“By the way, everyone, be sure to send your children tomorrow. We need to…negotiate.” Everyone seemed satisfied enough, but they completely forgot they should have been quiet. So they yelled their slogans again. I tried to warn them to be quiet, but it was too late. Meredith was already down in her robe. She had a menacing and angry look on her face.
“Quiet down, fools! I’m trying to get my sleep!” The crowd reluctantly obeyed. “Now, go to bed! You have a long day of work ahead of you tomorrow.” Everyone walked to their rooms, but with a sneaky smile on their face. Richard smiled at me, once more, and walked along. I stupidly stood behind until Meredith screamed at me. “What are you still doing here, you foolish maid?”
“Pardon me, ma’am.” I walked along, and whispered under my breath, “You have no idea what’s coming next, witch.” I smiled as I said that, and she just walked on with her menacing look.
The next day was a rather fine one. The sun shone brightly, and light breezes entered from the west. On this wonderful day, I was shaking like crazy. I was so nervous, because I didn’t know the first thing about self-defense. However, I was also confident, because Richard would help me.
I was extremely happy, because I finally spent a night dreaming about something pleasant. It was a dream of me on an island, and I was all by myself. It was so relaxing. I could only hear the sounds of the waves, and the seagulls chattering as if to say “How relaxing!”
Later that day, Richard joined me in the attic, which was our usual meeting place. We both sat down, and chatted about random subjects, while we waited for the children.
“What’s in the news?”, I said
“Nothing new. Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Do you think this one-man pen ship thing is a good idea?”
“Well, sure, why not?”
“I don’t know. What if the parents find out that we’re training their children to fight?”
“Richard, don’t believe silly things. They won’t find out, because we can simply tell the children to keep it a secret.”
“Anna, they’re children! They won’t take it seriously!”
“It’s not like they’re two year olds! I think they will take it sersiously. Trust me, Richard, we’ll be fine!” We didn’t say anything after that. We just waited for the children.
They arrived soon. Child after child entered the door, and not one was missing. I was obliged to see them there, and then we began.
“Hello, children. First of all, we need to go over something.” They listened patiently. “We will be teaching you some self-defense today, and you will learn how to fight.” The boys discretely cheered as I continued. “This means that you cannot tell your parents, or they will lose all trust in me and Richard, understand?” The children nodded their heads as if to say yes. I was satisfied.
However, I looked in the back only to get the surprise of my life. It was Thomas, the most mischievous boy in London. He would pull pranks of all sorts, and I was afraid he would tell his parents what was going on.
I prayed that he wouldn’t tell a soul what was happening, but I knew it was useless. I sent all of the children with Richard to learn the basics, but I made Thomas stay behind. I figured the only way to keep him quiet was to lecture him and reason with him.
“Thomas, my dear boy, we need to talk.” He sat down.
“What is it, Anna?” he said, with fake politeness.
“I’m a little worried. I’ve been noticing that you’ve pulled many pranks and you’ve tricked everyone. Not to mention you’ve committed a few thefts!”
“Ahh, good times,” he said, grinning.
“Thomas, look. I trust you to keep this training a secret. If everyone found out, I would be in a lot of trouble. Do you understand? Please, Thomas, don’t do it! Please, please? I can’t bear the thought of the aftermath of you telling everyone else. If you don’t tell anyone, I’ll reward you!” He thought for a moment.
“What is the reward?” he said greedily.
“Well, what would you like?”
“I want you to do all of my work for a week.” I had to admit, the kid may have been evil, but he was smart, too. I wasn’t pleased, however, and I reluctantly gave in.
“Ugh! Fine, kid. But if you tell a soul, then I’ll…” I couldn’t think of a good punishment. “I’ll punish you!” He rolled his hazel eyes.
“Ok, Anna. I understand.”
“Do you, really?”
“Yes! I promise I won’t tell! Now please let me go! I want to learn self-defense, so I can slap my mom whenever she tells me to do something I don’t want to do!” I frowned.
“Ok, you can go, but remember…”
“Yes, yes, I will, I will.” He scurried away as he talked. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was just happy that Thomas wouldn’t tell a soul about the training. Hopefully, he wouldn’t put his training into action… on his parents.
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