LOTS OF WORDS

8.27.11 A Pep Named Martha

Prompt:“There was an old woman, who lived in a shoe. She had so many children she didn't know what to do. She gave them some broth without any bread. She whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.”


Martha lives in Bootville. A small community, to say the least. The tallest man on record was 2.1 centimeters and towered over all the peps. Martha is an attractive lady with an average height, 1.5 centimeters. She was once married to a noble man. Together they had four beautiful baby girls, two sets of twins, one year apart. But she was made a widow when a giant came into their land. He was squashed by the power of the giant's boot, days after Martha gave birth to their baby twins. Giants are a thing to be feared by the peps of Bootville. Every couple of years a giant will be spotted. Some times the giants come to kill. Such was the case for Martha's husband.

Alone, Martha mourns his death. Daily she cries as she lays in her double padded sole.  The kids were so young, they remember not his presence.  It is left for her to discipline and guide. Four growing children with stomachs that never seem to subside.  But with no man in the house she lives off Bootville's giving hand. Only a pinch of wheat is allotted each week they give. Martha does her best and spreads it out the way they live. Mornings she'll serve the flatcakes. Dinner she serves the broth. Still, growling stomachs she's forced to hear but she does her best with every tear.  The children beg and plead for more but she knows she must keep in store until next weeks implore. A nightly affair, she pulls out the lace and whips them till they beg no more. When the pain on their bottom is more painful than the pangs in thier stomachs, they quietly go off in each of their rooms. Silently, they lay waiting for tomorrows flatcakes and flip-flop classrooms.



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