Page 58 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

For an entire minute (which felt like hours), Reggie stayed stuck against the door, his snout crumpled and creased tight up against the clock face. And while he stayed plastered as he was, he could see the second hand spinning round like a set of whiskers gone wild. And beyond the second hand, Reggie could see into the Stahlbaum house.
Somewhere in Reggie’s feeble brain, a memory clicked into place. He used to eat here! Just down the stairs, there was food! The thought revived Reggie and he pushed back with a primo ‘plop!’ and pulled himself free from the clock’s door.
Peeking carefully through the face of the clock, Reggie looked about for Drosselmeir, but he was too short to see really clearly. Pretty much all he could see were the stairs leading up to the attic, and below him, the ceiling of the grand ballroom. Mustering every ounce of courage down to the very tip of his tail, he turned the handle of the clock door. Nothing. He turned again. Stuck? With growing
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