Rae Pun Shelle

Rapunzel as a modern day pregnant teenager...Part of the Fracture Fairy Tale Series.

Rae Pun Shelle

 

       There once was a husband and wife who lived in upstate New York.  They were happy in their country home and ready to begin a family.  The pregnant wife had a craving for cabbage of all things.

       Rochelle shook her husband awake.  “Honey, wake up.”

       He rolled over groggily and said, “Huh? What?”

       “I am hungry for some cabbage.”

       “Then we will go to the store and get some tomorrow,” he promised with his eyes still closed.

       She nudged him.  “No, I really want some NOW! I can’t go back to sleep until I get some.”

       He opened his eyes and looked up at his wife.  “I am not driving all the way to the store at this time of night!”

        She was quiet for a moment.  “The Mayfair’s have some cabbage in their garden.  You can go that far for me can’t you?”

        He thought for a moment and then decided that he could not refuse this woman no matter how unreasonable she was being.  He loved her more than anything in the world and saw in her eyes just how much she wanted the cabbage. Reluctantly, he got out of bed and got dressed.  In the dark he stumbled down the stairs and out into the cool night air.  He made the trek over to the Mayfair’s garden and found the cabbage.  He pulled up a couple of heads and started back over the fence that enclosed their yard. Suddenly, a light blinded him.

        It was a woman holding a flashlight and she was not very happy.  “What are you doing?” she demanded to know as her long black and gray hair blew in the breeze.

       “My wife wanted some cabbage.  She is pregnant and craving some.  Can I please have some of yours?”

       “This isn’t any ordinary cabbage.  There is a price.”

       “I’ll pay anything. Please just let me have it.”

       “Anything?” she asked arching her eyebrows with interest.  The moon broke free of the cloud cover and shone down on the two.  In the moonlight, Ms Mayfair looked particularly eerie. 

        “Yes, anything,” the man begged.

        “I will collect my fee later then,” she said turning her flashlight away.  As quickly and quietly as she had appeared, she disappeared. 

         Relieved, he picked another head and then hopped over the fence to return home.  He washed off the cabbage in the sink and served it to his wife, who devoured it quickly.  She looked as if she were in ecstasy as tasted its sweet crispness.  Rochelle finally went to sleep quite content.

         Months passed by and a baby girl was born to the couple.  They named her Rae and took joy in every moment of her life.  When Rae was just two years old, Elsbeth Mayfair came to visit.  The Mayfairs usually kept to themselves and the husband had forgotten all about his promise to her. 

        “I’ve come to collect my fee,” Elsbeth told him.

        “Your fee?” he asked puzzled.

        “Remember the cabbage?”

        “Oh,” he replied, suddenly remembering.

        “My price is your daughter.”

        “You can’t take her away from me!”

        “Your daughter owes her life to me.  It was not truly cabbage that you took, but an herb from China that prevents miscarriages.”

        “If what you say is true, then I am eternally grateful, but you must be mad if you think I will just hand over my daughter to you.”

        “Then I will find a way to claim her,” she replied calmly, “For she is rightfully mine.”

        “Please leave,” he demanded and she disappeared.

        The next day Rae turned up missing.  Her parents went completely frantic trying to figure out what had happened to her.  Only when questioned by the police did the father mention Elsbeth the Witch.  The police checked into Elsbeth Mayfair and found no record that her and her sisters ever lived in the house down the street.  Rae’s disappearance remained a mystery for man years.

 

        What they didn’t know was that Elsbeth whisked Rae off to New York City and kept her in an apartment on the 25^th floor.  Elsbeth sheltered Rae and kept her from ever leaving the apartment.  Elsbeth home school her adopted daughter, thankful for her company after all these years.  Elsbeth had tried to conceive her own child, but was unable to.   Rae was fifteen when love inevitably struck.

        Griffin had seen Rae from 21^st story window in the building next door.  Soon the two of them were talking across the alley way.  Their loved grew for each other over the weeks and months that they yelled back and forth.  Eventually they devised a way to climb between the two buildings.  They placed a strong, thick board from window to window and Griffin climbed up into her window. 

         Thus they began making love each and every night that they could manage.  Rae had never felt so alive or as wonderful as when she was with Griffin.  He brought her books and movies about the outside world and exposed to so much.  Not only did he open her heart with love, but he opened her mind to the vast possibilities outside of her apartment.

        Several months into the love affair, Elsbeth grew suspicious and confronted Rae.  Rae and Elsbeth then had a huge argument in which it was revealed that Rae was three months pregnant.  In a jealous rage, Elsbeth threw Rae out onto the streets to fend for herself.  Elsbeth immediately sought out Griffin for revenge.  She yelled and screamed at him in his apartment and threw hot grease from the stove into his eyes.  She left him screaming in agony for help.  Satisfied, Elsbeth returned to her apartment.  Oh, how she loathed the love between Rae and Griffin.  She was extremely envious that no one had ever loved her so deeply and devoutly.

       Griffin lost his sight temporarily, but with months of treatments and surgery, he was finally able to regain his sight again.  He started searching for Rae and their baby as soon as he could, but years had passed and he had no idea where to even begin looking for them. 

       On day, by chance, he passed Rae in the park with her daughter.  He recognized Rae as soon as he saw her and assumed that the girl she was pushing on the swing was theirs.  He went up to and she recognized her long lost love immediately.  Though he still had scars on his face from the burns, she thought he was as handsome as ever.  Love flooded her heart as she threw her arms around him.  Rae wept and told him of the adventures she’d had in the years that had passed since that awful argument with Elsbeth.

        Rae had gone to the police who ran a DNA test and searched for her real parents.  It didn’t take long to match her up to the missing person report that was filed when she disappeared all those years ago.  She’d just gotten their address and was planning a trip to upstate New York to visit them.  She wanted to know if Griffin would go with her, after all he was the father of child.  He agreed.

        They went together by rental car to see her parents, who were overjoyed to be reunited with their long lost daughter.  In the time that had past they had had three more children, but not one of them could replace their firstborn.  They were surprised that their nineteen year old daughter had a three year old daughter of her own, but they welcomed their granddaughter with open arms.  They helped Rae, Griffin and their daughter get set up in their own home and they helped Rae finish High School and enroll in college. 

        Things went well for a long time and it looked as if Rae and Griffin were going to live happily ever after, but then once Rae got into college she realized she wasn’t ready to settle down just yet.  There were so many other men and other experiences to be had.  She began fighting with Griffin all the time about staying out late and partying all the time.  Eventually Rae and Griffin got a divorce.  It wasn’t until Rae was nearly thirty that she met and married a wonderful man named Sebastian.  It was Sebastian who encouraged her become a social worker so she could tell her story to everyone and help others like her.