Burning Love:
A Twist on the Tale of
Hansel and Gretel
Hollywood in the 1960s was booming with excitement [1]. Everyone was in on the action, especially Camille Forrest. Camille had a way of somehow making fate turn fondly in her direction. As one of film’s highest regarded actresses of the time, she was beautiful and enthralling both on and off the set. No one knew this better than the string of young actors Camille left in her wake. Those who knew her well called her Cookie, since she had such a sweet and savory way of seducing her young protégés[2]. Whenever Cookie snagged a younger man, people on set would whisper and ask, “Who’s Cookie cooking now?” Cookie was notorious for leading men on for a while, making sure things got warm, but then she would leave them in the oven to burn with their passions and desires while she moved on to her next target.
Cookie first noticed Hansel Young on the set of her new film, Trail of Lies. Hansel was youthful and flawless, with waves of blonde hair that vaguely reminded Cookie, who was on the newest diet fad and constantly thinking about food, of butter-crème frosting on a cupcake. Hansel was a fresh face in Hollywood with a small part, timid gestures, and lots to learn. Cookie had found her next playmate.
After a few weeks of shooting rolls of film and observing Hansel as he meandered around the set in his strikingly boyish costume, Cookie decided it was time. Knowing her co-star’s birthday was approaching and there would be a small party on set, she went to work concocting all of her typical recipes: cakes, icings, brownies, and cookies, particularly her signature oven-crisp butterscotch blondies. At the party, Cookie sought out Hansel, bringing along a few of her blondies on a paper party plate to break the ice.
“Film debut?” she asked coyly, extending the plate towards her prey.
“Yes, it is, actually. Is it really that obvious?” Hansel took a cookie and grinned.
Cookie leaned against the wall next to Hansel, close enough to make a statement but not close enough to be risky. “Perhaps, but I have been in this business for a while. As a perk, with all of that time comes a bit of observation technique. I’ve been noticing you for a couple of weeks now. So, what’s your story?”
“Not much to tell,” Hansel mumbled between bites. “I’m from Kansas, but I left home when I was sixteen. I never thought I would be into this whole acting gig, but hey, whatever pays the bills, right?”
As Hansel rambled on, Cookie was lost in her own thoughts. She mulled over questions about his past. Was he a small town boy with a big dream? No, that wasn’t quite right. Cookie turned ideas over in her head until she created the back-story for Hansel that suited her best. He came from a struggling family, which is why he had to leave home at sixteen. He was the kind of man, though he was really only a boy compared to her, who took care of his family. He worked his way out to Hollywood, helped with cargo loads or maybe drove eighteen wheelers, whatever it took to make it. Once he made it to California, he tried his hand at some odd jobs around town: selling Sunday morning newspapers, handing out flyers in front of some run-down department store, busing tables at the diner on the corner, it could have been any number of things. After a while, an agent would have noticed him- they always do- and that is how he ended up here. Now he sends money each week back home to Ma and Pa. Yes, that story would suffice. Cookie had been with all sorts of men: ones with questionable reputations, mother issues, Academy Awards, and foreign cars. However, she had never been with a good ole boy, and now she had one.
Just like those who came before him, Hansel was charmed by Cookie’s sweetness. It was no surprise when they began seeing more of each other, both on and off the set. Cookie was convinced that she had Hansel wrapped around her finger, especially when he was wrapped around her body. He was so innocent, so new to the sexual world, and she adored him for it.
Once around mid-filming, Cookie took two weeks off to attend some press parties and a New York City premier. During this time, the cast and crew filmed some of the smaller scenes of the movie with actors, like Hansel, who did not have major roles. Hansel was now accustomed to Cookie being around on the set, constantly doting on him and stealing away his every free moment of time and thought. With her gone, he was a little lost. As he finished a scene in which he stood as an extra in a bar and observed two men as they fought for the heart of Cookie’s character, he chuckled to himself. While these baboons called themselves trying to win the girl, he was sleeping with her.
