NONFICTION  -  
​     A New Day   

"This serene place sparkled with feather-dappled trees,"
                                          Photo by Weebly.com                                    

---

"Smited" - A Fairy Tale of Sorts
by  Vera Jacobson

​Once upon a time, not too long ago, in a place near you, lived a happy, sunny woman named Sadie. She lived in an apartment complex hosting nearly 400 apartments accompanying a vibrant community. This serene place sparkled with five swimming pools, feather-dappled trees, and curved pathways in a park-like setting-a green, bucolic, pastoral, peaceful environment where Sadie's imaginary Disney characters were chirping and hopping.
 
Sadie’s apartment was small and cozy, definitely decorated to her taste. She loved stuff from 80s vintage junk shops where someone had also gone crazy at the Disney store. Sadie lived in a rich fantasy world; naturally, her apartment reflected this—cartoons dominated her space. Glittery posters of Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and Dumbo found comfortable homes on Sadie's walls. Lady Gaga posters intermittently hung throughout added sparkle and an instant circus feel. And pink. Hot pink, rosy pink, even pale pink, but pink was the color of choice. Pink, Disorganized Disney/Pop Star Fantasy Chaos was the look.
 
Sadie was a "special" person with a bountiful bucket of special needs. She was an autistic epileptic with a rare blood-clotting disorder. She was recovering from having both hips replaced due to blood clots nearly killing her, breaking loose from her lungs to eat up the balls in her hip sockets. Sadie was on a cane.
 
She also received Section 8 housing, a government-sponsored rent relief program enabling disabled people to live independently, paying affordable rent. The Section 8 List for Sadie's county was short. Yet Sadie's Magic Fairy Mom located the only apartment in the county offering Section 8 housing. Fortunately, Sadie's Mom was not an ordinary one. Many called her "Super Mom," but after nearly losing Sadie, Mom took on an "otherworldly" persona. Sadie saw her as "Magical" because of her magical ways of rescuing Sadie, which would keep anyone busy, stressed, and exhausted. 

---

1

---

---

​Now, this Fairy Tale of Sorts might end here, but it does not. After all, what is an authentic fairy tale without a mean witch? Directly below Sadie's apartment lived a woman who was so mean she had no name. So Sadie aptly named her Mean Woman, who did not share any affection for Section 8 tenants. Peering out of her nasty little hovel, she resembled a dirty, slimy pig or a creepy black, repulsive beetle from the bowels of Middle Earth, Sadie relayed to her mom. The fact remained that Mean Woman was hell-bent on making life miserable for Sadie. Imagine. A Section 8 indigent sponge living directly above her head! She was going to make damn sure this new tenant did not want to live in her private paradise. The campaign to discourage Sadie began in full atomic force.
 
Mean Woman was a tall, middle-aged, athletic female. She had a sweet face, not a witch's, confusing all she met. You might know the type if you are old enough to remember the Mary Tyler Moore Show. The character Sue Ann Nivens, played by Betty White, was the spitting image of Mean Woman. Can you ever forget the sweet-faced, dimpled woman with a sickly, sugary smile while she viciously stabbed you in the back? Wearing exercise clothes and helmet hair, Mean Woman looked like that sweet, friendly type who might even prove helpful to the disabled girl. That was not to be the case.
 
While she never actually spoke the infamous words from The Wizard of Oz, “Oh, I'll get you, my pretty,” the effect was the same.
 
Crawling out of her cave, growling on her patio, and looking up toward Sadie’s apartment, she bellowed, "Shut up, up there!" “Be quiet! I can hear you stomping about!" “How rude you are, girl!” Sadie was frightened to her toes and cried, something an autistic person rarely does.

*   *   * 

---

2

---

---

​Autistic people are a mysterious lot. Once, after Magic Fairy Mom took Sadie to see Peter Pan the Musical, Sadie casually said, "Ya know, my world is cooler than yours.”
 
“What does that mean?” Magic Fairy Mom asked.
 
“I don’t know—it’s hard to explain.”
 
Magic Fairy Mom leaned over with that intense, direct voice and slowly enunciated every word, saying, “Oh no, you don't. I need an example. Now. I have been waiting over 30 years to know what your world is like.”
 
Sadie thought for a bit and innocently replied, “Well, for instance, in my world, you can wear any shirt you want.”
 
