All Alone

The crowing of the farm rooster woke Madison up early the next morning. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and sat up in her bed. She suddenly remembered that she was living in a farm. Did that mean she had to go and milk the cows?

Slowly she sat up in bed. As it was a habit since her early days she quietly knelt down beside her bed and prayed to God. She thanked him for everything. “After all,” she thought, “Some children in the world don’t even have a bed and food to eat.”

Madison sighed quietly when she got up from beside her bed. Life was tough and sometimes she just felt like crying. There wasn’t any friends whom she could talk to, and no one to hang about with. She was alone only just settling into a new environment, family, school. New everything.

~

The day went by slowly. Literally, she didn’t do anything. Her new mistress spoiled her dreadfully. She was allowed to do ‘anything as long as long as she would be continuously clean’. All the farm hands and maids scuttled around her working hard. She wished to be one of them. Martha was constantly around her. If Madison wanted a drink or handkerchief, Martha would get it for ‘the young mistress’ as Madison was called. How Madison wished to escape or at least have something to do. She told Martha this.

“Martha dear, I’m frightfully bored with nothing at all to do. Isn’t there any mending or farm work which I could help out in?” she asked.

Poor Martha was shocked out of her skin. “Why my little mistress! It is unheard of you helping out in the farm work. No no. The mistress herself has strictly told all the farm hand to not ‘let miss Martha touch any animal except when she is riding’. And as for sewing, dear, we send it all the tailor.”

So all Madison did that day was fretfully twist her dress staring out of the window, playing with Blessing, and just feeling completely useless. Maybe she should talk to her ‘mom’, she thought.

The day, however, she did not manage to talk. She worked all day long, wishing to do something more exciting. She also wished for a friend to talk to. Little did she know that she was about to get herself into a breath-taking adventure...

Twinkle Little Star

Madison braced herself and slowly knocked on the large wooden door. Almost at once she heard footsteps coming. The huge door swung open and she faced a small little maid. Madison, a fourteen-year-old girl at the height of 5 feet 3 inches, wasn’t very tall herself. But compared to this tiny woman, she was almost a head taller. She smiled warmly, and curtsied. Suddenly remembering her mud-covered dress she blushed embarrassedly and quickly explained the situation. The maid smiled and shook her head.

“My, my. You need a nice little washing before you see the mistress. Never mind, we shall fix you up shortly. Come in my dear, I’m Martha. The mistress has assigned me to be your maid.” She rattled about, taking Madison’s luggage and walking down the large corridor. Mary followed behind.

Martha led the girl upstairs and pointed to a blue-colored door at the far end. Written on the door, in golden letters, was her name: Madison. She walked almost sacredly into it and saw to her delight that it was quite big, yet cozy. The walls were painted a shade of light blue and the furniture was all birch wood. The little window overlooked the pathway she had just walked. She looked around and suddenly exclaimed..

“My goodness gracious, Martha! What a quaint room. Surely –she stopped her wondering what to call her new parents- surely mother doesn’t expect me to live here! It’s wonderland indeed!”

Martha smiled. “Stop proclaiming over your small room before you see the other rooms. They are so much grander than this! Now get yourself clean and wear this dress (she indicated to an evening gown on the bed). I shall leave to tidy up and unpack. Come downstairs when you are finished.” With that she left, leaving Madison to marvel again.

Madison stopped her marveling after realizing that she should hurry and unpack. She let Blessing down and set up his bed and food. Then she tossed her baggage to one side, deciding to unpack that tomorrow. After a short time of marveling at the attached bathroom she striped her clothes and took a shower.

~

As Madison climbed the steps to her cozy room late that night, she thought about all that had happen during dinner. It hadn’t been all that bad, her new parents laughing and talking away and asking her all sorts of questions. She had felt like there was this gap in between and couldn’t actually talk about the necessary things that she needed, and wanted, to know about. “Maybe those things will be handled tomorrow.”

She slowly sighed as she pushed open her bedroom door, wishing that she was back ‘home’. Her ‘mom’ would come up and kiss her goodnight. And Blessing would come and cuddle up with her and she would fall asleep so fast.

But now was a different time. Her new mother came up instead and hugged her. “I so hope you will enjoy living her, darling,” she cooed as she said goodnight. Madison only sighed and said tiredly, “I’ll try.”

She lay in her bed for a long time after the door had shut quietly, thinking about memories. Blessing snuggled up against her and the warmth gave her peace. She looked out her window and saw one bright star shining down at her, and for the first time today, Madison smiled.

"Life will always be hard, but God's angels are always watching over me," she thought and drifted off to sleep.

New Beginnings

She pushed her hair out of her face and looked at the narrow road again. No indeed, she must of saw wrongly. Right in front of her, down the narrow lane, she saw a most magnificent horse. His eyes were so gentle and kind, his skin so shiny and smooth. It shined in the summer light. Surely this wasn’t the place? She looked back at the sign, which swung quietly in the cool breeze. Yes, it was the correct address: 34 Brookeland Road, Alfred, Maine. But certainly the address was wrong?

Madison was an orphan girl, going to live with her new “parents”. She had heard all about them, they had recently married and wanted a child fast. “Faster than anything!” Madison thought. She didn’t know whether to be excited or not. Not long ago she had been sent back to the orphan because her “old” parents couldn’t afford to keep her. Her heart hurt too much because she had loved that couple and often dreamed of staying and growing up in that place her whole entire life. Now, she felt rejected again.

If it hadn’t been for the little puppy in her arms, she would have turned around and go back to the orphan. Already she was so exhausted, her whole body numb with hunger. And her poor little darling, cuddled in her hands, needed to eat badly too. Blessing was the only joy in her life now. He had been given to her when she lived with her “old” parents. She loved him and cherished him, and was glad that her new parents allowed and loved dogs. Just a few more meters away and home would appear in sight…

Madison quickly put down Blessing and let him run ahead of her. She tidied up herself up and got ready to enter her new home. Inch by inch, the horse ahead of her came closer. She wasn’t scared of horses; she just never saw one before. She picked up Blessing again, afraid that he might be tramped over. “The first interesting experience in my new life,” she thought, “Meeting a horse!” The horse, on the other hand, was calmly eating his dinner of grass. “I’ll just slip by him and pretend I didn’t see him,” she decided.

Her new plan didn’t exactly work. Blessing started to bark and the horse looked up. He started make some sort of noise; Madison wasn’t sure what you called that noise. She froze in spot and then started to run. That wasn’t a very good idea, because she turned to look over her shoulder and feel straight into a puddle of mud! The horse, apparently undisturbed by his little interruption, continued to eat. However, as for her, she was a mess. Lucky for her, her small bag of luggage and her puppy were unharmed. Except her best dress? “A bit dirty,” she murmured to herself. She did her best to clean herself up, looking with pity at her new dress. “I hope the maid can clean it up,” she thought quietly. Picking up her belongings she slowly started to walk towards the log cabin a few yards away.