Itty Bitty People- A Short Story
Little hands tugged at Anne's skirt as she set the mixing bowl on the counter. A little voice begged her, 'Up!' as Anne tried to stir the cake batter. Little feet stomped impatiently when Anne didn't stop what she was doing and give the little person attention.
"Yes, Abbie, I heard you the first time. Just hold on." Anne sighed, looking down at two big blue eyes and hoping her little friend could wait just a minute more for her to pour the batter into the cake pan.
This was Anne's life. A constant little shadow following her around, interrupting her work and feeling like all Anne's attention belong to that little person alone. Did it get annoying? Sometimes, but Anne was so used to her shadow that she rarely thought about it anymore. In fact, Anne actually liked the fact that someone thought she was the best thing since sliced bread.
For the past year and a half, Anne had been babysitting two year old Abbie and her older siblings while their parents were at work. It had been a long year and a half, with Anne learning more about children than she had ever been taught in all her twenty-one years. She had learned that:
Little people don't like vegetables more now than they had when she was little (Or maybe she just had forgotten how yucky green beans were when she was a child.)
Little people didn't understand that crayons and markers weren't made for the exclusive use of decorating walls, furniture, carpet, other little people....
Little people couldn't understand the phrase, 'One cookie at a time' any more than she could understand 'I say I nee' one mooooore'.
Little people didn't like being ignored.
It was the last one that had been the biggest lesson for Anne. When she was a child, she had always hated being ignored by grown ups, or her need to talk pushed aside by adults who didn't want to listen to her chattering. Now that she was an adult, she had tried her best to never ignore any child because she knew what that felt like. So when Abbie begged for a book to be read to her, or any of the other four children had a story, dream or joke to tell her, Anne never said no. The only downside? She didn't get much of a chance to get her work done. Like today.
The Wilsons were having company flying in and Anne had barely had time to get the house tidied up by noon. Mrs. Wilson rarely asked Anne to help with household chores- she knew five children kept Anne busy- but her job allowed her little time to get home and clean up before the company arrived. Anne didn't mind helping, and even offered to bake the cake Mrs. Wilson would have otherwise had to rush to make when she got home.
"Hannah, can you bring me some old rags?" Anne called to the oldest Wilson child.
She picked Abbie up and carefully poured the batter into the pan, balancing the bowl with one hand and hoped the two boys, Lane and Lee, didn't run into the kitchen and cause her to drop it.
"Eat dat?" Abbie asked, pointing to the chocolate batter.
"No, not yet." Anne laughed. "We have to bake it first."
Hopefully she could at least get the kitchen clean, and the living room straightened up before the company arrived at four o'clock. Anne hurried to get the cake in the oven, fix the children's lunch and started emptying the dishwasher. She had just put the last dish away when the doorbell rang.
"Oh no, I don't have time..." Anne groaned. "Please don't let it be a salesman or robber."
The Wilson children ran to answer it but Anne sent them to the playroom, just in case.
She opened the front door cautiously, seeing a tall young man standing on the porch.
"Can I help you?"
"Package delivery for Mary Wilson?"
Anne took the package and hurried back to the kitchen. Abbie was in the middle of emptying the canned goods.
She had just finished sliding the last pan into the oven when there was a knock on the door. Anne ran back to answer it, expecting the delivery man to have returned. Instead a elderly couple stood with suitcases in hand.
"Oh, you must be Anne! Mary said she might not be here when we arrived." The woman said cheerfully.
Anne frowned. "You must be the company Mrs. Wilson told me about." She smiled. "Come on in. We're, ah, still trying to get things done here."
"I'm Alice, and this is Fred. We're Mary's aunt and uncle." The woman explained as they came in.
"Please, excuse the floor. The kids were playing games while I finished the kitchen." Anne blushed and knelt down, scooping up puzzle pieces and board games.
Abbie came running to Anne and climbed onto her back, making her task that much more difficult.
"Mama said to take your suit cases to your room," Hannah said, taking the aunt's bag and showing them the way to the guest room.
Anne moved as quickly as she could with Abbie in her arms and had the living room clean before the aunt and uncle returned. Abbie chattered away, and Anne did her best to answer.
"Something smells really good." Fred said, smiling as they took a seat in the living room.
"Oh, that's the cake," Anne smiled. "It'll be ready for dinner."
"You sure do have your hands full." Alice commented with a smile. "Mary is fortunate to have found such good help."
"Well, I try my best. The children are sweet and that makes the job much easier." Anne answered.
Thankfully, she spotted the Wilsons pulling in the driveway and sighed in relief. If nothing else, they could entertain their company while she finished in the kitchen.
Anne ended up staying for dinner, and helping serve and then clean up. The Wilsons were able to sit and relax with their company while she cleaned, then Mrs. Wilson took Abbie to put her to bed after dessert.
"So," Fred said, "I have a notion that you children like story books."
