Happily Ever After
by: Jenny Johnson, 1998, Washington

"MAKE sure you tell Shaina to clean her room," Esmeralda Skate said to her daughter, Cora.
     "Yes, mother, I will," Cora replied as she went up to the room she shared with her identical twin sister.
     "Shaina?" Cora whispered softly as she opened the door.
     "What is it this time?" Shaina asked sarcastically. "New jeans? A new skirt? Or maybe a new sweater?"
     "A new dress," Cora replied. She, too, was unhappy about her own wealth. Their mother seemed to be getting worse every second about treating them unfairly… she always got new things for Cora, but never did she get anything for Shaina. They had a big problem.
     "What are we going to do?" Shaina asked her twin in an exasperated tone.
     "I don't know! How should I know? Don't ask me these kind of questions!"
     "Fine! I won't ask you anything anymore, then! Because you can't answer questions, can you? You just~,"
     "Don't even start, Shaina!" Cora cut her off. They had gotten into a lot of fights about this, but never had they insulted eachother. "We can't fight about this. Especially now. We need to work as a team, okay?"
     "I guess. But~,"
     "Shaina!" Their mother. "Are you cleaning your room?"
     "Yes, ma'am!" She lied. "You never told me!" She hissed at Cora.
     "Sorry," she mumbled under her breath. "I forgot."
     "I have an idea!" Shaina suddenly shouted.
     "Shhh!!! Not so loud! She'll hear you!" Cora hissed at her.
     Shaina continued in a quieter, but still excited, voice, "we'll run away! To the woods behind the house! No one has ever made it through them alive~,"
     "Duh!" Cora cut her off. "That's why they call them, ‘Never-ending Woods Of Peril'. Whoever came up with that name."
     "Yeah, but, anyways~,"
     "Shaina!" Their mother yelled at her, walking into the room. No knocking, no asking, ‘may I please come in?', nothing. Just walk in the door as if no one wanted any privacy.
     "What? What?" Shaina asked, playing dumb.
     "Why is your room still a mess?"
     "Was I supposed to clean it? I'm sorry." She sounded sweet… a little too sweet.
     "Yes, you were supposed to clean it!"
     "Why wasn't I informed about having to clean my own room… or, should I say mine and Cora's room."
     "Shaina!" Cora hissed at her. She was trying to get her in trouble!
     Shaina looked at Cora with an evil glint in her eyes. Their mother looked at Cora, not knowing if it was true. Cora was on the defensive now. "I told her!" She screamed. "I told her that you said for her to clean our room! I told her!"
     Shaina looked shocked.
     "Well, then, Shaina, dear, why haven't you cleaned up yet?"
     "Well, I~," She couldn't speak as she watched her mother come toward her, reaching her hands out to grab her. Strangle her.

Dear Journal,
I am having such a bad day today. You won't believe this, but my mother is at it again. She's threatening Shaina and making her hysterical. She's putting Shaina's claustrophobia to good use. To her purposes, anyway. She's kind of scaring me.

     Cora stopped writing as she heard the door creak open. "Brownie!" She said, delighted, as the twins' black and white cat entered the room. She picked her up and held her for what seemed like an eternity when she noticed something… the house was quiet. That could only mean one thing: trouble. She put down the cat and hurried downstairs to the dining room.
     "Shaina?" She said softly as she saw her twin standing in the door frame. "Shaina, are you okay?" Cora walked toward her and gasped. "Mother! What are you doing?" Her mother was holding Shaina up to the wall and glaring at her. She looked at Cora and said, "Cora, would you please get me a knife out of the drawer?" Shaina winced in pain and shook her head at Cora, pleading with her eyes.
     "Don't get it," she whispered, the words barely audible. Cora knew what she had to do. "Mother," she said firmly. "Let go of my sister." Esmeralda looked at her quizzically and finally let Shaina go. Before any of them could say anything, Shaina ran toward the china cabinet and pulled something out of the middle drawer: a long, sharp carving knife.
     "It's time to write your will, mother," she said, looking like someone from an insane asylum or something.
     "Shaina," Cora said calmly. "Put the knife back and come with me, please."
     "Oh, no you don't, Cora!" Shaina shouted at her twin. "I have to do this! I'm not putting up with her any longer! This is the end!"
