Ragged Love

• Jessica Conrick, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2008

The smell of lavender was overpowering as Mabel walked through her own little ‘Garden of Joy’ or so her Mum called it. Ever since Mabel was little she spent most of her time in the garden. She played in it, did homework there, wrote, drew and even sang in it or sometimes she would just sit and think. At the moment she was thinking about her birthday, which is coming up in a couple of days. Mabel’s mum said she would let Mabel choose one store to go to and choose one special toy. So she chose Magic Toys. Mabel had never been there before but was so excited that she could finally see in that magnificent store. So there Mabel sat thinking about all the wonderful things she could possibly buy.
The day had finally arrived. Mabel was so excited that she woke up at 7:00am and jumped on her new sparkly purple bike and raced her mum and brother to the toy store.
They soon arrived at Magic toys. Her little brother Xavier ran into the store after seeing one little boy come out with a gigantic remote control T-Rex. Mabel stopped right outside the door and had a look up at the flashing sign with the words Magic Toys written in bright bold letters. She then rushed in and ran straight to the soft toys section.
She was amazed at all the different types of soft toys. There was big ones, small ones, fat ones, fluffy ones and many more. So she looked on every shelf and after searching most of them she noticed a ragged and torn monkey stuffed right up the back of the shelf. Mabel fell instantly in love with him and had to have him!
“Mum, I want this one” showing her mum the torn and ragged monkey. “Are you sure Mabel? He’s been torn and tattered” replied Mabel’s mum, “I must have him, he’s perfect” said Mabel insistently “ok, if you’re really sure.” So they went to the cashier to buy the monkey. The lady at the cashier wouldn’t let Mabel’s mum buy the toy because of the state it was in. The lady tried to convince Mabel to get another toy. But Mabel didn’t want any other toy she wanted this one. The lady called the manager to come down to the cash desk. He came down and also tried to convince Mabel that choosing another toy would be better. But Mabel pleaded and begged to have the monkey. At last the manager gave in and said “alright, you can have him free of charge if you promise to mend him and look after him.” Mabel was estatic and promised to love him forever. She rode her bike home as fast as she could, anxious to play with her new birthday present. Timothy the Monkey.
The moral to this story is ‘No matter what shape you’re in, there’s always someone who will love you.’