Modern Version of Goldilocks, the Girl with the Golden Locks

At 18, Goldilocks thought she had the whole world at her fingertips. But unfortunately, she was not the brightest young woman in the world. She was a ravishing beauty, with her long, beautiful hair of gold, eyes as blue as the deep sea, and fair skin. Her looks were the only thing she had going for her, but they didn’t do her much good when it came to men. Other than that, she had a kind heart and a rather inquisitive nature. She wanted to find her place in the world, but sometimes, her curiosity got the best of her.

This was one of those cases where Goldilocks’ curiosity would do her more harm than good.

One morning, the young woman woke up with a plan to go for a walk around the forest to maintain her perfectly slender figure. It was a beautiful spring afternoon, and what better way to spend it than walking around the forest? During her walk in the forest, she came upon a house and with her curiosity eating away at her, decided to go up to the house and ring the doorbell. No answer. A few seconds later, she knocked on the door as loudly as she could…

Still no answer.

“Guess I’ll just have to go inside, then,” she said to herself as she opened the door and made her way into the house, noticing three hot, fresh and steaming bowls of oatmeal on the kitchen table. Each of those three plates were clearly labeled on the bottom, reading: BABY, MOTHER, and FATHER. The small yellow bowl belonged to the baby; the medium pink bowl belonged to the mother, while the large blue bowl belonged to the father. 

So, Goldilocks knew that this was a family of three who had their bowls of lunch on the table, and it made her hungry. She apparently didn’t consider having breakfast or lunch before stepping out of the house for a nice afternoon walk in the forest. Now she was hungry and thinking about having someone else’s food. That someone else: this mysteriously absent family of three.

Goldilocks decided to go through each bowl of oatmeal, starting with the largest one: the blue one belonging to the father. Realizing it was “too sweet” with too much sugar, she moved on to the medium-sized pink bowl that belonged to the mother. Realizing it was “too milky” with an excessive amount of milk, she moved on to the smallest bowl, which was the yellow one belonging to the child. “This is just perfect,” she said aloud to herself as she began eating the entire oatmeal from the child’s bowl.

When she was done, Goldilocks returned to the living room and saw three chairs, each of which were blue, pink, and yellow, belonging respectively to the father, the mother, and the young child. Which one should she sit on first?

Goldilocks decided to sit on the large blue chair to rest her feet but then realized it was “too big.” So, she moved on to the medium-sized pink chair belonging to the mother, which fit her just perfectly. “Just the way I like it.” She grinned, giving a small sigh of satisfaction.

She didn’t consider sitting on the child’s yellow chair, but out of mere curiosity, she wanted to try it out to see if it fit her. She didn’t like that chair, either; it was too small for her, a young woman of nearly 19. The minute she sat on the small chair, it broke into pieces with just her whole body weight.

Groaning in disgust, she made her way upstairs to the bedroom, seeing three beds: the largest bed on the left that belonged to the father, which was blue; the medium-sized pink bed in the middle that belonged to the mother; and lastly, the smallest bed on the right that belonged to the child.

Starting with the large blue bed, Goldilocks began to make herself comfortable, only to realize she was anything but. The bed was “too hard” for her, whatever that was supposed to mean. Then she gave the mother’s pink bed a chance and saw that it was “too soft” for her. We’re not sure what she meant, but the fact that it was her size as a young woman made her comfortable enough to stay on the bed. “This is comfortable enough for me,” she said with a sigh of relief as she made herself more comfortable on the pink bed. “But before I can stay here, I just wanna try out the child’s bed first. It probably won’t fit me, but we’ll see.”

She learned that the child’s yellow bed was too small for her, and it felt physically awkward, so she returned to the mother’s bed instead. “Back where I belong.” She gave a sigh as she began to take a nap on the bed, feeling comfortable once again.

Okay, maybe she was a little too comfortable. So comfortable to the point where she didn’t even notice there were suddenly voices inside of the house, which were more than enough to wake her up just a little bit.

She heard a male voice downstairs in the kitchen saying, “Hmm, that’s funny… Sure as heck seems like someone’s been eating our oatmeal, huh?” That was the Father Bear of the house.

“Yeah… I can say the same thing about my bowl,” said a female voice, who was the Mother Bear.

“And mine, too,” said the three-year-old child, Baby Bear. “Mine’s all gone.”

“Such nonsense!” Goldilocks heard Father Bear yell from downstairs. “And same with our chairs in the living room, as well. Looks like someone’s been sitting in each of our chairs!”

“Someone’s also been sitting in mine,” said Mother Bear.

“And mine, too, and they broke it,” Goldilocks heard the Baby Bear wailing. A tear ran down her face; she felt bad for the little baby bear. It was never her intention to break his chair.

Mother Bear gasped. “They broke your chair? Unbelievable!”

