doors, the bus driver would do nothing as it was his little sister leading the pack of vicious children, he only bore a sly smile.
“We will let you back on the bus once you knock three times and the witch hobbles out of her door.”
Before she could begin to protest there was a quick shove from all around and Lane was thrown through the door and fell onto the gravel road. She wanted back on and started pounding her small fists on the glass, hoping she could fight her way back in. She was unsuccessful. Examining herself she finds small rocks in her hands, skinned knees, and her favorite yellow dress stained with blood and dirt.
Mustering the little bravery she had, Lane peers around the bus and looks at the house. It would be very easy to walk to the front door and knock three times and run away. She took one step, another, and one more. The bus wasn’t between her and the house anymore. She saw something move on the porch and bolted back behind her yellow shield. Checking to see the image of the scowling Witch, she instead found a black cat dashing across the yard. Exhaling she again crawls around the bus and begins her slow trek to her expected doom.
It only takes two minutes before the little redhead is seen by her classmates, on the porch, slowly reaching out her hand to knock. Knock knock knock…. Nothing, knock knock knock. Lane ducks down hiding behind a rocking chair on the wooden porch. She seemed to sit there for a very long time until finally, soft footsteps sounded from the house.
“Hello?” said a soft voice, “anyone there?”
Lane stifled her breathing and shut her eyes tight, but that didn’t protect her from the tap she felt on her shoulder. She ignored it. Another tap.
“Um excuse me, what are you doing hiding on my porch?”
Lane looked up finally and was set back by what she saw. A young woman looked down at her with hazel eyes and brown hair. The only thing different about her was the pink skin scaring her face that seemed to stream from her left eye over her nose and pooled on her right cheek. This was no ugly girl and no witch.
“I uh, my class told me, to um, come and knock on your door,” Lane whispered.
“And why might they do that? To see my rosie-pink face?”
“I’m sorry, I think they thought someone else lived here.”
The woman’s gaze moved to the bus and hesitated on the blond child in the middle of the group, she waited for an awkward moment then she gave the occupants a bright smile. The bus driver turned the key, drove down the road leaving dust, and lane sitting alone with this stranger.
“Well, you’re here now and have no way home. You might as well come inside, call your parents, and wait with some lemon loaf and tea. Oh! And my name is Marnie.”
Lane followed Marnie inside and was surprised by what she was surrounded by, twinkling lights hanging from the rafters and vases of flowers placed on every surface, and the smell. Tea and freshly baked bread greeted her nose as she took a relaxing breath. This wasn’t what I expected at all.
“Your home is so magical and lovely, just like a book.”
“Thank you, uh, I seem to have forgotten to ask your name?”
“My name is Lane, no last name, just Lane. though some people call me Little Laney.” she proudly replied.
“That’s a wonderful name, would you like to call your parents now Little Laney?”
Lane’s face seemed to crumple and her eyes watched her shoes.
“I live with my Aunt Aggie, I don’t know my parents.”
“Well then no need to frown let’s call her”
Marnie crossed the kitchen and stopped by a table where she picked up the phone. She handed it to Lane and walked back to her table where she resumed making some sort of pastry. Lane called her Aunt Aggie and told her she was at the little cottage on Ginger’s road, explaining that her classmates had booted her off the bus. The conversation was quick and she hung up.
“She’ll be here in about 30 minutes Ms.”
Marnie mumbled to herself with a contemplative look for a moment.
“Well wonderful that should be just enough time to show you around and visit some.”
Lane wandered to a chair close to Marnie and took a seat. She was eager to hear everything this interesting new friend could say. Lane barely spoke for the next little while as Marnie told her all sorts of things about her little cottage and her farm animals out in the barn, even about her favorite book Lane knew Aunt Augie wouldn’t let her read because of the adventure in it. They ate lemon loaf and drank honey tea while Marnie went on and on about her life.
“ You’re probably wondering how I ended up kissed by a strawberry right on my face aren’t ya,” Marnie said more as a statement than a question.
“ Well yes but Aunt Aggie says it’s rude to ask personal questions about sensitive subjects.”
“ No worries it’s a story I don’t mind telling.”
Marnie told Lane about how she came home from school one day to find her house in flames and the neighbors all throwing buckets of water at the hopeless situation. She had looked everywhere for her two cats but couldn’t find them anywhere in the yard, concluding they must be stuck in one of the rooms of her home.
She grabbed a towel off her close line and wrapped it around her shoulders. Her neighbors couldn’t stop her as she ran past them and into the blaze. She suspected the cats would be in the library in the attic and found them curled up in a corner in minutes. Wrapping the towel around the two scared creatures as if infants in a swaddle she ran back down the stairs and almost made it out with only burns on her arm and hand.
That’s when a blast of fire burst through a door and burnt her face. She fought her way out and collapsed onto the grass laying at her neighbors’ feet. Lane was amazed that Marnie had managed to survive. Then she felt a kiss of wet sandpaper on her knee, looking down she saw a fluffy face with green eyes looking up at her.
“That’s Smokey, ironically that was his name before the fire,” Marnie said grinning.
“ Where’s your other cat?”
“Oh Poppy, yeah she ran to the barn a few moments before you arrived.”
The two chatted for another five minutes before Lane’s Aunt Aggie showed up to get her niece. That evening before going to bed Lane thought about how her day had gone. First, she was afraid and then she had a wonderful time with a new friend, they even made plans to visit next week. Then she thought about Marnie compared to the ugly girl and the witch her classmates had told her about. Marnie had a horrible thing happen to her and she would never look the way she did before the fire, but she was a very happy person and seemed to move on to make a lovely life for herself. Tomorrow on the bus she would announce to everyone that Marnie was the most fantastic person she had ever met.
Hello! Here’s a little short story I wrote. I hope you liked it! Today is day 11 of writing every day for two weeks! I’m getting so close to reaching that goal of mine and I’ve met so many wonderful readers along the way, all thanks to you! If you liked this story please leave me some claps or if you’re feeling extra kind you could drop a follow!
