Chapter 2: Trials and Tribulations
After getting dressed, James came out pushing a wheelbarrow filled with tools. He wore a big forest green shirt, a white t-shirt underneath, deep blue shorts, and brownish-black shoes. Penelope followed James and helped him push the wheelbarrow. She wore a dirty white shirt with elbow length sleeves, a light brown bodice with blue lacing in the front, a long red skirt with patches and stitches, a white apron, brown cloth shoes and a red head bandana in her hair. Jaelle flowed them behind holding a sack in her mouth.
After James' parents died, the house they lived in was sold and most of their family possessions. With a few items and clothes in their names, James and Penelope were sent to live with Sponge and Spiker in a ramshackle house on top of a hill.
During their time there, James, Penelope, and Jaelle endured endless chores and abuse from Spiker and Sponge. The women refused them any meals at their pleasure; when the children did get some food, they split it evenly. If James and Penelope did something wrong, talk back at them, or disagreed, the aunts would punish them with beatings. Spiker and Sponge forced them to sleep in the cold and dirty attic with one window, and never once called them by their real names, instead they refer to the children with horrible names.
One day, James, Penelope, and Jaelle start to work on their chores today. They started raking the leaves underneath an ancient peach tree. The peach tree used to give peaches and there were many insects underneath piles of leaves. For no apparent reason, the tree died and never once did a blossom or peach appeared.
After finishing the first chore, they went to the well, and Penelope pulled up a bucket of water so James could recover his strength. Next, the children polished Sponge and Spiker's antique car with worn pieces of cloth to make sure every spot is clean. Jaelle even brushed the dust off with her tail.
Next, James and Penelope did the laundry. The gypsy girl washed Sponge and Spiker's clothes in warm soapy water and James washed the soap off the clothes in water and hung them on the clothesline.
After that, the two painted the aunts' deck chairs white. Before painting, James took off his green shirt and the two had to be careful to cover a missed spot with paint. Penelope used her sharp eyes to check for missed spots. Once a spot was seen, she immediately covered it.
After the aunts approved it, they went into the house and James grabbed a feather duster and dusted the house and didn't miss a spot. Penelope scrubbed the floor in the kitchen with a brush from a soapy bucket and made sure she didn't miss a spot on the floor. Jaelle also helped dried the floor with Penelope to get her an extra push.
James, Penelope, and Jaelle went outside and placed the trash, including paper, broken glass bottles, and pieces of wood in a small bucket. After that, James and Penelope grabbed their axes and started to chop the wood for the fire.
As they chopped the wood, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker were sitting pretty on their deck chairs, with a pitcher filled with lemonade. The women wore white lounging clothes, with bathing suits underneath, big sunhats and dark sunglasses and tightly curled up auburn hair.
A small white butterfly flew down from the sky and landed on the white tablecloth near the lemonade and Spiker immediately swatted it with her fly swatter and killed it. The skinny aunt looked at the swatter with the dead butterfly, and said tossing the dead insect away, "Eww. Wouldn't want one of those nesting in your knickers."
Sponge was minding her own business by looking at herself in a hand mirror and stared vainly at her reflection and recited a poem:
I look and smell
I do declare
As lovely as a rose.
Just feast your eyes upon my face
Observe my shapely nose
Behold my heavenly, silky locks!
And if I take off both my socks,
You'll see my dainty toes!
Sponge laughed as she pulled off her sock and placed her foot on the table to reveal her toenails covered in red nail polish. At first, Spiker rolled her eyes and sipped her drink from her sister's vain boasts. Then the skinny aunt smirked as she took out her swatter, "But don't forget my dearest Sponge," she hit the swatter on Sponge's abdomen. "How much your tummy shows!"
Sponge gasped and glared at the giggling Spiker as she put her shoe back on.
Meanwhile, James and Penelope had finished chopping the wood and decided to take a quick break. Jaelle stood nearby and munched on grass. The boy sat on a big rock, looked at his travel book examining the map from the United Kingdom to New York and back. The boy sighed sadly before he looked up at the horizon where his old neighborhood was where his parents, Penelope, and Jaelle visited to play with the other children.
Penelope sat next to James on her knees and peered at the travel book. Then she grasped her hands and folded them to pray. Despite facing hardships at Spiker and Sponge's place, Penelope relied on her faith and trust with God to endure. Every day, the gypsy girl would pray for a miracle to happen and a possible sign that she, James, and Jaelle would be free.
"Lord God, if you can hear my prayers, I wish that James, Jaelle, and I can be set free from this back-breaking work of slavery. If you can, please give me a signal or a sign that means freedom and get us away from James's evil aunts,"Penelope said quietly as she prayed. "One day, when that day comes, James and I will know where we're meant to be."
She looked at to see the ocean, it was smooth as glass and appeared non-fragile. The seagulls flew in the sky within the clouds and cawed. Penelope gave a sigh watching the distance and felt at peace.
"You lazy bugs!"
Both James and Penelope jumped and turned to see the women glaring down at them. The boy immediately hid the travel book behind his back.
"Who told you two to stop working?" Aunt Sponge demanded.
"Penelope and I finished the wood," he said nervously.
"We were only taking a quick rest," added the raven-haired girl, feeling timid.
Aunt Spiker came behind James, saw the travel book, and grabbed it.
"A travel book? How dare you two even dream of leaving?" she snapped.
"This is the only home you brats will ever have," Aunt Sponge said, as she and Aunt Spiker pulled the boy and Gypsy girl to their feet.
"No one else would tolerate worthless little nothings like you," the thin woman sneered. After she handed the travel book to Sponge, she turned her attention to the raven-haired girl and leaned in close to her ear.
"As for you gypsy, no one would accept you and your parents anywhere in this society," she replied as her manicured nails dug deep into the girl's fleshy arm. "All because of your sorcery and witchcraft, your people should all be dead a long time ago from the last war. Had that happened, we would never have to deal with them looking for homes and stealing from others!"
Penelope flinched from the sharp nails of the skinny woman and held her tongue from crying in pain. She wanted to stand up to Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker to tell them what cruel monsters they are. But she couldn't. If she did, she would get another harsh and merciless beating, which caused her to grow more frightened.
"Where did you two get this?" The fat aunt asked harshly as she looked at it. "Where?"
"Father gave it to us," James answered. "He said we're to go there one day."
"It was a gift not just to him, but for me," added Penelope.
"Stupid, foolish man!" Spiker sneered, pointing her finger to James's chest, making him sit back on the rocks. Sponge also shoved Penelope back, making her sit next to the boy. Jaelle heard the commotion and hurried to the children. By now, the aunts were circling their terrified adopted niece and biological nephew as they were vulnerable prey, and the aunts themselves as wild predators. Jaelle bleated fiercely at the women, but the fat woman kicked the goat away, causing her to fall next to her mistress.
"Foolish man, always dreaming!" Sponge said. "That's what got him killed!"
"And your mother," added Spiker.
"Had his head in the clouds instead of looking where he was going!"
"He never even saw that Rhino coming."
"That Rhino!" Sponge grinned at them evilly, determined to scare James and Penelope. They would always taunt the children with the rhino, not only to scare them, but keep them in line.
"And that beast will get you two and that goat," Aunt Spiker said as she pointed at James and Penelope. "If you two don't behave."
"Now get those stupid dreams out of your heads," Aunt Sponge snapped tearing the travel book into pieces and threw them to the ground.
"And get back to work!" The women snapped in unison as they went back to their deck chairs. Poor James and Penelope watched the pieces of the travel book get blown away by the wind and grew even sadder.