Blogtober 2025, Day 20: Flag
Long before the swings rusted and the fence gave way, there
was Mrs. Adeline Price—third-grade teacher, widow, and believer in keeping the
peace. She arrived in Pleasant Hollow in 1953, a woman with sensible shoes and
a laugh that could cut through storm clouds. But she also listened when the
children whispered about the woods.
They said the Lady hummed when the world went quiet. That
she took things—sometimes toys, sometimes pets, sometimes more—if she wasn’t
given her due. Most grown-ups dismissed it as playground nonsense. Mrs. Price
did not.
One spring morning, when the class pet rabbit vanished and
the children found ribbons tied to the fence in its place, she decided the
Lady’s hunger was real enough. That afternoon, she gathered the class in a
circle and told them they would make an offering—a kindness to keep the
forest calm.
They brought small treasures: marbles, hair clips, toy
soldiers. Mrs. Price even tied a faded paper flag from the last school
pageant to a low branch, whispering, “Something from us all.”
The next morning, the woods were quiet. The rabbit returned,
trembling but alive.
From then on, she repeated the ritual every year—believing
it worked, believing she was protecting them.
When she finally retired, she left the task to another
teacher.
Her only mistake was thinking the Lady ever stopped
listening.
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