Shane & Pearl

I took a class in college on William Faulkner. One of our assignments was to retell a fairytale in his voice. I chose Hansel & Gretel as I felt that that story would lend itself particularly well to a recast. First, I identified the steps I'd need to take to change a German fairytale into a Southern Gothic story. The names were the obvious first piece to change. I looked up the meanings of Hansel and Gretel's names and then adapted them into Shane and Pearl. Second was the setting. Writing in Faulkner's voice meant that the story would be set in the deep South; it also meant that the witch in the original fairytale would no longer have any magic. Finally, to mimic Faulkner's usual style, I wrote from multiple points of view within a family all the while playing up the subtler, more unsettling aspects of the original story.

This project taught me how to subvert my usual writing style entirely in order to match a very different voice. Faulkner's writing is not something I typically try to emulate; however, this proved to be helpful since it forced me to write something polar opposite to what I usually produce.
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Shane & Pearl
 
            Daddy is a carpenter. Sometimes that means we have fancy chairs and sometimes that means we don’t have any chairs at all. It’s all he knows how to do. So when our mama died, Shane said he had to marry again so someone could take care of us. I don’t know why he married Lilah then. She hated us. She told me so.
            One night, after Daddy had put us to bed, they talked in the front room. But Shane and me, we weren’t tired, so we listened. Daddy said that nearly nobody didn’t need a carpenter no more because there hadn’t been any storms lately.
            “That wouldn’t be so big a problem if your son didn’t eat so much.” I hated her voice, 'specially when she talked about us. I found Shane’s hand under the covers and squeezed it tight.
            But this time Daddy didn’t brush it off. “Lilah, we’re out of money. And you’re a good cook, but even you can’t make a meal of nothin’.”
            “The kids are old enough to fend for themselves.”
            “Shane’s twelve. Pearl’s ten.”
            “Exactly. He’s nearly a man, now.” He must of done something, because she started talkin’ real quick. She said that they should just leave us out in the woods so we could find our own way. Daddy didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no either. Shane slapped his hand over my mouth before I started cryin’.
            Once I was quiet again, Daddy and Lilah had gone to bed. Shane turned to me. “You keep quiet now.” I nodded, and he jumped out the window.
 
            Like hell I was gonna let Lilah get rid of us. I’d seen somethin’ outta the window. A couple days before, Lilah had been really mad about something or other. So she pulled a mirror off the wall and threw it at me. I’m not an idiot. I ducked. The mirror pieces still covered the ground. In the moonlight, they winked at me like animals’ eyes do. I picked up as many as I could stuff in my pockets and then climbed back through the window. Pearl was already asleep. I curled around her. It felt a little silly now, but she still couldn’t sleep when I wasn’t there. Daddy said it was cuz Mama died, but I thought it’s just cuz I’m warm.
 
            I stared at them. They were like puppies, all twisted together. It wasn’t right, them being that close. I tried telling Davy, but all he’d said was “They lost their mama; of course they’re close.” I knew better. But after today, I wouldn’t have to deal with them anymore. They’d finally be gone, and I’d have Davy to myself. I pulled their covers off and Shane actually growled a little. They’re just not right. But Davy could still hear me, so I just told them to get up.
            They stumbled into the front room a couple minutes later. I gave them some bread and butter sandwiches, and we all left together like a happy little family.
 
