The Helpers
Title: The Helpers
Length: 6 pages/1874 words
Genre: Fiction
Summary: Little girls discovers other inhabitants at her Grandparents house.
LJ cut:
The kitchen always smelled like olives or pickles. In fact, that was the first thing Madeline commented on, with her fingers pinched to her nose, as she entered her mother's childhood home; she didn't like either vegetable and made it known every time she sat down for a meal with her Grandparents.
They had just finished eating dinner. Grandmother was a great cook and made a wonderful cod dish that her granddaughter refused to touch. Instead, she buried her fish under a mashed potato castle and made it rain green peas.
"Madeline, can you please bring me the dishes from the table?" Grandmother asked as she squirted green dish soap into the sink of hot water.
Madeline was twirling like a ballerina across from the dinner table, watching the way her frilly skirt flew up into the air, through the mirrored image on the silver refrigerator. "No," she simply replied and gave her reflection a kiss, leaving behind the imprint of hot pink lipstick only a seven year old would want to wear.
"This house doesn't ask much of you Madeline, please help out and hand me the dishes from the table." Grandmother turned around to face Madeline and rested her hands on her thin, narrow hips.
Offended, Madeline stopped twirling and, with her arms crossed over her chest, she stomped her shiny black dress shoes into the floor. "I won't! I won't! I won't! You're making me do work because you hate me and mommy and daddy hate me and I hate it here!" She overreacted, through clenched teeth, like any child typically would when they were tired and away from home.
"Just because your parents went on vacation for a week doesn't mean they hate you." Grandmother called after her, as the little girl flew down the corridor and out of sight.
Madeline ran into the bedroom where her parents piled a weeks worth of her frilly skirts and flowery tops, as well as a mound of Madeline's favorite dolls and her prized vanity table. The room used to be her mother's bedroom and there was still a Beatles poster hung above the bed and a few out-of-date clothes hanging on the closet. Madeline crawled underneath the large four-poster bed, hoping her grandparents would forget she was there and moaned. She sniffled and cried in self pity. When her tears finally stopped she put her flushed head against the cool wooden floor, wishing with all her might that she could just go home.
As quickly as the tantrum came, it was gone when Madeline heard tiny sounds emanating from the floor. Intrigued, she pulled her long brown hair behind her ears and took off the large pink and orange beaded necklace that made too much noise when it touched the floor. She held her breath and meticulously pressed her ear against the floorboards.
Madeline could hear stifled sounds through the wooden planks but she couldn't make out what they were. It almost sounded like the stifled noises that floated up the stairs to her bedroom at night when her parents were hosting a party; enigmatic and fascinating. She softly tapped her finger against the floor, her mind drifting back her thoughts of home.
Just as quietly, something returned her soft taps from beneath her head. Surprised and curious, she closed her eyes and pressed her ear harder to the floor and knocked.
"Not so loud, dear, you'll scare them." Grandmother smiled and held out her hand from the spot on the floor where she was kneeling.
"I heard something!" Madeline put her head back to the floor and strained to hear the sounds again.
"Of course you did! Now come out from under there or the dust bunnies will get you."
Madeline slid out from under the bed and let Grandmother straighten out the green ribbon in her hair. "What were those sounds, Grandma?"
"The Helpers," Grandmother said and took Madeline's hand. "Why don't you come back to the kitchen with me and I'll tell you about them while I do the dishes."
Madeline sat on the kitchen counter with a bleach-spotted green dishtowel in her hand, drying the dishes that Grandmother handed to her. "You see, when people get old like Grandpa and I and live in such a big house they need help to keep it clean, so they have time to grow old and not work themselves to death."
Grandmother handed Madeline a coffee mug which she slid the green towel over and placed in the drying rack. "When Uncle Jack got married and moved out your mommy still lived here but when she married your daddy and moved to your house, Grandpa and I didn't have anyone to help us keep the house clean. We spent all day, from the time we woke up until bedtime cleaning and sweeping; we were always so tired!"
Madeline listened attentively, absentmindedly wiping the counter with the towel. "One day the doorbell rang and I answered it. Do you know what I saw?"
"What?" Madeline scooted closer.
"It was a family of people no bigger then my fingers!" Grandmother pulled out her red, water soaked hands and wiggled her fingers for emphasis. "They stood on the doormat on the porch carrying suitcases under their arms, and do you know what they said?"
Madeline shook her head from side to side.
