The Introduction
Everyone knows how close Toby and Mrs. Lovett are, right? They're like a real mother and son. I have an evil plan though, a plan that will raise questions. Who is Mimi? Will someone be taken away, in order to make another person happy? Will I ever stop writing this intro and start the story already? Well, as Mrs. Lovett would say, WAIT! I still have to… *Sweeney comes up behind me and puts Edward to my throat.* Sweeney: If you claim that you own me and have any sort of power or love for me then you'll regret it! Me: Hey, Edward's my razor; I bought him off of Amazon fair and square! Sweeney: The disclaimer?! Me: Fine, I don't own Sweeney Todd, and I don't have any love for him. *Off to the side whisper.* Even though I do. P.S. I have not abandoned The Fortune Teller for this, I simply came up with a new story idea, and I wanted to act on it before I forgot it.
Toby and Nellie Lovett were enjoying a rare sunny day at the park. They were playing keep away (monkey in the middle) with another boy Toby had made friends with on the playground. Toby threw the ball to Mrs. Lovett and she caught it just as the other boy was about to grab for it. She saw that the young boy was getting bored and annoyed of being stuck in the middle. She threw the ball low so that the boy could catch it. He jumped for joy and she placed herself in between the two young boys. The game began again.
A few hours later the evening wind started to blow so the pair packed up their belongings and started back to the shop. On the way they did some talking. "Mum, why do you put up with Mr. Todd? I mean, I don't think he treats you the way a person should treat another person they care about."
Nellie looked down at the boy and smiled. "Toby, it's hard to explain. It's just, the poor man's been through so much, and it's hard for him to show many expressions. With what he's been through, it's understandable that he'd act the way that he does."
"I know, but you're always making excuses for his actions. And you're excuses are always about how he can't control how he acts because of his bad past. What if he did something that couldn't be excused?" He looked at her with pure fear in his eyes.
The baker bent down and hugged the young boy. "Toby, there's nothing for you to worry about. I'm the adult, remember? You don't put such bad thoughts and worries in your head, okay love?" Toby smiled, nodded and they continued walking.
In another part of London a woman who looked to be somewhere in her late 20's-early 30's worked as a seamstress in a cozy little clothing shop. Her name was Mimi, and she had a mission. She whistled a happy little tune and she sewed the finishing touches on a torn dress. She was happy to be making money; she had finally gotten enough money to get herself a well off home and some pleasing furniture. Her job was well paying too, she got a fair pay for the amount of work that she did each day. At least this job was better than her last one; she shuddered at the thought of having to go back to doing that. No matter how much money she lost, she would make sure to never go that low. She had told her boss her true reason for getting this job, and the boss knew that her case was a special one. It was different from the rest of the women, who just worked there to make money to buy themselves and their family things they wanted.
A few hours passed and Mimi's boss/close friend, Mrs. Johnson, came into the room where Mimi and a few other women were working. She walked over to Mimi and handed the woman her pay for the week. "So Mimi, I've been keeping count. And I was just wondering, will you be continuing to work here, or will you be leaving us to be with him?"
Mimi smiled broadly and jumped out of her seat and grabbed the envelope. She tore it open and read the amount of money she had been paid that week for her hard work. It seemed that she had been given a bit extra as well. She gasped and wrapped her arms around the woman. "Oh my god, thanks Maureen. Thank you, thank you, and thank you! Of course I will be continuing to work, I wanna be able to raise 'im the best way that I can. Wut's this extra pay for though, is there a mistake?"
The woman put her hand on Mimi's shoulders. "No mistake my dear, I want you to be able to raise him well also, so there's just some more to keep you up. Tomorrow's Sunday dear, but come back Monday. Go look for him, I want to see some proof of his existence on Monday though, okay dear?" Mimi hugged her again, said goodbye to everyone, and got home as quickly as possible.
The next day, Nellie and Toby were busy making meat pies and conversation. Toby was helping his mum to roll out the dough for another pie when he asked "Mum, could you teach me 'ow to read. They never cared to teach us at the work'ouse, and I was always to busy selling Signor Pirelli's elixir to learn. And when I asked him if he'd care to teach me, he just said that a sales boy had no reason to learn 'ow ta read. So I was wonderin' if you'd teach me."
Mrs. Lovett whipped off her hands as she finished making a pie and put a hand on his shoulder. 'ow's about you finish that pie ya git there, and then I teach you, alright darling?"
Toby's eyes glistened and quickly threw his arms around Mrs. Lovett's stomach. "Yes mum, thank you!" Mrs. Lovett chuckled as she walked away into her parlor to look for a book she could teach Toby from. She looked through many. Hansel and Gretel? No, considering that she and Mr. T were making meat pies out of people, and the witch in that story planned to cook the children. It didn't seem very appropriate. How about Cinderella? No; maybe a bit too feminine for a boy's taste. Then she found a book that sounded good for him. Toby came into the parlor and sat next to Nellie. "What's this mum?" The young boy looked at the cover of the picture book. It seemed to be called The 3 Little Pigs. She opened the book and began teaching him how to prononce each word.
They were in the middle of the story when there was a knock at the pie shop door. "You keep reading Toby, and come right out if there's something you can't figure out." She got up and walked to the door. She opened it and standing there was a woman with long curly dark brown hair and deep dark brown eyes. She looked like she couldn't be older that at most 32. (Her name we had learned, was Mimi). She gave Mrs. Lovett a small shy smile. She started to speak in a quiet voice. "I'm sorry to intrude on you. I was just wondering, if I could come in? I'm looking fer someone ya see, and I got some information that 'e might be 'ere."
Cliffhanger, cliffhanger, cliffhangerrrrr!!! What is Mimi doing at Mrs. Lovett's pie shop, and who exactly is she looking for? Does she know something about Sweeney? Does she have anything to do with anyone, or is she wasting our time?-Seriously though, I wouldn't give her a name or anything unless she was important. I guess you just have to wait until chapter 2, siiiigh. P.S. If you caught any of the references to another popular musical, I'm sorry. The woman being named Mimi, her boss and friend with the name Maureen Johnson. I watched my dvd of RENTs final B-way performance on Saturday Night and was just listening to the soundtrack while writing this, so, I'm kinda on a RENT high at the second. K, so, remember to review. PEACE OUT AND CUPCAKES! P.S.S. One more RENT question... Do you think Sweeney would ever light Mrs. Lovett's candle if she asked? ;- ) LOL!!!!