Marietta the Marionette

Marietta Pinnock was a terrific little girl. She was happy.  She was sweet. She was kind. Her biggest fault was that she had a tendency to lie. "I can do 50  pushups." she bragged to the kids in her class when in fact, she could only do 5. "Why, yes I finished my homework." she assured her mother when she hadn't even started it.

Marietta's lying bothered her father. It bothered her mother. However, most of all it bothered her  sister, Joetta. Joetta was always falling for Marietta's lies and then being disappointed. "Mommy and Daddy have big surprise for you!" Marietta would joyfully tell her. Joetta would get so excited just to be disappointed when it turned out to be one of Marietta's lies.

Joetta tried not to get caught up in Marietta's lies, but she so wanted to believe them that time after time she just kept getting fooled. Finally, she had enough. After Marietta told her that they were going to see the movie she had been so looking forward to, and it turned out to be not true, that was the last straw. "I'm not listening to you anymore, and if you don't stop telling lies your nose is going to grow." shouted Joetta.

Marietta shook her head at Joetta. Then, she burst into hysterical laughter. "That only happens in fairytales." she assured her sister.

"Well, Daddy is going to turn you into a puppet then!" retorted Joetta. Their father was a talented puppet maker.

"He couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that." replied Marietta but her voice was little shaky. Their father could make a puppet out of anything. He couldn't make one out of child, could he? If he could he wouldn't make one out of his own daughter, would he?

Just to be sure that day, Marietta tried very carefully not to lie. When she accidentally caught herself in a lie at dinnertime, she quickly looked to see if her father had heard, but he hadn't seemed to notice. She breathed a sigh of relief.

At bedtime, Marietta was so tired from the effort of being good all day that she fell right to sleep. It was not an easy sleep, however. She kept tossing and turning all night.

When the alarm clock went off, Marietta was still tired and didn't want to get up. Joetta came in to get her. "Come on, lazy bones!" she said. "It's time to get up. You don't want to be late for school." She opened Marietta's shades.

"Hey!" exclaimed Marietta shading her eyes from the sun. Then, she noticed the hand she had put in front of her face. It was entirely made of wood. She checked her other arm. That one was made of wood too. She checked one leg and then the other. They were both made of wood too. She glanced at the mirror in the corner of the room and she realized that she was entirely made of wood. Not only that, she had a painted on face and strings coming out of her head. "Oh no!" she screamed. Apparently, her father could turn people into puppets, and he would turn his own daughter into a puppet because she was now a puppet. She was no longer Marietta the girl. She was Marietta the Marionette. Marietta began to cry.

Joetta laughed evilly and glared at her sister. "This is what happens to bad little girls who lie!" she declared.

"I don't want to be a  puppet. I don't want to be puppet." Marietta cried and she just kept repeating it over and over again. Until finally, she felt someone taping her on the shoulder.

It was Joetta and she wasn't glaring anymore. In fact, her face held quite a worried expression. "Are you okay?" she asked her sister in a concerned voice.

"No, I'm not okay." shrieked Marietta. "I'm a puppet, but I thought you were happy about that."

"You're a what?" asked Joetta.

"I'm a puppet." Marietta reminded her. "You were the one who told me Daddy was going to turn me into a puppet if I didn't stop lying, and you were right."

"But I just said that because I was mad at you, and even Daddy can't turn a girl into a puppet. I mean seriously, Marietta. You ought to know better." Joetta just shook her head at her sister.

Marietta leapt to her feet to argue, but as she did so she noticed that her body parts felt normal again. She hurried over to the mirror and looked herself all over. There were no more wooden limbs, no more painted face, and no more strings attached to her head. It must have been dream. She sighed in relief.

However, her relief was short-lived. "Hey!" she said to Joetta. "You tried to get me to stop telling lies by telling a lie."

"I guess." replied Joetta. She had never thought about it that way before. "I'm sorry." she said sincerely. "I will stop lying to you on one condition."

"What condition?" asked Marietta warily.

"I will stop lying to you if you stop lying to me."

"It's a deal." declared Marietta enthusiastically and they shooked hands on it. From that day on, Marietta stopped telling lies - most of the time.