            About noon we finally stopped walking, and I helped Daddy build a big fire. He and Lilah were gonna go look for some proper wood that would be good for carving, he said. Pearl and I ate our sandwiches, then lay down in the sunshine. “Daddy wouldn’t leave us, would he?” Pearl asked.
            “Of course not. We probably heard wrong last night.”
            “Cuz...cuz he’s our daddy.” Pearl was yawning now, dozing in the sunshine.
            “That’s right, Pearl.”
            But she was asleep. I heard a giant crack. That had to be Daddy’s axe. Which meant that he wasn’t far away. He wasn’t leaving us here. So I gave up and let the sun take me to sleep.
            When I woke up, the sun was setting, and the fire had burned down. I shook Pearl awake. “Daddy?”
            “He left us, Pearl.”
            “No! Daddy!”
            I pulled her to me and she buried her screams in my shoulder. “Enough, Pearl.” I shook her into her senses. “Look.”
            She finally wiped the tears from her face. The moon glinted off the shards of mirror I’d dropped as we walked that morning. I had worried about Lilah or Daddy noticing, but it was really easy in the end.
            I tugged Pearl behind me and we eventually made it home. Daddy was sitting on the porch with his head in his hands. Pearl broke free and ran at him yelling “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
            He jumped up and caught her, throwing her in the air like he used to. Before Mama died. Daddy explained that he’d told us they were heading home and I’d said okay. I must’ve been talkin’ in my sleep again. But he’d been worried since we hadn’t shown up for so long. I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t know if I believed him. Why hadn’t he come and got us then?
            A couple nights later, I listened to Daddy and Lilah talking. Daddy still didn’t have no work, so he’d taken to fixing the house. For the first time I could remember, me and Pearl had a real window. But Daddy was real worried. We were out of food. Lilah said they’d have to leave us in the woods again, and hope we didn’t come back. I wanted to get some more mirror pieces, just in case, but now there was a damn window in the way. So instead, I held on to Pearl and tried to go to sleep.
            I woke up to Lilah screaming. Daddy had Pearl in his arms, while Lilah just dragged me along behind as we stumbled through the woods. I tried real hard to keep my eyes open, but I’d barely got any sleep that night. I did remember though to drop little bits of bread every so often so we could try to trace our way back. Finally we reached wherever we were goin’, and Daddy lit a fire again, and we laid down while they went to look for more wood.
 
            When I woke up, it was dark out. Shane was sitting with his back to me, keeping watch. When I stood up, he looked over. In the moonlight, his eyes flashed like an animal. “You ready to head home?”
            I nodded. He continued talkin’ though. “So, you’re gonna have to help me look, okay? I dropped breadcrumbs all the way here. Can you find any for me?”
            We circled where the fire had burned out, bigger and bigger circles ‘til we could barely see each other. But there was nothin’. Finally Shane called me to him. “Looks like they was eaten. Just stay close. I’ll get us home.”
            He held my hand and picked a direction. It felt like we’d been walkin’ for forever when it started gettin’ lighter. We weren’t gonna make it home. I tried to be good, but I started cryin’. I just couldn’t help it. Shane seemed to get it. He just held me real tight and waited. Then he dried my face with his sleeve. “Hey now. We’ll be okay. Just trust me.”
            I nodded. If nothing else, I trusted him. Then something crackled nearby. We both froze. Then Shane whispered “It’s a jack rabbit! Alright, Pearl, be real quiet now.”
            We tiptoed towards the sound, following a trail only Shane could hear. Ever so carefully, he bent down and picked up a big rock. Then he paused, before all at once, he threw the rock as hard as he could. There was a thunk and Shane cheered, pulling me forward with him. The jack rabbit was dead, but I saw something much more excitin’. “Shane! Shane! Look!”
            There was a little house at the edge of a clearin’. But best of all, it had a vegetable garden. I ran as fast as I could, Shane right behind me, and yanked up a little carrot, dusted it off, and stuffed it in my mouth. It was the best thing I had ever tasted.
 
