Today Mollie May Learns a Lesson

A Story by LCH

This is very short story that makes an indelible point. Think Aesop's fables meets the Twilight Zone.

When Mollie May sat down to draw animals, she seemed like an angel. There she sat at her little desk concentrating and swinging her feet to and fro. Her pencil danced and ducked on the page until she finished her cute creatures. These drawings were masterpieces, truly works of art from the small hand and shining eyes of this little girl. That’s when everything went bad.

A devilish grin took over and suddenly the cute creatures “had accidents” (that’s what she called it). If Mollie drew a powerful elephant, she might add a coconut tree unloading fifty coconuts on its head. If she had drawn a house pet, say, a cat, the next thing you know a car was running over its tail.

This happened every day. Little Mollie May produced beautiful, friendly creatures, and then she thought it funny to be mean. Nails to the paw, rock on the head--"well, you get it. Today the tables turned. Today Mollie May learns a lesson.

Sitting down at her desk in her room, Mollie decided to draw a tiny bunny. One of those precious ones that does that loveable thing with its nose. Its ears were fluffy and its tail bushy. She finished the bunny rabbit and looked with glee at her fury friend. Her pencil waited, knowing what was coming. Mollie’s appearance changed as she decided how to hurt the poor bunny.

A brick would do. Mollie planned a red brick crashing down on the creature’s head. She lowered her pencil to begin, but it flew directly to the animal! This surprised Mollie. She picked up the tip and tried to place it where she wanted. Again the tip of the pencil went to the creature, actually, right to its paws!

Mollie May was getting flustered and nervous. When she tried to restart again, she could not lift the pencil off of the page. The tip of the pencil remained locked in the paws of her bunny; it whipped out of her the girl’s grip! She nearly fell out of her chair but her amazement kept her glued to the scene.

There she sat in her pretty room with pictures on the wall. These were pictures of hurting creatures, and she felt they were watching her even now. The pencil stood straight up from the page and Molly sat in shock. She decided to lean closer to see how this strange thing was possible.

Suddenly the pencil whipped across her face. She felt different and reached up to her nose--GONE! Her button nose was gone. Mollie felt in vain for her cutest feature. The pencil struck again, moving over her left hand rapidly. Gone! Mollie’s left hand was erased. Mollie shot up from the chair, angrily tore the page from the desk, crumpled it up the best she could with one hand, and fell over in the process.

When she went to push up herself her left hand was back! She felt her face. YES! Her nose had returned. Mollie May furthered balled up the picture of her bunny and threw it in the trash bin. She grabbed the pencil (it had fallen and rolled off the desk). She snapped it in two over her knee and tossed it in the can. With a small sense of victory, she started for the door, but something caught her eye.

Still in shock, Mollie glanced around her room but her drawings were different. She looked at them one-by-one, and all her creatures were smiling. These were the most frightening smiles the girl had ever seen, smiles of victory, smiles little Mollie May had not drawn.

Little Mollie May backed up to her trash can and found the balled-up drawing of her bunny. As she opened the page, and a piece of her old pencil fell out, the part with the tip. She peeled back the corners and saw her cute bunny with a big smile, and scribbled next to it were these words: “BE NICE.”

©Luke Hinton, 2020

© 2020 LCH

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Reviews

M.E.Lyle

Be nice indeed. Loved the story and the neat little message, "be nice".
Couldn't we all benefit if we were all a tad nicer?

Posted 4 Years Ago

TravellinMatt

Very good story. You have a great way with words, and the descriptions of action are excellent. Mollie May is a fun and evocative character, and the tale of her cruelty and comeuppance had me riveted.