Story Ramble

Let's get ready to ramble!!!!  

Below is the first in a series of flash fiction to go with your coffee.  I don't even know the word count.  Hang on...it starts in 3-2-WAIT!  You forgot the coffee (or beverage of your choice).  Great, let's restart the countdown clock.  3-2-1 and go.

Suzie and the Little Man
"Stupid shoe!"  Suzie was on her way to school when she crossed the street, tripped slightly on a sewer grate.  Her black buckle shoe slipped off and the muffled splash said it all.  She knelt down to peek through the darkened grate, but there was no way she could spot it.  "Why didn't I look out for where I was going? I am such a klutz!"

"Hey, I could go down and get it for you."  A miniature voice harkened from a nearby fire hydrant.  Suzie stood on the curb and saw no one. 

"Must be hearing things," the curly haired 9-year-old sighed.  She almost cried because she didn't always wear dress shoes, and she was in a dress up mood today.  The cool morning air tickled her exposed foot wrapped in a white leotard.  Her home was only a block away, but that would mean an extra long walk.  She kept an eye out for a passing friend, but none came her way.  "Damn it," she said under her breath, knowing no one was around to cite her for swearing at a young age.

"Don't be mad!  You don't have to swear or curse!  I can go get it for you."  There was that high-pitched voice again.  

"Who are you?" wondered Suzie.  "Where are you?"

Out from the other side of the fire hydrant a little man, a really little man, skirted forth.  He held a tiny megaphone.  "Here I am," speaking into the cone.  The man wore a business suit.  "I can easily fit through."

Suzie didn't even bother to ask and plucked him off the grass.  With her palm open he stood on her hand.  She glanced around to see if anyone else was coming near.  "Oh my.  A shrunken man.  I know I shouldn't talk to strangers, but you couldn't possibly hurt me."

"Indeed.  But, I have teeth and am prone to biting.  A man my stature must survive somehow."

"Well, how could you even go get my shoe?  You could go down, but how would you come back up?  I doubt if you could even carry my shoe."

"Oh, I have my ways, dear," not using his megaphone.

"Alright.  Go get it then."  She set him down right on the curbed portion of the grate and sat her hind end down next to him.

"Yes.  There is just a matter of payment, my dear."

"Payment?  I don't have any money.  What if I just throw you down in there?  What would you do?"

 "You are quite the mean-spirited child," he said accusingly.

"I'm not mean-spirited, just...a girl who is practically minded."

"Practically minded?  Well...you won't have to pay with money.  All I ask in return is that you help me to remove a curse placed upon me by what you would probably call a witch centuries ago."

"Is that why you're all shrunken?" she wondered.

"Oh yes, my dear."

"Call me, Suzie."

"Yes, Suzie.  Do we have a deal?"

"It depends.  I don't have to kiss you, do I?"

"Oh no, nothing like that.  All you have to do is just spin around three times and say three times, Gordon is released...not hard, right?"

"Is that your name?"  He nodded.  

"Alright...It's a deal.  Now, go get my shoe."  

Gordon wrapped his legs around the first rail of the grate as if he was made of plastic.  Hanging upside-down he stretched his body until he grabbed a hold of the girl's shoe.  After pushing it through the large opening between the grate and curb, he sling-shot his body up into the grass and presented Suzie with the shoe.  Suzie held the thing, it dripped slimy water off of the sole.  The smell was like mold or something.

She tried wiping it vigorously on the grass, and satisfied, inserted her foot in.  Luckily, the inside remained dry.

Suzie forgot all about Gordon at first and started her way towards the school.  But, she heard Gordon squawking in his megaphone.  "Are you forgetting our deal?"

She turned to face him with a smile.  "Oh, are you forgetting who I am, little man?"  Her face suddenly twisted and contorted into that of a face that seemed carved into an ancient oak tree, but then went back to it's youthful "Suzie" look. 

Gordon recognized her and just froze.  Suzie smirked.  He shouted in his pipsqueak voice, "It's you!"

"You stupid fool."  She waved over to the house in front of the hydrant, and a cat came bounding towards Gordon.  He sling-shot his body to the roof of the house out of reach of the cat.

He shouted as Suzie slunk her way to the school.  "Damn you, you ugly witch."  She never even looked back, determined in her mission to find just the right unsuspecting kid to add to her stew.

Be good to yourselves!