Something New to Read

Let me begin by apologizing. This isn't a true hero story, although the one character certainly demonstrates the qualities of a hero.

And, it's more than 500-words. This is just a draft copy. I know I should have edited it. But I lacked the energy. It was enough to write in the first place.

This came as a sudden inspiration. Hope you enjoy it.

Billy Joe and Bobby Jean

by Bevie James

(Wow! I didn't see that until just now. Cool! haha)

Billy Joe was a pretty young thing. She grew up in a small town on the east side of The River. Her parents were poor and she had to work as a house maid at an early age. She was paid six copper coins for a day’s work, which she dutifully brought back to her cottage and put in the family coffer: a small clay bowl.

She lived in poverty but she never complained. She just went to work each day, cleaning the houses of the village’s more wealthy. And every day she put her six copper coins in the small clay bowl. People liked Billy Joe. They liked to call her ‘BJ’.


Bobby Jean could have been pretty. But she wasn’t. When you looked in Bobby Jean’s eyes you saw malice and contempt. And this inner attitude wore on her face like a sneer and a frown.

Bobby Jean grew up in the same small town as Billy Joe. But Bobby Jean was no poor. On the contrary. Bobby Jean’s father was Village Magistrate. They were the wealthiest and most powerful family in the entire valley. As such, Bobby Jean never had to clean her house. She had Billy Joe to do that. What Bobby Jean did with her time was lord her family prestige over others. People didn’t like Bobby Jean. Bobby Jean wished people would call her ‘BJ’. But they had other names.


When Billy Joe would clean Bobby Jean’s house, Bobby Jean would try to find the most awful chores for Billy Jean to do. Empty the chamber pots. Wash them. Scrub were the family dog had had an accident. Clean up the vomit from grandma’s illness. Clean grandma.

And Billy Joe did all she was commanded. For Billy Joe was poor, and her family needed the money. So she did not complain. She just dutifully did what she was told, got paid her six copper coins, and put them in the small clay bowl in her cottage.

As time passed and the girls grew, Bobby Jean looked for more and more things to order Billy Joe to do. It irked her that the servant never complained. It bothered her that Billy Joe was always smiling and sweet. She hated it that everyone liked Billy Joe more than herself. She had to humiliate this girl. How?

And then one day she had Billy Joe give her a bath. And during the bath Bobby Jean realized something for the first time: Billy Joe was pretty. Her eyes were serene and loving. There was a gentleness of spirit which was attractive. And so Bobby Jean kissed Billy Joe. And then they made love. And from that day on Billy Joe lived with Bobby Jean. And Billy Joe’s family was well off.

But she did not cease her maid work. She liked to visit the homes of others and clean for them. So every day Billy Joe would go out and clean. And sometimes Bobby Jean would help her. The would collect their six copper coins and put them in a small clay bowl.

And from that day on the villagers would say to anyone who needed a maid: Go up to the big house where you can get two good BJs for the price of one.