Page 148 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

was confined within the privacy of their suite. Not that that kept Clara from hearing, or rather re-hearing, the bitterness in her mother’s voice, nor the exasperation in her father’s. Neither did it keep her from feeling guilty.
After all, she had sabotaged the clocks on purpose. Fortunately for Clara, she felt NO guilt about rejecting the sorry excuse of a prince her mother had wanted to marry her off to! This reminder – of the really, really, bad choice her mom had wanted to foist off on her – saved Clara from drowning in the “I’m a bad daughter” pool of regret. And she did have some say over her life – even if her say turned her into a housekeeper!
Pushing the thoughts of parent/child relations from her mind, Clara listened impatiently, as the maids finished their cleaning-up. She really didn’t hear much cleaning-up going on, she realized. Opening her door just a crack, she thought what she heard sounded very much like a party. Sneaking across the hall and staring down into the ballroom, she realized that was exactly what was going on! The house servants and hired help were serving, and helping themselves, to the remains of the feast.
This could take hours, Clara thought with dismay, and it’s already so very, very late. Discouraged and suddenly tired from all the emotions of the night, Clara sank down to the carpet and pressed her forehead onto the rails of the balcony, thinking she might as well sit while she watched and waited. And she really did mean to watch, but – as it happens so often, just when we need to stay awake the most – Clara couldn’t keep her eyes open. First her eyelids would droop and she would shake her head. Then they would close completely, and her head would loll to one side, and she would wake with a start. Until finally, she fell totally asleep.
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