a writing prompt...

for those of you unfamiliar...here's the original:

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To Fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after

now the truth is, that jack and jill honestly and truly did go up that hill. as dumb as that sounds, it's the truth. thing is tho, they went up MANY hills, not just the one. jack refused to listen to jill who KNEW they were lost. she tried dropping a few hints; one when they passed by that ridiculous house where hansel and gretel almost got baked. (who ever heard of a roof made of thatched straw anyway?) another time, when they came to that forest where the trees threw their own apples at the kids. (how weird was that?) jill found the trees so rude, she decided to steal one of the pails she found hanging. jack, being a guy, refused to ask directions, and was convinced jill knew nothing about the forest. much to jill's chagrin, he blazed his own trail, and now they were lost.

which in itself would not have been a huge deal were they not in dire need of something to drink. jill's allergies were acting up, and the assorted flora and fauna of the past few hours was really wreaking havoc w/ her sinuses. she tried those 'fast-melt' allergy tablets. the kind where you don't need water? bull hockey. that sucker was firmly lodged in jill's larynx. it wouldn't come up and it certainly was not going down. least not on it's own. hence they better find some water, and fast.

finally, they came upon a crystal clear stream. upon closer inspection of the afore mentioned pail however, jill decided it was none too sanitary. she dropped down, face first, and started to drink. her slurping was the first sounds jack had heard her utter for hours. usually he welcomed her silent treatments, but this was not one of those days. the only thing worse than hiking w/ a friend who never stopped talking, was hiking w/ a friend who stops talking.

another mitigating factor here, was that jack was still smarting from his visit to the dentist the day before. the temporary dental work he received felt like a huge buick lodged in his molar and he could not wait for the permanent work to be done. on the way back down one of the hills tho, jack tripped over his manolo blahnik tassled loafers, and broke his temporary crown. his dentist would not be happy. neither was jack, as his HMO had some ridiculous life-time limitations on cosmetic dentistry.

jill however, her thirst quenched, allergy pill finally doing it's job, took a sadistic sense of glee away from jack's misfortune. rather than flat-out laugh in jack's face however, she decided to throw herself down the hill like a child. as she tumbled head over teacup, down the rolling hill, she could not wipe the smile from her face.