“Who on Earth could do such a thing in our absence?” Father Bear wondered aloud.

“I don’t know, Papa,” said Baby Bear, “but whoever it is, I hope they someday give us the money so that we can get it all fixed up.”

“They will, honey,” Mother Bear reassured her son.

Goldilocks heard each of their footsteps making their way upstairs, and she quickly made her way inside of the closet, doing her best to remain as still and quiet as possible without getting caught. Through a tiny hole in the closet door, she was able to peek into the room, the three bears curious about the disarray of their beds.

“How does this happen?” Father Bear cried in anger. “Now our beds are a mess, too? Unbelievable! We just made it this morning, didn’t we, honey?”

“I know we did, that’s for sure,” Mother Bear replied. “And so did you, didn’t you, Baby?” she asked her son.

“I’d never forget, Mama. Trust me,” Baby Bear replied. “Mine’s also a mess, and so is yours, Mama.”

“I know it is, sweetie.” Mama Bear gave a small sigh.

Then Baby Bear went to the closet, and he was unprepared for what he saw: Goldilocks standing there. They both screamed in fear when they saw each other.

“Who are you?” Baby Bear cried out.

“I’m sorry!” Goldilocks cried out, running out of the closet, the room and back downstairs to the living room.

The three bears came running down after her. Just as she was about to leave their house, Mother Bear fiercely pulled her back inside and shut the door, making sure the young woman didn’t leave just yet. They needed their answers. The three of them glared at her, their arms folded.

“Who are you?” Father Bear growled.

Goldilocks couldn’t control the tears running down her face. “Please… I’m so sorry. Don’t hurt me, okay?”

Baby Bear said to her gently, “We’re not gonna hurt you. We just deserve some answers as to who you are and what you were doing here in our house. We haven’t been gone for that long, and a complete stranger such as yourself makes an unexpected visit into our house. What’s up with that, Lady?”

Goldilocks realized that she better be honest with the three bears about her unexpected presence in their house. I suppose I better tell them the truth once and for all, she thought to herself. 

Then she said to them, “First, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Goldilocks, and I am 18. I live outside, right out of the woods. I only came outside to go for a nice walk, then I saw this house and I happened to come here. I don’t know why… I was just so curious to see what this nice house looked like on the inside, and I saw your bowls of oatmeal and I was just starving, and I didn’t…”

She couldn’t control her stammering. “Y-yeah, you know, so I was hungry. And then I wanted to make myself more comfortable on the chairs in the living room, and I know I broke one of the chairs. I apologize for that… Then I became a little tired and went upstairs to the room, slept on one of your beds… And that was when you came in.”

It was an awkward moment of silence between the four of them, as the bears continued to glare at the young woman, clearly angry with her. Goldilocks tearfully said, “Please, whatever you do, don’t yell at me. I’m scared enough already as it is, thinking you’ll hurt me. I hate myself for what I did.”

“We’re not gonna hurt you,” Mother Bear reassured her.

“Nor will we scold you,” Father Bear also reassured her. “How old did you say you were?”

“Eighteen,” Goldilocks replied. “I’m old enough to know better, aren’t I?”

Father Bear nodded in agreement. “Most certainly, you are. How you entered our house in the first place is still a mystery, but we want you to learn a valuable lesson about breaking into someone else’s own property and disrupting their personal belongings, such as their bowl of food, living room chair and bed. Those are all wrong things to do, and you should never do those things again, as long as you live. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir, I understand,” Goldilocks replied.

“And it’s good that you showed remorse for your actions,” Mother Bear said with a smile.

Unfortunately, Goldilocks didn’t know the meaning of the word “remorse.” That wasn’t surprising; she was never taught right from wrong, to begin with. “What does that word mean? Remorse?”

Baby Bear replied, “It means that you’re sorry for what you just did. That’s a good thing.”

“Yes, I have remorse, indeed,” Goldilocks said. “I won’t do anything I just did again. For now, I’ll always do the right thing, and I’ll think before I do anything that isn’t right.”

“Perfect.” Father Bear smiled. “I’m glad that you’ve learned your lesson this fine afternoon. We’re more than pleased to have made your company, so we’d like to ask you to stay here with us for dinner tonight, if you’re able to.”

Goldilocks took a moment to think about it. “Tonight isn’t the best for me because I already have dinner plans of my own. But how about I come over for breakfast tomorrow morning?” Tomorrow was Sunday, so it worked out perfectly fine.

“Sounds like a plan,” Mother Bear said in agreement, and Father Bear and Baby Bear also agreed with that idea.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Miss, and get home safely,” Father Bear said to her.

Goldilocks gave each of the three bears a goodbye hug, then they all went out together to watch the young woman make her way out of the forest, heading back home on this perfectly warm Saturday afternoon.