The Young Writer

WC: 300


"Take your pastry and get out of the kitchen", the cook ordered. The maid, claiming her own authority added: "And mind your manners, Master Edgar, don't touch the sideboards. I've better things to do than clean up after you."

Banished from the servant's quarters, the young boy wandered down a robust hallway. The dark tapestries and ornate framed paintings hanging from both sides of the corridor failed to hide the hall's bleakness or lift the boy's spirits. Ignoring the maid's warnings, he wiped his palms on the draperies, left half a tart on a sideboard and then, he skipped towards the parlor.

At the parlor's doorway, sat the boy's rival; the family's black cat. Disregarding the consequences, Edgar kicked the cat causing it to tumble across the polished floor. Coming to its senses, the cat ran off howling and found refuge under Mistress Frances' buoyant skirts.

The Mistress rose from her chair, her tirade mimicked the cat's screams.

The boy knew at once, he was in trouble again.

"Why do you do such terrible things, Edgar?" The woman pulled him by his ear and sat him on a straight backed chair. Mistress Frances asked again, "Why did you kick the cat?"

The boy blurted out the truth. "I'm bored. There's nothing to do."

"Well, I'll give you something to do young man. Here's pen, ink and paper. You will write, I will never kick the cat again, one hundred times."

For several hours, the boy complained, fidgeted and wrote. His fingers cramped, his patience dwindled, but he finished and wrote the last line. I will never kick the cat again.

Edgar perused his work. In spite of the punishment, he was proud of his penmanship.

At the bottom of the last page, he signed his name in bold letters.

Edgar Allan Poe