Annie’s Fortune

Once upon a time, an old lady in her top floor bedsit
struggled to make ends meet.
She was waiting for doctors to mend her hip
and rip the veils from her eyes.
Life was hard but to her, sweet.

One day she hobbled to the shops to buy a bottle of milk,
a loaf of bread and a small piece of fish for her tea.
She puzzled to see all the luxury foods
how could those folk afford them?
To liven up the the boredom of a same old, same old meal
she splurged and bought a ticket for the lottery – her first ever.

Wonder upon wonder, that chance-come ticket won,
millions, and it only cost a pound.
Now, she thought, I can do some good –
help that young mum with her bill,
pay for a trip to the seaside for young Mary
who’s been so ill.

She thought nothing of herself at all.
Little by little her life was changed.
She made real friends, not scroungers,
who saw her hard life and transformed it
by prodding the doctors to mend her hip,
and clear her eyes,
helped her banish loneliness, gain her freedom;
freedom to travel about the world
helping those who needed her
instead of being the needier one,
so they all lived happily ever after.

 

The prompt at Napowrimo today is to write a story poem. This is a nutshell version of a novella I wrote when I was a beginning writer, the original of which is here.