“What would you do if you had a million rupies?” I asked my very best friend Alice.

"Oh... gee... I don't know. I guess I would buy mum and pop a new home, or some cattle, or something like that. What would you do?" came the reply of the extremely shy eighteen-year-old.

"Well, you see, if I had a million rupies, then I would buy me, Shawn and Derrick a new place to live. I've had just about enough of that woman we live with. Can you believe that she actually took my mother's wedding shoes and tried to stuff her giant feet into them? She stretched them out so badly that I'll never get to wear them again! I just want to slug her!" I said with anger rising in my voice.

"If you ever need to borrow some white dress shoes, my mother has just about every pair imaginable. She would defiantly let you borrow any, since you're practically family. You come over just about every day that you're allowed to leave the house. But I know what you mean. She has no right to touch your mother's belongings." the young woman replied.
Just then, out of nowhere, came a piercing unsightly voice. It said, "ROXANNE!”

I groaned and said, "Oh, joy. More chores. Let's act like we never heard her, okay?"

"Well, if you insist, but I really think you should go. She might give you more chores if you stay out too long after she called you.”

“If she makes me do more chores then I’ll defile her much-loved wine. Or I just wont do them. I mean she can’t make me do anything, but she sure can torment me. Dirty slime-ball. Oh, by the by, my eighteenth birthday is coming up on June 20th. Do you think I could come over and spend the day with you and your family?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I can check with my mum, but she’ll probably say yes.”

“ROXANNE!” Agh, there it was again.

“I think you should go, Roxanne. I’ll see you later, okay? Besides, I’m supposed to help mum make dinner tonight. Some people that pop work with are coming over. I will unquestionably ask mum if we’re doing anything on that day. It’s only a few days away.” Said the soft-spoken girl.

“Ten, to be exact. I’ll be seeing you, then.” I said with a sigh. We split our ways, her going off to see her mum and pop while I got stuck with a heinous stepmother. Aren’t I the lucky one?

So, there I was, walking towards doom itself, when I saw a poster on a nearby tree. I walked up to it, to see what it said. It said that Prince Charming was having his eighteenth birthday in three days (Wow, mine’s in ten). Why wasn’t I told? All eligible ladies from fifteen to twenty-three were invited to the ball. So, why wasn’t I told about this? Probably because Meridith, who is my stepmother, has two girls of her own, and she wants one of the two to be picked by the prince. But I’m far more attractive than either of them, so Meridith probably ‘forgot’ to tell me about the ball. But, oh well. I’ll find a way to get there and make her livid. So ha. The joke is on her.

So, I resolved to go to the ball. But I had no idea of what I was going to wear or how I was going to get there.




As I walked in the back door of the tiny house, Prisilla and Tulip were there to greet me.

“Mother’s very infuriated that you kept her waiting,” sneered Tulip. “I hope you’ve consumed a lot of coffee today because you’re going to need it tonight.”

“Yes, lots of coffee!” giggled Prisilla

“Shut-up you little brat!” She snapped at Prisilla. “You see, you have to make our ball dresses, so that we look gorgeous for the Prince. So you better go see mother about when you need to start.” Sneered Tulip.

You see, Tulip and Prisilla are not the most eye-catching things to look at. Prisilla is seventeen years old, with thin, curly and frizzy red hair that came down to the tip of her shoulders. She’s also about 60 pounds overweight. She has little red freckles all over her and has light blue eyes. Now Tulip, on the other hand, is one year older than her sister, and she has thin, straight and limp red hair that fell down to her shoulder-blades. But she’s only about 25 pounds overweight. She has a huge gap between her front teeth, and like her namesake, she has two lips. Only her two lips happen to be very large. Yet somehow they think that my twin brothers may marry them one day.

My twin brothers and I are actually Triplets. But we are only three of eight. In order from oldest to youngest, it is: Gavin, Lucas, Dylan, Timothy, Marty, Derrick, Shawn, and me. Our mum died when I was six years old and our Pop never really got over it. Our mum was the most compassionate individual in the whole world, but then she died of a stroke. We all missed her very much, but it was most awful on Pop. About three weeks after mum died, he told us that he was going to remarry a wealthy widow, just so his kids could live in a nice place and always have plenty to eat. Well that didn’t sit well with us at all. Pop didn’t even love this human being.

My mother used to tell me that I was a beautiful baby, that I was as pale as a piece of paper. Since there were seven boys and one girl, the neighbors used to call us Snow White and the seven dwarfs. Silly isn’t it? People still call me Snow White but the dwarfs have grown up a lot. It drives Meridith crazy when people call me that.