"They said, 'We're the Stoff family and we've come to help you.'" Grandmother plunged her hands deeper into the sink and pulled out another dirty plate. "They said that they could help sort the laundry and could get any stain out of our clothes. I told them that they could stay and they slid down the laundry chute and made homes for themselves on the high shelves above the laundry machine.
"So the next day I didn't have to worry about sorting the laundry but I still had many other jobs to do. Just as I began to sweep the floor, the doorbell rang again and another family of people no bigger than my thumb were on the doormat. 'We're the Blitzen family,' they said, 'and we've come to help you tame the dust bunnies and keep your sinks clean.'
"I told them that I already had a family who lived on my shelves but the walls were safe and roomy, so they crawled through the hole behind the radiator in the living room and made themselves at home." Grandmother handed that last of the wet dinner dishes to Madeline and drained the water out of the sink.
"Because I didn't have to scrub stains or capture dust bunnies, I had time to make lunch that day. As soon Grandpa and I sat down to eat, the doorbell rang again! This time they said, 'We're the Verwalter family and we've come to help you organize the clutter in your house and protect your belongings from dust.' I told them that I didn't have space in my walls or on my shelves but they said that they'd be happy to live in my cabinets.
"When they climbed up to their new home, the doorbell rang again. It was another family-the last family of Helpers that came to our door-the Zimmermans. 'We've come to help keep wood burning in your stove so you can stay warm,' they said. I told them I would love to have their help but we didn't have a place for them to live; our shelves were full, our cupboards were full and our walls were full. 'We can live under the floorboards,' they said. So they squeezed through the cracks in the floor boards and kept our house warm." Grandmother looked at Madeline and smiled, "That's what you heard under the bed."
Grandmother took the damp dish towel from Madeline and dried her hands. Madeline studied her Grandmother for several moments, deep in thought. "I think you're lying," she finally replied with a know-it-all look plastered onto her face.
"You're old enough to believe what you want," then Grandmother put her mouth close to Madeline's ear and whispered, "but don't let the Helpers know you think that; they can be very unpredictable."
Madeline raised her eyebrows and jumped off the counter. Without wasting a moment on hesitation she defiantly put her hands on her hips and yelled, "There's no such thing as little people or Helpers! You're stupid and crazy! I hate this house!"
The look on Grandmother's face fell with disappointment and there was a long moment of silence before she sighed and replied, "I think it's time for you to go to bed." Madeline stomped to her room, mumbling her disbelief along the way.
The next morning Madeline woke up to a chill in the air. She reluctantly emerged from her warm cocoon and decided to put on her favorite pink sweater but noticed that it still had the spaghetti stain on it from three days ago! Disgusted, she tossed it in the corner which housed her toys, which were uncharacteristically the exact way she left them when she went to bed: cluttered and disorganized. Suddenly she sneezed and a tiny cloud of dust erupted on the bedside table causing a tiny piece of paper to flutter.
Curious, Madeline picked it up. It was the torn piece of a bubble gum wrapper. Madeline nearly crumbled it up and thrown it on the floor until she saw pencil markings. She flattened out the creases and held the paper close to her face and sounded out the two simple words written upon it: ON STRIKE.
Madeline's eyes suddenly opened wide at the realization of what she had done. The house seemed to be falling apart this morning. Did what she say in the kitchen last night make the Helpers upset? The Zimmermans weren't keeping the house warm, the Stoff family didn't erase the spaghetti stain, and the Verwalters didn't organize the clutter in her room or chase away the dust. Perhaps the Blitzen family let the dust bunnies unleash havoc under the bed!
Surely, Grandma and Grandpa would be upset with her if they found out that she was the reason why the Helpers left. If did leave this morning, then Grandma and Grandpa would have to work until they die and it would all be Madeline's fault!
Quickly, she jumped off the bed and put her ear to the ground. She gently tapped on the wood and whispered her beliefs and sorrow. Then she did the same to the wall and ran barefoot to all the cabinets and stuck her head into the laundry chute and begged for forgiveness. When Grandmother woke up Madeline expressed her worries and regret and asked how she could help.
Grandmother stroked Madeline's back in an attempt to soothe her sobs. "The only way to show the Helper's that you're sorry is to help the house stay clean."
Madeline promised that she wouldn't let her grandparents down and went to work right away. For the rest of her stay, she picked up her toys and made her bed, put the dirty dishes in the sink and helped her Grandmother without complaint. When the Helpers saw that Madeline now knew how to act responsible and generous, they happily went back to work.
