In a quiet and peaceful suburb, like one of those you see in American sitcoms, a small family lived in a lowly and plain apartment. The family consisted of a tired but loving father, who earned little, working as a dishwasher at a small, family-owned Italian restaurant, a stepmother (evil of course) and two children, Hansel, a twelve year old stringy boy with blond hair and Gretel, a ten year old bright and beautiful girl who loved to play with her father whenever the opportunity allowed.
One cold night, Hansel overheard his parents talking animatedly in whispers.
"What are we going to do? I can't support our family any longer. The bills keep on increasing, no thanks to your indulgent spending but my salary stays the same!" cried his father softly.
His stepmother replied almost immediately in a crisp firm tone, "Let go of the children. We don't need them! They're wasting too much of our hard-earned money!"
There was a minute of icy silence as his father ran his fingers through his almost greying mop of hair, a look of intense frustration smeared across his face.
"We'll leave them tomorrow night," quipped his stepmother, "We'll bring them to the city and leave them there."
Hansel cocked his ear, waiting for his father's reply. Would he actually agree to leave his two children, who were not even teens, alone in the city, he wondered. There was no reply. Only a deafening silence, a silence that screamed approval, though not one that came easily. A smirked blossomed on his stepmother's face as she took her husband to bed.
When the house finally grew silent and darkness enveloped every nook and cranny of the house, Hansel crept silently as any cat would do as it stalked its unsuspecting prey into his parent's room. Upon hearing the deafening snores of his stepmother, who now lay sprawled on a king sized bed dressed only in skimpy lingerie, he knew it was safe to do anything without waking up either his father or stepmother. Hansel strecthed out his cold shaking hand and opened the bottom drawer of the wooden cupboard that now was before him. He took out a was of dollar notes and a map of the city he knew his father had stashed there after he showed them where he had gone to get married the year before.
Hansel then returned to his room only to find his sister, who shared the room with him, wide awake. She was playing with her favourite soft toy, a little furry bunny, the last gift from her biological and now dead mother. Gretel looked up, catching her brother's eye as he crept back silently under the covers of his warm bed.
"What did you do?" she asked anxiously. Hansel proceeded to tell her of their stepmother's plan to get rid of them. Gretel was almost in tears as Hansel's words pricked her sensitive heart for she had a soft spot when it came to family issues. Hansel then tried to cheer her up, disclosing to her his plans to get them back and that cheered her up almost immediately.
The next morning, their father told them that they were going to visit a distant relative who lived in the city. The drive was fairly long and boring as Hansel and gretel kept silent all the word, never uttering a single word. Not a giggle or cough was heard and the atmosphere of the car grew tense. Finally the car came to a halt and their stepmother led them both out towards a sleazy looking apartment.
"You will be spending a few days with your aunt who said she'd meet you here. We will come back soon to see you the," she said dryly as she walked back towards the car. Hansel and Gretel knew it was a lie. They knew that they were being abandoned. The stood in front of the dirty, unpleasant apartment, waiting.
As soon as the car faded in the distance, disappearing forever from their view, Hansel and Gretel ran down the road, clutching the map Hansel had brought along, as they sought to identify he way back to their home. Hansel stopped after a few minutes and looked closely at the map saying, "If we go here and make a right turn, we should be in a public area where there would be some sort of public transport. That would make it easier for us to go home." Gretel folded the map, shoved it into her breast pocket and started running. "Wait up for me," shouted Hansel, surprised at his sisters determination.
In a few minutes they reached their destination. People of all sizes and colour flooded the streets that were on their left and right the moment the 'Walk' sign lighted up green. Hansel standing at the curb strecthed out his right hand to call for a cab and almost instantly a red and white cab screeched to halt right in front of them. Gretel slid into the backseat and started to give directions to the cab driver even as Hansel strapped himself in the front seat. The hour passed quickly. Reaching their apartment the siblings hopped out of the cab; Hansel threw the $50 note at the driver as the rushed towards the all familiar door of their apartment.
Just as Hansel was about to turn the door knob, the door opened and standing before them was their father, surprised but delighted to see them. He hugged them tightly. Their stepmother on the other hand, greeted them with a pig-like snort and a cold handshake. It was then that she saw the map sticking out of Gretels pocket.
"You don't steal from your parents. It's horrid." she warned the children as she snatched the map from Gretel. "Now get to your room, the both of you. No dinner for the two of you tonight!" she hissed.
Hansel looked sadly at his father, waiting for his reaction but there was none except for a blank reluctant casting down of his tired eyes. Hansel and Gretel went back to their rooms, aware there would be no food for them that night.
(Story will not be continued. I threw away the original copy . . .)
