Cindy and the Prince

by Gail Balentine

     It was time for the Prince of This Land to marry. He was giving a Royal Ball and all the single maidens in the kingdom were asked to come because it was rumored that at midnight he would select his Princess. Cindy’s stepmother and stepsisters had already left the house to attend but she did not plan to go, preferring to stay home and catch up on her reading. Just as she’d settled in with a good book, she heard a tap-tapping sound at the window. Her Fairy Godmother (FG) popped in and told her she had to go, too.

     “Are you sure I have to do this?” Cindy asked as she smoothed imaginary wrinkles from the beautiful gown her FG had just created with a wave and two wiggles of her magic wand. “I mean, this is a pretty dress and all but aren’t these balls for the Royal People like my stepsisters? They’re not for the Regular People like me, are they?”

     FG ignored her and continued muttering strange words as she created a coach from a pumpkin, then a tiara and finally glass slippers, which were a little slippery to wear and made Cindy nervous when she walked.

     After the mice were turned into horses, the coach got underway, thundering up the hill. The coachmen, who had been bloodhounds only moments before, did not obey Cindy like they usually did. When she told them to turn around and go back they said “No” in unison. So, with no other choice at hand, when the coach stopped at the castle she stepped out and onto the red carpet.

  

     From seemingly nowhere, the Prince appeared. He leered at her and then affected a pose that said, “Look at me, a tall, blonde, handsome Prince. Everything a girl could want, right?” Cindy suspected it was going to be a long evening.

    Soon they were in the ballroom, dancing every dance, and drinking punch in-between while the Prince talked about his hunting dogs, his horse, his collection of very special marbles and the toothache that had been bothering him for two days, putting him “off his feed”. Just before midnight, when he started to get down onto his right knee and mentioned “living happily ever after”, Cindy realized what was about to happen. She scooped up the many folds of the dress and ran, moving so quickly that she left one of the glass slippers behind.

    The next day, she hid when the Archduke came to her stepmother’s door. He said all the women in the land had to try on the glass slipper and the one it fit would marry the Prince. She smiled when one of her ugly stepsisters pushed and grunted until she finally squeezed her foot into the slipper. When the mice, who’d been watching the whole scene, wanted to know why she didn’t want to marry the Prince, Cindy simply said, “Because I’m leaving This Land tomorrow morning and going on adventures in Other Lands. I want to learn new things and meet New People.”

     “Oh, but Cindy, that’s so soon. Aren’t you even going to say goodbye to anybody first?”

     “Yes, to my grandmother, but she lives deep in the forest where it can be dangerous. I knew I’d need protection along the way so I hired the Big Bad Wolf. And look!” she reached behind her and picked up something red. “He even brought me a cape to wear!”

     The mice gasped, “But Cindy – who will protect you from him?’

     Cindy just smiled and patted the .44 Magnum tucked into the inside pocket of the cape..