Length: 6 pages/1874 words
Genre: Fiction
Summary: Little girls discovers other inhabitants at her Grandparents house.
LJ cut:
The kitchen always smelled like olives or pickles. In fact, that was the first thing Madeline commented on, with her fingers pinched to her nose, as she entered her mother's childhood home; she didn't like either vegetable and made it known every time she sat down for a meal with her Grandparents.
They had just finished eating dinner. Grandmother was a great cook and made a wonderful cod dish that her granddaughter refused to touch. Instead, she buried her fish under a mashed potato castle and made it rain green peas.
"Madeline, can you please bring me the dishes from the table?" Grandmother asked as she squirted green dish soap into the sink of hot water.
Madeline was twirling like a ballerina across from the dinner table, watching the way her frilly skirt flew up into the air, through the mirrored image on the silver refrigerator. "No," she simply replied and gave her reflection a kiss, leaving behind the imprint of hot pink lipstick only a seven year old would want to wear.
"This house doesn't ask much of you Madeline, please help out and hand me the dishes from the table." Grandmother turned around to face Madeline and rested her hands on her thin, narrow hips.
Offended, Madeline stopped twirling and, with her arms crossed over her chest, she stomped her shiny black dress shoes into the floor. "I won't! I won't! I won't! You're making me do work because you hate me and mommy and daddy hate me and I hate it here!" She overreacted, through clenched teeth, like any child typically would when they were tired and away from home.
"Just because your parents went on vacation for a week doesn't mean they hate you." Grandmother called after her, as the little girl flew down the corridor and out of sight.
Madeline ran into the bedroom where her parents piled a weeks worth of her frilly skirts and flowery tops, as well as a mound of Madeline's favorite dolls and her prized vanity table. The room used to be her mother's bedroom and there was still a Beatles poster hung above the bed and a few out-of-date clothes hanging on the closet. Madeline crawled underneath the large four-poster bed, hoping her grandparents would forget she was there and moaned. She sniffled and cried in self pity. When her tears finally stopped she put her flushed head against the cool wooden floor, wishing with all her might that she could just go home.
As quickly as the tantrum came, it was gone when Madeline heard tiny sounds emanating from the floor. Intrigued, she pulled her long brown hair behind her ears and took off the large pink and orange beaded necklace that made too much noise when it touched the floor. She held her breath and meticulously pressed her ear against the floorboards.
Madeline could hear stifled sounds through the wooden planks but she couldn't make out what they were. It almost sounded like the stifled noises that floated up the stairs to her bedroom at night when her parents were hosting a party; enigmatic and fascinating. She softly tapped her finger against the floor, her mind drifting back her thoughts of home.
Just as quietly, something returned her soft taps from beneath her head. Surprised and curious, she closed her eyes and pressed her ear harder to the floor and knocked.
"Not so loud, dear, you'll scare them." Grandmother smiled and held out her hand from the spot on the floor where she was kneeling.
"I heard something!" Madeline put her head back to the floor and strained to hear the sounds again.
"Of course you did! Now come out from under there or the dust bunnies will get you."
Madeline slid out from under the bed and let Grandmother straighten out the green ribbon in her hair. "What were those sounds, Grandma?"
"The Helpers," Grandmother said and took Madeline's hand. "Why don't you come back to the kitchen with me and I'll tell you about them while I do the dishes."
Madeline sat on the kitchen counter with a bleach-spotted green dishtowel in her hand, drying the dishes that Grandmother handed to her. "You see, when people get old like Grandpa and I and live in such a big house they need help to keep it clean, so they have time to grow old and not work themselves to death."
Grandmother handed Madeline a coffee mug which she slid the green towel over and placed in the drying rack. "When Uncle Jack got married and moved out your mommy still lived here but when she married your daddy and moved to your house, Grandpa and I didn't have anyone to help us keep the house clean. We spent all day, from the time we woke up until bedtime cleaning and sweeping; we were always so tired!"
Madeline listened attentively, absentmindedly wiping the counter with the towel. "One day the doorbell rang and I answered it. Do you know what I saw?"
"What?" Madeline scooted closer.
"It was a family of people no bigger then my fingers!" Grandmother pulled out her red, water soaked hands and wiggled her fingers for emphasis. "They stood on the doormat on the porch carrying suitcases under their arms, and do you know what they said?"
Madeline shook her head from side to side.