When Sadie chooses her clothes, she looks like a walking art show of color and glitter, usually with a theme—a real stand-out.
 
Finally, for the first time, Sadie translated her world, even just one detail, to Magic Fairy Mom, who was ecstatic—the first clue from her daughter of that mysterious world of autism.

*   *   * 

---

3

---

---

​Now, frightened by this red-hot witch, fury spewing out of her mouth, Sadie called Magic Fairy Mom.
 
What the hell was Mean Woman always bitching about? Any nitwit could observe that Sadie lived happily alone in her artful fantasy space, having few friends, visitors, and never parties—an ideal neighbor. Logic did not prevail. Mean Woman was proving to be one mean rattlesnake of a witch.
 
As the weeks progressed, so did Mean Woman's fury. Again, Sadie, needing clarification about handling this, called Magic Fairy Mom, who was having lunch in San Francisco with friends.
 
"Mean Woman screamed at me because I made too much noise when I opened my ice cube tray today. She told me I could not use it anymore."
 
Magic Fairy Mom coolly replied, "Oh, I am going to kick her ass . . . be there as soon as possible.”
 
Sadie was outside waiting in the parking lot. Magic Fairy Mom marched up to Mean Woman's door and began pounding. Mean Woman opened it boldly, ready for a fight.
 
With tightly pursed lips, using her steely, disciplined will, Magic Fairy Mom slowly spoke, "My daughter has all the right in the world to open her ice cube tray at noon on a Monday, Tuesday, or any day she wants!"
 
"She is pounding that tray, causing my head to explode. This is a nice place. People know to be quiet here," snarled Mean Woman right back.
 
Mean Woman and Magic Fairy Mom continued their shouting match as people do when they think they are right. 

---

4

---

---

Mean Woman: “She pounds everything, stomps around, and is very rude.”
 
Magic Fairy Mom: "She tiptoes in her friggin apartment, for God's sake. She is disabled, you heartless cow. She's on a cane. Don't you see that, or are you too selfish to notice anything other than your small, pitiful little world?"
 
With that, they stopped. They called an unspoken temporary truce because these two strong women knew they were about to come to blows. It was just a matter of time before it would get rough again.
 
With her limited cognitive ability but a steely intuitive insight, Sadie figured the best way to cohabitate with a bully was to appease the witch. She continued to tiptoe around her apartment, gave up her beloved ice cubes for her drinks, and never ran her bathroom fan, hoping to keep Mean Woman quiet in her ugly little downstairs lair. None of these strategies worked.
 
The Tipping Point came when Sadie overheard Mean Woman talking about her to a neighbor.
 
Mean Woman: "She is stupid, fat, and ugly. She stomps over my head. She needs to go!"
 
The neighbor replied softly, "Is it as bad as all that? After all, she is using a cane."

---

5

---

---

​Mean Woman growled, "I could care less. They shouldn't allow those people in our complex. She has got to go. And I will be the one to scare the hell out of her and make her want to move . . . just watch me!"
 
Sadie was scared to death, panicked, and started crying hysterically. Usually, people were friendly to her and enjoyed her odd, quirky personality. Experiencing the brutality of people was foreign to her. Her last resort: call Magic Fairy Mom at work. Sadie knew never to bother her there unless it was an extreme EMERGENCY—which, to Sadie, it was.
 
Talk about being pissed. When Magic Fairy Mom received that phone call, she hit her boiling point, something few would ever want to witness—Magic Fairy Mom turning into Nuclear Mom. You could almost see the thunderbolts shooting from her eyes and the silvery, electrified red cape covering her body.
 
Leaving her work, breathing hard, smoke coming out of her ears, barreling down the 101 to pull, screeching into the parking lot of Sadie's complex . . . Magic Fairy Mom took those stairs two at a time, eager to extract as many details as possible from Sadie. Not easy when one is dealing with a cognitively impaired, autistic person who generally can't get the words out even in peaceful situations.
 
Sadie was crying. No words could she use. Nuclear Mom was done. No more games or reasoning. No more words. No more. She called the Police. When the Officer came, she filled him in as calmly and factually as possible.

---

6

---

---

​Using her professional voice, Magic Fairy Mom said, "A psycho witch of a woman downstairs is terrorizing my Special Needs daughter."
 
