Carrie hated his name. It wasn’t so much that it was also a girl’s name; it was because it was his mother’s maiden name and she’d run off with a fancy-man when Carrie was four and he’d never heard from her since.
His father had married again, and his step-mother disliked Carrie immensely because his name reminded her of “that other woman”. To be honest, Carrie would have changed his name by deed poll to Bartholomew, but it cost eighty-four dollars, and that amount of money was not something that Carrie could easily scrape up.
His father and step-mother had two other kids, both boys, and Carrie was the only one from his father’s first marriage. His step-mother favoured the other two kids, and Carrie was left to live the life of a Cinderella. Clean this. Do this. Jump to it. His father was as bad as the others.
When he was nineteen, Carrie won a massive monetary prize in a competition. His biological mother suddenly reappeared on the scene. His father and step-mother and two half-brothers all hovered hopefully.
Carrie gave each a million dollars. He was good like that, Bartholomew.
Am I being too obvious saying this? ‘A rose by any other name …..’ So, I’ll go with : ‘A bit of a Cinderfella story’. 🙂
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Aha! You worked it out! Cinders changed her name to Bart later in life!
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Then there’s the one about Robin Dunghead who always wanted to change his name because people made fun of him When he was finally able to do so, and the official asked him what he wanted to change it to, he said “Steve.”
I do love your stories, Bruce!
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Thank you, Cynthia. Yesterday Pauline (commentator above) said most of my male characters were dumb! Your Robin Dunghead takes the cake!
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And, I do love your comments, Cynthia!
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So do I!
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That warms the cockles, guys ❤
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He must have won the most forgiving person competition. Or perhaps the most gullible?
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Maybe he was simply giving them money to get rid of them!
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So much weight is carried in a name chosen for you, but I’m not sure I’d pay $5,000,084.00 to change it.
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… and to Bartholomew!
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didn’t see that coming……….my compliments to you and to your generous character
Terry
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Thanks Terry. At least he didn’t have a shadow character like in your last story!
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I can’t cope with a story with a happy ending, Bruce.
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LOL! Don’t encourage me!
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A rose, by any other name, would smell of sweat.
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Reminds me of a quote from “The Merchant of Venice” !!!!
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I forgot to acknowledge its source; It was, of course, the man we know as Billy-boy the Bard.
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I believe I knew that!!!!!
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No, I don’t know what that is supposed to mean, or what the hell it has to do with your unexpectedly charming story. I just felt like saying it. Okay?
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Thank you for your delightful comment. It’s the modern world that demands an explanation for everything. In yesteryear, anything was simply what it was… So congratulations on making sense!
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One does what one can
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I bloody put bows obsequiously in angle brackets after that. Where’d it go?
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I’ve never had an obsequious bow, so naturally I’m disappointed at having missed it!
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Keith I hope you read this – I haven’t been able to get onto your web blog page for several days, so am leaving this message here. Your pages simply do not load – at least on my PC.
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Good of them to leave him $84
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It was probably only $83.97 – but one makes do!
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Bet he made sure he never saw them all again after that. That’s why the name change. They couldn’t find him after blowing through the money. heh, heh…
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I would say each probably spent the million fairly fast!
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Happy ending! Thanks!
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LOL!
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A modern, space age, male version of Cinderella.
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