The children agreed.
"Well, I just happen to have this little note book which I've been sketching in while I've been here, being a writer and all..." He produced a little book from his jacket pocket. "Now, I had some idea of what to write, seeing as your mother had told us all about you. But I wrote up this little story and I'll read it to you, if you want."
With unanimous agreement, he began to read.
"There once was a village of little bitty people. There weren't a great many of them, just enough." He showed them a pencil sketch of the Wilson children. "There was a tall one, who loved talking about horses."
Hannah giggled.
"There was a almost as tall one who loved his dessert but knew when to stop- especially when his mother said to."
Peter grinned.
"There was a quiet one who had the biggest brown eyes anyone had ever seen."
Penny wiggled and her face lit up.
"There was a little one who was fast and believe he could catch a star to keep in his pocket if it fell just right."
James giggled.
"And there was a tiny one who talked almost nonstop. These little bitty people knew their king and queen had important work to do most days, and so a fair maiden was chosen to be their princess. Now, she had a great many tasks assigned to her by the king and queen. She had to keep the village feed, keep the village neat and tidy, and keep the village happy. She worked very hard, and almost didn't have enough time in a day to get all her tasks done. The little bitty people tried to help, but they had their own chores to do.
"The little bitty people loved their princess. She always listened to them, and never banished them away with an angry word. She played games with them, although she might have to play and work at the same time. She was patient with them and made them feel like they were the most important people in all the world, because she knew to the king and queen they were.
"One day, the king and queen asked the princess to do something special. They were having ambassadors from a far off village coming to their home. They wouldn't be able to greet them when they arrived at the village, but they trusted the princess and the little bitty people to do the job for them. And they did. The ambassadors felt very welcome in the village and they were made comfortable. Then they were fed delicious food and a special cake that they wished they could have the princess make all the time.
"Now, the ambassadors were very pleased with the princess. They told the king and the queen that they were so impressed by her hard work that they wanted to reward her for her service to the king and queen. They wanted to give her a leather pouch with several gold coins in it, but they didn't feel that was enough. They wanted to give her a gold box of rubies, but they didn't think that was enough, either. So they had an idea.
"You see, one of the ambassadors was famous storyteller. He had told hundreds of people stories, and he had been looking for a new story to tell. He decided that the best reward he could give the princess was to tell of her faithfulness to her duties and her excellent care of the little bitty people. He wrote her story and drew pictures."
He held up a sketch of Anne, with Abbie in her arms and a cake in her hand, with the other children pressed close to her sides.
"Now the whole world would know about Princess Anne and never forget her. The end."
"Yes, Abbie, I heard you the first time. Just hold on." Anne sighed, looking down at two big blue eyes and hoping her little friend could wait just a minute more for her to pour the batter into the cake pan.
This was Anne's life. A constant little shadow following her around, interrupting her work and feeling like all Anne's attention belong to that little person alone. Did it get annoying? Sometimes, but Anne was so used to her shadow that she rarely thought about it anymore. In fact, Anne actually liked the fact that someone thought she was the best thing since sliced bread.
For the past year and a half, Anne had been babysitting two year old Abbie and her older siblings while their parents were at work. It had been a long year and a half, with Anne learning more about children than she had ever been taught in all her twenty-one years. She had learned that:
Little people don't like vegetables more now than they had when she was little (Or maybe she just had forgotten how yucky green beans were when she was a child.)
Little people didn't understand that crayons and markers weren't made for the exclusive use of decorating walls, furniture, carpet, other little people....
Little people couldn't understand the phrase, 'One cookie at a time' any more than she could understand 'I say I nee' one mooooore'.
Little people didn't like being ignored.
It was the last one that had been the biggest lesson for Anne. When she was a child, she had always hated being ignored by grown ups, or her need to talk pushed aside by adults who didn't want to listen to her chattering. Now that she was an adult, she had tried her best to never ignore any child because she knew what that felt like. So when Abbie begged for a book to be read to her, or any of the other four children had a story, dream or joke to tell her, Anne never said no. The only downside? She didn't get much of a chance to get her work done. Like today.
The Wilsons were having company flying in and Anne had barely had time to get the house tidied up by noon. Mrs. Wilson rarely asked Anne to help with household chores- she knew five children kept Anne busy- but her job allowed her little time to get home and clean up before the company arrived. Anne didn't mind helping, and even offered to bake the cake Mrs. Wilson would have otherwise had to rush to make when she got home.
"Hannah, can you bring me some old rags?" Anne called to the oldest Wilson child.
She picked Abbie up and carefully poured the batter into the pan, balancing the bowl with one hand and hoped the two boys, Lane and Lee, didn't run into the kitchen and cause her to drop it.
"Eat dat?" Abbie asked, pointing to the chocolate batter.
"No, not yet." Anne laughed. "We have to bake it first."