When the actors broke for a quick on-set lunch, Hansel headed over to the deli buffet table that was set up along the far left wall of the studio. He spied a pale, thin girl frantically putting sandwich items in their places. As he neared, he heard her mumbling to herself as she slipped on latex gloves to fan out various slices of cheese onto a platter.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked as he placed a hand on her arm.
Hansel felt the girl jump with surprise, both at his words and his touch. She glanced down at his hand, still grasping her arm just above the elbow. Hansel snatched his hand away and immediately began running it through his hair instead.
“Yes, fine. Just a little frazzled right now. I was told that you would be finished filming at noon, and its only 11:30, and I already got a late start getting here, and I just have to make sure everything gets done!”
The girl’s words ran together as she juggled a stack of supplies. Hansel reached out to help her just as she tripped over her own feet and scattered plates and napkins all over the floor. She threw her hands up into the air, and sank onto her knees in defeat. Hansel knelt down beside her and began gathering plastic forks that were spilling from their box. The girl looked at him helplessly as she threw the now dirtied napkins into a nearby trashcan.
“I’m new here,” she said, sounding ashamed. “I came to be a singer, but I’m just starting out. You know how it is. I started working at Breadcrumbs, the deli down the road, about a month ago. This is the first off-site job they have let me do, and now it’s probably also the last.”
Hansel grinned as she spoke, noticing her dimples and the way her sundress belled when she spun around to fetch another box of paper plates. He noticed her voice and the slight Southern accents that fell on certain words. Hansel soon found that he was captivated, noticing everything about this girl.
When she stopped speaking, he extended his hand towards her. “I’m Hansel. I’m new here too, been a lot of places over the last few years, but I’m new to California and to all of this.” He gestured around to the set and the actors as he spoke.
“Gretel,” the girl replied, shaking Hansel’s hand outstretched hand. She smiled softly at him, and Hansel thought he saw a trace of blush spread across her cheeks.
“Well, Gretel, I’d be glad to help you get things ready. We don’t want you getting fired from your job, especially since I hear Breadcrumbs is catering to the set all week. I’m hoping you’ll be back tomorrow.”
In fact, Gretel was back the next day, and the next day, and the next. Gretel came every day that week to set up the lunch buffet, and Hansel always made himself available to her. By the end of the week, Hansel had fallen madly in love.
When Cookie returned to the set a few weeks later, she sought out Hansel immediately. She had been gone for too long. She was a woman, after all, and she had needs. When Hansel was distant, she thought maybe some of the crew members had given him a hard time in her absence. No bother, she would see him later that night. That was her only interest with him anyway, so what did his distance in public matter?
However, Cookie could not be oblivious to the fact that Hansel was certainly not distant from the petite lunch girl. Cookie’s anger boiled at the challenge she saw this girl to be. When Hansel refused her offer to come to her penthouse after work, she knew he had betrayed her. This commoner had seduced him while she was away, and Cookie would not stand for it. She would have her revenge.
The truth of the matter was, during her break, Cookie had ended up very drunk one night and fell in with a crowd of Hollywood A-listers who had possession of LSD. At first she declined their offer, worrying about the drugs causing wrinkles or body fat. Plus, she wasn’t stupid, and she knew all the talk over the Charles Manson[3] case. However, she was awfully drunk, and she soon gave into the pressure of her fellow actors. Over the course of the following weeks, Cookie found herself wanting more and more of the drug. She managed to get her hands on some before leaving New York, and she had not come out of the cloudy haze since. In the lapse of judgment caused by the pills, Cookie took her jealousy and anger to the extreme. She decided to invite Hansel to the penthouse again, insisting that he come because she brought him a gift from New York. Little did he know that the present would be from her new candy-pink handgun and that he would be on the receiving end.
Cookie stumbled into the women’s restroom to check her makeup; being high was no excuse for neglecting one’s appearance. She looked at herself in the mirror and was so gleeful about her plan that she recounted it to her reflection, just to mull it over once more. When she was satisfied, she gave herself a nod in the mirror and strode out the door. Cookie had no idea that behind one of the stall doors was Gretel. As she overheard the plot, Gretel began to quiver with rage. Hansel was caged in his relationship with Cookie, and there was no way he could escape it alone[4]. Gretel knew something had to be done.
