For Devyn, with love and appreciation

Agnes the little red-haired chick was a poor but industrious woman. With her husband away at war she had their brood of young children to raise all by herself. What money her husband could send home paid the bills but there was none left over for any luxuries or niceties. Agnes and her children were yet happy for they loved one another very much, and looked forward to the day the man of the house was home again. And despite the current hardship, Agnes was determined to be hopeful.

Before her husband had left for the military Agnes had written several stories on her old typewriter. However, she'd had no success at finding a traditional publisher interested in any of her manuscripts. At this time Agnes decided that in order to bring in a little extra income for her children she would submit her work to an e-publisher. So Agnes sold some of her best dresses for the money to buy a used computer. After the purchase she worked for some weeks transferring all her manuscripts into Word folders. Then she queried several e-publishers. At last came the day when one of the e-publishers accepted one of her manuscripts and offered a contract. Agnes was thrilled and eagerly signed the document.

In the coming months Agnes wrote more stories and some of these, too, were accepted by the e-publisher. After the release of her first contracted story Agnes spent her days promoting it. In the evenings, after her children had been tucked in bed, Agnes wrote new manuscripts. During this time Agnes came to understand that e-publishing was not all it was cracked up to be. The market was limited and royalties often delayed. Then one day, the e-publisher she had signed with suddenly declared bankruptcy, leaving her without money for the story she was under contract for. And as the court of the Land had frozen all the stories contracted by this e-publisher -declaring these works liquid assets- Agnes did not know when, if ever, her rights would be returned.

At length Agnes submitted one of her older stories to another e-publisher. This was accepted, and Agnes, though afraid of going through the same ordeal as with the first e-publisher, decided that for the interest of her family she should sign the offered contract. And so she did.

One day Agnes was visited by an old friend, Jena. Now Jena was a writer, too, and after many years of struggling for success had been offered a contract by a famous New York City traditional publisher. The day of her visit Jena handed Agnes a little bag. Inside the bag were several grains of seed corn. Jena said these were magic seeds.

“Plant the corn,” Jena told Agnes, “and when it is time to eat the meal you and your family will never want again. But for the magic to work you must also keep submitting to NY publishers and keep faith in your work.”

Agnes was touched by the gift, though she thought it more amusing than practical. However, to appease her friend, Agnes promised to do as Jena bade.

The next morning Agnes awoke earlier than usual and told her oldest child to watch over the rest of the little brood while she went out to the back yard. Taking the bag of seed corn, Agnes went outside to find tools from the shed in order to start a garden. Now the shed was full of big and heavy implements and she had to move a lot of items to get the tools she needed. Agnes labored hard to move these things, but at last, breathless and sweaty, she found those tools she needed. It was then that Agnes heard some people talking outside. She walked out of the shed and heard the chatter coming from over the fence that separated her property from the yard next door. Here lived the newspaper reporter, and it was he standing in the yard, talking with his friends, the online book promotions owner and the literary agent. These men were enjoying a sunbath, and drinking cold beers. When they realized Agnes was watching them they stood up and eyed her coldly.

“What are you looking at?” the reporter asked.

“Sirs,” Agnes said hopefully. “I am about to plant some corn in my yard. Would any of you be gentleman enough to help me? I could use some strong arms to carry out the rake and shovel and water hose from the shed to my garden area.”

The eyes of all three men grew very wide and they looked incredulous. Finally, they began to chuckle.

“You must be crazy!” said the newspaper reporter.

“You must be crazy!” said the book promotions owner.

“Who the hell are you?” sneered the literary agent.

Agnes took a deep breath and said, “Alright, I will do it myself” And turning from the fence, she did just that. Agnes worked all day in the hot sun, while the three men enjoyed their beers and sunbathing and talked about lucrative business opportunities. That night Agnes was tired after her children went to bed, but remembering the promise to her friend, she stayed up late to work on a manuscript and even emailed a query to a traditional publisher in New York City.

Throughout the coming weeks Agnes kept the corn garden cleaned of all weeds and watered her plants daily. In the evenings she worked on her writing. But Agnes had grown disillusioned altogether with the e-book industry. Sales were very limited as readers preferred real books over electronic devices. She had also grown weary of promoting, and even more so weary of the petty rivalries she’d found so common from some of her peers. So Agnes stopped trying to promote her e-book and devoted her time to her new manuscripts. She was grateful for her children, still, and was happiest on the days she received letters from her beloved husband.

