Page 22 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

As the Gingerbread men fled from the Princess, they, and all the other Sweeties, ran, ran, ran as fast as they could through the castle courtyard to Drosselmeir’s workshop. Breathless, they skidded to a stop, bumping into each other – thump, thump, thump!
And Franz knew that on this particular morning, the entire land of Sweets needed his nuts. And he wished, like he did on every other morning, his uncle Drosselmeir would find that particular Nut he was looking for. Then Franz could go home and see his favorite friend, Clara – even if she was a girl.
Except, on this particular morning – as Franz kneeled and presented a golden plate of freshly-cracked nuts to Princess Pirlipat, and the Princess batted her eyes and stared at him in a hungry way – Franz realized that he was glad Clara was a girl, especially since she was not a very silly girl like the one before him – on this particular morning, like every other morning.
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