Page 37 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

And that’s when Coffee came crashing down from her caffeine high. She felt like each of her arms had pulled all the salt water taffy in the world and that her legs were slogging through melted caramel and each foot must be tugged from the sticky mass, before she could take the next step!
And for every step Coffee took, the mice took three.
When Coffee finally stumbled into the courtyard, she was so out of breath all she could do was wheeze, “Meeeeeez! Meeeeeeeeeeeeeez! Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez!” in increasingly desperate tones.
Mother Ginger, thinking Coffee had swallowed a sugar plum whole and might be choking, slapped her robustly on the back, loosening several teeth and further knocking the wind out of the poor thing.
Tears streaming down her face, Coffee gestured, wildly at the castle walls. Mice were everywhere! There were mice
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