Drabble: The Suit and the Shoebox
eolivet wanted "the races" and clunkhall wanted "a new suit". Voila! A special only-posted-here drabble! Utterly ridiculous.
Happy Monday!
Title: The Suit and the Shoebox
Genre: Family
Rating: K
Summary: The girls find something interesting under Mama's bed. FLUFFIVERSE. Inspired by certain rather nice photos of DS and MD that have been doing the rounds recently...
The girls crowded round the shoebox, but it was Arabella who took charge, as she always did, snatching it out of Lizzie’s hands and sitting down on the sofa with it.
“Do you think we’re allowed to look? Really?” asked Julia. She already had rather firm ideas about propriety.
Her elder sister shot her a withering glance. “The box is in the house. The house is ours. Therefore we can do as we please with it! That is what is known as logic!”
Julia bit her lip. “It was under Mama and Papa’s bed…”
“I found my black shoes with the red bows under there last week too but they’re still mine!” put in Lizzie eagerly.
“Exactly.”
“I’m not sure I believe in your logic if that’s another example of it!” Julia shrugged, however, and capitulated. She wanted to see as much as her siblings.
Arabella lifted the lid of the box and let out a sigh almost of disappointment.
“Photographs!”
Julia looked up at her. “What were you expecting, Bella? Faded love letters from during the war wrapped up in a bow and scented with perfume? She’d hardly keep them in an old shoebox!”
“I would!” cried Lizzie with a grin. “It would be romantic! No, I’d keep them under my pillow… Or in a secret compartment in my writing desk that nobody else could access, or-“
“Do shut up, Lizzie; you’re such a ninny sometimes!” complained Arabella without malice. “Oh, look, some of these are really old!”
She held up a faded picture of their parents standing together, leaning against a rail at some kind of festival, for there were lots of people in the background.
“Mama looks so pretty!” sighed Julia. “Her hat is absolutely topping!”
Lizzie snatched at the photo suddenly and frowned over it, bringing it very close to her nose. “Are those horses?”
“Give it here!” Arabella snatched it back and also examined it, before lowering it, her eyes sparkling. “Girls, I remember this! This was the day they went to the races!”
“What races?” asked Lizzie blankly.
“You weren’t even alive then-”
“Was I?” said Julia.
“Just about! Great-Aunt Rosamund bought them tickets for their wedding anniversary and they thought they might as well go.”
“I don’t believe you can remember it, if Lizzie wasn’t even born,” said Julia with narrow eyes.
Arabella brushed this away with an elegant shrug. “I certainly know what happened!” she said significantly.
Julia rolled her eyes. She was used to her sister, who liked to think she knew so much more than she did; completely full of hot air. She picked out a few more photos from the box. They were all of Mama and Papa at the races, smiling, looking bored, looking amused - always looking happy. She sighed and then passed them on to the others. They studied them in silence, lost in their own appreciation of their parents’ youth, joy and beauty before their own memories of life began.
“I’ve never seen Papa in such a gorgeous suit,” said Lizzie presently. “It seems lighter than most of his. Old fashioned clothes are so nice. I love them.”
“Oh!” Arabella recalled and then paused momentously.
“What?” asked Julia, since someone had to.
“It’s the suit. The famous new suit. He only wore it that day. It was never seen again.”
“I say, how thrilling! What happened?”
Arabella lowered her voice and leaned in closer to her sisters. “It got ripped.” She leaned back, and added darkly, “So they say.”
Lizzie frowned. “How do you rip a suit? Couldn’t it be mended?”
“I think-“ began Julia, when the sounds of the front door opening made her pause. The three of them looked at each other, their eyes widening in identical expressions of alarm.
“They’re back! Quick, hide it!” cried Arabella, wringing her hands and descending momentarily into quite unnecessary panic.
Lizzie grabbed the box from her, Julia replacing the photos as she did so, and she stuffed it hastily under sofa. Julia plucked three books at random from the shelves, handed them out and then they all sat in a row, with their books open.
The door of the parlour opened and their mother entered. She paused on the threshold and raised her eyebrows. “You do look industrious today, girls!”
Their father appeared behind her, his hand casually on her elbow. “You sound so surprised, darling. Of course they’re industrious.” He grinned and advanced towards them to look at what they were reading. Lizzie quickly turned her book the right way up and hoped nobody noticed.
“The History of the Mogul Empire, Volume Six,” he read out loud on Arabella’s copy. “Very impressive, my dear! I had no idea you were so interested in Indian history.”
Arabella pursed her lips, feeling the prickly sensation that she was being made fun of but was not quite sure.
“I’m reading about the mating habits of bats!” interrupted Lizzie, sounding surprised. She started to giggle helplessly.
Julia thought she must be the only one with any intelligence in the room, for her sisters were ridiculous and as for her parents, they both seemed strangely stifled, and did not seem to want to meet each other’s eyes. She lowered her book and inquired coolly, “That famous new suit of Papa’s that he only wore once… how exactly did it get ripped?”
There was a sudden silence in the room. Mama and Papa both stared at her, both their mouths falling open and she was sure they both blushed. She frowned, not understanding.
