Gracie's Troubling Adventures- The Yellow Dress

The Yellow Dress

Gracie shifted every two seconds as the bench she was sitting on was extremely uncomfortable and her skin itched because of the frills on the very large yellow 'hand-me down' dress that her granny had forced her to wear.

"Gracie stop fidgeting for heaven's sake!" her Sabbath school teacher whispered. Sister Jeanie's piercing gaze was focused directly at Gracie and so she tried her very best to keep still.

Almost every adult Gracie knew labeled her a trouble-making, disobedient child; but Gracie did not agree. It's not as though she did 'bad' things on purpose, trouble just seemed to find her no matter what! She tried her very best to be obedient but grown-ups were always expecting the impossible from her. Like Sister Jeanie who expected her to sit still.

Gracie wondered if Sister Jeanie realized that the benches were as hard as the bricks of Fort Knox and that she did not have a plump rump to cushion the friction between her little bones and the old wooden benches that filled the church hall.

Then there was the big ugly dress that Granny Rose had forced her to wear. Gracie pretended not to see the other children snickering as they examine her from head to toe. Never again! Grace decided, it was the last Saturday this horrendous dress would be worn. She shifted again.

Gracie was about to devise a way to ruin the hideous dress when she felt a short-sharp pain zap along her arm. Charm scuttled closer to Gracie.

"Look! Gracie look! There is a nice ripe mango on Maas Joe's Mango tree!"

Upon hearing the words 'Maas Joe' and 'mango' Gracie immediately started craning her neck to see the juicy delight Charm had mentioned.

She looked around to see if anyone was watching her. Sister Jeanie was now fully immersed in the sermon.

"God's grace is amazing!" Pastor Williams shouted.

"Let's go!" Gracie hesitated for a moment, "now Gracie!" Charm pulled impatiently at the sleeve of the over-sized dress exposing Gracie's frail shoulder blade.

"I'm coming too!" David whispered. Gracie rolled her eyes, the mango would now have to be shared for three persons.

"For by grace are ye saved..." Pastor Williams continued.

"Sister Jeanie I need to use the bathroom." Gracie knew that Sister Jeanie was too caught up in the sermon to really pay much attention to them.

Sister Jeanie fanned her hand in a dismissive manner and that was all the permission they needed to go.

The three children were smart enough to know not to go all at once. Gracie went first, then Charm followed quickly after. Just as David was about to leave, Sister Jeanie's gaze fell on him. David's shoulders slumped, his disappointment was obvious.

Gracie smiled, serve him right! She thought, more mango for me!

Gracie and Charm bent low and scurried towards the fence that separated the church grounds from Maas Joe's property. Gracie and Charm laid flat on their stomachs and crawled carefully under the barbed wire to avoid scratching their skin. As soon as the girls got up, they ran quickly towards the mango tree; their excitement growing as they got closer.

"I'll climb up, " said Gracie "then throw the mango down to you, be sure not to drop it ok!"

Gracie was so eager to get to the mango, she did not wait to hear Charm's response and started climbing the big mango tree.

Gracie was a pro at climbing, or so she thought. She would soon learn that was not the case.

"Careful Gracie!" Charm whispered "the limb is very thin."

"Oh hush!" Gracie replied, "I've done this a million times, I know what I'm doing!"

Gracie was finally at the branch that had the mango she wanted. She wrapped her legs around the branch and used her arms to pull herself towards the mango. The branch bent slightly but gracefully was so focused on getting the mango that she did not notice what was happening. Gracie stretched her arm out to grab the mango.

"Crack!"

Suddenly Gracie felt her body going downwards! She was so frightened that she loosened her grip on the branch. The branch gave way and Gracie found herself falling. She tried grabbing unto branches as she fell but to no avail.

Charm was now screaming for help. Just as Gracie thought she was surely going to die, she stopped falling. The big ugly yellow dress had got caught on one of the tree's many branches. Gracie whispered a silent prayer, she was so relieved!

By now the entire congregation had gathered under the tree. Gracie eyes fell on Sister Jeanie who was fuming, if this were a cartoon, steam would surely be coming from her ears. Gracie did not care; all she could think of was her yellow dress.

Her ugly yellow dress had saved her life.