I sighed. "Does the story ever end?"

"Skip to the cute part, then," I told her.

"Okay," Belle said, glancing over the page. "Well, he asks her to marry him. She says no. He's mad and sad and put off, so he leaves. The fairy comes back, Grognon's all angry with her. She wants another impossible task, so the fairy gives her a barrel full of bird feathers for Marcelline to sort."

"And she calls on Percinet and he does it."

"Right. Oh, I forgot! When Grognon saw that Marcelline had wound up all the thread, she was furious, so she slapped her face and called her names. Then when she saw the feathers sorted, she didn't know what to do. So... here comes the cute part... Grognon flips out on the fairy and treats her really badly." She stopped for a moment. "Oh, the cute part isn't that she tries to hurt the fairy. It's this part about the tiny people. Here it comes."

The poor fairy was dreadfully puzzled by the girl's ability to finish each task. She was anxious to please her friend Grognon, but felt more than a little hurt by Grognon's angry outburst.

The fairy had a moment of inspiration, and she created a beautiful box. It was a bit large and awkwardly shaped, so that a girl could just manage to carry it.

"Here you are," the fairy said to Grognon. "Tell your girl to deliver this box somewhere, but not to open it under any circumstance. Believe me, after carrying this awkward thing a ways, she won't be able to resist. Then you'll be satisfied."

Grognon called Marcelline and told her, "Carry this box to my castle, and set it on the table in the entryway. But I forbid you, under pain of death, to look inside. Remember: not even the tiniest peek, or I'll have your head!"

Marcelline put on an old woolen cloak over her peasant garb and went out. Even dressed as she was, everyone she passed along the way was struck by her marvellous beauty. None of them doubted that she was some goddess in disguise, but she did not stop to talk with anyone.

After a very short time the box became quite heavy, and Marcelline set it down to rest. She sat on the ground near it, and suddenly felt a strong desire to open the box. "How could she ever know?" the Princess asked herself. "It's not as though I'd take anything out. What could possibly happen? I'll just pop it open and see what's inside."

Without another thought, she lifted the ornate lid. Immediately a great number of teeny, tiny, little men and women, no taller than your smallest finger, came climbing out. They carried musical instruments, little tables and chairs, and other miniature pieces of furniture. Some were cooks, some were musicians, and others were dressed as little lords and ladies.

While some of the mannikins chatted amongst themselves, others got busy cooking, arranging chairs, or tuning their instruments. Soon, the violins struck up a tune, and so began the prettiest ball you ever saw! The lords and ladies bowed and curtsied to one another, and danced with the most admirable grace.

Others cut capers, leaping and bounding to make their companions laugh. There was eating and drinking, and Marcelline seemed to see flirting and romance among the tiny beings. All the while the sweetest music played.

At first Marcelline was delighted and amused at this extraordinary affair, but soon she had enough. "I've got to finish my errand," she said aloud, and began to place the tiny people back in the box. However, the little things didn't want to go: as soon as she put them in, they climbed back out again. They shook their fists and stuck out their tongues at her. The musicians seized their instruments; the cooks picked up the food, and all ran away, as fast as their little legs would carry them.

She chased them into the woods, but as soon as she caught up with them, they ran back into the meadow.

Soon she realized the bitter truth. "I've fallen into Grognon's trap!" she cried, weeping. "All on account of my reckless curiosity!"

"That *was* cute," I admitted. "It would be nice to see just that part in a movie, I think."

"Yeah, I thought so too," Belle agreed. "Anyway, she calls Percinet, who uses his magic wand to put them all back inside. Then he carries the box for her and helps her deliver it. He almost convinces her to marry him, but you know..."

"She still has the same problem, I know," I said.

"Yes. Every night she has to take the blue belt off. She goes back to her castle, like an idiot. Grognon locks her up again. The fairy comes, and Grognon is furious! She starts beating the fairy, scratching and hitting her. She even tries to strangle her! So the fairy flies away."

I sighed. "Does the story ever end?"

"Yes," she replied. "Grognon tricks Marcelline into falling in a deep hole and she puts a heavy stone over the top. Percinet rescues her, and she finally agrees to marry him. They have a big wedding. All the fairies come, even the one who was Grognon's friend. She fixes Marcelline so she's a girl all the time, and she turns Grognon into a toad and throws her down a well."

"And that's it?" I asked.

"That's it," she said.

I sighed. "That is one long story."

"And there's no payoff at the end," Belle agreed. "She marries the guy, they're happily ever after and all, but..." She shook her head.

We were silent for a spell, then we drank some water. Belle began to talk. She told me about her family and their camping trips. She told me about her cousin's wedding and her uncle's funeral and what her mother said about her aunt...

I must have dozed at points, but I'm pretty sure Belle kept right on talking. Each time I'd drift up to consciousness, I'd hear a piece of whatever she was saying, and then I'd drift back down again.

One of the times when I drifted upward, I heard her laughing as she said, "... and then my mother said — oh, my God, it's too funny! — she said, Belle, I'm going to make your father sleep in the doghouse, and she pointed out the window and there was a REAL doghouse there! Isn't that funny?"

Dear God, I thought. She must know I'm not listening, right? I mean, I'm practically moribund. Without opening my eyes, I reached for the cup of water I'd been drinking, but couldn't find it. Belle's voice went on and on. As much as I love her, she was starting to get on my nerves. Now I understood why Wiggy was so hard on her.

Wiggy! I sat bolt upright. Where was Wiggy? How long had she been gone?

"Belle," I said, interrupting her, "What time is it? What day is it?"

"Um, I don't have a watch, but it must be sometime in the afternoon on Thursday."

"Thursday!?"

"Well, yeah. You've been asleep a long time. You were sick, you know."

"Oh, man!" I groaned.