Sadie sat quietly with her little dog, Bambi, on her lap—the tiny chihuahua, dressed in a pink summer fluffy outfit, surrounded by all the wild glitter art, with Sadie’s cane neatly parked against the chair she sat in.
 
The Officer was a kind man. Big guy with olive skin and broad shoulders. A charming prince of a man. Perhaps he was Sadie's Prince Charming tasked to rescue her from the evil witch. He looked intimidating, but you could see the pure sympathy in his eyes. Officer Prince Charming kept shaking his head in disbelief at the extraordinary cruelty of Mean Woman. After taking his notes, using his low, husky voice, he assured them he would go downstairs and have a little "chat" with Mean Woman.
 
“Please don’t worry, Miss Sadie,” Officer Prince Charming soothingly said. “I will give her The Word.”
 
He rapidly descended the stairs to confront Mean Woman by giving her The Word. Sadie and Magic Fairy Mom strained to hear him but only caught his commanding tone. They were gleefully and silently high-fiving each other.
 
As he left Mean Witch’s hovel, he looked up and caught Sadie’s eye. Officer Prince Charming gave her the thumbs up with his big, handsome grin, as he gallantly rode away in his magic police car—a new quiet descended upon the complex. The birds were chirping in the trees, the chipmunks hopped around again, and the complex's magical, serene, Disney-like quality returned.

*   *   * 

---

7

---

---

​Two years had passed with the fabricated truce stifling Mean Woman's bullying, rendering her silent. Sadie was still afraid, but they managed to live on top of one another without any more open conflicts or hostility. Even though a resigned silence existed, Sadie was always on her guard.
 
Until one rainy day. Sadie looked out her window and saw Mean Woman on her patio. Suddenly, Mean Woman raised her arms, flailed them, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Down she went on her back. A few minutes later, the Paramedics arrived and took her away. Sadie was upset over all this commotion and worried about her even though she was still scared of her. Sadie knew all too well what it felt like to be carried out of your home, riding to the hospital in an ambulance, with the sirens screaming in your ears.
 
A few months passed, and Mean Woman finally returned to her apartment. A changed person with a cane, orthopedic shoes, and a crooked smile. A smile nonetheless. Mean Woman also got a cat, Bell. When Sadie walked her little dog, Bambi, she petted little Bell. Sadie could never resist an animal because animals could not resist her.
 
A few weeks passed with this new furry love fest, and Mean Woman slowly began speaking to Sadie. 

---

8

---

---

​"Bell seems to be quite taken with you, Sadie. She meows to come out and see you when you come down the stairs. Maybe she is lonely, living only with me." As usual, Sadie did not reply but only continued to pet her to the sounds of Bell's happy purring.
 
A large, aggressive cat went after Bell one day when Sadie was walking Bambi. "Oh no, you don't," yelled Sadie at the cat, fearlessly rescuing Bell to return her to safety. Witnessing Sadie's unique talent with animals and paying her five dollars for saving Bell, Mean Woman was only too happy to have her company. Trust was established. They began to chat, sharing fur-baby stories. Where did this turn of events go?
 
Mean Woman and Sadie became friends. Talk every day, walk to the mall to grab a coffee, and check on each other daily as friends do. She even sent nighttime texts to Sadie, "Sweet Dreams, Night-Night." Neighbor friends. Girl Friends. Mean Lady even asked Sadie to catsit while she went away for a few days.
 
Sadie called Magic Fairy Mom, "Jeanie gave me a key to her place and is paying me to sit for Bell. Who knew?"
 
Magic Fairy Mom patiently replied, “Who is Jeanie?”
 
"Jeanie is Mean Woman. She has a name. A real name. A nice name. Who knew?" Sadie said.
 
Who knew, indeed? How does a Mean Woman, aka Jeanie, have a 180-degree change of heart? Through a magical lightning bolt or a stroke or an act of God? Some might even say she was "Smited" by the Lord. One of life's little mysteries. Who knows? But sometimes, Happily-Ever-After does exist.

​Sweet Dreams, Night-Night

---

9

Vertical Divider

​​Dr. Vera Jacobson was a teacher and administrator for 30 years. She is happily writing short stories, watercoloring, and doing pencil sketching. If she is not at home, you would probably find her sailing on the San Francisco Bay. She lives in Brisbane with her dog, Peter.

Vertical Divider

We Welcome Comments