The Dancers ©

ᴥFruitionᴥ

Madame Miri after school is walking around the front rows of the theater seats not far from the stage where my sisters and I are on with our ballet gear on. She looks up at Emerald before she says, “I know that you have an idea about a play choice.”

            Emerald looks confused as she asks, “Who told you?”

            Turquoise waves at Emerald. She frowns as Madame Miri clears her throat before any confrontation between them starts. “What matters is that you have an idea. And even though I gave you all until tomorrow to come up with one…what is the idea?”

            I urge Emerald to walk forward by gently nudging her closer to the edge of the stage. “The story is one by the Grimm Brothers called the shoes that were danced to pieces.”

            Madame Miri nods for a moment before she asks, “So, what is the story about? I have heard of the Brothers Grimm, but I have never heard of this particular story before.” Her French accent sharpens as she paces in front of the rows of seats, mulling over the title of the story. “Sounds like shoes, but how were zey danced to pieces?”

            “They were danced to pieces by twelve Princesses who discovered an underground kingdom thanks to their own underground entrance within their castle,” starts Emerald with a whisper. However, as she continues her voice strengthens as she retells the story. “And the King, their father gets suspicious and passes out to his kingdom that whoever finds where the Princesses go in the middle of the night, will be King after his death as well as choose one of the Princesses as his bride. In the end, the Princesses get discovered by a soldier who has a magical invisibility cloak and follows them into the underground world. The soldier then discovers that the twelve Princesses have been dancing every night with Twelve Princes from the underground kingdom. When he tells the King, he also requests the eldest Princess’s hand in marriage.”

            “All right, and what happened to the Princes at the end?” asks Madame Miri taking interest into the story.

            “They were bewitched,” replies Emerald.

            Madame Miri nods and mulls this detail over for a moment before she stops to look at all of us…and smile. “I think zat story eez a fantastic one! All of you have a part, but who will play the Twelve Princes?”

            Before I could intervene in any way Emerald blurts, “The Thompsons. They are a group of twelve brothers and they are already considering the role.”

            “Let me know when they say yes, and we will start preparing details for the play immediately,” replies Madame Miri. She does two quick claps as she says, “In the meantime, let’s practice. I want to see how your plies are doing.”

             My other sisters are enthusiastic, except me because I know what will happen tomorrow. I know that Castor’s brothers and he will undoubtedly agree to be in the play as the twelve princes. What I don’t know is why. Just the thought of maybe having to dance with Castor for the play is unnaturally thrilling for me. When I danced with him at lunchtime, I felt a click. A connection so inextinguishable that I never thought I would ever have with anyone outside of my sisters. Feeling drawn to someone for the first time scares me. For what, I don’t know. All that I do know now is well…Castor and his brothers will say yes and I’ll have to try and put my sisters in line through the practicing days. After all, Madame Miri likes the idea and once she likes an idea she doesn’t stray from it.

            What’s done is done. All I have to do is try to adjust to the changes that will come.