ope Mansion

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

A prominent, wealthy family in Lilliland owned a large beautiful mansion on one of the most prestigious streets in Lilliland. It belonged to the Hope family and the name of the mansion was Hope Mansion. When the senior members of the Hope family passed on, the mansion was willed to the two sons, Lester and Noel Hope. They were not twin brothers but they did everything together, as if they were twins.

They both went to the same university and fell in love with two sisters named Martha and Mary. They all got married at the same time, at the same church, and by the same minister. Since the mansion was so large, both couples could easily live there.

For many years, both couples seemed very happy and very popular in Lilliland society. Lady Angela, of Alpine Castle, often had them on her guest lists to attend some of the receptions at her castle.

Without anyone noticing, they seemed to stop going places together as two couples. The brothers would go out together and the sisters would go out together.

Word began to spread that the Hope family was on the verge of breaking up. Mary and Martha started referring to their husbands, not as Lester, but as Les Hope, and his brother, not as Noel, but as No Hope. Those names indicated that things were not going very well in both marriages.

Both Mary and Martha came to speak to Lady Angela about their situation. It seemed that the difficulty evolved around the eating habits of the two men. They demanded to eat nearly the same thing every day, three times a day. Ham and eggs on toast for every breakfast, ham and egg sandwich for every lunch, and for dinner, ham and eggs on fried potatoes. Every meal was just too much. They insisted that everyone eat the same thing. So Mary and Martha had to eat ham and eggs three times a day.

“We want out of this,” they said to Lady Angela. Lady Angela didn’t quite know what to say.

A few days later, Mary and Martha moved out of the Hope Mansion vowing never to return again until the menu changed.

In three months, the brothers said that they had changed the menu. It was now chicken for breakfast, chicken for lunch, and chicken for dinner. The sisters stayed long enough to have their fill of chicken and left again.

No one ever found out what happened next.