Page 133 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

mouth and tore through the room, dodging between the skirts, and under the legs, of the adults who tried to stop them. Fortunately for the Nutcracker, the whole room was bent on stopping the boys – everyone that is, except Prince Reginald Rhatt.
Reggie, after the snub from Clara, had only felt relief at getting away from the two-legged female who looked at him like the rat he wanted to be. And in that rush of relief, he made a beeline for the buffet table, where he bolstered himself back up by downing every sweet, cheese and chocolate he could find. Halfway through a tart, he broke into a cold sweat, and not from overeating – mice never get sick from that – but from the thought of his mother! And he knew he’d have to find Clara again and finish the deed he had been sent to do.
And just as Reggie had come, to this realization, he had looked up to see Drosselmeir hand the Nutcracker to Clara, and had choked on the very tart he was in the process of swallowing. The Nutcracker! In a real panic, Reggie had coughed and hacked, as Mother Stahlbaum whacked and whacked on his back. Rudely pushing her aside, Reggie had finally caught his breath – when the boys stole the Nutcracker. Maybe, he thought weakly, maybe he would live after all.
Then, as we so often do when we’ve been really, really scared, Reggie turned angry. Angry at mummy dearest, angry at the boys who were running around and NOT destroying the Nutcracker, and angriest at Clara. It was her fault he was here in the first place, her fault Drosselmeir had run away with the Nutcracker, her fault that he’d had to leave the Land of Sweets – and come back here, where he could get badly hurt! Clara! It was all her fault! And if he ever had the chance, he was going to make her pay!
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