Well, my Pop died about two years ago, give or take, and since I had no where else to go, I just stayed with Meridith. That’s about it. There’s nothing else about my past that you should know, so don’t ask.

So, there I was, stuck with a jerk stepmother and nowhere to go.




As I walked to my stepmother’s room, I met up with Shawn. He’s more of a troublemaker than I am. He had just got done putting a fake toad into Tulip’s bed.

“Hey, kiddo. How’s it going? I heard that Meridith is going to make you make gowns for the uglies. How exciting. Can you make me one too?” he said with a sparkle in his eyes.

I just looked at him and said, “I think you’ll look ravishing in pink. Or maybe a delicate purple. What do you think?”

“Oh, I think a soft yellow would bring out the color in my eyes.” He replied while dancing around like a ballerina.

“I need to go see Meridith about the dress patterns,” I laughed, “so I’ll talk to you later. I’m going to be up all night sewing, so tell Derrick I said hi.” I told him with a sigh.

I knocked on Meridith’s door, and when she opened it she did not look too happy to see me.

“Where have you been, you ignorant beast? I’ve been calling you and calling you. Now the neighbors think that I can’t even raise my own stepchild, and I have you to thank for that. Go straight to your room and get started on those dresses. The measurement for each girl is on your dresser. The blue dress is for Tulip while the green one is for Prisilla. Got it?”

I then replied with, “What am I going to eat for dinner? I’m not going to stay up all night without anything whatsoever to eat. If you think I’m going to do that, then you’re insane,” I smiled, “and deserve to be beaten over the head with a piece of firewood.”

She glared at me and snarled, “If you even think about eating before the dresses are done, then you wont get to eat ever again. Do you understand me? You are a piece of scum covered seaweed. You are not allowed to talk to me like that. Do you understand me? DO YOU?”

“YES, I UNDERSTAND YOU!” I screamed back at her. “But obviously you don’t understand me. I will eat before I make the dresses, if you like it or not. And if you don’t like that then you can make your own dresses. I’m going to go to the kitchen to fix me dinner, and I’ll see you later.” That being said, I made my way towards the kitchen, before Meridith could say another word.

As I entered the kitchen, I noticed a guy sitting at the table. He had dark brown hair that fell down past his ears. You could tell that he hadn’t brushed it in a while, but it sill looked real good on him. He had dark honey brown eyes that sparkled with mischief. He had a light tan, and was very muscled. All together he was gorgeous.

I walked to the pantry, and plucked an apple from the apple barrel. I tried to act like he was no big deal, but it was a little hard, seeing how he just kept on looking at me. And smiling. Actually, it started to get on my nerves. But only a little bit. I mean come on! Who wouldn’t want a hot guy staring at them?

“Can I help you?” I asked with a hint of mock irritation.

“I don’t know. Depends on what you’re good at.” Still smiling.

“Well, that depends on what I’m doing.” I replied

“And that depends on you.” He stated coolly.

I just looked at him and bluntly asked, “What do you want?”

He shrugged and said, “Nothing, why? Do you want something?”

Clearly he was messing with my head. And it was working. But that’s not very hard to do. I get confused too easily.

“Just state why you’re here, and stop trying to confuse me.” I requested.

“Why? Is it working?”

“No.” I lied

“Fine. I guess I’ll tell you why I’m here, if that’s what you want.”

I nodded, and he continued, “Your mum called me over to see if I would go to the ball with one of your sisters. But considering how they look, I think I’ll pass.”

“Are you crazy? She’s not my mum.” I wailed. “They’re not my sisters.”

“I apologize.” He said and bowed his head.

“You’re not from around here are you?” Obviously he wasn’t.

“As a matter of fact, I’m not. Satisfied?” He asked.

“I guess. By the way, who are you?” I asked him.

“Why?” he queried, “Who are you?”

“I asked you first.”

“I asked you second.”

“Guests first.”

“Ladies first.”

“I’m hardly a lady.” I retorted. “So that means you first.”

He just sat there and looked at me with those beautiful honey-brown eyes. Then he said, “Will you go with me?”

“Okay, spazz. What are we talking about now?”

“The ball.”

He surprised me so much that all I could do was gape at him. When I was able to talk, I told him that I couldn’t possibly go with him. He said that he was sorry, and that of course I couldn’t go with him. He said that a “fine young lady,” such as myself, would already have a date to the ball.

