Ms Madge

    In a time that was much like the time we are in now but not quite, there lived a little boy and girl. They were brother and sister and while they got along most of the time, they didn't see eye to eye every minute of the day. Their names were Delilah and Kieran.

They lived in a big blue house on the corner of their street. They had a husky dog, a tabby cat and 4 guppy fish they helped their Mom and Dad take care of. 

Summer time was the most wonderful time in their neighbourhood. Delilah and Kieran loved hanging out in the backyard, throwing the ball for the dog, building little forts and searching for bugs. When it got too hot, they could run inside and have a popsicle break, wash the mud and muck off their hands and then go back outside to get dirty again. 

The neighbour who lived next door to their big blue house was Ms Madge. Her property was immaculate. Ms Madge had a big, perfectly trimmed, impenetrable hedge surrounding her barn red house. What you could see from the street was just the peak of the gables over her perfectly swept porch, the window in the attic and her faultless roof and gutters. Her yard and house were nothing short of perfect. Ms Madge herself was much the same. She wore a clean white dress with a black cardigan every day and her hair was white. She always wore a small black feathery hat, making her look like an exquisite secretary bird stalking in the Savanna.  She clutched her purse on her shoulder like it might contain a delicate hand grenade as she walked to and from her red little sports car with her big black sunglasses. The kids never saw anyone with her and she never said hello, goodbye or even gave them a nod let alone a smile. It was very much like she had a perfectly trimmed hedge surrounding her heart and soul. The kids were endlessly curious about her, while their parents constantly complained about her bothering them. She only ever called them on the phone, never knocked on the door, informing them that their tree branch was poking ever so slightly into her yard, that they parked their car an inch or two on her property line, the cat was on her fence, the dog peed on her begonias. You get the picture. To put it mildly, she was just a crotchety old lady. But also terrifying.

On this hot Summer day, the kids were in the back yard playing a game of badminton. They had put up an old ratty net they found in the basement with one missing post. To keep the net up they tied part of it onto a tree so it was a little wonky but it did the trick. They were having a great time, not keeping score but trying to get the birdie as high up as they could. 

"Kieran, look at that!" said Delilah. " I got that one so high that a crow swooped in and tried to catch it."

"I saw!" Kieran shouted.

When the birdie came over to Kieran's side he hit it up, so high up, into the sky and this time the crow swooped in and caught it. Now what? Well, the crow dropped it as soon as it saw it wasn't anything it wanted. The crow dropped it right into Ms Madge's back yard. The kids couldn't see exactly where it landed so they climbed the apple tree and searched for the spot. This wasn't good. In fact it was very bad.

"There it is "squealed Delilah. "It's there right next to her basement window."

The basement window was ever so slightly open. Delilah and Kieran looked at each other with wide eyes. This was a real conundrum. They would get into trouble either way. They could wait for her to find it and call their parents or they could get into trouble if they got caught retrieving the birdie in her yard. One plan involved possibly not getting caught at all. They could sneak into her yard through her back lane gate, run in, get the birdie and then run out undetected. If no one saw them then no one would know. Kieran and Delilah gave each other a very determined nod. Mission accepted.

They quickly scrambled down the tree and ran on tippy toes out into the back lane. Once there, the kids tested Ms Madge's back gate. It was locked and barred. Of course. They would have to hop the fence. Kieran, always the good big brother got down on one knee and quietly gestured for Delilah to boost herself up and go first. She fearlessly took the hint and was up and over in a few seconds. Kieran pulled himself soundlessly over after her. 

Once in their neighbours forbidden yard their hearts started racing, their breathing quickened and their foreheads prickled with sweat. With no time to waste they ran over, glancing left and right then up and down for any movement anywhere. Kieran and Delilah reached a spot just a few feet away from the basement window, ducking behind a large flower pot. They listened for any sounds. They heard a door open and the clacking sound of heels going down stairs. It sounded farther away. Then the heels were on pavement and the sound of a car beeping unlocked could be heard. It was Ms Madge leaving the house and getting into her car. The kids both took a deep relaxed breath out. They stood up and walked over to the birdie at the basement window, but as they did Kieran tripped a little bit, accidentally knocking the birdie inside. Great, just great.

"Kieran. What have you done? There are probably lasers, alarms and razor blades on the floor. We can't go in there." Delilah exclaimed. 

Kieran pushed the basement window a little to see if it would open a bit farther. The window swung open and no alarms sounded.

"We can't go INSIDE! Are you crazy? Delilah insisted.

"I am just going to hop in, grab the birdie and hop back out" Kieran retorted. "It's fine. She isn't even here."

Kieran hopped down into the basement through the open window. It was dark at first and he couldn't see anything but when his eyes adjusted he realized with extreme fright that he was face to face with a very large lion. Kieran nearly fainted with fright. The lion was motionless with its mouth open wide. 

"What are you doing?' Delilah whispered down to him.

By this time Kieran had realized that the lion was not alive. It was stuffed and sitting on its hind legs, open mouthed. He looked around some more. In other areas of the room there were two more lions, a jaguar and a tiger. Pictures hung all over the walls and big colourful hoops were mounted around the big stuffed cats. There were all sorts of silks in green, turquoise, red and purple coming out of a large trunk. In the other corner of the room was a tailors dummy wearing a sequinned gold and purple dress with a headdress covered in green and purple feathers. The lions, tiger and jaguar were all sitting the same way with their mouths wide open.

"You have GOT to see this" Kieran told his sister, peeking up out the window.

She hopped down and found herself face to face with the lion. She turned immediately into Kieran and hid her face in his shoulder.

"It's ok. It's not alive." Kieran reassured her. "Look at all this stuff." 

They walked over to get a better look at the pictures on the wall. They were all in black and white and in them was a woman smiling, surrounded by lions or tigers or jaguars. She was beautiful and not at all afraid of these big cats. In fact she was even sitting on a lions back in one of them. There were awards and metals hanging and most of the pictures looked like they were from all over the world.

"That's Ms Madge herself" Delilah whispered."Look! It's hard to tell because she is smiling and she never smiles but look at the eyes. That's her."

"You're right." He said. "I think she was a lion tamer."

"Do you think these are the very same cats as in those pictures?" Delilah wondered aloud.

"I think so, yes." He replied. "Maybe she loved them so much she couldn't bear to be without them."

"That's so gross." Delilah said. "But also cool."

Right then they heard the clacking of heels on the pavement coming from the front of the house. The clacking continued up the stairs.

"Let's go!" Kieran whispered in a panic.

The kids jumped up out of the basement window, hurriedly ran to the gate and scrambled over as quickly as they could. Once back in their own back yard they caught their breath and then both looked at each other and said at the same time 

"THE BIRDIE!".

They had forgotten to pick up the birdie. They would be in so much trouble.  Ms Madge would be calling their house tonight for sure.

But she never did. In fact, after that incident she never called again. A couple of weeks later when they saw her outside trimming her hedges Delilah could have sworn she saw Ms Madge peek over her trimming sheers and give her a smile. But maybe she just imagined it.