One day Agnes’ corn was ready to harvest. She went outside to her garden and began to put the ripe cobs into the baskets she’d toted from the shed. While she worked she heard laughter nearby. She looked up and saw standing just on the other side of the fence the same three men she’d talked to before. They were sipping lemonade now and watching her work with much amusement.

“Would you be gentlemen and help me gather my corn?” Agnes asked the men.

“Are you crazy?” asked the newspaper reporter.

“Are you crazy?” asked the book promotions owner.

“Who the hell are you?” sneered the literary agent.

Agnes took a deep breath and said, “Very well. I will do it myself.” And so she did.

That evening Agnes received an email reply from a traditional publisher. The publisher asked to see the full manuscript to the submission she’d made. Agnes did not have a printer, so the next day she pawned one of her old rings and made enough money to purchase a used printer with enough ink to print out the novel. But she did not have enough to pay the postage on the submission so she pawned her last dress. With this, she had just enough to mail the full manuscript to the publisher in New York.

Agnes had taken her harvested corn to the shed and laid it out on counters to dry. In a few weeks it was ready to take to the Mill house to be made into meal. Her husband had sent her what money he had so she could afford to use the Mill works and she prepared to take the ears of corn. But she had no car and would have to carry the corn in boxes down ten blocks to the Mill. As Agnes rummaged through the shed to find enough boxes she heard the three men talking by the fence. They were boasting competitively about their career successes. Agnes felt small and unsuccessful in contrast to them. But she knew her work would go much quicker with help, so once again, she swallowed her pride and approached the men.

“Will you please drive me to the Mill house so I may grind my corn?” she asked them.

“You are crazy!” said the newspaper reporter.

“You are crazy!” said the book promotions owner.

“You are indeed crazy,” sneered the literary agent, “I am a man of consequence, and who the hell are you?”

Agnes grunted and said, “Then I shall do it myself.” And she did; though the toting of the corn back and forth to the mill took several hours. By the time she had all the ears turned into meal and lugged back home again it was evening. Agnes was exhausted, but she had enough meal to make plenty of bread for the coming winter months.

That night Agnes had just enough energy to bake a beautiful loaf of cornbread for supper. She and her children went to bed feeling full and slept peacefully. The next morning as Agnes went to make coffee she got a telephone call. It was the traditional publisher in New York City. The publisher wanted to publish her novel! Agnes was going to receive a nice cash advance! After speaking with the publisher Agnes realized that just maybe she and her family would not have to live like paupers much longer.

The contract arrived some weeks later. Several months went by after she’d signed and sent the contract. But very soon after her novel’s release it was sold in real brick-and-mortar bookstores all over the nation. Her novel became a bestseller in her home town. She and her family soon had enough money to live comfortably for the first time. Her husband was delighted by her success, and her friend, Jena sent a letter of congratulations. Agnes did not concern herself with e-publishing any more, and devoted her time between playing with her children and writing new books. When her husband’s military service time was up he came home to the happiest and most amorous of receptions.

One day Agnes was interrupted from her writing by a knock at the front door. Opening it, she found standing on the stoop the newspaper reporter who lived next door. He congratulated Agnes on her success and asked if he could interview her.

Agnes, remembering how the reporter had turned down her request for help down that summer, and now turned down his.

“But this interview will earn me a promotion!” cried the man. “You are my neighbor, you must help me!”

“You must be crazy,” Agnes replied, and she closed the door on the newspaper reporter.

A little while later someone else knocked on the door. Agnes opened it to find the book promotions owner standing there. He wanted Agnes to buy advertising space on his website, and he promised her the advertisement would bring her more sales for her novel.

Agnes, however, had not forgotten how the book promotions owner had refused to help her that summer. So now she refused to buy the advertisement space.

“But I need the business badly,” declared the man, “and we are in the same industry. You must help me!”

“Are you crazy?” Agnes retorted, and she closed the door on the book promotions owner.

Late that afternoon another knock sounded at the front door. Agnes opened the door now to find the literary agent standing on her stoop. He wanted to represent Agnes and all her literary works, those currently finished and even those not even written yet.

“I will make you a rich woman,” grinned the literary agent. “You will never want again. Your family will have everything they will ever need!”

Agnes smiled, remembering how this man had treated her that summer.

“We have everything we need,” she told him. “And by the way, who the hell are you?”

The man’s face turned livid. “I am a literary agent, that’s who!”

Agnes smiled, “And, sir, indeed crazy.”

The man’s mouth fell agape. Agnes slammed the door on the literary agent and returned to work on her newest manuscript.

©November 2007 by Maria O. Perry writing as Desiree Erotique