That, too, took me by surprise. All I could do was laugh. And laugh. When I finally stopped laughing the only thing that I could think of to say was “Are you barmy!” He just stared at me so I went on. “What are you talking about? I don’t have a date. I can’t possibly go with you to the stupid ball because I have a crap load of chores to do. Meridith wouldn’t let me leave the house until they were done.”

He looked comforted. He probably thought that I was rejecting him. Poor fool.

“Why don’t you come anyway? You can sneak out and be back home before Meridith gets back home. She’d never find out, unless you told her. It’d be fun. Unless, of course, you’re chicken.” Then he started to make a clucking noise.

“I’m not chicken.” I said.

“Then go to the ball.”

I sighed. “I really can’t go.”

“Really?” he questioned.

“Yes.”

“Truly?”

“Yes.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“Honest?”

“YES. I really, truly, seriously, quite honestly can not go to the ball!” I blurted in one breath.

“Why not?” He whined.

Now he was starting to get on my nerves. But just a little. “I have to do chores.”

“So? Go anyway.” He replied bluntly.

“I can’t. I have chores to do.” I replied irritably.

“I’ll help you do them. Any more excuses?”

I didn’t say anything for a minute. Then with a sigh I said, “Fine I’ll go.”

“With me?” he asked.

“Yes. With you.” I replied.

Then out of the clear blue he said, “Jack.”

“Huh?” I asked puzzled.

“My name is Jack.” He said matter-of-factly.

“I’m Roxanne. Nice to finally meet you.” I replied shaking his hand. “You’ve met most of the people living in this house, all you need, now, is to meet my twin brothers. Them and I are triplets. You’d like them.”

“How many brothers do you have?” he asked.

“Eight.”

“Eight?” he said dumbfounded. “I only have one sibling, and that’s a girl. Her name’s Jill.”

“Jill, huh? I never did like that name, very boring. How does she live with it?” I asked the very adorable hunk across from me.

“I dunno. But if I make fun of her name then she makes fun of me. You see, when we were smaller, we had to get a bucket of water so mum could cook us supper. The well was on top of a hill, and the grass was slippery, so when we were coming down from the hill I lost my footing and hit my head really hard. So now she makes fun of me for that. Stupid, huh? She says ‘Jack fell down and broke his crown’ but she fails to mention that she fell down also.” I felt sorry for him. Such a hot guy falling down… so sad.

I told him that I had to go make dresses for the uglies, but I’d defiantly have a dress ready for me. He said okay, and that he had to be leaving, too. I was looking forward to that night. Just three days away.

As soon as I got to my room, I got started on Tulip’s dress. It was an ugly shade of blue. It looked kinda like blue mixed with brown-ish yellow. Prisilla’s wasn’t much better. It was a lime green kind of color, but it looked like it, too, had been mixed with a brown-ish yellow color. Making Prisilla’s dress took me about three hours. It was the easy one. It just had a little bow tying in the back. Now Tulip’s dress had to have a sash tying around the waist and had to have little ruffles everywhere. When I was done with it, it actually looked good.




I was finished by breakfast. I was so hungry and tired that I couldn’t decide if I wanted to sleep or eat first. My tummy won.

I went downstairs, and to my surprise, saw Derrick cooking breakfast. I knew immediately that he had done something to the food.

Since I was already in a foul mood, finding out that I would have to go longer without food made me even madder.

“Okay, idiot. What am I going to eat?” I snapped at him.

“Oh, hi sis. I already made food for us. This,” he pointed at the food that he was making, “is for the lovelies.” He grabbed a bowl of porridge and a plate of toast and set it down on the table for me. Then he went on. “I figured that you’d be up all night with the dresses so I fixed breakfast. See, I am nice. You’re always saying how I’m unfriendly, and stuff. Oh, by the way, Robin’s coming by to see if you can mend his tunic. It seems that he ripped it when he was running away from a wealthy merchant.” Said Derrick.

“Oh? So he’s still at it, huh? I told him he needs to quit that crap. He’s going to get himself caught and then he’ll get hanged. Then we’ll get hanged for helping him. ‘I steal from the rich and give to the needy…’ ” As soon as I had spoke those words Robin popped his head in and started singing.

“I steal from the rich and give to the needy, I take a small percent but I’m not greedy.” Derrick and I just looked at each other. Robin loved to sing that tune over and over again.

Then he smacked me on the back and asked: “Where’s Shawn?”

Realizing that I hadn’t seen him either, I asked the same question: “Where is Shawn?” To which Derrick coolly answered, “He’s out looking for shoes for you.”

