Ring Around the Rosy

by Straying Life

The Black D e a t h plague had such an effect on the world, there is a nursery rhyme for it. Although many d i ed, Daniel and Samantha had a most sorrowful experience as their family and lives were slowly exterminated. DRABBLE.

I remember this weird off-topic thing this year…we did colonial America and stuff, and somehow, my teacher got off-topic onto the Middle Ages—what we cover next year. So he decided to explain the meaning of Ring Around the Rosy…the nursery rhyme? I forget the lyrics now, but back in kindergarten, it was something we always did—four times a day minimum. Now, the explanation may or may not be true—one of the first variants was about someone named Josie and her popularity, then an attic and sneezing, a bunch of posies for children, running around the house—it's endless. But for the purpose of this story, let's use the widely believed version.

I know this story is sad. That's the idea. I have no idea what it's supposed to mean, but you know those movies or something like that with videos of history and then on top of it a, what, 35 percent transparent layer of children over it? The people in the video are hysterical, and the children solemnly sing a song over it that more or less fits it.

Flame me if you want, but I give fair warning here: this is a story of the epidemic, and I do know how horrible it was, and I am in NO WAY trying to make it seem funny, because it isn't—AT ALL. After all, we've got a pandemic right now—avian flu.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own neither the show nor the nursery rhyme. Hey, correlative conjunctions used PROPERLY!

SUMMARY: The Black D e a t h plague had such an effect on the world, there is a nursery rhyme for it. Although many d i ed, Daniel and Samantha had a most sorrowful experience as their family and lives were slowly exterminated. DRABBLE.

RATED: T for epidemic issues and slightly mature themes.

Ring Around the Rosy

"Ring around the rosy."

People ran around the town in hysteria; major infection had hit. Most of the town was now covered in red marks and spots, a sure sign of the swoop of the Black D e a t h epidemic.

"Don't harm my children!" cried one woman into an infected town one day. She wanted only the best, and was prepared to fight for them.

The small children joined hands in a circle, spreading out just a little bit. They gripped each other tightly and planted their feet on the ground, trying to get ready for the next part.

But it was too late. The air was thick with germs, and anyone caught in the area would be sick. It only took one person to start a plague. The woman wept for hours that night, wondering about her children. She knew they would be sick. But how would they d i e? In their sleep, hopefully. Quickly, without any pain. She bit her lip, and hoped that once one left, they all would.

"A pocket full of posies."

30-year-old Daniel Fenton ran through the town, hand clamped over his nose, shutting it. The other three fingers covered his mouth like a medical mask. He knew it wouldn't really help, but it was worth a try. Plus, the posies sticking out of his pockets would do him good.

He was the only one trying to ward off the disease now. The other people gave up. No one wore the posies in their pocket anymore. They now littered the ground, stamped on in frenzies.

The children began to circle slowly, tugging when half tried to go left and the other headed right. At last, they figured it out and all together went left.

He had circled the town repeatedly, hour after hour, before he found the little shack his cousin was in. He barged in and threw spare posies around to hopefully disinfect the household. Samantha stared longingly out her window, and Daniel noticed that the children were lying in bed. They were covered in red marks. They were sneezing, another sign of infection.

"Ashes, ashes, dust to dust."

Days later, Daniel and Samantha sadly watched the children go. They had d i ed the day before of the disease. They were being cremated now, and the ashes would be spread across the town. Whatever was left stayed in a jar with them for years to come. Many others had been cremated, but now it just pained them to see their beloved children be grinded into ashes. But it was better than looking at them and remembering the pain they went through.

The children continued going around, this time throwing their arms up in triangles, not letting go of their hands. They went up and down, up and down.

A few days later, Samantha d i ed as well. She caught it from her children, and before her d e a t h asked Daniel to make sure that, once she was cremated, her ashes would mix in the jar with her children's. Daniel nodded, tears running down his cheeks.

The children dropped to the floor, slowly letting their grip become loose. Smiles shone on their faces, never passing up an opportunity to fall together. It was, by now, a daily kindergarten tradition in the small school.

By the end of the year, the entire country was a barren, desolate place. The plague had swept through, leaving resonating, empty villages in its wake. Daniel had moved away, but d i ed anyway because the disease had been dormant in his system as he stayed with the sick people. Luckily, the rest of the town didn't catch it; they isolated him and when he died, avoided the place like the plague itself.

The children dropped to the floor, slowly letting their grip become loose. Smiles shone on their faces, never passing up an opportunity to fall together. It was, by now, a daily kindergarten tradition in the small school.

The disease sucked not only the poor into its clutches, but even the wealthiest of families. It started with one person, deep inside a small family, but it soon spread to the rest of the family. Before long, it attacked the rest of the village, and left behind stories of survival, sadness, and love.

The least known, but most important, of which being of Daniel and Samantha, and their darling children Jazmine, Tucker, and Valerie.

"We all fall down!"

Fin

Whoa…weird…I originally expected there to be a Daniel and Samantha in history, and a Danny and Sam in kindergarten…but it worked out fine…just a strange drabble that stuck in my mind…at 5 am, be glad. Or not, depending on how badly this story sucked. Personally, it has a love-h a t e relationship with me. I love the idea, and the combination of present-day and history as it was, but I truly disliked parts of it, more in the end than anything. I also have NO CLUE why I named Samantha's CHILDREN and Daniel's nieces and nephews what i did.

This is a fake history; I don't know if it began rooted down in a tight family, it just seemed right to me! Also, the "ashes" part and motions I'm not sure of, but the motions was part of my kindergarten school's method. Along with doing it in a cozy home where actual people LIVED.

Happy Christmahannukwanzaadan! And if you need all four separately:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

HAPPY HANNUKAH (or Chanukah, whichever, but my JCC uses the former)!

HAPPY KWANZAA!

HAPPY RAMADAN!

And, of course…

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!

I'll have some New Year's mush up, and possibly some holiday fluff. Who knows…but CoTF will soon be updated (I've started it as soon as I got that flame from Truth).