Henry and Henrietta

Henry and Henrietta

       by Douglas Haremscaren

               "Treat every man as he deserves 
               and who shall 'scape whipping?"
               (or was it skipping?)

Once upon a time a brother and sister lived with their father and a wicked stepmother in the forest beside a mountain. The boy's name was Henry, the girl's Henrietta. She loved her brother very much and he loved her equally. They loved their father, too, but not the ugly and bad-tempered widow he had married when their real mother died. Every day their father would journey far into the forest to cut wood, but he was getting old and could hardly chop enough to make a living for all five of them (they did have another brother,  a stepbrother, but he was mongoloid and they seldom involved themselves with him). Every day, too, the stepmother would nag the children, yelling at them about how lazy they were, threatening to take away what little food they got, and promising one of these days to be rid of them for good. Poor Gippetto, he loved his children and begged his new wife to be kind. But, all in vain. One day, when he had grown so very tired of her scolding and nagging, he agreed to take the children into the woods and let fate care for them, for that would be better than their present misery.

       He had okayed quietly to do this, in their bedroom with the door closed. But, Henrietta heard all this and made it known to her brother that very evening.

       "Hurry!" she said. "We haven't a minute to lose! Let us go find some crusts of bread and pieces of cheese to put in our pockets to take with us because poor father has given us over and is willing to abandon us and let nature take care of us as it wills!"

       Henry, younger, dismayed, and none too strong at the best of times, swooned then. Worried about him, Henrietta ran hither and thither gathering necessaries for their journey. She let Henry sleep where he fell, taking time only to cover him with a light blanket and place his head gently, as was her nature, upon an eider pillow so he would not take a kink in his neck. He was prone to such cramping of muscles.

       Soon, Henrietta had enough food for both of them, enough to last them two or three days if used judiciously. She had filled a thermos bottle with water mixed with a little ketchup, since that was Henry's favorite drink. It tasted a little like the tomato juice they used to get when their real mother was still alive. About the time that she had gathered all together, Henry awoke from his sleep and, looking around, inquired if she had found all the comforts they would need. She affirmed this and, content, prepared as best they could be, they awaited the morning with growing excitement. Soon, they would leave this wicked house behind and find their own way in the world. Such was their delight that they hardly felt tired. Finally, however, blessed sleep overwhelmed them and before they had closed their eyes, it seemed, morning and their new adventure was upon them.

       Breakfasts had become less substantial as the months of stepmother's reign waxed. This morning, finally, there was no breakfast at all. Hungry, they set out down a brightly lit trail that many feet had trod. Before long, however, it branched and they took a darker one, and then a darker yet until, after a dozen such forks, neither girl nor boy could have begun to tell how to find the way home. Never mind. Henry is a clever one, and Henrietta a bonny lass. They will come to no harm if there is any justice in the world. Their father told them, of a sudden, to pick berries at a certain spot while he went a short distance off to cut trees. When evening came, and they had picked ten or twelve ice-cream pails full of the juiciest saskatoons, Henrietta began to agree with Henry that the sound they were hearing in the distance must simply be a tree branch whacking against a trunk. They were free! Till his moment they had waited out of respect and politeness lest their father actually was chopping wood and intended not to leave them behind after all. Now they could go as they chose. They flung their jackets on, picked up their pails of berries and headed toward the nearest town, Endover, some five miles or so to the east if the light from the tv tower in the distance was a reliable indicator.

       Once there, they sold their berries for a tidy sum, enough to rent a room for the rest of the week and even to buy the ingredients for two suppers and as many breakfasts. They felt rich!

       "Wonderful!" Henry intoned.

       "Neat!" Henrietta echoed. The first stop on their agenda was the local barber. Henry had his black hair cut in the latest fashion and Henrietta had her long yellow locks made up like a t.v. actress's whom she admired. They appeared dashing and debonair when they sat down to sup that evening. In new clothes and spruced up hair, and after a bath, they were king and queen! When they could eat no more, they went up to their rooms to retire for the night. Before long they were snoring in each other's arms, oblivious to the evils the wide world held in store for travelers such as themselves.