Gretel knew that Cookie was staying in the penthouse of the Woodland Hotel for the duration of the film. A busboy from the bakery worked night shifts in the hotel’s kitchen, making him the perfect person to come to Gretel’s aid. That night, Gretel managed to sneak up to Cookie’s penthouse apartment. She slid on a pair of latex gloves she had swiped from the restaurant and tried the door’s handle. To Gretel’s sheer luck, Cookie had left the door unlocked since she expected Hansel at any moment, and the handle surrendered to her touch.
Gretel slid through the door frame and heard water running from a room towards the back of the apartment; Cookie was taking a shower. Gretel crept towards the voice of a singing Cookie, who was still blatantly high. She saw Cookie’s pink handgun lying on her bedside table and picked it up as she walked past. Gretel swung open the door just as Cookie was pulling the shower curtain back, and she fired a perfect shot.
Once Cookie was down, Gretel turned the warm water up to a scalding temperature; she remembered hearing once that witches would melt in hot water. Gretel had turned the tables, and now Cookie would be the one to burn. She tossed the gun into the shower with the body, hoping it would appear to be a suicide brought on by the overdose of drugs that Gretel knew were in Cookie’s bloodstream.
A deviant smile crept onto Gretel’s face. She stared at her right hand, turned it back and forth, and wiggled her fingers. She had taken a situation into her own hands and used this hand to destroy a witch. Gretel felt a surge of power tingle in her right index finger, and soon that one surge had electrocuted her entire body.
She strode from the apartment, no longer silent and timid as she was when she entered. As she went out into the hallway and clicked the door shut behind her, she saw Hansel emerge from the elevator and approach her with a curious look upon his face. Itching with her newfound power and confidence, Gretel dangled the keys of Cookie’s Pontiac Le Mans convertible and simply said, “The cage is open; you’re free. So what now?”
Hansel stared at the set of keys in her hands, confused and intrigued by Gretel’s words. She took his arm and led him back towards the elevators. When Hansel smiled down at her, squeezed her hand, and took the keys, Gretel knew that he would follow her. She knew that he would approve and love her even more for saving him from a horrible fate. She would explain the situation soon enough, but this moment together was full of golden riches, and she was going to enjoy it.
References
Altemus, Henry. Hansel and Grethel. Digital image. Www.nationalgeographic.com. N.p., 1999. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
"Charles Manson." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 01 May 2015.
Grimm, Jacob & Wilhelm. “Hansel and Gretel.” The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm. Ed. Jack Zipes. New York: Norton, 2001. 711-716. Print.
Hansel and Gretel with the Witch. Digital image. Http://www.childrenstory.info/. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2015.
Hawley, Tim. Hollywood Sign. Digital image. Www.travelchannel.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 1 May 2015.
Noir, James. Pool Scene from James Noir's Hollywood Crimes. Digital image. Http://www.amazon.com/James-Noirs-Hollywood-Crimes-nintendo-3ds/dp/B004RLL4XK. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
Oberdieck, Bernhard. Illustration 59- The Witch's House. Digital image. Http://www.kinderbuchillustration.com/. N.p., 2005. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
Altemus, Henry. Hansel and Grethel. Digital image. Www.nationalgeographic.com. N.p., 1999. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
"Charles Manson." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 01 May 2015.
Grimm, Jacob & Wilhelm. “Hansel and Gretel.” The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm. Ed. Jack Zipes. New York: Norton, 2001. 711-716. Print.
Hansel and Gretel with the Witch. Digital image. Http://www.childrenstory.info/. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2015.
Hawley, Tim. Hollywood Sign. Digital image. Www.travelchannel.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 1 May 2015.
Noir, James. Pool Scene from James Noir's Hollywood Crimes. Digital image. Http://www.amazon.com/James-Noirs-Hollywood-Crimes-nintendo-3ds/dp/B004RLL4XK. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
Oberdieck, Bernhard. Illustration 59- The Witch's House. Digital image. Http://www.kinderbuchillustration.com/. N.p., 2005. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.