The Judsons Chapter 1
The Judson family lived on Jilkonson’s Lane in a little brick house. According to the children who lived inside of the house, it was named Judson Manor. The children who lived in Judson Manor, were named Janet, Josephine, Jedediah, Jenny May, and Jerry Jo. If you lost count, there were five children. The parent’s names were Jim Bob, and Jenifer. The pets were named just like everyone else, with a J at the beginning of their names. Jumble was there grumpy old hound. Jingle and Jester were there “adoring” felines. Meet the Judsons.
Janet was fourteen, and at that awkward time in life in which one must discern how much to grow up, and how mush to stay a child. She tried to be ladylike but got confused sometimes. Mostly, her friends were boys. She had several good girlfriends but didn’t know what to do when they started talking about things like who had walked home from school with who… Sometimes this was alright in itself, but when the giggling started, she ended up saying things like, “don’t get involved in drama”, or “Guys please stop!”. She usually ended up playing tag with the boys.
Josephine and Jedediah were 11-year-old twins. They did most things together. Jedediah was one of the few boys Josephine talked to. She held a scorn for boys in general. When Josephine held a scorn for someone, she held it well… Few saw more than a very introverted girl who got angry, and even fewer were privileged to be her close friends. In her eyes they could do no wrong. She was a passionate little soul, and quickly went from one extreme to the other. While she was in one extreme, she held fast to it. Jedediah had many acquaintances and got along with all of them. He was well like by everyone. He never tried to cover up His awkward moments, which was why everyone liked him so much. They weren’t always sure what to say though, when it came to normal conversation. He made few good friends but had a capacity for many in his life. His main fault was that he worried too much.
Jenny May was easily the most dramatic little person in the whole school. It was rumored she could faint on demand! Her drama served her well, because she was in theater. She was the youngest cast member, but because of how well she played dramatic parts she was allowed on stage! On poetry recitation day (which happened once a month) she was often able to bring her teacher Mrs. Mccarson to tears. We must here pause to say, that her drama did not always serve her well. She often got into silly scrapes over nothing and had earned many a spank for overreacting.
Jerry Jo was six. He was not a precautious six-year-old, and already had two scars and four doctors’ visits to show for it. His siblings and parents had to be precautious for him. Carefully they watched his every move. If he was out of sight for over ten minutes a search was made to find him. Although he could be stressful sometimes, he made people feel at ease. If someone was sad, he knew how to make them feel better. All the girls and ladies at church said he was, “a darling” or, “a little duck”.
The Judsons Chapter 2
It was recitation day! In other words, is was Jenny May’s favorite day of the whole month. The day in which she would recite the poem Annabel Lee. The memorization of the piece had taken her three months, and she could finally recite it. She gave a sigh of pure ecstasy and threw herself onto the living room sofa. As Jenny May fell, a thought hit her which caused her to instantly spring back up. Perhaps she could fall on her knees halfway through the poem, better yet she could fall on the floor!
The preparation for this dramatic piece began. Originally the plan had been to recite it in a dramatic voice and be done with it, but now a whole new world of possibilities came onto her head. Perhaps a fist grasp at the part,
“The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me_”
Then maybe she should fall over clutching her breast at the part,
Of my darling–my darling–my life and my bride,
In the sepulcher there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea.
After practicing for another thirty minutes she moved onto the subject of hair and dress, (one of her favorite subjects); for what is eloquence without style? What is passion without beauty? At least in Jenny Mays mind this was “fact”. And so, it is implanted in many little heads. It is in woman kind to long to be beautiful, and so, Jenny May yanked with the comb and tried on three different dresses three different times, but still she was not satisfied.
She gazed longingly at her Sunday dress, (her most treasured dress). At that moment she wished with all her heart that she was aloud put on her best dress for school. A week in advance she had asked her mother if she could “please, please, please, wear my best dress. The one with the white lace for trim and puffed sleeves.” But Mrs. Judson had promptly stamped out those hopes and dreams with a decided “no”. Jenny May tried at different times throughout the week until her mother finally exclaimed in intense frustration “You may not touch that dress for a whole month!”.
Now Jenny May gave a sad smile as she looked at her prized possession. She gave an exaggerated sigh. Maybe she could sneak the dress to school. It was simple really, why not put it on and cover it up with her raincoat. Sadly, that would never work. It was after all not rainy, and the only thing big enough to cover her dress, was the raincoat. She sighed again, and finally decided on the blue dress. At least it was becoming, even if it wasn’t her favorite.
