Mable And Her Magic Ways - Chapter 2

 Mable And Her Magic Ways

A Novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 2

Mable’s Gables

Mable Sniggers was a busy person , always on the go , with people to see and places to go . She liked to catch up with all the gossip as well as spread it around with a thick slice of exaggeration . She was a carrier or scandal as well as good news and if she could speak it our it found other way to inform the community where she lived .
She wrote lots of graffiti al well as putting up murals around some of the most recognised gables in the village . She was kind of secret celebrity and a local unsung legend when it came to it and most people let her do her stuff without interruption because she was a local identity and those who knew her could put up with all of her eccentricities . The locals tagged her murals as Mables Gables and they were left alone . No one touched them or defaced them .
Her murals had been recognised by some of the local historians and they called her a free spirit who was ahead of their time . Some photos of her murals were often featured on some of the websites that promoted free thinking artists .
Life at sunrise was always a good time for Mable to get started each day and it was another one of those days when she felt the urge to do a new mural , So off she went around the village to select a gable wall that would show her next work or art .
As she was walking past a gable wall near to the main road overlooking the brickworks something caught her eye . A builder had left his ladder unattended and for her that was a sign and needed no invitation for here to go to work . She carried the ladder on her shoulder to the gable of an old Georgian style home opposite the local cinema , her inspiration arrived almost immediately . Her new mural was to display a selection of famous actors and actresses from times gone by .
She left the ladder there and went to get the materials she needed .
The gable was ready made for her new work ,
Almost immediately a crowd gathered as she began her new mural .
People passing by would make a comment .
“ Another gable for you Mable “

”‘Sure, no one’s using the bricks anyway “
She would say .

“Show us some of the colours of life Mable. “

Mable would often comment.
“Theres a bucket right there by the foot of the ladder , if you want to donate some money towards the cost of the paint . I’d appreciate that “

Most people always put money into her begging bucket. The more money she got the more colours she could add .
She could transform any dreary gable wall into a colourful display of life and the old brick wall would become a part of history in a list of other murals known affectionately as Mables Gables . Other artists never entered the fray and were never seen or heard in her village .
The only people who liked to get involved with Mable were some of the local street graffiti gangs who were also street artists like Mable .

The graffiti artists were friends of Mable and kept an eye on her . They became part of the secret Mural police who protected her artworks and made sure no one have her any grief when she worked . She always had a n audience who loved to watch her confidently using brush strokes to influence the presence of a master’s touch .
In that silence Mables Gables were transformed into a progression of modern-day pictures with a voice and her murals were now adorned on many gables around the streets for everyone to see .
She had dome her first mural as the age of three on her knee at the back gable wall of the Corner Shop beside the primary school in Kane Street . There was a painter there that morning painting the window frames and door of the shop and while her Mother was begam talking to the painter , Mable helped herself to a paint brush that was there in a pot of paint and when her Mother had finished gabbling away everyone had seen the work Mable had done all over the gable wall .Some of the people remarked how the paint strokes resembled Ivy Leaves that were growing on the wall and afterwords someone actually did a mural called The Talking Ivy , inspired by young Mable Sniggers .
In the years that followed Mables own works started to appear on other gable walls and people had said that it was a kind of street art gallery full of artworks that could never be sold . The murals were painted upon brick walls that never fell and told stories of the outstanding talent of their day . Mable was a living street mural artist and with every chapter of life that she read through the decades her stories of those who came and went were sent upon a concrete canvas and those masterpieces lived on with the others she had recently done . Some of her recent artworks had emerged depicting the struggle and the oppression of the people who lived below the bread line and couldn’t find work . Although the people of the day were feeling the pinch in the hard times Mables murals gave them a voice that screamed out to the world the unspoken words of their struggle . Not many people ever looked away of could forget what their eyes had met as they passed by that gable wall .
Now and then one of the graffiti gang asked Mable for her permission to write a few works underneath her mural . One of the lines that stood out was in a mural of the artist , who was painting the sky from a long ladder that was being held by two homeless men who were on their knees . The words that were written at the base of the mural read ,
“ We are strongest when we’re on our knees “
Her works and the words of the graffiti gang inspired many .
Around the streets , Mables murals spoke out and graffiti gangs made sure no one tried to ruin the rule she had over their territory , The rule was enforced by other gangs around the city and in a hard place without mercy or hope , a rope had been strung to tie down any shadows lurking around the streets who might want to disfigure or add to Mables Gables .Only those with no brains would try to make their own impression on Mables Gables but they were very quickly overrun the graffiti gangs around the city who were taking care of business .
Every picture has a story and every story has a voice and Mable was the one selected to get the word out on the street .

She came and went then disappeared quickly into nowhere until she would reappear again on another gable wall where the call would come and she would become the lawbreaker and the lawmaker of the ghettos .
No one dared interfere with the gangs and Mable was emerging as their storyteller who painted stories from the ghetto around the gable walls of houses she chose ..
Mable was part of the new breed and the voice of the ghetto .
She worked on her own and even managed to somehow get in between the different gangs of the city who saw her work and heard what she had to say about street life that spoke through the vivid images splashed around the ghetto .
Her work was winning admiration and appreciation in a place where life and death were just part of everyday living .

 End of Chapter 2

Link to chapter 3.

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/mable-and-her-magic-ways-chapter-3

 Mable And Her Magic Ways

A Novel

By Paul McCann

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