The Devil

Written January 2008. I am a big big fan of folktales about the devil.

One day, while I was walkin’ down the road to my grandmama’s, I met the Devil. You don’t believe me? Shame, shame! I promise to you, girl, I’m tellin’ the truth. I was young, maybe twelve summers, and I lived with my mama in a little house on a road with a lot of waist-tall grass and wildflowers what were so tiny, you stepped on them if you wasn’t paying attention, lookin’ out for littlies and their kin.  It was summertime, the sky such a pretty blue—like the blue on your collar. My mama gave me a basket of cookies to take along down the road to my grandmama’s house.  Now her house was real pretty, the inside all done up like she were a noble lady, and roses and ivy growing all over the outside of her house.  Maybe she were a lady once, but now she was just my old grandmama who couldn’t move around too good. Anyway, my mama gave me the cookies, and I went walkin’ down the road, barefoot in a red sundress.  I held the basket tight so I didn’t drop it, and took my time walkin’ and lookin’ at the little flowers and the tall grass.  I wanted to pick a few flowers, but my mama told me to go straight to Grandmama’s, so I did. When I was far enough that I hadn’t been able to see my house for a good few minutes, I saw a man come strollin’ down the road.  It’s a strange word, but he was.  He was dressed up real nice, in a white ice-cream suit and his black hair slicked back.  He smiled at me, and it scared me.  He didn’t look friendly, he looked like he wanted to gobble me. “How’s it going?” he asked.  He sounded like a rich man, the way he said everything clear and sharp. “Good,” I said, stopping like he had.  I kept a few feet away from him.  “And you, sir?” “Very nice,” he said, lookin’ me over without carin’ if I noticed or not.  “Girlie, how’d you like to make a bargain?” His voice sounded rougher now, like sandpaper.  Hungry sandpaper. “Maybe,” I said, wondering what he was talkin’ about. “I’ll give you something nice for the basket of cookies you got there.” “Maybe,” again.  “What you gonna give me?” “Don’t you worry about that, girl.” “Tell me,” I said firmly, “or no bargain.” His smile slipped a little bit, then got bigger.  “Well, what do you want?” “For my grandmama to walk good again.” “So it be,” he said. “How you know? You can’t make her walk easy again.” “I’ll tell you why I can.  I’m the Devil.” “No deal, then!” I yelled.  I knew better than to mess around with him! You make a deal with the Devil, your soul get taken.  Make sure you remember that, girl. He just shrugged a little.  “You don’t want your grandmother well, then?” I paused, I tell you that.  I loved my grandmama, but I wasn’t gonna give the Devil my soul or my cookies to make her better.  “No,” I said to the Devil, the smiling, handsome man in the ice-cream suit in front of me.  “No deal.” “You’ll regret it,” he told me, then set off, whistling a little tune I didn’t recognize. I didn’t stay to ask him, though.  You think I’m a fool? No, girl, I ran all the way down to my grandmama’s house and stayed the night there. I was real careful for a while, but the Devil ain’t bothered me since. And that’s the truth.

 

Reviews

[Brittany]

Hahahaha I love it :) You should publish this!