Page 68 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

Last year, after Franz disappeared with Drosselmeir and all the mice and children into the grandfather clock, Clara spent the following day waiting for their return. After two days, she began to miss Franz horribly. After three days, she grew anxious and found moments to sneak up to the clock to peek inside for signs of their return. By the end of that first week, Clara was certifiably Worried, with a capital W.
She had thought they would be gone for a couple hours, a day at the most, and here it was eight whole days, and no sign of return. And from her, now thorough, study of the clock’s interior, there was no way for her to go find them. The inside of the clock was just – well – the inside of a clock. Solid walls. Nothing more.
The thing that was really bothering Clara was the tiny nut she had found. Not an eating type of nut, but a screwing-to- a-bolt type of nut. She was sure it had fallen from the mechanical workings of the grandfather clock. And – she was sure – that if she could only find from where it had fallen and fix that part of the clock – then the part of the clock that governed transport into magical lands, or wherever Drosselmeir had taken the mice, would work again and Franz would find his way back. And she wouldn’t have to marry the really rich and exceedingly handsome, generous prince her mom had in mind.
Or so she hoped.
In fact, she’d decided she was mad at Franz. Running off like that and not even asking her to go. She had half a mind to not even fix the old clock. She would refuse to dress for this old party, refuse to come down and if it came to it, refuse to dance with any prince who dared come through her door. Not that she actually thought there’d be princes
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