I don't own The Three Stooges or the Cinderella fairytale
Enjoy!
The town was bustling with activity in the early afternoon hours as vendors stood outside and welcomed customers to their stores. It seemed that every store had a good handful of customers except for one store in particular. Three men stood out from the Howards & Fine produce as they tried to rally in customers but to no avail. No matter how much of the produce they held in front of the customers' faces, no one showed any interest in what they had to sell.
"We'd make a better selling with jewels instead of this," one of the three men spoke up as he placed a squash back onto the counter.
The other man with dark hair and a bowl haircut gave the other a glare, causing the other to flinch as if he was going to get hit. "Don't you go 'round sayin' that, Curly," he spoke in a threatening manner. "Pops handed this down to us and expected to have business boomin'. Why if he heard ya flappin' your gums like that, he'd be rollin' in his grave!"
The third male only shook his head at that. If he was being honest with himself, he didn't believe that business would be back to the way it once was. In the earlier years when Howard Sr. was still around, business had been great but that was because due to the less amount of competition that they had. Now, the three of them were up against better produce, jewelry shops, pawn shops, pet shops, and everything else that was around the corner. "C'mon Moe," he spoke up to the other man, "it ain't gonna be back to the way it once was."
Those were words that he regretted because the other's hand flew towards his head and it ended in a loud smack.
"Mind your p's and q's Porcupine," Moe reproachfully said to Larry, "it's gonna get back to the way it once was. Otherwise Pops would have been outta business way earlier than this. We just gotta think what we can do. Anyone of youse got an idea?"
Upon that question, both Larry and Curly stood in with their thumb rubbing against their chins as they tried to think of anything creative that they could do with their business. It wasn't long before Curly perked up. Larry and Moe looked at him expectantly as the other male began to bang his head against the wall.
"Atta boy, pick it up!" Moe encouraged Culry, hoping that there was at least some idea in his mind.
Curly continued to bang his head against the wall before pulling himself away. "I got it!" he exclaimed.
"What?" Moe and Larry asked in unison.
"A terrific headache," Curly answered and leaned against the wall with his head in his hands.
"I'll give you a terrific headache," Moe threatened.
Moe's hand formed into a fist and was about to punch Curly but Larry was quick enough to interject and grab a hold of his arm. "Wait a minute Moe!" he said and pulled away before he received the same punishment. "I think someone is comin' this way!" he looked over to the street when he noticed a figure coming towards them.
Both Moe and Curly looked over their shoulders and immediately got into their vendor positions, hoping that this customer was going to stay longer than the rest and potentially buy something. "Say," Curly suddenly spoke up as he squinted, "ain't that Lily?"
Moe looked over his shoulder once more and nodded his head whilst Larry took a step back from the group. "By golly you're right," Moe said, "it's been so long since we last saw her."
It had been an interesting friendship that had been formed between all four of them. During the time when Howard Sr. was around, Lily had always come to the shop and always bought something for her family. There was a time when Howard Sr. was in the back of the store, figuring out some finances of his business, but Curly had been at the front of the shop. Given Curly's friendly personality, he had struck a conversation with the young girl. At that moment, Moe had thought this Curly had been flirting with her and his introduction had been discourteous, whilst Larry, who had later joined them, was quiet during the introduction. However, it was a meeting that Lily had not forgotten and given the different personality of all three, not to mention the way that they had introduced themselves she had been fascinated to pay more visits. Not to mention that the apples that were sold during that time were delicious enough for a scrumptious apple pie.
As Lily approach was becoming closer and closer Larry turned around and was about to head at the back of the shop. However, he felt something grab him by the back of the shirt and pull his back. "Where you goin' Porcupine?" Moe asked as Larry staggered back. "We've got a customer comin'."
There wasn't enough time for Larry to have the chance to answer back to Moe, for she had already arrived to their store.
"Hello gentlemen," Lily spoke to them with a smile upon her lips.
Upon hearing that word, Curly looked at Moe who looked at Larry who looked behind him and then back at Moe and back at Curly. "Oh you mean us!" Curly chuckled as he took a hold of Lily's hand and gave it a light pat, "how ya doin' toots?"
Moe tightened his jaw and quickly masqueraded his anger with a light chuckle. "Don't mind him, he's lackin' in his manners today." With that infamous glare of his, Curly let out an unsatisfied 'mmm-hmm' and moved his hand in the air.
Lily couldn't help but lightly chuckle at their debacle. "Aren't you two always a joy," she said before her eyes fell upon Larry who was standing behind Moe. "Oh Larry," she smiled over to him, "you're rather quiet I didn't notice you over there."
That was part of the plan Larry thought to himself and tried to hide his slight nervousness. He could feel Moe's cold glare upon him and even he knew himself that it was not good to be this way in front of an old friend. "How do you do Lily?" he asked her, even catching himself off guard that he had spoke in such a gallant manner.
Before Lily had the chance to answer, Moe jumped in before she did. "What can we do for you today? We have that shipment of strawberries that you really like."
Ever since she had been coming to this shop and gotten a small box of strawberries, she had never been left disappointed. They were fresh and sweet, the way that they needed to be and they were perfect to use in any dessert. Lily had used those strawberries in a recipe before that even Madame Dalton had been left speechless. However, when Madame Dalton had asked where the strawberries were from, she never wanted any more of those desserts ever again. It sounded very tempting to have another box of two of those strawberries but how was she going to get past Madame Dalton, who always checked her basket whenever she got back from her shopping?
"I wish I could," Lily said, "but you know how it is with Madame Dalton. She always checks what I buy that its only for her and her daughters."
Both Curly and Moe shook their heads when she said that. Neither of them could imagine being in the clutches of such a terrible woman who deemed herself to be entitled to have a domestic servant that she could treat poorly, let alone wanting other people's business to suffer. "Why don't you get away from there?" Curly then asked her.
"I wouldn't have any other place to stay," Lily answered with a shrug of her shoulders, "but I have been managing."
If we only had an extra room where she could stay then she'd be far away from her Larry thought to himself but he knew that it would be impossible. He, Moe, and Curly shared one room in the whole apartment along with a bed and that was more than enough people in such a small apartment.
"I must hurry along now," Lily said as she looked at the other vendors. She wished that she could at least get something from the Howards & Fine produce but she could tell that the moment she would step inside the house, Madame Dalton would be barreling down the steps and fling the produce out of her home. "It was good to see you gentlemen...and you Larry," she said as her eyes fell on him once more and she headed her way.
The three of them watched as she headed down the street to one of the other vendors. That was one potential customer that they hoped for but the end result hadn't been up to par. "Their goes our first and last customer of the day," Larry commented, not even caring that Moe would get irritated by his comment.
Larry had braced himself for another slap but it didn't come. Moe only stood there with a shake of his head and thought about something that Lily had said. What he knew was that Madame Dalton had a reputation and what if one of the reasons as to why their business was suffering was of the fact that Lily had formed a friendship with them? Why would business go down so suddenly? And why would she fo something like that? Did she really despise her domestic servant so much that it would cause an economic disturbance to people who were trying to get by? The more he thought about it, the more Moe believed his theory behind it and if that was the case, then Madame Dalton was going to have quite the wakeup call.
"What are you thinkin' about Moe?" Larry suddenly asked him.
"Boys," Moe spoke as he threw his arms around Curly's and Larry's neck, "I think it's time that we pay this Madame Dalton a visit."