Mr Bendy's New Shoes

Prologue

 

The curtains are drawn, and the bedroom is dark and stuffy. A thin

shard of sunlight has pierced its way into the room and is all that

keeps the room from total darkness.

 

I can hear my friends still playing outside and I feel like crying, but I

am not about to shed tears, I am angry that every night I have to go

to bed with my sister Sheila who is just 5 years old. She adds to my

frustration by constantly fidgeting and talking rubbish. I try to control

my emotions by studying the tiny particles of dust seemingly

trapped in the shards of sunlight that are holding them captive.

 

I am ten years old and bitterly resent being sent up to bed early

every night “to get our Sheila to sleep”. Often this takes ages, mainly

I think because my frustration seems to manifest itself in Sheila

and prevents her from relaxing.

 

The bright specs of sparkling dust trapped in the light make me

think of fairies. I start to think up fairy tales and I find this

relaxes me. It is then that I have the idea of telling stories to

Sheila in the hope that she will stop her incessant chatter to listen

and relax.

 

It worked; she would usually be asleep just before the end of the

story. This was good because by that time, I was also dropping off to sleep.