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Flannel MoutH There once lived a woman who was so difficult to get along with no one even knew her name. Everyone just called her Flannel Mouth. Ornery as Flannel Mouth was, people still sought her out because of her fine weaving. Back in Flannel Mouth’s day, if you wanted cloth you had to weave it yourself or find someone who would weave for you. Flannel Mouth traded her weaving skills for everything she needed to support herself and her small child. One winter day, when the snow lay deep, Flannel Mouth was so busy weaving she didn’t notice when the fire in her hearth died out. But her little child noticed. Her little child grew cold and began to whimper. “Hush,” said Flannel Mouth, and she kept on weaving. But the child couldn’t hush. The child was cold. The whimpers grew to cries. “I said hush,” Flannel Mouth warned. But the child couldn’t hush. The child cried and cried from the cold. Flannel Mouth stopped weaving. She turned toward her child. “I told you to hush.” When the child kept on crying, Flannel Mouth stood up. She walked over and picked up her child. She shook her child. She slapped her child. She killed her child. Flannel Mouth walked outside and pushed her child’s body into a snowdrift. Then she returned to her weaving. That night, the moment Flannel Mouth’s head touched her pillow, she heard the sound of a child crying. Night after night, every time she tried to sleep, she heard a child crying. “This house is haunted,” she thought. “I’ve got to move away from here.” One day Flannel Mouth went to see a woman she wove for often. This woman had a large house, so Flannel Mouth told her, “My house just does not suit me anymore. I was wondering if I could move in with you. I’d do all your family’s weaving in exchange for food and a place to sleep. For anything else I need, I’ll take in more weaving.” 46 HAUNTS, FRIGHTS, AND CREEPY TALES The woman replied, “Well, Flannel Mouth, that would be fine, but what about your child? Where is your child?” “My child? . . . well, there was a lady came through not long ago. Saddest lady I ever met. She stayed with me awhile. I learned she was sad because she didn’t have a child. So, I gave her my child. It made me feel good to make somebody so happy.” “Well then, Flannel Mouth, you go on home and start packing. We’ll bring the wagon up in a couple of days and move you here.” So Flannel Mouth moved, but when her head hit her pillow at night, she still heard the sound of a child crying. Night after night, Flannel Mouth barely slept. One day she was so tired she walked over to her bed and lay down in the daytime. That was when she discovered if she slept in the day she would not hear the sound of a child crying. After that, Flannel Mouth lit torches and worked all night, then slept all day. Worked all night, and slept all day. All was going well for Flannel Mouth, but all was not going well for the rest of the household. One day, the woman of the house told Flannel Mouth, “You need to work during the day when we work and sleep at night when we sleep. I cannot spend time keeping my children quiet all day so they won’t disturb your sleep. Besides, children are not supposed to be quiet. They are supposed to play.” “That wasn’t our deal,” insisted Flannel Mouth. “We never agreed to anything about when I worked and when I slept. That wasn’t our deal.” The woman of the house thought a bit, and then she said, “I have an idea. We have a small cabin up the hill behind the house a ways. It’s one room, just big enough for your loom, a small bed, and a chair. Not big, but it is weathertight. There’s a little porch on the front. The windows are small and high up, but since you’d be sleeping during the day . . .” “Suits me fine,” agreed Flannel Mouth. She moved into the little cabin. She worked all night, slept all day, and disturbed no one. One night Flannel Mouth sat at her loom weaving when the door of...

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