     Now Cora was scared. Not just a little, but a lot. Not just for her mother, but also for her sister. What was happening? Shaina was usually calm and caring, but now, she was like a monster!
     Suddenly, Shaina dropped the knife. "I'm sorry," she whispered, and dropped to the floor, crying. Cora ran toward her and put her arms around her. "It's okay, Shaina," she said. Now she was crying. She heard her mother running upstairs. Wondering why, she left Shaina, saying, "I'll be right back." She was about to go up the stairs when she heard rapid footsteps. Her mother. As Cora looked at her mother more closely, she saw that she was holding a small, shiny object in her hand… Cora squinted, trying to make it out, and then, suddenly, it hit her. Shaina's pocket knife!
     Meanwhile, Shaina had grabbed the other knife again and was standing behind Cora in the hallway. Before any of them could attack, their mother tripped on something and fell the rest of the way downstairs, screaming all the way and landing on her stomach with a sickening thud. Then, Shaina did attack. With a furious wail, she jumped out from behind Cora and plunged the knife deep into her mother's back. Then she turned her over and stabbed her again, over and over and over until all she saw was red. During all this, Cora had turned away, sobbing and vomiting, and after everything was quiet for about five minutes, Brownie mewed, breaking the silence. Then, both Shaina and Cora started to sob openly.
     "I… I didn't mean… I didn't mean… to…," Shaina sobbed. They hugged, not knowing what else to do.
     "What do we do now?" Cora asked, even though she knew what the response would be. "Hey, wait a minute!" She suddenly said, looking at her mother, lying there lifelessly.
     "What? What!" Shaina asked, confused. She looked at their mother and gasped.
     "Yea! You didn't kill her! She landed on your pocket knife when she fell!"
     "We'll run away," Shaina said, sounding panicky, even though she didn't do anything… that the police would know of. "Fast. We should go pack now, and then we'll run away. Into the woods."
     Knew it. "Why?! You didn't kill her! She was already dead when you started stabbing her!"
     "How do you know that?! Maybe she wasn't and she still could've survived!"
     That remark made Cora think. "Okay, fine, then, let's go and get this over with. What are we going to do with the body?"
     "We'll leave it here! Let's go!"
     They ran upstairs to pack, Shaina getting together the camping stuff like a tent and sleeping bags, and Cora packing the clothing and cat food. They decided to take Brownie with them, because they loved the cat more than anything (except for each other, of course). They were halfway done when they heard something they feared very much at that moment: sirens.
     "Hurry, Cora! We have to go! Now! Out the back door! Hurry!"
     "I'm coming!" Cora grabbed the bags and Brownie, and they ran out the back door and into ‘The Never-ending Woods Of Peril."
     As they ran through the woods, they heard the sirens stop and car doors slam. Shaina ducked behind a boulder, but Cora couldn't move. "Cora!" Shaina hissed. "Come on! They'll see you!" Cora still couldn't move. She was paralyzed with fear. But as she saw the police officers go into their house, she could move. She hid behind the same boulder as Shaina and they stayed there for what seemed like an eternity. They were about to get up and keep going into the woods when they heard voices.
     "There's a dead body in there. We have some officers in there doing an autopsy. Apparently, the woman was stabbed about a dozen times; once in the back and the rest in the chest. But, she also suffered a pretty bad fall down the stairs, and, before she was even stabbed, she was dead. Whoever stabbed her probably wanted to make sure that she was dead. We're looking at something that I don't know if it's considered a murder or not. If it is, then we need to find the killer as soon as possible."
     "I think we should search the woods," a different voice said. As soon as they heard that, they got up from behind the boulder and ran. Into the woods, into the woods, Cora thought to herself over and over. Into the woods, into the woods.
     "Hey!" A voice yelled from somewhere behind them. They heard a gunshot, and then, the same voice. "I think those are our killers! Open fire!" There were more shots as they kept going. Suddenly, Cora dropped to the ground and screamed. "They… they shot me!!!" She was hysterical. "You have to get up, Cora!" Shaina told her. She was starting to panic. "We have to keep going! We can't let them get us, okay? Please, come on!"
     Cora got up. They started running again, Cora was limping on her right leg because that was where she had gotten shot: on her right hip.
     They could still hear the police officers chasing after them as they reached a clearing in the woods. "Drop your stuff behind that tree," Shaina said to Cora, pointing to a huge tree to their right. "Then come with me."
