The Cinder Bullies (2)

With the advent of the words cinder bullies, the subservient days of Cindy as a scullery maid, were over.

"Cindy is the only girl in the entire family who would ever comply with all of my demands," said her mother, who was furious because Cindy had quit, after being bullied by her other daughters and their friends. "I am so angry! She just walked out, after accusing the other young ladies of being cinder bullies. Anyhow, I have disowned her, and she is no longer my daughter. Oh, what am I supposed to do for a scullery maid now?"

Cindy's mother started wringing her hands. 

"No longer your daughter! You don't really mean that! Your demands or requests?" Rosa, her kindly elderly, neighbor was shocked, but responded gently. "It was bound to happen sooner or later, simply because of the way you were treating her."

"You know what I mean. Servants are servants, and always have to be treated as such!"

"But first and foremost, before being your servant, she is your daughter, always your daughter," said Rosa, very kindly. "And such a beautiful girl she is, at that!"

"She will never come back here. I don't ever want her to return, either!"

Rosa could see that there was no likelihood of immediate reconciliation between Cindy and her mother.

Cindy's mother was seething, because the entire house work load was on her shoulders. 

Inwardly, Cindy's mother was also extremely jealous of her daughter's inner beauty. Rosa had known that for some time. Cindy's mother had never manifested inner beauty, just an ugly spirit related to her nastiness.

"Your other daughters can help you with all the house work!" suggested Rosa, kindly. "It is not as if you are all alone."

"Those lazy girls? Why they have never helped out before, so why would they do so now? They do not even know how to help. Everybody saw Cindy as the scullery maid, and we all treated her that way."

"Well, maybe then you could consider hiring a new scullery maid?" Rosa suggested, quietly. But, she also knew that Cindy's mother would probably not be any kinder to a new scullery maid than she had been to her daughter. Hiring anyone would be risky, at best. Rosa knew that Cindy's mother had no intention of paying anyone to work either. A new scullery maid would only have a roof over her head and a place to sleep on the floor by the fireplace, but not a lot more than that.

"Would you consider working as my new scullery maid?" Cindy's mother asked Rosa.

Rosa laughed heartily.

Inwardly, she could picture herself being browbeaten by Cindy's mother, the way she had been abusing her daughter. There was no way she would even consider it.

"I am not that hard up," she thought to herself. Rosa had just enough of a rebel spirit so that she was not about to allow herself to be used, or abused by someone like Cindy's mother.

"This reminds me so much of the way I grew up," Rosa thought to herself. Yet as arrogant and haughty as Cindy's mother had been over the years, Rosa had learned to confront her openly, and to plant seeds of kindness in her mind repeatedly, without her knowledge.

"I think your other daughters need to learn how to do their part in the household tasks now."

She paused.

"Well dear, it is time for me to go. We will have to enjoy a cup of tea together another day."

"Maybe, but only if I can find a new scullery maid," replied Cindy's mother, arrogantly. "This is so devastating, such a disaster for me!"

"You may have to learn how to make the tea yourself, dear."

"Me? I don't make tea! You can see yourself out, too!" she ordered Rosa, angrily. "How dare you even suggest that?"

Rosa left knowing that the cinder bullies including Cindy's mother, were not about to change. Their society had its own strict rules about association with scullery maids.

"Goodbye, dear!"

Rosa waved from the yard, as she closed the white, picket fence behind her. She smiled and sang softly to herself, as she walked down the cobblestone road to the village.

What Cindy's mother did not know was that Rosa had spoken to Cindy the previous evening, and had made the decision to act as her god mother. She also knew that Cindy had been hired as a gardener, by the huge estate on the other side of their village. She would be tending the rose bushes in their huge garden. Her employment included a small, but comfortable gardener's suite, wages, plus everything she would need to live her life like a lady. Cindy knew how to take care of herself and she would be just fine on her own.

Thus, Cindy's scullery maid days were over, but Cindy's mother's and sister's problems were just beginning.