Troubles Away

by Fred Shook

Troubles were popping up everywhere. Marie had more troubles than she could count. Two library books were overdue. Her room needed to be cleaned. She had homework to finish. Her bicycle had a broken spoke.

Marie’s mother had troubles, and her father and her little brother. Just name a trouble and they seemed to have it. A tire had gone flat on their car. Their dog had tracked mud into the house. Someone had left finger marks in all the cupcakes Marie had baked for her friend’s birthday party. Marie thought she knew whom. Her little brother had frosting on his nose.

Even Mrs. Simpson had her troubles.  Today the bread dough would not rise and she was growing fussy.

Mrs. Simpson was a kindly teddy bear who lived on a shelf in Marie's room.  She loved to bake giant cinnamon rolls, some as big as teddy bear dinner plates. Even her tiniest rolls were the size of teddy bear saucers. They were warm and fragrant with the rich, sweet smell of cinnamon. Sometimes she also helped with the dusting.  If she saw even a speck of dust, out came her feather duster.

Today the troubles were evident even to Mrs. Simpson. When she looked outside, she could see more troubles gathering on the horizon. Mrs. Simpson squinted her eyes and looked more closely. These were no ordinary troubles. These troubles looked big and fierce, just like buffalo.

"I declare," cried Mrs. Simpson. Marie looked out the window, too. What she saw made her gasp. As far as the eye could see, troubles were everywhere. They ambled toward Marie's house; their heads low to the ground, moving steadily forward.

"Oh, dear," said Marie. "What shall we do?"

"I know," said Mrs. Simpson. "Let’s look in the phone book, under 'Trouble Management.'”

Marie raced to the phone book and opened the advertising pages. She went through her ABCs as fast as a machine, moving through the alphabet until she came to the Ts. Sure enough, there was the heading "Trouble Management." Beneath those words she found an advertisement for a company named Troubles Away. "We chase troubles over the horizon," said the advertisement.

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