     Cora did as she was told, following Shaina to the left side of the clearing. All of a sudden, they were behind a big boulder again, and then the scenery changed before their eyes. "What's happening?" Cora said, feeling drowsy. She didn't hear the response; She fainted because of the loss of blood… her wound was bleeding very badly and Shaina thought that she might die missing that much blood.
     Shaina left Cora behind the boulder and went out into the open, looking around her at the strange scenery. "Wow," she said to herself. It looked like an enchanted forest of some kind. There was the big tree where they had left their things earlier… Shaina went to check if it was still there. She got behind the tree and saw that their things were there, just as they had left them. She grabbed them and took them over to the boulder, leaving them in front of it and going behind it to wake up her sister.
     "Cora," she said softly. Her voice sounded different somehow… smooth and sweet. She liked it. "Cora, wake up," she said, smiling to herself as a new, pretty sound floated from her lips.
     "What?" Cora said groggily. She woke up fully when she looked around. "Where are we?" She asked her twin. Her voice sounded exactly like her sister's.
     "I don't know," Shaina replied, "but I like it a lot." Suddenly, they heard a sound they had never heard before… a clickedy clack kind of sound. Shaina left Cora behind the boulder once more to check. Then she saw something very unexpected… two horses, pulling a carriage!
     "Cora! You have to come see this!" She shouted. But Cora was already standing by her side. "You don't have to yell," she said, smiling.
     Then, something even more unexpected happened. The carriage stopped right in front of them! "Hello, ladies," a young man, maybe about 17, said to them. He had pitch black hair and ice blue eyes. Shaina thought that they had to be contacts. And his hair had to be dyed! "Are you girls going anywhere special?" He asked them, flashing a big smile. His teeth were bright white.
     "No, not really," Cora said, still feeling tired. What was wrong with her?
     "Then maybe you ladies would like to come with me to the castle?"
     "The castle?" Shaina asked.
     "Yes, the prince's castle."
     "The prince?"
     The young man nodded.
     "There's a prince?" Both twins asked at the same time. The man burst out laughing. "You must be new here. Yes, there's been a prince here since this town was built."
     " And when was that?" Shaina asked.
     "It was built a long time ago," he replied.
     Shaina gave him a strange look. He doesn't even know exactly when it was built! She thought. She blushed, realizing how rudely she was looking at him. "What year is it?" She asked, hoping to hear 1998.
     "What year? What do you mean?" He asked. This time it was he who gave the strange look.
     "Oh, my God," Cora said.
     "Oh, my God," Shaina repeated.
     "Is there a problem?" The man asked, looking worried. Shaina shook her head. "We'll come with you," she said. "Come on, Cora, we need to get our stuff… um, I mean, we need to get our things."
     "Okay, Shaina," Cora replied, feeling even more exhausted than she had before. She stumbled behind the boulder and helped Shaina carry their things as well as she could with her leg shot up like it was.
     As they got into the carriage, the man introduced himself as Eric.
     "This is Cora," Shaina said, pointing at Cora, who was dozing off. "And I'm Shaina."
     "I've never heard of such strange names before… and you two look like the exact same person. That's pretty unusual." Then, he noticed that Cora was bleeding. "What happened to her?" He asked Shaina.
     "Uh… she… fell. On a really sharp rock. I think she's lost a lot of blood and that's why she's so tired."
     "Well, I'm sure the prince's doctor can fix her up in no time," Eric said.
     Soon, they arrived at a big building… the castle. It was absolutely beautiful. The carriage circled around the big patch of grass in the center of the driveway and stopped right outside a very large wooden door.
     "Wow," Cora said, startling them.
     "I thought you were sleeping," Eric and Shaina both said at the same time.
     "No. I've been awake for a little bit… I only slept for a little while. I didn't want to miss anything," she replied. They all smiled.
     "Well, good, then we don't have to wake you up," Eric said. "We'll get your things and then go inside. I'm sure the prince will be happy to give you a room for the night. Or, for as long as you need a room."
     They looked at him gratefully. "Cool," Shaina said, then remembered where they were. And he looked at her kind of funny. "I meant… um… wonderful," she corrected herself.