“What? What did I say?”
Happy Monday!
Title: The Suit and the Shoebox
Genre: Family
Rating: K
Summary: The girls find something interesting under Mama's bed. FLUFFIVERSE. Inspired by certain rather nice photos of DS and MD that have been doing the rounds recently...
The girls crowded round the shoebox, but it was Arabella who took charge, as she always did, snatching it out of Lizzie’s hands and sitting down on the sofa with it.
“Do you think we’re allowed to look? Really?” asked Julia. She already had rather firm ideas about propriety.
Her elder sister shot her a withering glance. “The box is in the house. The house is ours. Therefore we can do as we please with it! That is what is known as logic!”
Julia bit her lip. “It was under Mama and Papa’s bed…”
“I found my black shoes with the red bows under there last week too but they’re still mine!” put in Lizzie eagerly.
“Exactly.”
“I’m not sure I believe in your logic if that’s another example of it!” Julia shrugged, however, and capitulated. She wanted to see as much as her siblings.
Arabella lifted the lid of the box and let out a sigh almost of disappointment.
“Photographs!”
Julia looked up at her. “What were you expecting, Bella? Faded love letters from during the war wrapped up in a bow and scented with perfume? She’d hardly keep them in an old shoebox!”
“I would!” cried Lizzie with a grin. “It would be romantic! No, I’d keep them under my pillow… Or in a secret compartment in my writing desk that nobody else could access, or-“
“Do shut up, Lizzie; you’re such a ninny sometimes!” complained Arabella without malice. “Oh, look, some of these are really old!”
She held up a faded picture of their parents standing together, leaning against a rail at some kind of festival, for there were lots of people in the background.
“Mama looks so pretty!” sighed Julia. “Her hat is absolutely topping!”
Lizzie snatched at the photo suddenly and frowned over it, bringing it very close to her nose. “Are those horses?”
“Give it here!” Arabella snatched it back and also examined it, before lowering it, her eyes sparkling. “Girls, I remember this! This was the day they went to the races!”
“What races?” asked Lizzie blankly.
“You weren’t even alive then-”
“Was I?” said Julia.
“Just about! Great-Aunt Rosamund bought them tickets for their wedding anniversary and they thought they might as well go.”
“I don’t believe you can remember it, if Lizzie wasn’t even born,” said Julia with narrow eyes.
Arabella brushed this away with an elegant shrug. “I certainly know what happened!” she said significantly.
Julia rolled her eyes. She was used to her sister, who liked to think she knew so much more than she did; completely full of hot air. She picked out a few more photos from the box. They were all of Mama and Papa at the races, smiling, looking bored, looking amused - always looking happy. She sighed and then passed them on to the others. They studied them in silence, lost in their own appreciation of their parents’ youth, joy and beauty before their own memories of life began.
“I’ve never seen Papa in such a gorgeous suit,” said Lizzie presently. “It seems lighter than most of his. Old fashioned clothes are so nice. I love them.”
“Oh!” Arabella recalled and then paused momentously.
“What?” asked Julia, since someone had to.
“It’s the suit. The famous new suit. He only wore it that day. It was never seen again.”
“I say, how thrilling! What happened?”
Arabella lowered her voice and leaned in closer to her sisters. “It got ripped.” She leaned back, and added darkly, “So they say.”
Lizzie frowned. “How do you rip a suit? Couldn’t it be mended?”
“I think-“ began Julia, when the sounds of the front door opening made her pause. The three of them looked at each other, their eyes widening in identical expressions of alarm.
“They’re back! Quick, hide it!” cried Arabella, wringing her hands and descending momentarily into quite unnecessary panic.
Lizzie grabbed the box from her, Julia replacing the photos as she did so, and she stuffed it hastily under sofa. Julia plucked three books at random from the shelves, handed them out and then they all sat in a row, with their books open.
The door of the parlour opened and their mother entered. She paused on the threshold and raised her eyebrows. “You do look industrious today, girls!”
Their father appeared behind her, his hand casually on her elbow. “You sound so surprised, darling. Of course they’re industrious.” He grinned and advanced towards them to look at what they were reading. Lizzie quickly turned her book the right way up and hoped nobody noticed.
“The History of the Mogul Empire, Volume Six,” he read out loud on Arabella’s copy. “Very impressive, my dear! I had no idea you were so interested in Indian history.”
Arabella pursed her lips, feeling the prickly sensation that she was being made fun of but was not quite sure.
“I’m reading about the mating habits of bats!” interrupted Lizzie, sounding surprised. She started to giggle helplessly.
Julia thought she must be the only one with any intelligence in the room, for her sisters were ridiculous and as for her parents, they both seemed strangely stifled, and did not seem to want to meet each other’s eyes. She lowered her book and inquired coolly, “That famous new suit of Papa’s that he only wore once… how exactly did it get ripped?”
There was a sudden silence in the room. Mama and Papa both stared at her, both their mouths falling open and she was sure they both blushed. She frowned, not understanding.
“What? What did I say?”