A Very Good Advice from the Cookie Jar

"Dear, I noticed that Enna looks so sullen since she arrived home today. I'm worried," I whispered to my husband as he was washing the dishes. "Should we try to tell her a story before bedtime?"

"Let's try." My husband kissed my cheek. "I'll be there shortly after I give a towel bath to our bouncing baby Kier."

I nodded then climbed upstairs to accompany our eldest daughter. "Sweetie, can I talk to you for a few minutes?"

"Sure, Mom." She moved a bit to her right giving me space. I sat beside her and hugged her sideways.

"You know we noticed that you are so sad since you arrived here from school. Want to tell me what happened?" I combed her midnight black hair with my fingers.

"Would you not be mad at me if I told you that I just got 90 in my exam in Math?" She looked at her hands and started to fidget.

"No. Why would I do that? That's a better score than when I got 83 in Filipino in high school." I kissed the top of her head. "Didn't you study well and did your best to have that score?"

"Yes but I feel like I did not do my best though I did because I just got 90." Her expression from unease became more gloomy.

"Sweetie, whatever score you get is what you have sowed and it's the best you did, right?" I said. "There's no need to be in despair, sweetheart. I am proud of you that you passed no matter what score you get, okay?"

Enna nodded and hugged me tighter. "You know what sweetie, I read this advice from a fortune cookie years before and it changed my life. Do you wanna know what it is?"

My little girl nodded again. "It said: 'Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.' Do you know what that means?"

She shook her head. "Don't lose hope on anything. But if it comes to your life that you will feel hopeless, pull strength from that hopelessness and be inspired to work harder and strive to get away from hopelessness because you sure will get out of it."

Enna glanced back at me with puppy eyes. "Would you like me to tell you a story before you go to bed?"

My eldest's sweet shy smile showed as she nodded. "Now don't nod off on me this time. It would be a very good story."

"Okay, Mom," she said as we both hugged each other.

"Once upon a time during the 1970s, there's a family of seven in a little town. Why is it seven? Well, there's the mother, the father, three sons and two daughters—that makes them seven in their home. When the youngest daughter turned 12, Wysteria, the mother of the siblings, died of a severe illness."

"What is the severe illness called, Mom?" My daughter looked at me.

"They did not mention it in the story but perhaps it was some cancer. The author may not have mentioned it because it is so painful for her to say it," I answered blinking back some tears from my memory of the event in my life. "Let's proceed to the story then."

"After three years, their father named Iñigo remarried his first girlfriend who is named Cressida."

"What does she look like, Mom?"

"Let's see. Wysteria has curls that can be styled effortlessly while Cressida's curls look permed and seemed like it cannot be styled that easily. Wysteria looked like an angel, she writes beautifully and she's a teacher. Cressida on the other hand, is a simple and traditional housewife who doesn't like books and loves to boss everyone around her."

"That is pretty bad. Iñigo married the wrong person," Enna said. "She would have been cool until you said, she bosses everyone."

"You think? Let's see what happens next." I booped her nose and proceeded on the story.

"At first everyone felt fine about their new stepmother since she does not boss them around. Then, one by one, she started to spread evil in the household."

"Oh no! What did she do, Mom?" My daughter covered her mouth in shock.

"Her first evil plan was to make Iñigo hate the maids whom he had treated as adopted daughters. So whenever the maids have already finished cleaning the household, Cressida would throw trash everywhere and create dirt so they would always clean making other tasks they should be doing, neglected. Iñigo, on the other hand, would always get angry because the maids seem to him that they are not doing their job well at all."

"Wow that's just the first, are there more, Mom?" Enna's eyes show such great curiosity towards the story.

"Why yes. When her first plan succeeded to make Iñigo hate the maids, she proceeded to convince her husband to fire the maids because of their incompetency. With this, Ella, the youngest daughter, got so sad of what happened. So she usually visited the maid closest to them who stayed in a transient house."

With a story I'm telling my daughter, a flashback came to me. 'Neelah, what are you doing here? Any problem in the house?' Sienna would always ask me that question whenever I go to her family's temporary home to tell her my problems. The saddest days in my life, if I can rate my experiences throughout the years. On going out after ten in the evening, it's pretty okay for me since I am disciplined to be mindful of the time but talking in whispers because we might be heard by the government and think that we are plotting some rebellious notions, it felt like all of us in the country is being forced and our privacy is not respected.

"Did the maid help her?" My eldest asked me again slightly yawning.

