“Once there was a princess. Her name was Marie and she had everything she could desire – a pony with a jeweled saddle, dolls that were so lifelike that the courtiers were afraid of them, a beautiful fur coat – ”
“You mean from a dead animal?” Melissa asked in horror.
“It was made from the very best fake fur available,” Sandie reassured her. “This princess was near perfect – she had a happy disposition – just like yours – but she had one big fault. She believed everything that people said, no matter how ridiculous. She believed it when they said that unicorns were bred for jousting and she believed it when they said that bathing during a full moon could be fatal. And worst of all, she believed that the courtiers liked her for herself and not because they wanted things, like special permission to hunt in the royal forest or positions at court for their children.
“The word spread around the kingdom about how easy it was to fool Princess Marie and one day, shortly after her sixteenth birthday, a knight rode up to the castle gate and demanded to see her. He told her that the King had offered her hand in marriage to anyone who could slay the Ogre of Devil Mountain and that he had done just that. To prove it (although he didn’t have to because she already believed him) the knight pulled a bloody head out of a sack and waved it in front of her. The princess fainted from the shock and when she woke up she was riding in front of the knight on his horse, through a country that she didn’t recognize.”
“What was the knight’s name?”
“He was called Sir Reginald and after kidnapping the princess he extracted a huge ransom from the king. When the money from the ransom ran out, Sir Reggie forced the princess to become a thief like him. He taught her pick-pocketing, shoplifting, and caravan looting until she could run with the best of them. At first she was terrified, but eventually the princess discovered that she liked the thrill of the chase and soon the knight and the princess became known throughout the land for their daring exploits.”
“Did they kill anyone?” Melissa asked, with an eagerness that betrayed some blood lust. While Sandie was trying to think of a suitable answer, the girl took over the story.
“Princess Marie missed her father very much. She asked Sir Reginald if she could go home for a visit but he told her that the King was dead from food poisoning. She believed him and was very sad but then she saw a picture of her father in a newspaper that proved he was alive! The princess was overjoyed but she was also so angry at Sir Reggie that she broke into his safe and stole all of his gold. Then she escaped through the window and rode home on her favorite pony, which had come to look for her and been faithful all the while. They lived happily every after and from that day on the princess never believed a word anyone said.”
“Brilliant!” said Sandie, and she meant it. The girl was a born storyteller. It was also obvious that she had blended some reality into her fiction.
“How could Sir Reginald have a safe if they were always traveling?” Sandie asked.
Melissa’s face wore the condescending smile of an insider about to share a secret. “That’s easy. He stole enough money to buy a big castle and then he hid it in the safe behind a picture in the music room.”
Sandie moved out the next day, refusing Kip’s offer to drive her and her heavy suitcase to the new apartment. She gave him a phony address in Queens. “Maybe I’ll move into the city when I get a raise at the bank,” she said.
“When will I see you again?” he asked.
She thought of the wax impression carefully stowed in the change compartment of her wallet. “Soon,” she said.
© 2007 Joyce Yarrow
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