Next, she moved on to the subject of hair. Her hair was a dirty blond and looked stunning in a crown braid with two bows. Yes, that was it. Her brow furrowed when she remembered that she couldn’t do this braid herself. Only Janet could do hair right and she was always in a rush to get lunch packed for everyone. Josefine was decent at hair, but regrettably could not do this specific braid. So, to Janet she must go.
Janet was busy ladling porridge into everyone’s bowls. She was also packing sandwiches for everyone’s lunch. Because of this it was not the ideal time to interrupt, but Jenny May absolutely had to. Quickly she explained her errand to Janet, who was tapping her fingers on the counter with impatience. Janet said “NO. You know perfectly well that I can’t. Jenny May you must learn when is the proper time for frivolousness, and when is the proper time for work. Now go have fun.” The “Now go have fun.” always ended any serious remark from Janet and meant go away please. This was obviously not going to work. Finally, Jenny May went to Josephine. Josephine cared about such things as one’s hair and was always ready to sympathize.
To Josephine she went. Josephine did an elegant French braid for Jenny May and gave her a smile. Jenny May adored Josephine. At least she adored her when she was nice. Sometimes she was not.
Right than Mother shouted “We are going to be late. We should be at school five minutes ago.”. Everyone grabbed their backpacks and ran. They all crowded into the Mini Van and they left. All other thoughts but getting to school on time left the Judson’s minds. That is why Jenny May forgot her shoes. Jenny May often forgot shoes. In fact, it happened about twice a year, but before this time, she had never forgotten her shoes on recitation day. For the past two times Mr. and Mrs. Judson had made her pay the price and would not buy her new shoes. Before it became such a common thing for her to lose her shoes, they would buy her a new pair every time. But now such an offence was unpardonable. And that is why Jenny May was dropped off at school with no shoes. It was almost too much for her delicate little soul. She fled to the girl’s bathroom and hid in a stall. Making sure to close the lid she sat on the toilet tucking her feet underneath her dress (so no one would see them below the stall door), and then she sobbed. Nothing so incredibly tragical had ever happened to her before.
When it was her time to recite, she stood up shakily and stuttered out the words “Anabel Lee, bye Edger Alan Po”. Her hands trembled. She nervously wiggled her toes, and at that moment she fainted. All the girls tittered. All the boys stared. All her little friends sighed. If only they too could faint away so gracefully. Thankfully their school was so small it was only a one room schoolhouse, so the scandal wasn’t as big as it might have been. It also payed off for after that she only forgot her shoes one more time in her whole life. It took Jenny May’s sensitive little soul a very long time to recover from the horror. In fact, she was so embarrassed that she only had courage to recite it five years after the fact.
The Judsons Chapter 3
“I’m not sure if we should go in there…” he said. Josephine pushed passed him into their mom’s room. Jedidiah was the one who had suggested that now might not the best time, and Janet turned and gave him a look of agreement. It was nap time for Mrs. Judson. She took a nap almost everyday and enjoyed a couple of mostly quite hours. Of late the children had gotten better at waiting for her to wake up before barging in, but it still happened.
Of late Josephine had been very snappy. Well the whole family had, but Josephine’s cases were often some of the most acute. That day when she woke up, she had started by commenting that porridge was disgusting and that she wished it was not half so common of a breakfast dish. After that comment Janet was snippy with Josephine, which caused them to pick at each other whenever they could. They were irritated with each other all day at school and when they got home, and mother took a nap there was no stopping the bickering. When Janet asked Josephine “Will you please work on your dishes JoJo.” (in a not at all pleasant voice) “They are never done, and you just do whatever you want.” Josephine made an impressive comeback with” Yours aren’t done either.” Janet replied sharply “It’s not like it’s possible to even attempt mine when yours are in the way.”
Josephine started to work but did something else when Janet left. It was like that for an hour and then they couldn’t take each other anymore and went to mom’s bedroom door. They sat there and glared at each other. “Sorry” grumbled Janet with a not so sorry countenance. Janet’s hand went forwards and lightly touched the door handle then draw back as she remembered not to waken her mother. Josephine touched it and did not draw back. She slowly turned and Janet whispered a very loud “NO!” and glared. Jedediah showed up and said “I’m not sure if we should go in there…” Josephine pushed passed him into their mom’s room…
Several hours latter Janet rehearsed the scene in here head wondering what she could have done differently. She was wondering it for the millionth time and still felt very frustrated. It was not easy to be the oldest sister and there were so many annoying things she did and the people constantly around her did. In fact, she had been having a bad week. She was annoyed with allot of people. At school she was also missing a friend who had left a week ago. Janet didn’t know when she would see her friend again, and her art was all over the walls making it hard to forget her. Janet was having a ruff week.