            I didn’t know what the hell a house was doing here, in the middle of nothin’, but I didn’t care. We hadn’t eaten in more than a day, and we hadn’t had much to eat in almost a year. Pearl and I just stuffed our faces as fast as we could. Then the door opened.
            Out came an old woman, bent over, with a shawl wrapped around her face. “Who’s there?”
            I scrambled upright and shoved Pearl behind me. “Terribly sorry, ma’am. My sister and I - we were just lost in the woods - and we were so very hungry.”
            She smiled, and it only made her more terrifying. “No trouble at all, no trouble at all. Come in, come in. Have some real food.”
            I straightened my shoulders and led Pearl inside. The inside of the cottage was boring, a rundown room with a giant oven. The old lady closed the door behind us and unwrapped her face. Her eyes shone white in the dark. She got us two glasses and filled them from a pitcher. “You must be thirsty.”
            Pearl guzzled hers straight down, and I did little better. The old lady shuffled around the tiny room, but something wasn’t right. My eyes didn’t want to work right.
            I shot upright, but the chains around my wrists stopped me. What had happened? The old woman laughed from a seat in the corner. She hobbled closer to where I sat in a cage. Roughly, she reached towards me. “Give me your hand, boy.”
            “Where’s Pearl?”
            “Give me your hand, and I’ll tell you.”
            I didn’t trust her. I didn’t know what was goin’ on. But somethin’ told me it’d be a bad idea to do what she said. I looked around. A skeleton lay next to me. Trying not to flinch, I picked up one of the finger bones and held it out instead. She groped for it blindly, then squeezed. “Hmph. Well it’ll take you a while to fatten up.”
            Then she turned to leave. “Where’s Pearl?” I screamed at her, but I was chained up tight.
            Only a moment later, Pearl ran through the door and pressed up against my cage. “Pearl. You’re alright. What’s goin’ on?”
            She was babbling, workin’ herself into a fit. I leaned forward as best I could and kissed her. “Pearl baby, breathe.”
            She finally calmed down. “That old lady, she put somethin’ in our drinks. And she says I gotta work for her. Shane, she’s fattenin’ you up. I think, I think she’s gonna eat you.”
            Alright, that was unexpected. But I had to be strong. “Pearl, listen. I’ll figure us a way outta here. Just be good, okay?”
            She nodded then left long enough to bring me a tray of food. But then the old lady yelled and she had to leave.
 
            We’d been here for almost a week now. Shane managed to keep fooling the woman with the finger bone, but I didn’t know how much longer that was gonna last. I hated her, more than I’d ever hated anyone before. Then apparently she’d waited long enough. She told me to stoke the fire in the oven. Apparently Shane was dinner.
            “Girl, go test the oven. Is it hot enough?”
            I walked near, but stopped. This could be my chance. “I dunno, Miss. How hot is it supposed to be?”
            She thought I was an idiot, so she believed me. She moved closer. “Well, does it hurt you when you stand close?”
            “A little, Miss. How close do you want me to stand?”
            She moved closer, and it was enough. Quick as a flash, I pushed her into the oven and closed the door. She screamed and screamed, and I could hear her skin poppin’ like little firecrackers. I whispered to myself over and over, “She was gonna eat Shane. She was gonna eat him.”
            I snatched the keys off their hook and ran to the shed where she kept Shane locked up. “I did it, Shane. She’s gone. I locked her in the oven.”
            When I finally got him free, he pulled me in tight so I could barely breathe, but I didn’t care. ‘Cuz I had Shane again. And then it hit me. I’d killed a lady. Sure, she was awful, but I’d killed her. And suddenly my words turned into sobs and I couldn’t stop. But then Shane grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. “Now you listen here, Pearl. You did the right thing. And she can’t ever hurt us again, okay?”
 
            The night after I left my kids in the woods, I got sick. And when they weren’t home by morning, I left. Lilah had shouted at me that if I left then, I couldn’t ever come back. I didn’t even look over my shoulder.
            But I couldn’t find them. And I was so tired and weak that eventually I fell over right there. Well, when I woke up, I realized I was right next to a stream, so I drank some water, and made my way back home. Lilah was gone. I couldn’t bring myself to care.
            The next few days passed in a haze of whiskey. Until one day when I looked up, my kids were on my porch. “Daddy,” Pearl said solemnly, “we’re back.”