I thought I was loosing it. Either that or I was so tired that I didn’t hear him correctly. So I asked him to repeat himself. He said the same exact thing. Then I asked why. He said that if I was going to the ball, then I needed a decent pair of shoes.

“What will I use as a dress?” I snapped at him. “Did you think of that?”

“Mum’s wedding dress, of course. Don’t you ever think? Oh, wait. There was that one time, as I recall.” He replied.

Then Shawn walked in. He had a big bundle of stuff in his arms. He looked at me and said ‘hi’. I was dying to see what kind of shoes he got me, and he knew it too.

“Well?” I asked.

“Well what? You act like I have something that you want. Is that the case?” he replied.

“Aww, c’mon.” I protested. “Please show me! You know you want to.”

He rolled his eyes, and let out a sigh. “Well, I guess I’ll show you what I got you. You’re such a burden.” He said mockingly.

“Oh, goody!” exclaimed Robin.

Shawn grinned at Robin and reached into the bundle of stuff and pulled out another little bundle. Then he put the bigger bundle on the floor and put the smaller bundle on the table. I was so excited that I could hardly contain myself. My fingers were itching to help him to unwrap the bundle. At long last, it was opened. There sat he loveliest pair of shoes that I had ever seen. They looked like glass, and they sparkled like the moon reflecting off of water. And, of course, they were see-through.

“What are you waiting for?” cried Robin. “Put then on! Let’s see your beautiful feet in those beautiful slippers!”

Blushing, I put on those tremendous shoes. I gingerly set my feet on the floor, not wanting to break the shoes. Then I stood. Slowly. And slowly I started walking

“What are these made out of?” I asked.

Shawn pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. He read:
“Acrylic- very strong. Withstands weathering and cold. Holds color well and is an excellent insulator. Has no odor or taste and is nonpoisonous.
Polyethylene- can be used as liquid and in nonrigid forms. Seals out water but allows flow of oxygen. Can be sealed with heat. Comes in all colors as well as clear.
And also glass…”

“I kinda guessed at the glass part.” I replied. “Where’d you get these?”

“Oh, I know a guy.” He said slyly. “You remember that old guy who makes shoes?”

“Oh… you mean the Shoe-maker?” Replied Derrick laughing.

“The nutty one?” I retorted.

“Yes,” Shawn sighed, “the nutty one. Anyway, he made them for me.”

“Really? He made them for you? But didn’t you get them for her?” Robin jerked his head in my direction.

Robin isn’t the sharpest crayon in the box, but he does have a heart of gold, as well as a pocket full, too. He’s just one clown short of a circus. You don’t necessarily have to be smart to rob the rich. In fact, most of the rich folks are dumber than a doorknob. They’re as dull as a doorknob, too. Actually, they’re almost as exciting as a fat lap dog right after a huge dinner. Have you ever watched paint peel from the walls? The one time Meridith actually let me go to a dinner party for the wealthy, that is all we did. Literally. We watched paint. We watched so long that it started to peel in one spot. If you tried to strike a conversation, you got contemptible looks until you stopped and stared at the paint again.

Shawn suppressed a guffaw. For all of you who don’t know, guffaw means snicker. Pretty weird word, huh?

Anyway, like I said, Shawn suppressed a guffaw. “Robin. Don’t make me smite you with my fist.” Yes, he said smite.

“What’s smite?” he asked innocently.

“Hit!” I cried.

“Why couldn’t he’d just said that, instead of using big foreign words?” Robin inquired.

Sighing deeply, Shawn went on, “The shoe-maker,” he looked at Derrick then, “made the shoes for me, for Roxanne.” Looking at me he smirked and declared, “He likes you, for some reason.”

“Oh-ho! You’re funny!” I replied sarcastically, and wagged a finger at him “Why don’t you send your wits to be sharpened?”

“No, that’s Robin.” He exclaimed.

“What?” asked Robin. “I heard my name.”

“Have you fixed up mom’s wedding dress yet?” asked Derrick.

“What makes you think that I’m going to the ball? Maybe I don’t want to go.” I know, who wouldn’t want to go to the ball? Shawn gave me a look that meant what I was thinking, and Derrick had a loud outburst. Actually, he ended up sounding like a donkey.

“Ha! Since when do you not want out of the house?”

Robin decided to pipe-up, “Wait…who’s this nutty shoe-maker? Should we be cautious around him, you know, make sure he doesn’t sneak up on you?” He finally decided to take a seat. He found a stool by the doorway. Unfortunately, he missed the stool and ended up flat on his back, under the table with a flower in his left hand. How he got the flower is beyond me, but how he got under the table is still being debated.