"They said, 'We're the Stoff family and we've come to help you.'" Grandmother plunged her hands deeper into the sink and pulled out another dirty plate. "They said that they could help sort the laundry and could get any stain out of our clothes. I told them that they could stay and they slid down the laundry chute and made homes for themselves on the high shelves above the laundry machine.
"So the next day I didn't have to worry about sorting the laundry but I still had many other jobs to do. Just as I began to sweep the floor, the doorbell rang again and another family of people no bigger than my thumb were on the doormat. 'We're the Blitzen family,' they said, 'and we've come to help you tame the dust bunnies and keep your sinks clean.'
"I told them that I already had a family who lived on my shelves but the walls were safe and roomy, so they crawled through the hole behind the radiator in the living room and made themselves at home." Grandmother handed that last of the wet dinner dishes to Madeline and drained the water out of the sink.
"Because I didn't have to scrub stains or capture dust bunnies, I had time to make lunch that day. As soon Grandpa and I sat down to eat, the doorbell rang again! This time they said, 'We're the Verwalter family and we've come to help you organize the clutter in your house and protect your belongings from dust.' I told them that I didn't have space in my walls or on my shelves but they said that they'd be happy to live in my cabinets.
"When they climbed up to their new home, the doorbell rang again. It was another family-the last family of Helpers that came to our door-the Zimmermans. 'We've come to help keep wood burning in your stove so you can stay warm,' they said. I told them I would love to have their help but we didn't have a place for them to live; our shelves were full, our cupboards were full and our walls were full. 'We can live under the floorboards,' they said. So they squeezed through the cracks in the floor boards and kept our house warm." Grandmother looked at Madeline and smiled, "That's what you heard under the bed."
Grandmother took the damp dish towel from Madeline and dried her hands. Madeline studied her Grandmother for several moments, deep in thought. "I think you're lying," she finally replied with a know-it-all look plastered onto her face.
"You're old enough to believe what you want," then Grandmother put her mouth close to Madeline's ear and whispered, "but don't let the Helpers know you think that; they can be very unpredictable."
Madeline raised her eyebrows and jumped off the counter. Without wasting a moment on hesitation she defiantly put her hands on her hips and yelled, "There's no such thing as little people or Helpers! You're stupid and crazy! I hate this house!"
The look on Grandmother's face fell with disappointment and there was a long moment of silence before she sighed and replied, "I think it's time for you to go to bed." Madeline stomped to her room, mumbling her disbelief along the way.
The next morning Madeline woke up to a chill in the air. She reluctantly emerged from her warm cocoon and decided to put on her favorite pink sweater but noticed that it still had the spaghetti stain on it from three days ago! Disgusted, she tossed it in the corner which housed her toys, which were uncharacteristically the exact way she left them when she went to bed: cluttered and disorganized. Suddenly she sneezed and a tiny cloud of dust erupted on the bedside table causing a tiny piece of paper to flutter.
Curious, Madeline picked it up. It was the torn piece of a bubble gum wrapper. Madeline nearly crumbled it up and thrown it on the floor until she saw pencil markings. She flattened out the creases and held the paper close to her face and sounded out the two simple words written upon it: ON STRIKE.
Madeline's eyes suddenly opened wide at the realization of what she had done. The house seemed to be falling apart this morning. Did what she say in the kitchen last night make the Helpers upset? The Zimmermans weren't keeping the house warm, the Stoff family didn't erase the spaghetti stain, and the Verwalters didn't organize the clutter in her room or chase away the dust. Perhaps the Blitzen family let the dust bunnies unleash havoc under the bed!
Surely, Grandma and Grandpa would be upset with her if they found out that she was the reason why the Helpers left. If did leave this morning, then Grandma and Grandpa would have to work until they die and it would all be Madeline's fault!
Quickly, she jumped off the bed and put her ear to the ground. She gently tapped on the wood and whispered her beliefs and sorrow. Then she did the same to the wall and ran barefoot to all the cabinets and stuck her head into the laundry chute and begged for forgiveness. When Grandmother woke up Madeline expressed her worries and regret and asked how she could help.
Grandmother stroked Madeline's back in an attempt to soothe her sobs. "The only way to show the Helper's that you're sorry is to help the house stay clean."
Madeline promised that she wouldn't let her grandparents down and went to work right away. For the rest of her stay, she picked up her toys and made her bed, put the dirty dishes in the sink and helped her Grandmother without complaint. When the Helpers saw that Madeline now knew how to act responsible and generous, they happily went back to work.