The first time it happened
they were too shocked to react.
It must be grief, Gretel
thought, and decided it would
pass. Hansel hid the dress,
sold it at the market, even burnt it…
but a new one would always appear,
with the same plain blue colour
and shapeless figure.
She would return with it.
Face clean-shaven, short
hair just long enough for
a few teasing curls.
Blonde, of course.
Rouge deep lipstick applied, with
virgin preciseness,
eyes painted with charcoal.
The chest wasn’t padded,
that first time. Hairy arms
stood out against the delicate
material, sweated armpits
staining it a darker shade.
His bum looked fat in it.
‘Hello,’ she said, his deep
voice croaking out a high pitch,
‘I’m your new step-mother.’
She would appear every so often,
cook inevitable food, watch them
pick at it and yell,
‘If it’s not good enough,
leave! There’s barely enough
for us all to live on!’
He would emerge soon after,
flustered, apologetic for his
wife, but never contradicting.
It wasn’t his fault.
Hansel heard them arguing
one night, voice deep to shrill,
sometimes playing the wrong part.
‘They eat all the food, they must go!’
‘But they’re my children.’
‘No, they’re a burden, useless,
we must get rid of them.’
‘Yes, useless. Yes.’
Both saw them off, but only
the father took them into the
woods.
He was still wearing the dress.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, as he
left them to starve.
‘She made me.’
Of course, they thought,
now alone to die.
How can a father ever
grow to hate his children?
No, it was her fault;
the stepmother who
never really existed.