Another week passed and Janet was still grumpy. The constant sight of her friend’s artwork, particularly the drawing of a unicorn named Harold on the wall next to the fish tank caused fresh pain. Her lunch break and recess were not as enjoyable as usual, but she stayed cheerful. However, she was starting to miss her usual feeling of excitement when her school chums would suggest a game of catch the corn fly, (a lively game that mixed the concepts of tag, red light green light, and tether ball). She usually enjoyed catch the corn fly with a relish that some people thought was scandalous for her years.
One day though, she came to school, and had been grumpy for so long that she forgot to be. Her heart gave the usual jump when Archie Sloan asked the crowd of children pushing out the door for playtime if they might enjoy a rousing game of catch the corn fly, and when Anabel White, who was very shy asked Josephine to announce a game of puddle jumpers she fairly screamed out an invitation to the children to “Come and play puddle jumpers!”. She forgot about feeling bad over Harold the unicorn and smiled at the picture on the wall. She once more enjoyed her writing assignment and did not have to try too hard to avoid frowning when the teacher passed out grammar assignments.
She was having a good day, but the best part was at the close of the day when Mark and Mary (two of the seven-year-olds) asked her to play pretend with them. She usually said no. Pretending was not something she overly enjoyed and even to the most interesting teenager playing at tea with a seven-year-old is not very fun. But Janet was having a good day and wanted to spread the happiness around like a butter knife with the extra butter. Mark and Mary wanted to pretend that Janet was a rich person who showered the pore with an abundance of wealth. Right then Mark was called away to go home so he said bye and then it was just Mary and Janet. Mary said, “I will go over here, then when I come out, I’ll act like I need your help alright?” “Okay” said Janet, feeling very unexpressive. Out walked Mary “I am sick and need help can you please give my something?”. “Here is a coin.” Said Janet feeling very bored. “I couldn’t help noticing you have a lot of horses” said Mary pretending to admire something. “can I borrow one” “no” said Janet beginning to feel more interested. “Oh” said Mary with a half-smile half-frown and a confused look on her face almost as if to say “That’s not how you play.” “But you can have my donkey.” Said Janet. “Oh okay” said Mary still a little confused. “Now these swings are our horses so please choose a swing Janet.” Janet did as she was bid.
“I am hungry and need groceries.” resumed Mary. “Can we go to that store over there.” She pointed at a tree.“No” said Janet “I don’t really feel like walking.” Mary looked confused, as if someone were twirling her in circles, so Janet resumed “but you can have these eggs I found in my pocket.”. Janet was trying to keep from smiling but the effort was impossible, and she busted out laughing. Mary gave a short little laugh but still looked confused. “Okay” she held out her hands with a blank expression on her face and pretended to grab something from Janet.
“Now” said Mary “let’s just pretend that you are my sister.”. “Okay” Janet answered. They were still on the “horses”. Janet was jumping off the swing, so Mary said “You are practicing for the rodeo. You jump off horses for the rodeo.” Nodding, Janet said “I keep eggs in my pocket throughout the process and try not to break them. If they are not broken when I finish my stunt, I did a good one.” Mary patiently giggled with the half smile half frown still plastered to her face.
“I’m going to go ask our mom if dinner is ready.” Mary said, “Can you play our mom too?”. Janet said “okay”. “Mom is dinner ready?” “Yes” replied Janet. “sadly, the dog ate it” with a snicker. Mary looked up at her questioningly and asked, “Can you make some more?”. “No, I don’t really feel like it. Plus, we don’t have any eggs. Your sister took them all for her rodeo practice, but you could make dinner if it’s that important to you” Janet replied. She was trying very hard to hold back the torrents of laughter that wanted to gush out.
Mary asked “Could you get me the eggs, I guess? You do know I’m only seven. Seven-year-olds do not usually cook.” Janet turned and said, “I don’t really feel like going to the store, but I guess you might be able to get eggs from your sister.” Mary looked at Janet with the patient air of a teacher with a kindergartner who draws their twos backwards and said “Now your my sister okay. Please give me an egg. Our mom is strange and wants me to cook dinner, even though I am only seven. Maybe you could cook dinner?” “No thanks” said Janet, “but I will give you an egg. You need to cook more often.” She threw a gust of air at Mary. “Thank you for the egg.” Said Mary. “Sorry it splattered on you.” Said Janet with concern, “Here let me throw you another one. Oh, good you caught it.”
“Um do you want to play a different game?” Mary asked, “Maybe we could pretend to be friends meeting to go bowling?” “No thanks, I think I’m done” said Janet.
Janet had had a thoroughly good day and felt ready to get along with people again.
Brainchild Galore 