Page 105 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

waiting off stage (okay, okay – inside the clock), ready to pounce as soon as he made one tiny wrong move.
Continuing her mother/son words of wisdom, the Mouse Queen elaborated: “Today is your day, Reginald. Up to this day you have lavished all your cares and affections on your dearest mama. But today – today, I shall teach you how to win a wife!”
“Forget the Princess Pirlipat – she’s but a toad, a troll, a trollop. Here’s finer booty, better loot, and a hotter cutie! Yes, mummy shall forever be number one in your life. But now it’s time for you – to find a wife! I’ll show you how to make a pass, steal a kiss, sweet-talk a lass. Today you’ll learn how to turn that pretty head your way. Because today – you become a man.”
Not at all sure that he wanted to leave his mother, and positive that he never wanted to get close enough to kiss a human, Reggie opened his mouth to protest. But the Mouse Queen clamped it shut and held it captive in her long- clawed paw.
“You wouldn’t want to disappoint your mummy, now would you?” She swiveled his snout back and forth in the negative.
“You want to always put mummy’s wishes first, now don’t you?” She raised his snout up and down in the affirmative.
With a playful, but slightly painful slap, she released his snout and continued. “So here’s what you do!” And then she got down to the business of making a Romeo out of a rodent.
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