The Possum

“Now, child, our story begins in Paris. As one will recall, Paris is quite famous for their unique fashion due to the designers and Models located there.” My Nonna says to me.

I’m sitting comfortably on her lap. Nonna is still clothed in her blue silky pajamas even though it’s 2:00 in the afternoon. I was sent here to live with Nonna in her small cottage because my parents were on a vacation to Hawaii for their anniversary.

Nonna's cottage is moderately sized but small enough it still has the cozy and “Homey” vibes from it. The cottage is a 2 story house with the downstairs having a family room, kitchen, and dining room. The upstairs contains a bathroom, closet, and 2 bedrooms. The family room, which I’m in right now, consists of smooth dark oak walls, with lighter brown trimmings around the room. The floor has a dark gray carpet. There is a chair with a small nightstand in the corner, which my Nonna and I are occupying. In the very center of the room, there is a light brown oak table, furnished with a singular pink rose. The rose is inside of a pottery vase I made in art class when I was very young, probably 2 or younger.

"As I was saying, love, there within Paris lived Madame Moselle Alodie. Madame Moselle Alodie was in her early 30s, though, she looked like she was still in her teens. She had jet black silky hair, brown chocolatey eyes, a perfect olive-skinned complexion, and a wicked sense of Fashion. To the public, she was an elegant woman, rich, a major influence within the politics, a model, kind and generous always giving to orphanages and other charities. But within her private life, she had a very spoiled daughter named Belle. Belle was 8 but her attitude and tantrums suggested otherwise. Her daughter almost looked like a perfect miniature replica of her mother, except for a few freckles sprinkled on her nose and very few on her cheeks. Another distinctive characteristic Belle had that was different from her mother was her stubby little nose, Madame Alodie didn't have a particularly large nose but Belle's was much smaller than her Mother's." My Nonna took in a deep breath, then continued with her story.

"Belle always got what she wished, with her Mother being very wealthy and a major influence within France's politics. The only time Belle never got what she wanted, was when her Mother deemed it immoral.

"Momma!" Shrieked Belle, "I want a possum NOW!" Belle's shrieking could be heard throughout the very large mansion she lived in.

The Mansion was marbled white, with an upsidedown "U" for cars to pass through the driveway. In the middle of the "U" was a crystal fountain, with clear water spewing from the top. Inside was the most extravagant architecture one could live in. Many visitors reported the inside of the mansion very differently, for our purposes simply imagine the fanciest Mansion you can think of.

"You shouldn't scream unless there's an emergency." Sighed Madame Alodie. She was about to head out to one of her Fashion Models, Limousine prepared to leave.

"Gimme a Possum NOW!" Belle responded shrilly. Madame Alodie was about to say "Yes" then she paused. Was it truly a good idea to give her a possum? But as she looked into Belles' huge innocent eyes, Madame Alodie said wearily, "Alright." She continued "You can have a possum. Just take care of it, yeah?"

Belle eagerly nodded her head, yes, her silky hair swaying up and down. Madame Alodie motioned for the nearest butler to come forward. Madame Alodie was very rich, so several of her butlers often found themselves with nothing to do.

"Purchase a cute cuddly possum for my dear Belle, pronto." She commanded Butler John.

"Where shall we keep the..." Butler John paused then coughed quietly. He continued "Where shall we keep the...Possum?"

Madame Alodie cocked her head to one said "I don't know, I must leave now. You are an intelligent man figure something out, also for your information, we have a lot of spare room down in the basement."

As Madame Alodie's limousine drove away from the mansion, Butler John called Belle's sitter.

"I must leave to...run an errand for Madame Moselle Alodie, can you please sit Belle on short notice?" Butler John asked Lilac. Lilac was Belle's Sitter.

"Belle...can be a handful. Is it of utmost importance?" Asked Lilac from the other end of the phone.

"I will personally pay you double than your usual paycheck and yes it is of utmost importance. Anything revolving around Madame Moselle Alodie is important, you must know this by now." Replied Butler John who was visibly getting quite agitated.

"I see, I'll drive there as soon as I can." After her last statement, Lilac hung up. 

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"I'm back" Madame Moselle stated to what looked like an empty home. "Where is everybody?" Madame Moselle asked loudly, her left eyebrow raised. The Mansion was usually bustling with activity, the smell and noise of cooks making food, the sounds of vacuums from the maids making sure the house was spick and span, the clickity-clack of computers from butlers dealing with finances, etc. But when Madame Moselle Alodie entered the home, she couldn't see the usual bustle. Butler John then quickly came down the steps that led upstairs.

"Madame Moselle, back so quickly." He hastily added, "Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled you've come back." He said, his hair was no longer slicked back as it had been earlier that morning. His clothes were torn up and his shoes had a clear gross substance, which one could only assume was saliva.

"What's wrong." Madame Moselle asked suspiciously, her eyes squinting at Butler John. "I think you ought to come upstairs, better to see the situation than hear about it."

As Butler John led Mademoiselle Alodie to her bedroom, she could hear a strange squeaky sound. Mademoiselle Alodie slowly opened her bedroom door, the first thing she noticed was the curtains.

In the morning, they were lavish purple curtains with unique gold sewn as a trimming. Now, they were clawed at, chunks of the fabric were missing. As Mademoiselle Alodie slowly scanned the rest of the room she noticed mishappens everywhere: Her freshly made bed was torn to pieces, similar to her curtains. There was glass and water all over the carpet, remnants from glass vases located throughout the room. There were strange wet marks on the carpets as well, Mademoiselle Alodie had the sickening feeling that they weren't from water.

"You should see your walk-in closet as well, some would say it's even worse than here." Butler John said meekly.

Mademoiselle took long strides steps toward her walk-in closet, as she opened the door, she shrieked loudly. Belle, who had been walking by, peeked behind the entrance of the bedroom.

"All of it ruined...Countless shoes, shirts, pants, all designer made." She moaned. Mademoiselle Alodie abruptly turned to face Butler John

"What caused this?" She inquired, her hand gesturing towards all of the damage.

"Daisy." He replied, barely above a whisper.

"DAISY?" Mademoiselle Alodie howled, she continued "WHO IN THE WORLD IS DAISY??" She shrieked.

"Uhh...Belle's possum. Belle came in here, your room, so she could grab makeup to use on Daisy. The possum came in here, following Belle."

Suddenly, there was a rustle in the mess of torn-up clothing. Mademoiselle Alodie's head sharply turned in the direction of the rustling. A cute possum's head popped out of the mess. "Get that...thing out of my closet. NOW!" Mademoiselle Alodie whispered. I knew getting that possum was a bad idea, Mademoiselle Alodie thought.

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"That's the end of the story." Nonna said, smiling. I shake my head vigorously no, "I never found out what happened to the possum, nor Belle." I whine to my Nonna.

"Well." My Nonna says slowly "The possum was returned to where it came from. As for Belle, her mother gave her a severe scolding but nothing else." Nonna says, shrugging.

"Come now, let's fix ourselves some nice chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk, all that talking has my throat dry." Nonna sets me down, then gets up and stretches her back.

Nonna's homemade cookies are to die for, the warm chewy dough (My Nonna makes from scratch) and the chocolate chips inside the dough that melt slowly inside your mouth. It's sugary heaven when you take a single bite of Nonna's chocolate chip cookies.

With the promise of those golden brown circles of perfection, I get up and eagerly follow my Nonna to the kitchen.

I didn't know this at the time, but outside a Possum was sniffing around the window. The reader should be interested to know, the Possum smelled faintly of roses and had a piece of designer quality dresses in its mouth.