     They got out of the carriage and walked to the door, the driver of the carriage carrying their things. As they walked to the door, it opened and a very good looking young man, about the same age as Eric, stepped out and shook hands with Eric. He didn't even look at the twins until Eric said, "This is Shaina," pointing at Cora, "and Cora," he pointed at Shaina.
     "No, I'm Shaina," Shaina corrected, "and this is Cora," she pointed at here sister who smiled shyly. Eric blushed. "Well, it is easy to get them mixed up," he told the prince, who's name was Ricardo.
     The prince, or, Ricardo, nodded his head at them and clapped his hands twice. Two people showed up, servants, they guessed, and took their bags from them. "They will show you to your rooms," Ricardo said. "Follow them. Then, they will give you a tour of the castle. After the tour, I want both of you to take a bath and pick out something nice to wear out of the closets in your rooms… for dinner. Then you'll come downstairs to the dining room and wait until someone comes and shows you where to sit. You sit down in those seats and wait for everyone else to show up. Then, you eat. Now go," he finished the explanation, and pointed to the door where the servants were getting ready to go in.
     "Wow, how complicated," Cora said as Shaina started walking off toward the door. "Um, excuse me," Cora turned toward the prince. "Can you help me with something? I kind of have a problem," she pointed at her hip, where her jeans were torn and soaked with blood.
     "Ouch! What happened?" He asked her, wincing as if he could feel her pain and showing some emotion for the first time.
     "I… um…," she didn't know what to say. Should she tell him that someone shot her? Did he even know what that was? Or should she use the same excuse they had given Eric? "I fell on a sharp rock," she finally said.
     "Alright, then, come with me," he said, pointing to the door and guiding her through. "I'll have some other servants get you when you're done with this, okay?" She nodded.
     "I… I was kind of hoping that you'd stay with me…," she said, looking at him pleadingly.
     "Um… I guess I could, I mean, I have time," he replied, but she knew that he didn't want to. She smiled at him gratefully, and he said, "follow me. I'll take you to my doctor."
     She followed him up a long flight of stairs that wound around in circles as it went up. The climb took them about five minutes, and when they were finally there, Cora was exhausted. Her leg didn't feel any better, either.
     "Here we are," Ricardo said, opening a low door at the top of the stairs.
     "It took us long enough," Cora said, sounding very impatient and ungrateful, but not meaning to sound that way at all. He gave her a look that said, ‘You're lucky that I'm a patient person, or you might be in the streets right now', and she winced at the power of his look. If looks could kill, she thought sarcastically.
     They walked into a nice, roomy office that looked like it could be from the 21st century or something. It was way more sophisticated and modern than she had expected for a castle that looked almost medieval.
     Inside the office was the doctor. He, too, looked like he would exist in the 20th or the 21st century. He had a sleek, sophisticated look and talked like someone from the 20th century… definitely. He didn't use the, ‘thou's or the, ‘shall's or anything like that.
     "Well, hi, there!" Was the first thing that came out of his mouth. "How may I help you?" He asked Cora. Then, "Ooo, that had to hurt. What'd ya do?"
     "I, um, fell on a really sharp rock," she replied. The same lie again.
     "Okay, well, I'm gonna have to look at that," he said. She also noticed that he had a slight accent of some kind… Western, maybe? Maybe. Most likely. "Now, what I want you to do is sit on that bench over there and wait for just a sec while me and Mr. His Majesty have a little talk, alright?" She just nodded and headed toward the bench at the back of the room. She could hear bits and pieces of the conversation, but not much. It was enough, though, to let her know that they were on to her lie.
     "I… lie…. no… about… that… bad… soul… back… killed her… tomorrow…," she thought she heard the Doctor say.
     "Let's… happens… see… much… do… about… this… sorry… died… luck… future…," was what she picked up from the prince. She panicked right then and there. Were they going to kill her? Or were they talking about something else? She wasn't going to take any chances. She decided right then that her and Shaina would leave tomorrow… or would that be too late?
     "Alrighty, then, let's see what we got here," the Doctor said as he walked toward her menacingly… or was she being paranoid? She shook her head, trying to get rid of that thought about them wanting to kill her.
     "You're gonna have to take off your jeans," he told her. He was definitely from the 20th century. He knew what jeans were!
     "Um, yea, of course," she replied, feeling a bit uneasy.
