Julie: brown toast (part 1)
BY andrew lips
One day there was a girl called Julie. Julie was made of sparkles, glitter and cat whiskers. She was from a sweet small town in Belgium and in this little town there was only two shops. One was a sweet shop painted cherry red. From miles away you could smell the sweet smell of lollipops and liquorice sweets. The other shop was for the working man. In this shop they sold leather belts, steel toe capped boots and hand watches.
One day though, the town was burnt down and all memory was lost and forgotten of the girl and her home. She was helped in the form of a French family who moved over to Belgium. They owned a farm with a large blue barn; so she thought it can't be that bad there. As her new father lifted her up onto his shoulders she turned back to the burning town and whispered, "Let's go crazy". She flicked her hair, blinked an eye and brushed away all memories of her past life.
Things took a great change soon after when one dark wet evening in the woods Julie climbed the tallest tree. Alas, she didn't get far though, she slipped on the fourth slimy, moss-covered branch and smacked her head on a small stone. She lay there for – some say – days, surviving on any bugs that crawled into her mouth. When she finally awoke she felt much better.
From that day forward she would do whatever she felt like. She lost all sense of her surroundings and worrying what others may think. She wore vintage dresses and cut her fringe very straight. She painted her nails all kinds of colours and wore odd socks. When it was raining she would splash in puddles and purposely forget her umbrella. She was incredible.
Julie didn't get on well with people at school. The other kids spat at her because she wore two different shades of lipstick on her bottom and top lip. In art class she would draw alligators playing poker and conjoined twin rabbits playing accordion. But she was incredibly smart, she could do multiple sums in her head within seconds. Her teachers frowned upon her, they would shout, "No child should know this much! What is wrong with you?"
The only friend she had was a finger puppet made from an old sock. His name was Cavi and when she was uncertain of what to do or what to say she would ask dear Cavi and he was always sure to provide the perfect answer!
On the morning Julie ran away she ate two slices of brown toast and crept into the barn to stroke the horses for the final time. She realised things were changing. She buried Cavi deep into her coat pocket; to make sure not to lose him. As she ran through the muddy fields singing and skipping, she saw a faint figure in the distance, a shape almost representing a human. She knew it was the ghost of Lizzie Borden. But Julie feared nothing! She called out to Lizzie. "Who are you?" but there was no reponse. Julie began stomping over, shouting, "What are you doing here?!" but Lizzie disappered before Julie could get close enough.
That night Julie slept between a rock and a hard place. She ate a can of beans the postman passing earlier that day had given her.