Helping the brainless young man to stand, Derrick said “You know the shoe-maker. He’s the one who claims that elves make the shoes.”

“Yeah,” Shawn cut in, “They make them when he’s asleep, then when he wakes up, POOF! He has shoes!”

Robin looked thoughtful. Poor guy, you could hear the wheels turning. “Has anybody seen those elves?”

“No.” We all replied at once.

“Hey, let me see your tunic.” I said, remembering why he had come over.

Robin looked at me, “Why? Do you want to buy it? I have nicer ones at home.”

I finally sat down on the stool that Robin had missed, and took off the heels. Then I handed them back to Shawn. He then wrapped them back up in the bundle of cloth then handed it to Derrick. Derrick looked at the small bundle, shrugged and handed it to Robin. Robin absentmindedly took it and cradled it like a baby, then he started swaying back and forth like he was rocking it to sleep. Concerned, I took the bundle away from him, but when I did he looked startled.

“Don’t you have a tear in your tunic that needs fixing?” I asked the wit-less.

“How’d you know about that? I never told you about that. Are you psychic, or do you have elves, too?” Robin was exceedingly stupid today. Thankfully, I didn’t have to answer him due to the fact that there was a knock at the back door. Since I was the closest, I took it upon myself to stretch the three inches and twisted the doorknob. Oh, hard work! It was Jack…yay.

“Hey,” I said standing up, “come on in.”

“Hey, Roxanne, Who’s the stray?” Shawn queried.

“My fri-end.” I said like a little kid trying to keep their friend all to themselves.

“Oh! Raven has a friend Derrick! Hooray! This is the happiest day in my life!” Shawn was asking for it. I don’t know what ‘it’ was, but he was clearly asking for it.

Derrick apparently wanted ‘it’ too, “Our little girl is all grown up! It seems like yesterday when she was playing in the mud.”

“Making mud angels?” asked Robin.

Blushing, I said, “Actually, yes. And it was yesterday, and it was fun, so there.” Turning to Robin I said, “Take off your tunic.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. I’d rather have him take off his tunic instead of Robin, but we can’t all have what we want. Pity.

“He’s the new guy,” wailed Robin, “make him take his off.”

We all looked at Jack. I raised my eyebrows. “Well, if you really want me to…” he trailed off and started lifting up his tunic.

Another knock at the door, and Jack stopped lifting. Drat…I answered the door, again. It was Alice.

“Hi, Roxanne. Mum said it was okay to come over for your birthday. Can I come in?”

“Absolutely. Come on, come meet Jack.” I said winking at her.

She looked around the room. “Hi Shawn, hi Derrick, hi Robin.” I think that she secretly had a crush on Robin, somehow. He wasn’t bad looking, just plain stupid. He had shoulder-length wavy black hair and the bluest eyes you’d ever seen. He was well muscled, and was about 6’2” and had a great tan. It’s a crying shame that all his good looks were wasted on a pitiful excuse for a man. Maybe I could fix up those two.

Jack looked at Alice and grinned. “I’m Jack.”

Blushing, she managed to get out: “I’m Alice.”

“Hey, Al.” Derrick yelled. Shawn and Robin piped up with their how-dee-doo’s. It was getting quite crowed in the small kitchen. Quite frankly, this kitchen was not meant to fit six people in it at once. More like three or four, but six was definitely pushing the limit.

I was about to say something about the crowdedness, when who should walk in but the two lovely-uglies. Believe you, me. They are even uglier, if possible, when they first wake up, with their faces all squinched up. Honestly, they look constipated. Not a good look for them, especially in the morning. And guess what the two were complaining about. Food.

“How come y’all didn’t send up our breakfast? You know the routine, we’ve been through this a million times.” Started Tulip.

“Yeah, a million times.” Trailed Prisilla.

“Mother is going to be very angry—“

“Very angry.” Prisilla said interrupting her sister. But Tulip didn’t miss a beat.

“—And she’ll probably make you do chores.” She said with a sneer, which is another look that doesn’t do her good.

Prisilla giggled, “Yeah, chores!”

Tuning on her sister, Tulip shouted, “Shut-up you little brute! You’re worse than they are! Now leave me alone, and stop following me!” Then to us she said, “What are all these people doing in here? They’re not allowed.” Giggling she added, “Boy, are y’all are going to get it!” she turned on her heel, followed by Prisilla, and sped away to go tell their evil mother.