     "Go ahead," he said, smiling. "I'll turn around." He actually did turn around and she took off her pants, letting her T-shirt cover up her legs. I'm glad I let Shaina talk me into wearing long shirts, she thought, remembering that day they were going to the beach. Shaina had said that, instead of wearing shorts and a tank top, it was much easier to wade in the water and go swimming faster if she just wore a long T-shirt instead. Cora had been wearing long T-shirts all the time ever since.
     The doctor inspected her hip carefully. Then, he scared her. He said, "You didn't fall, did you?"
     Should she tell the truth? "No, actually, I~,"
     "You got shot, didn't you?" He said, cutting off her sentence. She just nodded, not knowing what else to do.
     "It's alright… what did you do to get shot, anyway?" He was starting to get too nosy for her.
     "It's a long story," she told him, making sure that the tone in her voice was enough to let him know that it wasn't any of his business. He didn't ask her anything else about it after that. In fact, he barely even talked.
     When they were done, she said, "thanks," and went back out of the office, where Ricardo waited patiently for her. "Thank you for waiting for me," she said, giving him a shy smile. He smiled back at her. "How's the leg?"
     "It's fine now," she told him. "It's still a little sore, but I think it'll be fine."
     "Well, that's good. I'll take you to your room. When you get in there, you'll find a servant ready to give you the tour and help get you ready for dinner."
     She was kind of alarmed. "What do you mean, ‘help get me ready for dinner,'?"
     "Help you pick out a dress and get your bath ready, of course."
     She let out a sigh of relief.
     "Well, here we are," he said, opening a double door and leading her into a beautiful room. "Wow," she said, breathless. "This is amazing!"
     "It's not that nice," he said, blushing a little. "There are castles that are much bigger and better than this one. But, I didn't want one that was that fancy, and I was going to be living alone mostly, anyways, so I got this one. If I'd have known that I was going to be taking in orphans every week, then I'd have gotten one of the nicer ones." Cora noticed that he said, "I'd have" like, "I'd've". Or, at least, that's what it sounded like.
     Her room was absolutely gorgeous. From the door, if she looked to the left, there were two dressers and a door… either a closet or a bathroom, she thought curiously as she walked over and opened it. It was a walk in closet, of course. She would be spoiled after a while of living like this!
     She walked back out of the closet and continued her observation. From the first door, if she looked at the left wall, she saw a beautiful queen sized bed with a deep scarlet curtain surrounding it. Another door was in the room, this one was next to the bed. She walked over to see what was behind door #2… a very large bathroom with a big bathtub and a vanity kind of thing. It was very beautiful, decorated in the same deep scarlet as the bed curtains.
     She walked back into "her" room, hoping that there would be more doors to explore. She wasn't trying to be selfish or anything, she just liked doors for some reason.
     On the next wall, which would be the back wall from the main bedroom door, there were big French doors, and some deep scarlet curtains hung over at the sides to close at night. She held her breath and walked over to push the doors open. "Wow," she exclaimed as she looked out over the "yard" in the back of the house. There were horse stables and the grass was almost too green to be true. It was like a fairy tale! She walked out onto the balcony and let the wind tousle her hair. "It's beautiful!" She exclaimed to Ricardo when she got back inside. He smiled.
     The last wall was covered with pictures. There was one of a young girl with golden- blonde hair and big, bright blue eyes. She looked almost like a doll. "Who is that?" Cora asked, very curious about who "the doll" was.
     "It's my mother when she was young. Isn't she beautiful?"
     "Yes," Cora said. She was amazed how pretty the girl was. Like a fragile, porcelain doll. She was so beautiful…
     She snapped out of her trance as the prince, or, Ricardo, said, "You should take a bath and then pick out something to wear for supper tonight. If you need anything, just pull on this," he pointed to a long rope hanging down from a hole in the ceiling. It must trigger some kind of a bell or something, Cora thought. She nodded absently, her eyes drifting back to the pictures. One in particular. The "human doll". Ricardo left her alone in "her" room and, as he closed the door, she started to go towards the bathroom to wash up.
     As she sat in the bath tub, she thought about how weird this was that she was here, in a castle, with a prince taking care of her. It really was weird. And, what was even stranger, was that it was a mixture between the 14th century and the 21st century. I wonder where Shaina's room is? She suddenly thought. I guess I'll find out later.