Hopefully she could at least get the kitchen clean, and the living room straightened up before the company arrived at four o'clock. Anne hurried to get the cake in the oven, fix the children's lunch and started emptying the dishwasher. She had just put the last dish away when the doorbell rang.
"Oh no, I don't have time..." Anne groaned. "Please don't let it be a salesman or robber."
The Wilson children ran to answer it but Anne sent them to the playroom, just in case.
She opened the front door cautiously, seeing a tall young man standing on the porch.
"Can I help you?"
"Package delivery for Mary Wilson?"
Anne took the package and hurried back to the kitchen. Abbie was in the middle of emptying the canned goods.
She had just finished sliding the last pan into the oven when there was a knock on the door. Anne ran back to answer it, expecting the delivery man to have returned. Instead a elderly couple stood with suitcases in hand.
"Oh, you must be Anne! Mary said she might not be here when we arrived." The woman said cheerfully.
Anne frowned. "You must be the company Mrs. Wilson told me about." She smiled. "Come on in. We're, ah, still trying to get things done here."
"I'm Alice, and this is Fred. We're Mary's aunt and uncle." The woman explained as they came in.
"Please, excuse the floor. The kids were playing games while I finished the kitchen." Anne blushed and knelt down, scooping up puzzle pieces and board games.
Abbie came running to Anne and climbed onto her back, making her task that much more difficult.
"Mama said to take your suit cases to your room," Hannah said, taking the aunt's bag and showing them the way to the guest room.
Anne moved as quickly as she could with Abbie in her arms and had the living room clean before the aunt and uncle returned. Abbie chattered away, and Anne did her best to answer.
"Something smells really good." Fred said, smiling as they took a seat in the living room.
"Oh, that's the cake," Anne smiled. "It'll be ready for dinner."
"You sure do have your hands full." Alice commented with a smile. "Mary is fortunate to have found such good help."
"Well, I try my best. The children are sweet and that makes the job much easier." Anne answered.
Thankfully, she spotted the Wilsons pulling in the driveway and sighed in relief. If nothing else, they could entertain their company while she finished in the kitchen.
Anne ended up staying for dinner, and helping serve and then clean up. The Wilsons were able to sit and relax with their company while she cleaned, then Mrs. Wilson took Abbie to put her to bed after dessert.
"So," Fred said, "I have a notion that you children like story books."
The children agreed.
"Well, I just happen to have this little note book which I've been sketching in while I've been here, being a writer and all..." He produced a little book from his jacket pocket. "Now, I had some idea of what to write, seeing as your mother had told us all about you. But I wrote up this little story and I'll read it to you, if you want."
With unanimous agreement, he began to read.
"There once was a village of little bitty people. There weren't a great many of them, just enough." He showed them a pencil sketch of the Wilson children. "There was a tall one, who loved talking about horses."
Hannah giggled.
"There was a almost as tall one who loved his dessert but knew when to stop- especially when his mother said to."
Peter grinned.
"There was a quiet one who had the biggest brown eyes anyone had ever seen."
Penny wiggled and her face lit up.
"There was a little one who was fast and believe he could catch a star to keep in his pocket if it fell just right."
James giggled.
"And there was a tiny one who talked almost nonstop. These little bitty people knew their king and queen had important work to do most days, and so a fair maiden was chosen to be their princess. Now, she had a great many tasks assigned to her by the king and queen. She had to keep the village feed, keep the village neat and tidy, and keep the village happy. She worked very hard, and almost didn't have enough time in a day to get all her tasks done. The little bitty people tried to help, but they had their own chores to do.
"The little bitty people loved their princess. She always listened to them, and never banished them away with an angry word. She played games with them, although she might have to play and work at the same time. She was patient with them and made them feel like they were the most important people in all the world, because she knew to the king and queen they were.
"One day, the king and queen asked the princess to do something special. They were having ambassadors from a far off village coming to their home. They wouldn't be able to greet them when they arrived at the village, but they trusted the princess and the little bitty people to do the job for them. And they did. The ambassadors felt very welcome in the village and they were made comfortable. Then they were fed delicious food and a special cake that they wished they could have the princess make all the time.
"Now, the ambassadors were very pleased with the princess. They told the king and the queen that they were so impressed by her hard work that they wanted to reward her for her service to the king and queen. They wanted to give her a leather pouch with several gold coins in it, but they didn't feel that was enough. They wanted to give her a gold box of rubies, but they didn't think that was enough, either. So they had an idea.
"You see, one of the ambassadors was famous storyteller. He had told hundreds of people stories, and he had been looking for a new story to tell. He decided that the best reward he could give the princess was to tell of her faithfulness to her duties and her excellent care of the little bitty people. He wrote her story and drew pictures."
He held up a sketch of Anne, with Abbie in her arms and a cake in her hand, with the other children pressed close to her sides.
"Now the whole world would know about Princess Anne and never forget her. The end."
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