A Christmas Walk

15.

Last night Hayes only read a little, if he read at all. He went to bed long before I even though of going to bed. I stayed curled up on the chair. I used my jacket as a blanket. I'm sure there was one around somewhere but I didn't bother looking for one. My jacket would do just fine. By the time I thought maybe it was a good idea for bed, it was almost time to get up. I found my way back to my room and changed. Before I changed I took a wet wash cloth and washed the yesterday off. I dashed back to the library; I always almost done with my book.

Some how I managed to find my way from the library to the dinning hall, alone. How impressive, especially for me.
"Good morning Autumn." Hayes smiled at me as I walked in. Emma was already standing next to Ben.
"Good morning." I curtsied. "Your majesty." The King and Queen nodded to me.
"Good morning dear." Queen Rachel said with a subtle smile. I wished I was half as beautiful as her.
"You weren't in your room this morning." Prince Hayes grabbed my attention.
"No." I sat down next to him. "I was in the library." He chuckled.
"I should have known." Hayes stirred his tea. I took a sip of my coffee. "What time did you get up this morning?" I drew in a deep breath and looked at him.
"Uh," I hesitated.
"You didn't get to sleep, did you?" My face grew warm.
"No, no I didn't." I said softly. Hayes smiled widely at me.
"What did you read?" Queen Rachel asked.
"Taming of the Shrew."
"Shakespeare?" She seemed pleasantly surprised.
"I love Shakespeare but I do have to confess my favorite play of the times is Cyrano De Bergerac."
"That is a lovely story." I nodded.
"It's my favorite." I said softly.
"What is Cyrano De Bergerac?" Hayes asked.
"You've never read it?" He shook his head.
"I'm not much of a play person."
"Have you read any Shakespeare?" I knew Cyrano De Bergerac wasn't by Shakespeare but they were in the same realm.
"Romeo and Juliet." He sounded proud of himself.
"That is my least favorite Shakespeare story." My nose scrunched.
"I agree." The Queen sipped her tea.
"What, why?" Hayes sounded disappointed.
"It's a horribly tragic love story. I mean really." I took a bite my breakfast.
"I thought it was sweet." I looked at him. "I mean they truly had love for each other and decided it was them against the world. It's not a perfect love story but it sure is romantic." Unknowingly I shook my head a little.
"They are 13 and 16. They met and two days later wanted to run away together but couldn't because their families don't get along; so if they can't have each other, no one can have them." Hayes stared at me with his mouth open a little. "It's selfish and there is no love worth dying over. That's basically saying that your love is more valuable than my life and I just don't find that to be true." I was using my cleaned fork as a pointer.
"Smart girl." The Queen seemed impressed with my knowledge. I smiled at her.
"In high school my school wanted to do Romeo and Juliet as a play but in 21st century but no one could figure out how to write it, so instead we did Taming of the Shrew. It turned out pretty good."
"What's Taming of the Shrew about?" Hayes questioned.
"Well," I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "Lucentio, a student falls in love with a girl named Bianca. The problem is her father won't let her marry until her older sister, Katherina gets married. The even bigger problem is Katherina is unsuitable for marriage." I waved my fork around like a wand when I talked. "She's strong minded, independent, and thinks lowly of men. Two other men are also interested Bianca, but she doesn't want either of them. One of them hires Lucentio to pretend to be a Latin tutor for Bianca in hopes to win her over for him. Ultimately seals his own fate though, because Bianca chooses Lucentio over him. That's why agreed. That was Lucentio's back door plan. Then a man named Petruchio who is a friend of one of Biancas suitors; hears about the trouble that is Katherina and offers to marry her. He wanted the challenge. Her father is so tired of her attitude and agrees to marry her off. After she's married and hauled back to Petruchios castle, Lucentio and Bianca run away and get married. The family gets back together after awhile to celebrate the two marriages. Petruchio gloats about how he made his wife obedient, in result, taming the shrew." Hayes just looked at me for a moment as he processed everything.
"That's not a very lovely story." I laughed a little.
"Well not in simple English, but in the way he wrote it, it's fairly beautiful."
"But how do you understand Shakespeare, he writes so differently." I huffed a laugh.
"Well, once you learn how he writes it not hard. It's like you and I, we speak in very different manners but once you learn the other's speech patterns, you understand." He nodded slowly for a moment.
"But isn't it a play?"
"Well, sort of, but it's also poetry."
"Poetry?" Hayes seemed baffled by this idea.
"Yes. That was the beauty of Shakespeare, he did both." Hayes eyes danced around my face for a moment.
"You're extremely intelligent."
"Thank you." I smiled. "I'm not just a dancer." I took another sip of my coffee. His eyes almost sparkled. In the heat of all of this I almost forgot about his parents. The clinking of their silverware made my heart jolt. We weren't just the two of us. "Mm, you wouldn't believe the conversation the girls and I had after we left here. I had to explain the government to them." I laughed nervously.
"Government?" Hayes was floored.
"Yeah, none of them knew how constitutional monarchies worked."
"You understand our government?" I glanced over at the King and Queen. They were heavily ease dropping to us.
"Of course." I paused, looking him over. I liked how much I was blowing his mind right now. "Do you know how our government works?" I gloated a little.
"A little." He confessed.
"That's alright, it's not a very good government anyways."
"But it works." Hayes tried to make a point.
"It's like an oval tire, it works but not well."
"Hm." He laughed a little. I looked back to the King and Queen. They shared glances between the two of them and looked back at me. My face felt warm.