Tuesday 2 June 2020

Ella Ashburn

Ella Ashburn Just because I’m blonde, doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I know exactly why my stepmother threw me out as soon as I was eighteen and she could legally do so. And it seems like I can’t do anything about it. Dad gave me this bike for my thirteenth birthday. It’s a good job I haven’t got much taller since then, because it looks like it’s going to be my only form of transport from now on. This is all about me being prettier than her daughters, than my stepsisters. This is about me spoiling their chances of making a good marriage to one of the well-off young men we all know.
Knew. The ones I knew. This “valuable part of my father’s estate” is somewhere far away from where I grew up. So far away that it turns out I have no right to citizenship or a work permit or to go to university. But I can live here – I do own this land – and I can pay bills.
I can also use the library, the gym, the parks and gardens. This is all she’s let me have from the estate. This piece of land and some of the oldest clothes in my wardrobe. I have no house, no shelter, no nothing. And when I asked how I was going to live, she said she was sure someone as pretty as me would find something I could trade.
I know what she meant. And I’m not going down that road. Because I do have something. I have one tomato. I took it from the kitchen on my way out and I’m so glad I didn’t eat it on the way here. This one tomato holds the seeds of my future.

1 comment:

  1. Wow! That is a sensational back story! I look forward to seeing how Ella makes a future for herself.. Even if all she has is one tomato, some land and lots of hard work, so far she is very wise and does not want to sell herself short!!

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