Sleeping Beauty, the One Who Took the Really Long Nap Read Free Page A

away from me,” she said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.
    â€œBut a thorn is not a spindle,” I pointed out. (These were the kinds of things my supersmartness allowed me to recognize.)
    She nodded. “I know. But I am not sure how specific the fairy’s curse actually is. Perhaps any pointy object could do the same job as the spindle.”
    I thought about this, then grinned. “But it didn’t. I’m not even remotely sleepy.”
    Mama gave me another hug. “No, it did not,” she agreed. “But perhaps Lady Luck smiled upon us this time. I shall still feel better if we remove anything pointy from the castle.”
    So Mama hid anything that might possibly be sharp enough to make me bleed, including hairpins, combs, toothpicks, and bales of hay. The cows and horses were forced to eat only oats. After a week, Papa threw down his spoon at supper and said, “I cannot eat roast duck with a spoon! I demand a fork!”
    Mama pushed her unkempt hair out of her eyes and nodded wearily. She knew when a battle wasn’t worth fighting. Plus, she was tired of having spinach stuck in her teeth.
    The pointy objects were allowed back, but now a twenty-four-hour watch had been placed upon my head. I was never without Becca or one of the other ladies-in-waiting. I didn’t mind. The extra protection made me feel loved and protected, but I couldn’t help wondering if I was still in danger. I did not want to live my whole life in fear. One morning when I was six and had a rare moment to myself in the garden, I accidentally-on-purpose scraped my finger along the bark of a tree until it bled a little bit. I figured if the curse kicked in, then at least it would be over with. But I did not fall asleep for a hundred years. All I did was ruin my favorite white gown when I wiped my finger on it. Mama grounded me for a fortnight, but I think she was relieved, too. I was still watched all the time, but we all breathed a little easier.

As I grew, the rest of my hair came in and the carrot color faded from my skin. I was growing more handsome by the day. This worried my father, but Mother never seemed to notice. I was an easy child, never requiring much. Mother once said I could entertain myself for hours with two bricks and a bucket of molasses. Fortunately Mother did not mind a messy child, since more likely than not I had dirt in my hair and molasses on my chin by the time I went to bed.
    It was hard to keep help at the castle, because the staff would quite often disappear under mysterious circumstances. Word got around. Since my chamberlains and nursemaids were always quitting (or worse), I was left to Mother’s care much of the time. She kept me by her side when she went into town to bring alms to the poor. The townsfolk oohed and aahed at me and tickled me under the chin. Mother seemed pleased. She even sat me on her lap and combed out the tangles in my hair when they got so bad I couldn’t see.
    But on a certain fourth Thursday, everything changed. Ihad recently turned seven. I was supposed to spend the day with Percival, a boy I did not much care for due to his being kind of sneaky and always wanting to steal sweets from the pantry. But his father was one of Father’s barons, and I often got stuck playing with him. At the last minute his mother came down with a cold and I was disinvited. Father thought I was a safe distance away, so he went hunting for stag with his friends.
    Unguarded, I wandered out into the garden. Since the gardener wasn’t allowed to plant any pretty flowers, most of the garden was used for herbs and vegetables. But I had discovered a single flower bed, deep into the garden, where roses still grew. The path there was narrow, and I don’t think anyone but me ever visited. Once far enough away from Mother’s ears, I began to hum a little tune. I swore I heard a voice humming along with me, but whenever I looked around, no one was there.