THE YELLOW LADY
by Fern Jo Rogers
"Mamm-ma-------m-a-m-m-ma!"
"Don't screech so, Child! Come in if you want something."
SLAM.
"And don't slam the door! My head is splitting already."
"I want to see your head splitting, mamm-ma."
"Oh, I don't mean it is really splitting. It just feels like it. And I wish you would call me GRANDMA. You are getting to be a big boy. You are past four years old and that is too big for baby talk. Your parents ought never to have permitted it in the first place." "What's my parents, Mamm, I mean Drandma?" "That's your daddy and mother, of course."
"I want my daddy and mother."
"There, I should have known better than to bring up that subject. What were you going to tell me when you came running in the door?"
"Oh, Mamm-ma, the yellow lady is outside with her fifteen hungry children. And she said that if you would give me a great big piece of bread and butter and brown sugar that I could give her and all her hungry children a bite."
"Now, Donald, you know there is nothing of the kind. If there were a yellow lady, it would have to be Chinese or Japanese, and there are none around here. And nobody with fifteen children. And one piece of Bread couldn't possibly feed all of them. You are getting too big to be telling such fairy tales. Your parents should never have permitted it in the first place. The first thing you know, you won't know what real truth is, and be telling actual lies. GOD doesn't like little boys that lie, Donald."
"But, GOD likes me. I saw his face looking up at me that day I climbed inside the well and---"
"There it is again. You should have had a good spanking for crawling into that well and running around on the ledge. Instead of petting you and pampering you and listening to all your tales. That was your own reflection you saw in the water. God doesn't live in the well. Her lives up in the sky."
"Does my daddy live up in the sky, too?"
"Of course not. He lives in Hillsboro."
"Then why doesn't he come to see me?"
"Because if he keeps his job on the railroad he has to work at it. He spends all his spare time driving fifty miles to the hospital everynight to see your mother, and he can't be running sown here, too."
"Why is my mother in the hospital?"
"She's in the hospital with your baby sister. I guess that will take some of the spoiledness out of you? Your mother will be so busy looking after baby sister that she won't have any time for you. Your nose sure is out of joint."
"I want to see my nose out of joint."
"Now stop! Don't be climbing over my fresh-ironed clothes trying to look in the mirror. You can't see your nose out of joint. Why don't you go back outdoors and play?"
"And shall I tell the yellow lady that--"
SLAP!
SLAM!
"There! I shouldn't have slapped him, I suppose, but he gets on my nerves so, and my head is splitting and my back hurts, and I want to finish this ironing in time to do chores and start supper before Pa comes in from the field.
"I am trying to stop crying so I can talk to you, Mrs. Yellow Lady. You had better not stay here. Mamm-ma might slap you too, But, she won't for she thinks you aren't here. Why can't Mamma-=ma see you, when I can see you and your hungry children as plain as plain. I am going away to the railroad to find my daddy, Mrs. Yellow Lady. I can't go to the hospital to find my mommy cause she is busy with baby sister.....I am a big boy now, and I musn't cry....But I wish you were going with me. I can't take Rover 'cause Mamma-ma keeps him tied up 'cause he might bite me. But he wouldn't
"Why, Jumbo, is that you pushing on my hand? Bamp-pa says you never can forget you were his pet lamb. Would you like to walk through the field with me?"
"Baa."
"You can't say but one word, Jumbo, But I can understand you. Here we are at the fence, Jumbo. You must stay on this side because you can't climb a fence. I can. I am a big boy now. I musn't cry when the sharp things stick."
"Oh. Jumbo am caught by my overalls. I am hanging upside down. Help , Jumbo."
"Baa."
"Oh, Jumbo, I wish you could say more than one thing. But I am loose now, my overalls tore awful. Mamm-ma will be cross. Well, Goodbye, Jumbo."
"Why you can get through a fence, Jumbo. But I don't think Bamp-pa will like it. And look at the big piece of your clothes you left in the fence."
"Baa."
"This is the woods, Jumbo, and there's the creek here. Mr. Frog lives there. Bamp-pa is going to take me to see him when he doesn't have to work in the feild. Mamm-ma had a frog in her throat, but she wouldn't let me see it; she said it wasn't real."