"In a way." I smiled at her and pat her head. "But let's get back to Cressida first before proceeding to what happened to Ella. Now that the stepmother succeeded in owning the house to herself, the five siblings began to be distant to their father. With this, miracles begin to happen in the large household. Theo, the eldest son, can transform into an animal at will to help his family in doing the house chores; Isa, the eldest daughter being temperamental, can change the weather above their home with her mood swings; Coby, the second eldest son, can copy people's skills and abilities like doing carpentry, farming, etc.; and, Rian, the youngest son, can produce electricity with his hands at will and when he fixes his toy cars."

"If they all began to have magical miracles, what did Ella has?" Enna curiously asked me while rubbing her eyes a bit.

"We will learn that later so let's proceed to the next part of the story. With the new abilities by the children, Cressida became more envious of them so she wrapped Iñigo more with her hand and plotted to budget Iñigo's salary so that she can buy what she wants on her whim. Meanwhile, Theo had already noticed their stepmother's plan so he waited until he's already reviewing for his professional exams. He also promised his siblings that he'll help them when he's already employed but as he was reviewing in the capital city, his girlfriend followed him. And with too much time for themselves in the place where no parents of them are present, the two eloped and lived there for the rest of their lives."

"Oh my. His dad would get sad and mad of what he did. Why did he not just asked his father that he would marry his girlfriend after graduation?" My daughter stared at me with sad eyes.

"Iñigo had nothing to do but banish his son for not telling him his plans. If he just told his plans to his father, then he may have still had a chance to help them. On the other hand, Theo doesn't seem to want to be a bother to his father because he's so wrapped up with their stepmother." I felt bitter telling that part of life to my child but I had to.

My sweet eldest lowered her head but still listened to my story. "This event made Iñigo more strict with the rest of the siblings and also lost his faith to the rest of his children even telling them that he will make them stop school already. While Isa is not bothered of what's happening because she knows she can survive with just fake studying and doing her school works so that she won't do her home chores, Ella's world shattered more as she felt completely chained down by her family and the rest of the country she's living. The three younger siblings were caught with more chores because of this sudden change of heart from their father. But then, the last miracle in their family happened."

Enna smiled with hope showing in her face. "One night, when Ella was crying to let out her frustration a jar with one cookie inside magically appeared on her bedside table. But she never saw it until she woke up the next day. Observing the food, she curiously grabbed the cookie. She smelled, licked and broke it. 'What's this paper inside?' She pulled the paper out and it told of her fortune. 'Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair. What does this even mean?'

"I'm sure that fortune will show its importance soon." Enna's smile widened with excitement.

"She ate the cookie fast, returned the fortune inside the jar, closed the lid and hid the jar in her cabinet. 'Whatever happens, this fortune will not change my lonely life,' Ella thought feeling a bit feverish but still treated her day ordinarily, going downstairs to make breakfast because it is her responsibility and her schedule to clean the house. The fortune continued to ran in her mind and even after washing the dishes in the morning, it still bugged her so she decided to wash their clothes as their heap of dirty clothes is getting taller. Seeing an opportunity, Cressida ordered Ella to iron their clothes after hanging the washed clothes to dry. That may seem impossible but Iñigo's youngest daughter did it with her best even cooking lunch and dinner and washing the dishes in every meal that day. That night, Ella understood what her fortune meant. This made her happy and relied to the cookie jar for guidance."

"When hopeless, work your way out of that hopelessness and you'll find yourself happier," Enna said.

"That's right. Ella thought that the fortune cookie made her predict what she can do to make her stepmother's evil plans fail. Now, everytime Cressida gives them a dilemma which she passes to her youngest stepdaughter's way, Ella resolves everything with ease. Until, her stepmother found the cookie jar. Ella was confronted by Cressida and having found her stepchild keeping a secret, she confiscated the cookie jar. This made Ella feel hopeless but her mother appeared in her dream. What do you think did Wysteria tell her child?"

"I think she adviced her to remember her first fortune and get hope from it?" My sweet eldest guessed and looked at me curiously.

"Yes, that's right. With that, Ella continued to do her chores and it made her succeed in every challenge Cressida threw. The cookie jar vanished, too. Her stepchildren treated her kindly no matter how shrewd she was so this made her stop with her schemes. The eldest maid in their household also went back to living with them in peace with her own family. Ella became a successful young professional just like his two eldest siblings, and though she became the breadwinner of her family, she never failed to reach her goals in every step of her life. The end. What do you think of the story, sweetie?"

Enna yawned and hugged me tight as her eyes slowly closed. "Sleep tight sweet child." I kissed her forehead and put her favorite stuffed toy beside her and cuddled with it.

"Hon?" Harkin peeped in and kissed my cheek. "Oh, Enna is asleep. What did she say about the story?"

"I think it was good. She fell asleep as I was telling her the ending." I smiled at him uneasily.

"Kier's asleep, too. I think we should get some shut eye now."

"Okay."