Mrs Smithenfdd was an old lady who had it in for us kids. Her overgrown house was between mine and my mate Johnny’s. It was a dark house, the shutters closed and the front door never opened unless Mrs Smithenfdd came out to yell at us.
Mum was always getting phone calls from Mrs Smithenfdd complaining about us and mum would tell us not to play near Mrs Smithenfdd’s.
Johnny and I loved to dream up stories about Mrs Smithenfdd.
We thought of her as a witch huddled over her cauldron, mixing in a rabbit’s foot, cow poo, cat’s whiskers, dead chook bones and boys underpants. That last one always cracked us up. But we both kept a count of how many pairs we each had.
One school holidays we built each other up to be brave and look through her window.
We had to be careful of her small brown fluff-ball dog, Please Louise, who always barked at us.
Johnny and I shimmied up to the back window. Through the window, we saw Mrs Smithenfdd reading the paper. She looked up, to our horror and saw us.
Immediately we ran. Over the fence and home to my place just as mum was answering the phone.
She hung up and turned to us, “You boys are to go over to Mrs Smithenfdd’s and apologise for frightening her as you did,” she said as we stood there frozen to the spot.
Would she yell at us and turn us into toads?
We knocked on her front door and waited.
Mrs Smithenfdd opened the door and invited us in. As we wandered in, Please Louise gave us a good sniffing.
She made us sit in her kitchen, and poured us a glass of water.
Then she placed a book on the table. It was a scrapbook and inside was the story of Mrs Smithenfdd.
She had been in the war. A spy who had been captured and tortured. She had survived horrific conditions, and near the end of the war, she escaped.
Our eyes were opened that morning. We changed our opinion of our neighbour, we learned about her, and we were humbled by our assumptions of her.
As she let us out, she invited us to drop by again for a chat as she missed the company of children.
I saw this week’s prompt as an opportunity to write a little more about the characters I wrote about last week. I thought they needed a little more exploring.
Written for: https://sammiscribbles.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/weekend-writing-prompt-52-emergence/
Morpethroad 
Nice add on, you inspire me that I need to develop some regular characters in my posts
They can be a headache or a source of joy
but it gives a continuation thread that I enjoy about your and Cyranny’s blogs!
Lol. This has that ring of truth, Michael, as I can imagine you and your friend bringing grief to your mum with your shenanigans😂 I had sort of hoped for your neighbor turning you into little toads, even for a few moments!
I think Mrs Smithenfdd did consider it but as we were the epitome of innocence and our mum’s loved us, what could she do but share her truth with us. It did make her life a tad more bearable with us kids behaving from that point on. I think we also grew to see the benefit of the wisdom of the older folk around us.
Well, as long as good came from it…😂
Well put it this way, I’m here and not in the creek…
True that! 😂
Though there are times when I feel a little hoppy and attracted to the creek, but that’s most likely my active imagination…
Knowing you and your imagination…lol.
I hope to get opportunities to write more on Mrs Smithenfdd as I think she has a lot to teach the young boys, some old people are full of wisdom you know.
So I hear😬
Shattered expectations and stereotypes overturned. Good one. I am wondering, though, how, with the two d’s at the end, how the name Smithenfdd is pronounced.
Try ‘fudd’
Indeed, a nice sequel Michael.
Thanks Di
I love your flare for story telling! It’s a beautiful gift!
Thanks so much
🙂
Great story! 🙂
Thank so much Bette
Keep up the good “work” and continue to share your stories @ Senior Salon. Thanks so much
My pleasure, you have a good day.
Same to you Michael, and keep up the sharing and please promote Senior Salon in order for more Silver members to come and participate. Thanks so much
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I love the description of how you and your mate pictured Mrs. Smithenfdd standing over her cauldron….😂 but, what a revelation to learn about her experience being a survivor of war; and later, her open invitation for you to visit again. This is my favorite kind of story. Thank you.
Thanks for reading this piece and your lovely comment.