In the town of Pumpernickel, where the lampposts hummed lullabies and the cobblestones had opinions, there lived a woman named Clementine Goodpenny. She was a hopelessly unsuccessful prostitute—not for lack of trying, but because she was simply too kind for the trade.
Whenever a gentleman knocked on her door, she would invite him in, take his coat, and immediately ask, “Have you eaten today?”
By the time she’d finished making him a hot bowl of soup, knitting him a new pair of socks, and giving him unsolicited but excellent life advice, the poor fellow would be so full of warmth and self-respect that he’d forget entirely why he came. He would leave her house feeling rejuvenated, clutching a fresh loaf of bread, and whispering, “What a saint…”
This, of course, was not great for business.
Clementine’s landlady, Madame Bumbershoot, despaired. “Clementine, dearest, you are running a charity, not a brothel.”
Clementine nodded solemnly. “I know, Madame, and I feel simply awful about it. But you should have seen Mr. Peabody’s face when I mended his favorite trousers. The joy in his eyes!”
Madame Bumbershoot groaned and went off to have a brandy.
One particularly rainy evening, as Clementine was sweeping her doorstep (as she did obsessively, despite the fact that no one paid her for cleanliness), a tall, mysterious man appeared from the mist. He was wearing a long coat that looked as though it had many regrets, and his hat sat at a sorrowful angle.
“You must be Clementine,” he murmured.
“I must be,” she agreed cheerfully. “Would you like some soup?”
The man hesitated. “I… I was hoping for something else.”
Clementine tilted her head. “Do you need a pep talk? A new pair of mittens? A stern yet loving letter to your estranged father?”
He blinked. “No, I meant—”
But before he could finish, Clementine had already taken his wet coat, set it by the fire, and wrapped him in a quilt. “My goodness, you’re cold! And you look like a man who could use a good cry.”
To his own shock, the man burst into tears.
And so, as the storm howled outside, Clementine sat beside him, patting his hand, listening to his woes, and feeding him biscuits until he no longer looked like a man carrying the weight of the world.
By morning, he smiled for the first time in years. He reached into his pocket and placed a gold coin on the table. “Not for… you know. But for the kindness.”
Clementine gasped. “A paying customer at last! Madame Bumbershoot will be thrilled.”
And so, word spread. Not of a scandalous woman, but of a place where weary souls could rest, where lost men found their way, and where no one ever left without a full belly and a bit of hope.
Clementine never quite figured out how to be a proper lady of the night, but she did become the most beloved woman in Pumpernickel. And in the end, that suited her just fine.
love salt water fishing, when I was growing up, freshwater was all I knew at the time but salt water is more active.
The outdoors pictures are by far the best because men can relate.
4 wheelers, fishing, horses, big trucks, female truckdrivers, rifles, guns, so many ideas.