     She looked up at the walls surrounding the tub. Yes, it was built attached to the walls, and the plumbing was better than she had ever seen any plumbing before. And there was a shower head in it, too. Did they have these things in the 14th century? She didn't think so. Unless they had a time machine and went to the future, there was no way they could've built this kind of stuff.
     She looked at her hands then, not sure how long she'd been bathing. Her fingers looked like peach colored prunes, so she got out and toweled dry. Did they have towels then, too? She wondered.
     Just then, she caught a glimpse of herself in the steamed up mirror. Yuck, she thought to herself and made a face at her reflection. She burst out laughing, not at herself, but at the thought of someone walking in on her while she made that face. That would've been hilarious!
     She finished drying off and went back to her room. She searched with her eyes to see if they had brought her bags in, but there was nothing different from before she had gone to bathe.
     As she tried to look for a dress in the closet, she found nothing because it was so dark in there. Out of habit, she felt along the wall for a light switch. Surprisingly, she found one and turned on the light. As it flickered on and filled the closet with a bright white glow, she gasped at all the beautiful evening gowns and daytime casuals in there. "Wow," she whispered under her breath. This was an amazing sight!
     She had a hard time choosing a dress, but finally decided to wear a long, beige evening gown. It was almost skin-tight and looked like something a model would wear, which made Cora feel very pretty. As she easily slipped it over her head and straightened out the spaghetti straps, someone knocked on the door. She popped her head out of the closet and called out, "Come in!"
     The door opened and a servant walked in and said, "Supper is ready. His Majesty wants me to take you to the dining room." He looked at her and saw that she was still barefoot. "Would you like me to assist you in finding a suitable pair of shoes?" She just nodded.
     He walked toward the closet and opened the door. He flipped the light switch off, then on again and rummaged around in the back until he found a beige pair of shoes the same shade as the dress for her to wear. They looked almost like platform shoes… they had a big sole and thick heels. She started to make a face, but figured that she should be polite and wear them because they matched the dress that she had chosen. She figured that the worst thing that could happen was she could trip and fall over her own feet, or shoes, in front of everyone. But, no biggie. She could live with that.
     She put the shoes on and the servant walked her to the dining room. It seemed like it took forever to get there! They walked down a long, narrow hallway to a winding staircase and then, there was a lobby like thing. There were stairs that seemed to split in half and went two different ways… kind of like the Grand Stairway on the Titanic… but, of course, they wouldn't know what the Titanic was, because that happened in 1912, and it was 14 something. She knew it had to be 14 something, even though they said that there was no time there.
     As she descended the stairway, she realized that she was late. Everyone else was already there… including Shaina. She looked around at the spacious dining room and saw that everyone at the long table was staring at her. She then noticed that no one else was wearing platform shoes… everyone was wearing slipper type shoes. Well, except for Shaina, who was wearing high tops, but she didn't count, because she was from the same place and time as Cora was.
     The servant walked Cora to her seat and pulled out her chair for her. She sat down in it and then he pushed it in for her, too.
     As she sat down, everyone turned back to their food and Ricardo, otherwise known as "the prince", got up and proposed a "toast", even though they only had juice to drink.
     "To Shaina and Cora," he began. "That they may find their way back home."
     They all raised their glasses and then took a sip of the juice.
     After dinner, Cora asked Shaina, "Where is your room?"
     Shaina looked thoughtful for a few seconds and then said, "up the stairs and to the left, then all the way down the hall. Where's yours?"
     "Right next to yours."
     They walked upstairs together and went to their rooms. "Can you come over for a few minutes?" Cora asked her sister.
     "Sure," she replied.
     So, after she got changed into her pajamas, Shaina went over to Cora's room. As soon as she walked into the door, she said, "Wow! Your room is cool! Mine is, too, but yours is cooler!" She grinned widely and started to explore the closet and the bathroom. Facing the bathroom vanity, she exclaimed, "Hey! Look in here! They have make up!" That made Cora come running. "Where?!"
     Shaina opened one of the four big drawers in the vanity, revealing a neatly arranged assortment of different shades of concealer, different shades of foundation, different shades of facial powder, three tubes of mascara: one dark blue, one black, and one dark brown; There were also different shades of lipsticks: from white to dark brown to deep red and so on.
     "Wow! This is so awesome!" Shaina exclaimed. "Let's check the other drawers!"
