My First Attempt at Creative Writing since High School

"Molla-Walla-Bing-Bang"
Current mood: pensive
Category: Writing and Poetry

The little girl sat at the large oak kitchen table, pushing her fork across her plate of food. She propped her chin up with her free hand, a scowl painted across her otherwise pretty face. The rest of the dishes from supper were piled up on the island-style counter that stood between her and her mom, who was busily washing a large metal pot.

She wanted to be with her brother and sisters, who were in the living room, watching their favorite TV program. The Muppet Show. She could hear the funny voices and laugh track coming from the television set, and to make matters worse, she could hear her siblings' giggles. They were having fun. Without her.

She was stuck at the table. "Don't move until you finish what's on your plate," her mother had said.

It was asparagus, gross! And even though she hated gravy, her dad had poured gravy ALL OVER her mashed potatoes! She didn't know why he had done that, but when she said she hated the gravy, he snapped at her that it was rude for her to insult her mother's cooking like that, and she would eat every last bite of those gravy-saturated potatoes.

She loved mashed potatoes. She just liked them with butter and pepper and salt, and sometimes peas! But Mom had made asparagus, not peas.

She managed to choke down the asparagus, gulping down lots of milk in the process, but there sat her mashed potatoes and gravy. The gravy was lumpy! And now it had gotten cold. It was beyond eating. But that was no matter to her mom, who always kept her word.

"Molly. This is ridiculous and we both know it. You could be watching Kermit right now. You only have about three big bites to go." Her mother said.

Molly scowled deeper. She frowned as deeply as she could frown. She hoped her forehead was sufficiently creased, so her mother could see from across the room the deep emotional pain that she was causing her daughter.

Molly hadn't even asked for gravy! This was all Dad's fault. He was always picking on Molly. I'm sure that's why he did this, she thought. He just wanted to make me miss the Muppets.

All of a sudden she heard a deep belly laugh, coming from the living room. Her dad was watching the show with her brother and two sisters! Oh, could this night get any worse?!

"May I be excused, Mom?" Molly asked, in her sweetest, most innocent voice she could muster. She made her brown eyes as big as possible, and looked at her mom with the deepest hurt and innocence.

Her mother didn't even turn around from the stove, which she was scrubbing down with a dishrag. "Did you finish your mashed potatoes, Molly?"
"Nooooo…"

"Well. Then you already know the answer to the question, don't you?"

Molly could feel her face get really hot, and her eyes stung with tears. This was so unfair! She had already had such a hard day at school; her teacher had yelled at her during nap time because she had been whispering to her friends, instead of napping. And then this!

"Mashed potatoes can be your friend, Molla-Walla-Bing-Bang!" sing-sang her big brother, as he ran to the fridge during a commercial break to grab a juice box. She was about to be so angry at him for making fun of her, but then he turned to her and gave her the biggest grin, and mouthed the words, "Dad taped it for you."

As he ran back into the living room, Molly smiled to herself. Her dad didn't hate her after all! Suddenly her mashed potatoes took on a new light. They didn't look so awful. And maybe the gravy tasted better than it did the last time she tried it.

"Mom?"

Her mother sighed. "Yes, Molly?"

"Can you microwave these mashed potatoes for me?"

(originally posted november 29 2006)