Shawn took over the dire situation. “Okay, Robin go hide in the woodshed, she’s too stupid to look there. You,” he said to Jack, “hide in the barn with the pigs. Don’t worry, it’s clean. Alice, Meridith knows you. Can you stay and act like you were the only one here?”

“Of course.” And everyone scattered.

“Wait, Jack!” I wailed. He turned with a smile on his face. “Take these!” I said thrusting the bundle at him. Then he ran and hid. I started to do the dishes, with Derrick as my dryer. Shawn started sweeping, and Alice sat down at the table. Then Meridith strolled in. Okay, she stalked in.

“What in the blazes is going on here?” she demanded.

We all looked at each with ‘udder confusion’ on our faces. We were getting good at this sort of thing.

“Don’t play stupid with me! My daughters both saw people in here!” she bellowed. She sounded like a raging bull, and it took all that I had not to laugh. And quite frankly, I was darned proud of myself.

“You!” she yelled pointing at Alice, “Who was just here?”

Without blinking or stuttering she said, “Nobody, ma’am.” I was so proud of my diffident best friend.

“Liar!” She grabbed Alice by the collar of her light blue dress and started shaking her.
I was so angry that I didn’t even realize that I was gripping Meridith around the throat with both hands until Derrick kindly smacked me upside my head. It was weird, one moment I was washing dishes and the next second I was killing someone. It was almost like an out-of-body experience.

Startled, I let go of the horrible person’s neck. Then I gave her a good glare and a snarl to go with it.

Meredith was astonished, and petrified. Never before had I unleashed my resentment on her, or anybody else for that matter. Derrick, thankfully, had recovered before the rest of the gang and saved me from being a murderer, although I wouldn’t have minded killing her, but that’s beside the point.

Not knowing what to say, Derrick and Shawn, who also finally recovered from my outburst, led me out of the house followed by Alice and into the woods out back. Shawn went to get Robin and Jack while Derrick escorted me to the Dead Tree farther back in the woods. The tree itself wasn’t dead like you’d think, but legend says that some bitter old hag had thrown herself from the top of the tree, and that she cursed the land and whoever dared to venture within twenty feet of her grave would die of something terrible. How she got to the top was beyond me, I mean, she was an old hag, right? Besides, I’d be bitter too if I were an aged crone. Some legend that turned out to be though, we’ve been playing by the old tree for years, we’ve even played on her grave (heh, heh, heh).
Anyway, that’s why he brought me there. He knew nobody would go there because people in our town are extremely superstitious. They even believe in some kind of headless-horseman, or something like that. I guess he thought that Meridith would run to the constable and report that her malicious stepdaughter had tried to slaughter her and she would probably exaggerate and say that I tried to destroy her two superb children as well.
We sat on an ancient craggy rock for a few minutes before Shawn, Jack and Robin came back. Then they sat on whatever was left to sit on (which was a deep-rooted tree limb, and some more rocks and the headstone, which Shawn claimed since Robin was a little superstitious and Jack thought it was offensive to sit on someone’s grave).

Sighing, Derrick started, “Nine days. Only nine days, Roxanne.”

I kept silent. I was rather discomfited by my earlier conduct.

“Couldn’t you restrain yourself for nine days?” Derrick continued.


“What’s in nine days?” piped up Jack.

“Oh, shut-up, Derrick.” Snapped Shawn. “It wasn’t all her fault.”

“Their birthday.” Alice told Jack, and Robin nodded.

“It was her fault! She should have better control than that!” bellowed Derrick.

“If I’m not mistaken,” retorted Shawn standing up, “I remember someone who used to thrash other kids if they made fun of the fact that he had no mother, so don’t get all arrogant.”

“But that was different!” shouted Derrick while standing.

Rising, too, I said, “I can fight my own battles, Shawn.”

He nodded and backed away to give me more room.

“So tell me, oh consecrated one, how is it different?” I queried.

Scoffing, he stated, “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“Fine. Just to be clear on this matter, I don’t have to explain myself to you either.” And I walked over to where Alice was sitting to see if she was okay.

“I was defending our honor!” shouted Derrick.

I turned around and faced Derrick. “What do you think I was doing?”

“Choking Meridith…” acknowledged Robin.

“Thank you,” I growled at Robin. Then back to Derrick I yelled, “I was defending my friends’ honor! My only friend!”

Jack looked up suddenly, “What am I, chopped liver?”

Robin looked cheerless. “Only one friend…you can have some of mine if you want.” And he smiled hopefully, as if that would make me feel better.

“She’s a big girl, she can handle herself.” Snapped Derrick, disregarding Robin.