     They opened the second drawer and discovered perfumes… expensive-looking perfumes. There were even the more modern perfumes like Curve and Unruly… strange. How could they have those?
     They were interrupted by a knock on the door.
     "Who is it?" Cora called out.
     "Ricardo," was the reply.
     "Come in!" Cora yelled and ran over to the door to open it.
     "Hi." He said, seeming to feel a little uncomfortable. Why does he seem so nervous? Cora wondered.
     "Hi," she said, not knowing how else to reply.
     "I was just wondering~,"
     "Why are you here~,"
     They burst out laughing. Talk about edgy! They had both not known what to say, and then, they had both started talking at the same time.
     "You go first," Cora said.
     "Okay," he replied. He seemed even more nervous. "I was just wondering if…," he hesitated.
     "If…. What?" Cora asked, very curious now.
     "If…. If you feel comfortable in this room?"
     Cora knew that that hadn't been what he wanted to ask.
     "Yes, I am, thank you. Wondering anything else?" She asked, hoping that he would finally get it out. It's not normal to feel that nervous about asking if someone likes their room!
     "No, that would be all," he said, disappointing Cora a little. "And what did you want to ask?" He seemed not to be at all nervous now.
     "I was going to ask why," she started, "why you were here, and why you seemed so nervous and edgy. But, I guess that's okay, because you have already answered my questions. That will be all," she finished.
     "All right. See you tomorrow. Breakfast is at nine am. Sharp. Don't be late. And you should wear something comfortable and casual for the daytime. Only dress up for supper, and when we have the ball… oh, yes, that's tomorrow evening. The ball, I mean."
     "All right. I'm sure I'll find something. Thank you." She closed the door behind him. As she went back to her bathroom to keep looking through the drawers, she thought about that strange little encounter. Oh, well, she thought. Maybe I'll find out later.
     "What was that?" Shaina asked, puzzled. "I heard him stuttering and mumbling, or whatever you want to call it. He seemed really nervous or something."
     "I don't know. He was kind of weird… like he wasn't in control for once or something. I don't think someone could be that nervous about asking if I like the room. Maybe it was something else."
     "Maybe he likes you!" Shaina exclaimed.
     "What?" Cora didn't think that was it.
     "Yea! That's why he was so nervous. He actually wanted to ask you to be his girlfriend or some thing!"
     "I doubt that. Wouldn't a good-looking prince like that have a girlfriend already? Besides, I'm not good enough for him. He's the prince. I'm some girl from the twentieth century. Why would he like me in that way?"
     "Because you're smart and pretty, and you have a bubbling personality. And you're shy. Guys like it when a girl is shy."
     "How would you know?" Cora asked, getting into a joking mood. "Did you have a sex change?" She smiled.
     "Yea," Shaina said, also being a bit sarcastic. "I used to be this really ugly guy named Shane. I was so ugly, so I decided to get a sex change." She smiled, and then both girls burst out laughing.
     "We'd better get to bed," Cora said, as she looked at the clock on the far wall. The wall with the pictures. Again, her eyes stopped on the picture of Ricardo's mother.
     "What's wrong, Cora?" Shaina asked, following Cora's gaze. When she saw the picture, she said, "Who is that?"
     "The prince's mother. Isn't she beautiful?"
     "Yea. She looks like a doll."
     "I know. How did she get her skin like that?" Cora asked.
     "I don't know. Baby shampoo, maybe?" She laughed.
     " ‘Try the new Baby Shampoo!'" Cora said, impersonating the deep voice of one of those ads on TV. " ‘It'll make your skin soft and smooth, just like a baby's bottom!'"
     They burst out into a fit of giggles. " ‘And,'" Shaina continued, trying her best not to laugh. "and, if you have acne or blemishes, washing your face with baby shampoo will make them go away! You'll never have zits again!'" She said the last part between giggles.
     "Well, we'd better get to bed now, before the boogie man gets us!" Again, they burst out laughing. They were hyper now.
     Cora pushed Shaina out the door, and closed it behind her. She calmed down by washing her face and brushing her teeth. Maybe she should try that baby shampoo idea… It sounded pretty good to her. Maybe it would help. After all, a baby's head wasn't rough… it was soft and smooth. And if the shampoo didn't cause the baby's skin to dry out or break out, then it must be gentle. She decided to try it.