Rosie has an adventure.

Mostly I write my stories when I have an idea to start with. Sometimes, though, I like to experiment with a challenge, such as the inspiration point. One challenge a friend set me a year ago was to take a fairy story and bring it into the 21st century. The result is the following story, which I have left alone, "warts and all so to speak. It's not going to win me any prizes, but it did stretch my imagination and isn't that what makes writing such a satisfying experience?

Rosie slipped between the crowds virtually unnoticed by the people around her. She was glad she had chosen the Wednesday market for her important errand for few people would notice a seven-year-old girl in the happy atmosphere of the bustling market. Her little town was full of people hunting for bargains with mothers' clutching tightly to their toddlers hands as they made their way through the stalls. Now and then a child would cry for an ice cream and the mums would be distracted. Rosie wanted an ice cream for herself, she had set out very early and her teddy-bear rucksack was already chaffing her shoulders but to stop now might call attention to herself something she was keen to avoid. Dodging between people she hurried on her way anxious now to reach the edge of the town.

Passing through the shopping precinct near to the bus stop she spotted a man dressed in a blue uniform heading towards her, what should she do? Maybe he was a kind man but her nana had warned her about the wolf in sheep's clothing. Carefully she had explained to Rosie that this was a "met-a-phore, meaning that some people pretended to be nice but were realy horrid and dangerous, she didn't want to be caught by the wolf so she changed her direction and hid in the ladies toilet for a long time. By now her tummy was rumbling it had been a long time since breakfast when she told her mummy that she was going to Katy's house to play for a while. Rosie didn't like lying, nana said it was very wicked but sometimes you could tell a "little white lie which was not so wicked.
One thing she decided was not to eat her packed lunch in a toilet so carefully peeking around the corner she tiptoed out onto the main street all the while looking for the wolf but he was not in sight.

Near to the bus stop was a patch of grass where she could sit down and eat some of the sandwiches she had made very early in the morning and drink a bit of her lemonade. Sitting in the sunshine was nice with some birds coming down to peck at the crumbs but now she had to choose what to do next. Chewing nervously on her bottom lip she thought about the dangers of catching a bus, adults could be very nosey like old Mrs Parsons who lived across the street from them and was always "tweaking the curtains according to nana. Thinking about her nana made her sad and a single tear trickled down her face like a raindrop on a windowpane. Suddenly the adventure seemed a bit foolish but Rosie had now made up her mind, she would not risk catching the bus but carry on walking. From her rucksack she took out a piece of crumpled paper that had been read many times in the last two weeks. Nodding her head in unspoken agreement she carefully repacked the rucksack, brushed more crumbs off her red shorts and with a fierce determination on her face started to walk along the road.

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The sun had passed overhead a while ago now leaving Rosie very hot and tired and sure that she was getting a blister on her right foot. The road seemed to be very long and spotting a little stream on the side of the road she gratefully ducked her head passing through some brambles that tugged at her long blonde hair but emerging on to a little bank where the stream trickled merrily along. Casting aside her sandals she lowered her aching feet into the cool water soothing her jangled nerves as well.
Now she thought back to the day when everything in her young life had gone so wrong. Nana had lived with her mummy and daddy as long as she could remember and although she loved her parents very much her nana was very special to her. Closing her eyes she could conjure up that smell of warmth which always made her think of apple pies, cosy nights sat on nana's lap with mugs of cocoa, summer days when they played hide and seek.
Even when nana got vey sick she still cuddled up on nana's bed listening to her favourite fairy tales and giggling when nana made all the voices to the story, nobody else, even her favourite teacher Miss Anderson could make the stories sound so alive.
She would sponge nana's head with her lavender water, which was a bit of magic to soothe her to sleep.
Then came that horrible day when nana had to go to the big hospital in the next town where she could only visit on weekends. Once, when her parents talked to the doctor in the white coat nana held her very close and told her that she was not yet ready to be "put out to pasture. That was the last time she saw her and those strange words were never explained to her. Mummy and daddy never explained things like nana did, they thought she was too young to understand but she did understand when nana explained things.

