Page 134 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

But first he was going to make sure the Nutcracker was destroyed.
And with that thought, Reggie deftly stuck out his booted foot and tripped Father Stahlbaum just before he caught one of the boys. Of course, he immediately gushed an apology and hindered Father Stahlbaum even more as he “helped” him get up. This gave the boys a good solid chance to run up the stairs. And before anyone could say, “Boo!” the boys had swung the Nutcracker over the balcony and out into the air. The entire party stopped cold, as everyone watched the Nutcracker drop down and crash, onto the marble floor of the ballroom below.
Don’t believe anyone when they say accidents go into slow motion, or it seems like it takes forever when watching something bad happen. The Nutcracker dropped so fast and hit so hard, that those who were looking at the boys at the top of the stairs never saw the Nutcracker hit the floor. Before they could jerk their heads down to the marble floor, the Nutcracker had already bounced up once and was on its way back down. This fooled enough of the guests so that many of them swore they saw the thing hit the floor.
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