"You don't need to go to the bathroom again, I hope," Ding-Dong said in a concerned tone.

"No," I said crossly. "I'm worried about Wiggy!"

"Oh!" she said, a little cross herself. "She's my friend, too, you know! We're *all* worried about Wiggy."

"Sorry," I said. "I'm trying to figure out whether she got where she was going. Look: she left early Tuesday, right? And she's afraid of the dark, so I don't think she'd plan on padding through the night."

Belle thought for a moment and said, "Yes, but... she was going to take you with her, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, so? I don't know how to row."

"No, but maybe you were supposed to be her night light."

My mouth dropped open in surprise. "No, no!" I cried out in dismay, and collapsed on the bed. Tears came to my eyes, but they didn't fall. God, I was still so weak! I barely had the strength to cry, let alone sob. The truth of what Belle suggested broke through me like a rock smashing through eggs.

Wiggy's voice echoed in my mind: I really need to take you with me, she'd said. But I didn't understand... I'd wondered what good I could do... but now, the way she said it... it reminded me of the day I met Wiggy, when she practically begged me to be her roommate:

I know I'm a little neurotic, maybe, but... what I'm asking is, will you please room with me? I'll give you whatever space you need... it's just that at night, when we sleep, I want to know that somebody else is in the room with me. Will you? Please, please, please?

Wiggy's voice echoed in my brain. Please, please, please? and I really need to take you with me. Oh, Jesus! She thought that *she* had let everyone down, but she was wrong. I really HAD let her down. I let her down big time. I should have stopped her. I should have told Cakey at least, or Mirina. I should have sabotaged that stupid dory!

Or, I should have gone with her. Sick as I was, I should have gotten into the stupid boat. Then at least, poor Wiggy wouldn't die alone.

No: if I was there, Wiggy wouldn't die. But I wasn't there.

Belle's hand was on my shoulder, and for once she was silent. She knew better than to tell me it would be all right. She couldn't bring herself to say it would all work out. This wasn't some stupid story, after all. This was real life. I couldn't call on some Percinet to rescue me with his magic wand.

There we were, two Pollyannas, knowing for once that everything was broken, upside down, all messed up, and that it might never be right again.

After a long, deep spell of crying, I stopped. I lay there on my stomach, staring at the floor, and Belle began to brush my hair. It felt nice. She still hadn't said a word, which was also nice. I raised myself up so I was sitting on the bunk with my back to her, and she kept on brushing, slowly and gently.

"Thanks, Belle," I said. "I can brush yours, for you, after."

"No, that's okay. You're still sick. You can hardly sit up."

She brushed in silence, running her hand softly behind the brush as it moved through my hair.

"Look," I said with a heavy sigh. "We might be stuck in the place forever."

"This place?" she repeated, and laughed. "Do you mean here in the pantry, or on the island?"

"Well, both, I guess."

"Och!" she scoffed. "We'll get out of this cage. Cakey will bust us out."

"Like Papillon?" I half-joked.

"Pappy who?" Belle asked.

"It was a movie about two guys who escaped from a desert island prison."

"Oh, look," Belle said, "Mirina is embarrassed. She is... well... she did freak out when she found out about your—" she waved her hand at me "—about your... you know... condition... but she doesn't really want you locked up."

Then she added, "And *I* sure as heck don't want to stay in here."

"What's Cakey waiting for, then? Why doesn't she bust us out now?"

Ding-Dong shrugged. "Maybe she's waiting till the other girls are ready."

I thought about it. I wasn't in a rush to get out of the cage. For one thing, I could barely raise myself out of bed. More importantly, I wasn't sure if I was ready to face the Amazons, now that they knew my secret. I felt pretty sure that they'd snub me. At least, they'd be uncomfortable around me. They might make me live apart from them. Could they? Would they? Maybe I'd sleep in the second room of beds, alone. Or outside? For the first time I was going to face someone knowing my secret. I'd been outed, big time.

For some reason I thought about school, and how ironic it was, in a way, that I go to an all-girls school. No one there knew about me. Well, none of the girls, anyway. Now here I was on an all-girl island, and they ALL knew about me.

"Okay, Belle," I said. "We'll get out of this cage. But then what? We could still be stuck on this island forever."

"Yeah," she acknowledged. "We could. I don't think we will, but we could. If we do get stuck here, we'll just have to make the best of it."

I lay back down again, and oddly, my first thought was about laundry. It wasn't such a big deal, really. We had plenty of fresh water and castille soap. I wondered whether the clothes I was sick on were clean, and if they were, who had cleaned them. I wondered whether we could get Belle's shower working, and whether the girls would accept me, the way they did before. How would they treat me?

"What are you thinking about?" Belle asked.

"I'm wondering how the other girls will treat me," I said.

She looked me in the face as she considered the question. "I don't know," she said. "Mirina freaked out. Graffy and Grooty got pretty weird about it. I'm pretty sure Donkey and Cakey still like you, and I'm sure that *I* do. The others... I don't know. Boogers... I guess she's kind of neutral."

I nodded. I hadn't expected such a specific answer, but it made me feel better. I was glad if Cakey was still my friend. She and Wiggy and Belle were the girls that I liked best here.

"Uh, Belle? When they undressed me, did everybody see me naked?"

Belle didn't answer at first. Then she said, "No, not everybody." After a pause she added, "Well, that's not exactly true. Yes. Everybody saw you naked."

The news didn't bother me as much as I thought it might, but as I lay there digesting it, Belle let out a chuckle.

"Oh, hey, you know a funny thing about that? Well, I thought it was funny. Mirina wanted to hold up that man's boot to your foot — you know the one in the entryway? — she wanted to see if it fit you."

"Oh, brother!" I said in disgust. "That would be real Cinderella story, wouldn't it?"

© 2008 by Kaleigh Way

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