Nobody could tell if she was a monster or a witch! She was not like the normal witches with long, crooked noses, long black hats and who fly on broomsticks. She was tall, beautiful with shiny skin and a lovely, warm smile. But she hated children! And she loved colours! She just could not tolerate the sight of children. She would walk a longer route, if she saw children playing on her way home. She lived in a locality where all the elderly people lived. But she did not tell her secret to anyone. She loved red so much that from her toenails to the food in the fridge, walls of the house, clothes and car–and everything was red! Even the flowers in her yard were all red. The only problem that seemed to make her life difficult was that children loved her yard. The roses in her yard had thorns. Yet, they wanted to go in.
Thomas loved her beautiful garden and really wanted to lie down on the red grass in her yard. ‘I wish the ‘lady in red’ would let me in her yard!’ he would think. So, one day, feeling very brave, he waited for her to leave. ‘I will visit her yard once she leaves. When she comes back in the evening, I will give her a beautiful rose and the best cheesecake in town.’ “Thomas, please don’t go to the ‘lady in red’s house,” warned his mother, “She is not nice!” But Thomas had made up his mind. As soon as he got his chance, he went inside the garden. He took the cheesecake with him too. The big thorns tore his clothes to rags, bloodied his hands and legs.
Thomas was in much pain. ‘I will just rest for a little while, on this beautiful grass,’ he thought, carefully putting the cheesecake by his side. Soon he was fast asleep, lost in sweet dreams. The soft grass was his bed. After some time, the lady came back. Thomas woke up and smiled at the ‘lady in red’. He gave her a bunch of red roses. “You are too pretty, so this present is for you,” he said. The lady saw the blood coming out from the scratches he got from the thorns. ‘This child didn’t care of the sharp thorns to give me these roses,’ she thought and hugged Thomas, lovingly. Then, the ‘lady in red,’ distributed the red coloured cheesecake with rose petals strewn all over it, to her neighbours. It was the first time she ever met anyone. And it was the tastiest cheesecake anyone had ever had. Now, the ‘lady in red’ began to love the children. And, she also became friends with all the children.
