Twice Upon a Marigold Read Free

smoothly and peacefully, as almost every year in Granolah went. And during that time, almost everybody forgot that Angie hadn't always been there.

3
    Then, early one morning, Wivinia and Ubaldo Appenzeller were wakened from a sound sleep by a shriek coming from Angie's room. They scrambled out of bed, tripping over their nightshirts, their nightcaps askew, Ubaldo wielding a pitchfork that he'd kept under his bed for years in the event of an emergency that had never happened. Until now.
    When they burst through the door of Angie's room, they found her sitting up in bed screaming her head off, with Fenleigh buried under a pillow, only his rear end and tail sticking out.
    "What is it?" Ubaldo stood in the doorway, his pitchfork raised.
    Wivinia rushed to Angie, but when she tried to put her arms around her, Angie shoved her away and screamed louder.
    After a moment, Ubaldo and Wivinia could tell that Angie was screaming words. And the words were, "Where am I? Who are you?" and something that sounded like, "Get me Rollo!"
    Trying to reassure her required more screaming by Ubaldo and Wivinia. This went on for a while, with nobody listening to anyone else, until all three of them were hoarse and coughing, and finally had to stop yelling.
    "Who's Rollo?" Ubaldo croaked, as Angie was rasping, "Who are you?"
    "Why, Angie, what do you mean?" Wivinia asked. "We're the Appenzellers. Ubaldo and Wivinia. You've lived with us for a year."
    "I have done no such thing," Angie said. "And why are you calling me Angie?" She grabbed Fenleigh by the tail and yanked him out from under the pillow. "Get out of there."
    "Oh," Wivinia said. "I don't think Fenleigh likes being treated that way."
    "Who cares about that?" Angie said. "And how do you know his name, but not mine?"
    Wivinia scratched her head. "You picked his name.
And yours, too. Don't you remember?" Turning to Ubaldo, she said, "I think she's lost her memory again."
    "Lost my memory?" Angie said. "What do you mean
again
?"
    So the Appenzellers told her the story of how she had come to Granolah, and what the last year had been like for her.
    "I did laundry?" Angie asked, appalled. "I swept and carried
water
?"
    "Well, yes," Ubaldo said. "The same as the rest of us. Why shouldn't you?"
    She drew herself up in the bed and slung Fenleigh around her shoulders like a stole. "Because I am Queen Olympia of the kingdom of Beaurivage. And today is my daughter's wedding day."
    Well, Ubaldo almost fell on the floor laughing. When he recovered, he said, "For goodness' sake, Angie, you had us scared to death. I have to say, this is about the best practical joke I ever heard. Queen Olympia, indeed!" And he started laughing all over again.
    Wivinia, however, didn't find it so funny. She patted her chest over her heart and said, "Don't ever do that again, Angie, please. You gave me palpitations.

You know we wish you could recover your memory, but this is just cruel—and so unlike you."
    "Hah!" Olympia said, getting out of bed. "I
have
recovered my memory. And I
am
Queen Olympia. It's all coming back to me. I fell off the terrace of Beauri-vage Castle into the river during Marigold's wedding. And you're telling me that was a year ago? I must get back to Beaurivage immediately. No telling what's gone wrong in my absence. Get me a carriage! And something better to wear than this"—with two fingers she held out the nightgown she and Wivinia had lovingly made together—"this rubbish."
    Wivinia had never seen a real queen, of course, but she'd heard plenty about their behavior from Lazy Susan. And she suspected she was witnessing some of that behavior just then. It was certainly unattractive—and nothing like the way Angie would have behaved. Wivinia said so to Ubaldo.
    "You think so? Really?"
    "I do. That would explain a lot about the fancy clothes and the gold coins in the dress and the way she arrived here. I think she really is a queen."
    Being mayor suddenly seemed a very puny thing to Mr.