Rosie was very unhappy after that day and even more miserable when mummy took her on her lap and told her that nana had gone to heaven. She had stamped her feet and screamed until mummy gave her some special medicine to make her sleep. The next few weeks were the worst in all of Rosie's life. Mummy cried all the time and daddy just got very cross especially when she asked him about heaven. She wasn't stupid, she knew that "going to heaven, meant dying but she didn't think nana was dead. Her friend's nana had died a year ago and Katy said there was a thing called a funeral where everyone wore black clothes and had a big party afterwards and her daddy had got very drunk and fell over.
Nothing like this had happened in her home unless they had the party when Rosie was sleeping and neither mummy nor daddy had fell over or had leftovers like Christmas when everyone ate too much and the fridge was full of food.
Anyway, mummy still kept crying and went off on her own for ages making daddy very cross.

Rosie opened her eyes, took her feet out of the stream and ate the last of her sandwiches with a packet of crisps and a swig of lemonade. It was time to move on before she got sleepy and maybe missed the turn-off to where she was going. She looked at the piece of paper again frowning with concentration. Surely it couldn't be much further! Slowly she got to her feet missing the grass-stains on her shorts and white t-shirt and the tangles in her hair.
Back on the road again she walked carefully along the verge until at last she spotted the sign she was looking for.
There was a big walk up to the house through a forest of trees but it looked friendly enough with white daisies poking their heads towards the late afternoon sun and lots of bushes and flowers. As she drew nearer to the big house she started to get scared, what if a wolf lived here? The grass soon gave way to a gravel drive and she saw the biggest house she could ever have imagined, even bigger than the town hall where they held the meetings her daddy went to and visitors came to admire the big staircase that she had seen many times before.

Now, at last, her confidence gave way and it was only with the greatest of effort that she dared to approach the big front doors. One last glance at the piece of paper stolen from her mother's bedroom and the little map that her friend's big brother had drawn for her and then she was inside in the building. Her heart sank as she saw the many corridors leading off from the room with the big desk and with a sob her legs collapsed under her.
She woke up in a little room with a nurse gently holding a cool cup of water to her lips.
"Did you get lost? the nurse asked her.
"No, well I don't think so¦ She felt small and very afraid.
"Did you lose your mummy dear? the voice was kind.
"I¦I, I'm looking for my nana the voice was barely above a whisper as Rosie pushed her paper into the nurses hands.
"Is this the Heavenly Pastures Nursing Home? she asked.
The nurse's voice was very gentle " Yes it is dear and what is your name?
"Rosie. Um¦Steadfield, but my nana's name is ¦well. Um¦Vera Griffiths because she's my mummy's mother and not my daddy's name and___________ poor Rosie could go no further she dissolved into floods of tears.

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Half an hour later Rosie was sitting on her nana's bed carefully holding her hand. Her nana looked very tiny in the big bed but Rosie was too happy to care. Her nana was alive and well and just a bit cross with Rosie for making a three-mile walk to find her.

But really she couldn't be cross for long, not when her beloved granddaughter had made so much effort to find her. Vera had missed her so much and was annoyed with both her daughter and son-in-law for pretending she had died. It was just like Nathan to deny her the comfort of seeing Rosie and using lame excuses about Rosie not understanding the situation. She herself had accepted the fact that since her hip operation she needed a lot more care and was honest enough to admit that the home was a good one and ideal for her, but she couldn't forgive the damage done to her Rosie. When it was her time to die she would happily go to her maker but first she would explain this to the child so she wouldn't grieve too much.

Vera was proud of her granddaughter for being so resourceful. The home's leaflet had given a lot away of course, but only Rosie could have put together her comment about being "put out to pasture and mix it with the word "heaven. There would be some harsh remarks made later on because of the risk Rosie had taken but for now she was just happy to see her little Rosie alive and well. She chuckled at the child's interpretation of her words and vowed even more that her next present would be a dictionary for this precocious child.

Meanwhile Rosie was delighted to know that just for tonight she could stay by her nana's side in a little bed made especially for her. She had beaten the wolf, found her nana all by herself and wouldn't mummy be delighted to find nana had not gone yet to the real heaven. With a sigh of contentment she cuddled up to her nana and once again smelt the lovely fragrance of lavender water and apple pies.

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I hope you enjoyed my story as much as I did writing it.
© Lisa Fuller. July 2005.