Sunday 6 February 2011

Maisie Perkins' Story


“How do you plead?”
“Guilty” said Maisie with a scowl in the dock. The whole court seemed to sigh in relief, as Maisie Perkins followed her appointed lawyer’s recommendation. The proceedings thereafter were short. First there was the evidence of the policeman, who claimed that Maisie had tried to strike him with her umbrella, followed by an eyewitness account of a passer by. He received a glare fit to kill! Then her lawyer rose and attempted to mitigate the offence. He had advised Maisie not to fight the charge but to plead guilty thus avoiding higher court costs and a larger fine.
She had reluctantly agreed to this plan, as she had a family at home, all nine of them. Her family comprised an assortment of stray cats and one dog, an aggressive goat and an almost bald galah.
The Magistrate considered the evidence and submissions and determined that Maisie was guilty of causing a nuisance in a public place and should be bound over for twelve months to keep the peace and to pay costs. Fortunately with the proceedings so brief the cost amounted to a mere $237.
Maisie bit her lip. “Have to live bread and scrape” she murmured, but no one noticed as the court was preparing for the next case.
She lived alone, had done for years. Nobody remembered her husband, and her children, if any, never visited her. She survived in a hovel at Mile End. The garden what there was of it was unkempt; the grass scorched by the sun, providing nesting places for the cats. The fence around the property was full of holes and this provided an essential feline expressway to escape the neighbours and aggressive dogs. The back door of the house, the only one in use had been patched with unpainted hardboard and now curled in protest away from its fasteners. The colour of what little paint was left on the building was indeterminate, and the grey rags at the windows excluded the outside world. Inside the house there was a considerable amount of clutter ranging from old bicycles to empty ice cream containers. Anything that could contain something did so as Maisie was a great hoarder. Her current passion was drink containers which could be redeemed for a few cents at the recycling depot. She was an enthusiastic collector and would be up early to feed the animals before she went out. She herself ate little; just a piece of stale bread cut up placed in a bowl and covered with milk. This she would slurp down between her gummy jaws spilling droplets of milk down her front as she talked to her animals. Her clothes, which were not much more than rags, generally came out of goodwill bins after dark. She also smelt, an acrid mix of curdled milk and unwashed dog.
She had her regular route to collect her empties as she called them, trawling the streets of Adelaide with a huge plasticised bag in which she would put both empties and an assortment of discarded food for the animal’s tea. As the city came alive, workers scurrying to work would barely notice Maisie and her haul. When she first started collecting she would keep the cans and bottles intact but soon realised that it was easier to squash them and this she did in the street, jumping on them to make them flat.
It was at the Railway Station she was involved in the incident. It was here that she had seen the youth being bailed up by the policeman all those weeks ago. The boy appeared quite distressed and hating bullying of any sort she had strode across to the scene and shouted.
“Leave him alone you mongrel, go and pick on someone your own size”
The policeman turned around in surprise and stared at the diminutive figure close to him.
“Off you go Granny, this has nothing to do with you”
Maisie looked at the boy’s frightened face and stood her ground.
With that he put his hand on Maisie’s shoulders and turned her round to steer her away. Maisie exploded and grabbed her brolly out of her bag and raised it up. The policeman with a look of surprise let go of the youth who disappeared quietly between some parked cars. By this time the second policeman from the patrol car jumped into action and Maisie was arrested for assault.
As Maisie left the court after arranging to pay the fine she set off for home. She hadn’t got far before she heard the sound of steps behind her. She was not a nervous type but did turn round to see the very youth that had been involved with the police the day she was arrested. He looked pale and unfed.
“I just wanted to thank you.” He said.
She eyed him up and down. “So you got away did you?”
He nodded in assent.
“You are going to cost me a few dollars you are my boy.”
She chuckled, grinning at him with her gummy grin.
“You’ve nowhere to stay have you? What a piece of flotsam you are, sleeping rough, by the look of it. How did you come to be on the streets?”
Before he could answer she went on.
“No, no, don’t tell me now. Let’s go home and have a cup of something.”
With that she started striding off down the road that led home. Crossing over West Terrace the spire of the church at Thebarton rose out of the green valley welcoming them to her haven that was almost untouched by the bustle of city life.
Maisie was happy again, she had another stray to look after.

23 comments:

  1. What a rich and satisfying story - like the fable of Maisie Perkin's..I can see her and where she lives..the 'acrid' clothes..(maybe don't want to smell that!)...I am glad she found 'the boy'..I hope they will noursih each other..thanks as ever OldEgg..particularly for leaving me with a sense of hope and faith in people..Jae

    ReplyDelete
  2. A lovely story, you always write them so well and with so much warmth.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your writing is always filled with such warmth and I simply love reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. A few more and this will be a novel, this was an interesting storey to read

    ReplyDelete
  5. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Maisie. She is a wonderful character and her story would read well as a novel or novella. I hope you will write it. If you do, let me know. I want to read it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great story--I loved it! I'd like to read more about Maisie.
    Kate

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ever since your post "A Walk in the Park" I've wanted to hear more about Maisie- thanks for continuing to write her story!
    'on paper wings'

    ReplyDelete
  8. oldegg,
    Compelling story.
    I've often wondered, when ever I see some "homeless vagabond on the street, what their story is/was. As story tellers I guess we can make it up to our own satisfaction.
    rel

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great to meet Maisie again - you've got a winning character there, keep her going.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lovely read for a cloudy Sunday afternoon

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a touching story oldegg.

    Pamela

    ReplyDelete
  12. A great story oldegg! I could easily relate to Maisie. If it weren't for some limits of reason enforced by my husband I could easily become a crazy cat lady, much prefering the company of critters to most people! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. A lovely story. If only we took the time to understand.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a perfect slice-of-life story! It was wonderful to read, with a very satisfying ending too! I could imagine the whole scene because of how vividly you sketched your tale!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I really like Maisie, she's a very lovable character. Beating on a policeman with her umbrella, I love it! The story is wonderful too.

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a great story! What a GREAT writer! Thank you very much for stopping by my blog and leavig a lovely comment.
    Have a fantastic week, greetings from Mexico ~

    ReplyDelete
  17. costing a few dollars is small,
    glad to see the outcome with hope in sight.
    cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I always enjoy reading your stories. Whatever is a galah?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thank you everyone for your comments. Why you would want to hear about a stinky old bag lady heaven alone knows! Lilibeth wanted to know what a Galah is. A Galah is a beautiful pink parrot of Australia that ceases to be beautiful as soon as it opens its mouth and screeches at you and everyone else. It is also a Australian colloquial term meaning an idiot. As in "What a great Galah!"

    ReplyDelete
  20. Loved this. You've drawn a really intriguing, likeable character in Maisie. I'd definitely wantto read more about her exploits.

    Galahs always make me think of Alf from Home and Away... 'Ya great galah', etc. (Hope you know what I'm talking about or I'll look completely mad.)
    : )

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wow! Maisie lives an event-filled life! I was so pleased she ended up happy!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love Maisie! I watched the news just before reading this. There was a story on a Gran in England who beat away robbers with her handbag! Maisie is one of those gutsy ladies, who has had to learn to take care of herself, and sometimes others. Her "family" made me smile, especially the goat and the Galah (which I did have to Google... such a lovely looking parrot). An enjoyable read on this cold winter day!

    ReplyDelete
  23. oh this is sweet. she is one courageous woman and vey willing to give shelter to "stray" blessings

    ReplyDelete