“I don’t doubt that she can, but what if Meridith had me around the neck and was shaking me? You’d have done the same thing I did, you hypocrite. So don’t talk to me about honor!” I yelled and turned around only to walk right into the arms of Jack, who smelled rather nice, I might add. Wasn’t he sent to the pigpen?

I struggled to get free but he wouldn’t let go. “You’re shaking.”

“It’s better than crying!” I growled. “Now let me go or I’ll rip out your throat!”

“Hmm…” said Robin thinking out loud, “That would hurt.”

“I don’t want you to something stupid if I let you go.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” sneered Derrick, “She always does something stupid.”
I managed to turn around in Jack’s stalwart arms, “You want a piece of me, lummox?”

“I want a piece of you, too.” whined Jack.

Derrick turned on Robin, also. “Will you shut-up and stay out of this!”

“Don’t talk to him like that!” cried Alice, who, until this point, had been quietly sitting on the rock. It was a very long rock. “He didn’t do anything more wrong than Roxanne did! You talk about honor,” she scoffed, “but you can’t see past your own foolishness, Derrick, and I’m thrilled to have a friend who would stick up for me like that.”

She walked up to me, who was still struggling to get out of Jack’s arms, and put a hand on my shoulder, somehow. “I don’t think you should have choked her, and I don’t think you were even thinking. I know it was your natural reaction to danger. You seem to have an animal bottled up and buried deep within you, probably a Keaton. But try not to do that again, please, because you seem to have enraged your brother, and he’s unpleasant when he’s mad.”

“He’s always unpleasant.” I grunted loudly as Jack squeezed tighter to keep hold.

“Is that so?” Derrick replied angrily.

“Oww!” I sardonically said and gripped my stomach. “I lay mortally wounded by your rapier wit.”

“Stop it, you two!” shouted Shawn.

“Yes, please.” Exclaimed Jack, “She’s getting harder to hold.”

Robin stood up. “What does consecrated mean?”

We all stared at him.

See? I told you he wasn’t too bright. We had that conversation five minutes ago, and he’s just now getting to it. You just got to love Robin.

“Sacred.” I told him

“Holy.” Said Alice.

“Sanctified.” Offered Jack.

“Hallowed.” Shawn was the last. Derrick must’ve been too mad to respond. Or maybe he was too stupid to think of any more words. There was also righteous, set apart, blessed,
revered, deified, and so on.

“Will you let me go now?” I griped at Jack.

“Nah, I like hugging you.”

“I’d hardly call that a hug.” I muttered.

He let me go and I sat down, sighing, on the craggy rock, with my head on my knees. Alice sat on the right side of me and Shawn sat on the left. Jack just stood awkwardly where he was, while Derrick started pacing in front of the tree. Robin sat down next to Alice with another puzzled look on his face.

Everybody was quiet for awhile, until Robin finally asked what a Keaton was.

“A Keaton?” asked Jack. “I thought she meant kitten.”

Giggling, Alice explained. “A Keaton is a yellow fox with three tails.”

“Then why didn’t you say ‘a yellow fox with three tails’ instead?” asked the stupid one.

“Because a Keaton is bigger and smarter and extremely rare. They’re so rare that they’re thought to be a myth. They are very friendly until someone or something they love gets threatened.” She clarified.

“So why did you call Roxanne that?” asked Jack.

Laughing, Shawn responded. “Did you hear the way she snarled at Meridith?”

“No. I was with the pigs.” He stated bitterly.

“Well, it was terrific! It sounded just like an animal, and the look was…” he trailed off with a weird look on his face.

I looked up at him. “What? How was my look? Did I look like a psycho killer?” I asked hopefully. Maybe that would scare Meridith enough to leave me alone.

“No.” he said hesitantly.

“Then what?” I asked getting irritated again.

He took a big breath and held it. “You had…purple eyes…” he let the air out.

A surprised look covered Alice’s face. “They were, weren’t they? I just noticed that, too.”

Scoffing, I said, “I’m sure it was a trick of light.”

“No. I saw it as well. You had purple eyes.” Derrick quietly added.

Robin nodded.

“How do you know, idiot. You weren’t there.” I snapped at him, and he just looked at me with those blue eyes. “Besides,” I continued, “who cares if my eyes turned purple? Maybe they turn purple when I’m mad. So what?”

“Keatons have purple eyes.” Stated Alice.

“Maybe I’m a Keaton.” I said sarcastically.

“You could have a Keaton spirit living in you.” Responded Alice.
“Hmm…” said Jack thinking out loud, “Keaton-Roxanne. It has a nice kind or ring to it, don’t you think?”