"Baa. Baa aaa aaa."
"Why , Jumbo, why are you stomping your feet and making such a noise? I don't see anything except that big big worm. I don't think it would hurt us Jumbo."
"Here is a bridge, Jumbo. I think it is a bridge. Or a tree that fell down. Mary read me in her school book about a troll that lived under a bridge. Are you afraid of a troll?"ÿ ÿ "Look in the water, Jumbo. It is not deep like the well. I can see the bottom. What is that thing with a hat on? Is that a troll?"
A turtle crawled lazily across the sand and disappeared.
"Good-bye, Mr. Thing-with a hat-on."
"Now, Jumbo, we must go trip-trapping across the bridge. I will go first. Come on, Jumbo. Then, you go first, and I will push you."
SPLASH!
"Oh. Oh! Jumbo, you pushed me off the bridge. My clothes are wet. Mamm-ma will scold me."
"Baa>"
"Don't run back home, Jumbo. Well, Goodbye. I will go on myself. But I wish I had somebody to talk to. Mamm-ma doesn't like for me to talk to somebody she can't see. But she couldn't see the Yellow lady , and I could see her plain as plain."
"Why , hello, Mr. Grasshopper. Are you going to ride on my shoulder? Wouldn't you like to ride in my hand? Do you like to eat grass, Mr. Grasshopper? I don't, but I wish I had something to eat. Mamm-ma forgot to give me my bread and butter and brown sugar. We must run, Mr. Grasshopper, it is getting dark."
"Oh, Mr. Grasshopper, are you hurt? I didn't mean to fall on you or shut my hand so tight."
"Oh, you are smashed dead, Mr. Grasshopper. And it is dark, and I am cold and I want my bed and my mommy."
"But I am a big boy now, and I must stop crying. I wish I had somebody to talk to. Are you in the sky GOD? Can I talk to you? I can't see you."
"Oh, Hello Little Light Bugs. Will you make it not so dark? I don't know which way to go to find my daddy or my mommy or to get back to mamm-ma and bamp-pa."
"Too-ooo-ooooooot."
"What was that? It scared me. See the lights. I know. That is a train. It will tell me where my daddy is working for the railroad. Wait, Mr Trainman. It did not wait. ....... I musn't cry. I am a big boy. Maybe another train will come. I will get to the tracks so the trainman can hear me. You will have to shine bright, Little Light Bugs. I can't tell where to walk,and my feet sink in every step...and now this fence...and this hill...I slip back. It hurts my face... I will rest awhile and try to climb again."
"Now I am on the track. And here is a light coming. Stop, Mr. Train. I want my daddy."
With a sudden hiss of breaks, the train thundered to a sudden halt. Trainmen with lanterns got off the engine.
"What did it look like to you?"
"I thought it was a child."
Did we hit it?"
"It is hard to tell. The catcher might have hit it at an angle and thrown it clear. Or it might have jumped clear."
It might have fallen between the rails and he train passed over it. I've heard of if."
"Small chance!"
"See anything down that embankment?"
Nothing, only dirt."
"Then check under and behind the train again>"
"We have rechecked. Not a trace."
"Maybe we just thought we saw something. What would a child be doing this far from a house this time of night?"
"Wait! Look on this embankment. Scratches in the cinders where something has been climbing up."
"That doesn't explain where it is now!"
"Let's go all the way down this grade with the lanterns."
"Jeez! Look! No wonder we couldn't see it. Rolled in dirt until it is just the color of it. And perfectly motionless."
"Daddy, is that you sitting beside my bed, and is this my bed?"
"Yes son. I have been sitting here for a long time, and this is a hospital bed. You are in the same hospital that your mommy is. They will be bringing her in to see you, now that you are well enough."
"And Mamm-ma and Bamp-pa?"
"They have been here too, and they will be back. Grandma says she has found out that GOD is not in the well , or up in the sky either one, but right here with you helping you get well. And, she said to tell you that Mrs. Yellow Hen and her fifteen chickens are still there and she feeds them every day, and that when you come to see her, you can have some feed to take them, and, a big piece of bread, butter, and brown sugar for yourself!"
THE END