Susie and the Magic Stairway

By: Erica Testerman

In a village in the south of France, Susie awakened to her mother’s coughing and thought, “Oh, no Mom seems to only be getting sicker instead of better, I have to do something to help and NOW!”

Susie got out of bed and walked to her Mother Lou’s bedroom to make sure that her mother was alright. Susie opened the door to her mother’s room and whispered softly, “Mom are you awake?” In a voice that sounded like it had been pounded with sickness, her mother croaked,

“Yes, Susie I’m awake, come her sweetie.”

Susie slowly walked over and laid her head on her mother’s slowly moving chest and laid there making sure her mother was still breathing. Susie decided to be brave and ask her mother if she knew of anything that could cure her sickness so, Susie said “Mom, what medicine do you think would make you better?” Her mother replied

“Susie, what I need to cure me is impossible because it is much too dangerous to get so, just forget it, I’ll be alright honey.”

But, Susie was not sure that her mother would be alright without the medicine. Susie decided that she was going to find the cure no matter how dangerous it might be because she was not going to be an orphan. Susie decided that night to sneak out and go and see Doctor Miller and find out what dangerous medicine would cure her mother. Susie snuck out of the house to go and see the Doctor. It was pitch-black outside and the wind howled like a Ware Wolf howling at the moon as Susie stepped out of her front door and into the darkness. Susie was terrified but, she knew her bravery rested on her mother’s medicine and she decided that no scary darkness or wind would get in her way of helping her mother, not even a real Ware Wolf.

As Susie walked through the woods she saw trees that stood like giants overlooking the forest. Some of the tree giants seemed to taunt her, “Go home, go home.”

Well, Susie was so frightened that she decided to run as fast as her feet would carry her in order to get to the Doctor’s house quickly.

Susie finally made it to Doctor Miller’s office trembling from fear. When she reached up to knock on the door she had to wait until her hands stopped shaking in order to make them function.

Finally, Susie knocked on the door and Doctor Miller answered the door

“Yes, what can I do for you little girl?”

Susie pleaded , “Please Doctor Miller I need your help, my mother is deathly sick and she says the medicine is to dangerous to find but she won’t tell me what it is, tell me, tell me, Doctor Miller I’ve got to find it or she’ll die.”

“Okay, honey calm down, calm down, come in and sit down and we’ll talk it over, and I’ll try to help you the best that I can.”

Susie walked in quickly with Doctor Miller eagerly awaiting his advice with what medicine would cure her mother’s illness. Doctor Miller asked Susie her mother’s symptoms and Susie described detail by detail the illness that her mother had, from her horrible coughing, all the way to her being so weak she could not even crawl out of bed.

When Susie finally finished describing her mother’s illness to Doctor Miller, he finally said, “Your mother was right, the medicine it takes to cure her is almost impossible to get and far too dangerous. The medicine it takes to cure her must come from a Troll.”

“A TROLL!” screamed Susie. “What could possibly come from a Troll that could cure my mother? They are stinky, hairy, mean, and besides, they are evil. What good could come from a Troll?”

Doctor Miller replied “I know Susie, nothing from a Troll has ever been good, but some of their body can be used to cure sickness in humans. The hair from a Troll’s toe is what I need to make the medicine to cure your mother and getting it from the Troll is near impossible. Just forget about it and go home Susie; getting the hair from the Troll is much too dangerous for anyone to get, much less a little girl. I’m sorry honey but that’s just the way it is.”

Susie said “Thank you Doctor Miller but I’m not just going to sit here and let my mother suffer or even worse die.” And with that Susie slammed the door and ran crying so hard she could not even catch her breath. Susie ran until she had no idea where she was, and then she was terrified. She was lost, cold, and hungry. When all of a sudden, one of Susie’s tears landed on the ground and all of a sudden right before her eyes the ground started shaking and then began to split apart. Then a stairway leading down into the Earth opened up. Susie was amazed and was curious about what this stairway actually could be.

So, Susie decided to go down and find out to what or to whom the stairway led. Susie slowly crept down the stairs trying not to make any noise. She made it down the twenty-fourth step of the twenty-five steps when her foot slipped and she fell down the other. Thud! She landed on a cold hard floor staring into the face of an enormous ugly Troll. His breath stunk like rotten eggs and his teeth looked like they had not been brushed at all in his life. Susie did not even have time to think when the Troll said “How dare you enter my home without even knocking, what do you want?”

Susie’s voice shaking like a leaf slowly answered, “Mr. Troll my mother is deathly sick, and I am afraid that she cannot hang on much longer without medicine. Doctor Miller told me that the medicine my mother needs requires a hair from a Troll’s toe, and I desperately need one. Please can I clean your house every day for you since it is so messy, in return for a hair from your toe each week?” Susie was so scared she had no idea where words even came from. She had noticed that the Troll had mold growing everywhere, cobwebs, clothes that looked like they had not been washed in ten years, and stacks of dishes so high that they looked like the Eiffel Tower. But, Susie was willing to do whatever it took for her mother. The Troll finally answered Susie and said,

“I know that you have heard how mean Troll’s are but I am a kind hearted Troll.” A tear streamed down his face as he continued, “I could not imagine my mother being deathly sick and not having the medicine she needed in order to live. Yes, I will give a hair from my toe each week for your mother, and if you would clean my house, I would love it because Trolls are messy, and no matter how hard I try to clean my house, it just gets dirtier. So, do we have a deal?”

“Oh, yes,” cried Susie. “I am so thankful that you would be so willing to make this deal with me. You have saved my mother’s life and I promise that I will clean your house. It is the least I can do to repay you.”

So, the Troll gave Susie one of the hairs from his toe, but there were plenty more where that one came from. Susie asked the Troll how to make it back to Doctor Miller’s office. Then she thanked the Troll again and headed off towards Doctor Miller’s. Along the way back Susie could not help thinking about how fortunate she was to have cried in the right spot to open up the magical stairway to the Troll’s home. She was so thankful that he was a good Troll instead of an evil one. Susie was so happy that she ran the whole way back to Doctor Miller and gave him the Troll hair. When Susie handed him the hair Doctor Miller looked so surprised. “Susie, you are a brave and wonderful girl. Now, I can make the medicine for your Mother and you can be on your way.”

Doctor Miller finished the medicine for Lou and Susie ran faster than she had ever ran before in her eight years’ of life back to her house. Susie opened the front door and ran to her mother’s bedroom yelling “Mom, Mom I have the medicine. You are going to be alright.” When Susie walked to her mother’s bedside her mother had a huge smile on her face and said, “Oh my Susie, you are an unbelievable little girl. You are braver than forty knights. Thank you darling for saving your mother’s life. I love you Susie forever and for always.” Tears of joy streamed down her face. Susie cried too, not because she was sad but because she realized just how much she loved her mother. She thought of being an orphan, and how that would never be like all the years could be with her loving mother. Susie learned the importance of family that day and vowed to always help her mother and her family no matter what.

From that day on, Susie’s mother became stronger and stronger, and healthier and healthier. Finally, Lou was completely better thanks to her brave, determined, little-girl, Susie and her discovery of the magic stairway.