Page 171 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

Things that are inside your head, most often need to be said. Not always, mind you. You don’t want to go about blathering, every time you think someone has B.O. or a pimple on their nose. But we’re always being told to share our feelings – which is always easier said than done!
And so it was, with Clara and Franz.
A year of longing wrapped into one little bitty moment – and no one could think of a single thing to say. For a long while. Nothing. Just staring. No drooling on Clara’s part, yet. But she was in danger – the saliva was forming little pools under her tongue. So, she swallowed hard. So did Franz, but it was rather grotesque and loud.
That’s when the shuffle-your-feet, odd-sort-of-feeling started.
Fortunately, Franz whispered a gruff “Thanks,” and they woke up from their dreamlike state, blinked a bit, and moved on.
“She almost married me off to that rat! And all this time – all my life – I’ve been tyrannized by their time and their rules!”
“I thought you’d never see me.”
“I thought I’d never wake up from that nightmare of a party.”
And on and on they went, talking from their own viewpoints and sometimes jumbling up on top of each other about their own separate messes – until at last, the messes merged. And they stopped and asked together at the same time: “So, what do we do now?”
157