“I think we need to be concentrating on what we’re going to do, instead of a bunch of myths.” Derrick said, ruining the peace of the moment.

“Okay, master, what’s the plan?” I asked while standing.

“Oh no,” Jack said and grabbed me, “Let’s not start that again.”

“I’m not starting anything.” I said irritably and yanked my arm out of Jacks crushing grip.

Alice stood up as well followed by Robin, but Shawn remained sitting. “I’d better get home, it’s nearly lunchtime and mum will be worried about you. I’ll tell her what happened.”

“I don’t think you should walk home alone,” I said to Alice. “Robin should go with you.”

She gave me a look that said, “how did you know my secret?” and I raised an eyebrow and smirked. Yes I did know her secret, but it was safe with me.

Robin just looked at me confused. “Why? Can’t she find her own way home?”

Sighing, I replied, “Just do it moron, and don’t give me any more lip about it, either.”

“But I didn’t give you my lip to begin with. If I did, I’d have known about it.”

“Just go!” I shrieked.

So finally he left with Alice, leaving me, Jack, the still sitting Shawn and the still pacing Derrick alone.

Jack rubbed my arm. “What are you thinking about?”

Giving him a not too happy look I said, “I’m thinking that if you touch me one more time, I’ll slug you.” I know, I know. He didn’t deserve that cutting remark, but when I get angry, I stay angry for quite some time. I think I’m the queen of holding grudges. Back in second grade I drew a picture for a boy I liked and he decided it would be fun if he tore it up with me standing right there. The really mean thing was that he was smiling about it the whole time. Well, now he has a crush on me and I hate his guts, still. Why is it guys are jerks? I just want to meet a normal guy. No, scratch that, I want to meet a normal man. Yeah, that’s it. Men get married and have families and act mature. Guys are immature, so I don’t want a guy. Jack seems to be a man, but looks can be deceiving. I mean, look at me. I look tiny and “fragile” but I’m not really. Sure I’m tiny, but I’m far from fragile. I’m a lean, mean, fighting machine, and I’m still loving it.

“Now, now. You don’t really mean that, do you?” asked Jack, but he made it more of a statement than a question. He was still stroking my arm, too.

Slapping his hand away, I asked Derrick, “What is the game-plan?”

“Why are you asking me?” snapped Derrick, still pacing.

“Because if I think up a plan, you’d frown upon it and come up with a different plan. We always go by your plans.” I responded getting irritated yet again.

“Maybe if you started coming up with something we could use and is not totally ridiculous.”

“Then by all means, o intelligent one, create us a strategy.” I snapped.

“I’m tired of always taking care of you!” he yelled.

“Then stop trying to me my father!” I yelled back.

Derrick opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it and closed it.

“I don’t need another father,” I said still angry, “I need a brother.”

“Yeah, like you need anymore of those either.” Jack mumbled sarcastically behind me.
I was already far past angry that Jack’s remark (even though it wasn’t mean) finally set me off. I turned around to hit him in the face but Shawn knew me too well and leapt off of the rock and tackled Jack making me hit nothing but air.

“Hey!” exclaimed Jack.

“Sorry.” Shawn said as he climbed off of Jack.

“What’d you do that for?” asked Jack and shoved Shawn, who then fell over awkwardly.
Our whole family is very uncoordinated. Before my mother died she’d call me Grace if I fell or bumped into something. Now I’m much worse. I’m so clumsy that I scare myself.

“I just saved your life!” exclaimed Shawn, and pushed Jack back.

“Saved me from what?” and he kicked Shawn in the leg.

“From her!” he said pointing to me, who was glaring at the two of them, and kicked Jack back.

“Why?” asked Jack. “What did I do?” and he slugged Shawn in the back.

“You need to keep your comments to yourself when she’s that angry, or you’ll get hurt.” And he kicked Jack in the face.

“Ouch!” and they started to wrestle around. It was nice to know that they were getting along so well together. When my brother’s like you, they tend to wrestle with you and most of the time it will get out of hand. Just like now…

I stalked off to the old woman’s grave and sat with my back against it. The cold of the stone felt good on my back so I turned and rested my right side against it instead and pressed my cheek into her name. Leticia Valenick. What a pretty name. Too bad she died. She’d still be alive, I think. She died at seventy- three years old and it’s been thirty-four years. That’d make her one-hundred and seven. I guess I was wrong, she’d be dead.

Fantastic! I like how you take characters from folklore and use them in the story. It's very well crafted. I think you have quite a career ahead of you if you pursue writing.