Marigold

The Words!

Marigold sat down at an old, dusty harp in the corner of the room and began to play a song. She chose a happy song to play, as she wanted to lift the old man’s spirits. The old man watched as she played and smiled, and a few tears fell down his wrinkled cheeks.

When Marigold finished, Mr. Erastus thanked her and said he had something special for her. He shuffled into the bedroom and emerged, after much banging, with a scrap of paper. “On this piece on paper is something I think will help you immensely, little Marigold,” said Mr. Erastus excitedly. He passed the scrap to her.
There were some strange words on the paper, ones that Marigold could not pronounce. She asked Mr. Erastus how to say them, and what they meant. As he explained, Marigold smiled and knew that this piece of paper would help her a lot.

“Goodbye, Mr. Erastus, and thank you for helping me! I promise I will come to visit you again. Just open the door when I knock next time, please!” Marigold said as she was leaving.

“Don’t you worry, little Marigold, it was my pleasure to help you, and I will keep my ears open for the door in future!” laughed Mr. Erastus. He unbolted the door and let Marigold out to face the waiting children. She smiled at them and they started to heckle and jeer her, clearly unimpressed that she was not scared of the house anymore.

Marigold’s heart began to beat quickly as she pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket and took a quick glance back at the house. She then faced the children once again and took a deep breath and, looking down at the paper, she slowly and carefully read the words then looked up at the children and smiled broadly. It had worked!

She let out a sigh of relief then skipped along home.