Page 80 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

Out of the Cold and into the Fire
The one thing you have to be careful about with chilblains is to never, ever – no matter how cold, you are – thrust your hands, feet, or whatever, into warm water. It’s like slapping your hands into a board full of red hot needles and not being able to shake those needles off, even after you’ve pulled your hands, feet, or whatever, out of the water and are running around shaking your hands, feet, or whatever, and yelling at the top of your lungs.
That’s exactly how Clara felt.
For no sooner, had she looked outside and grown cold with dread when she realized that there was no way of keeping this night (that she had tried to prevent from happening) from happening – than Mother Stahlbaum had ripped back the drapes. And half a dozen maids pulled Clara into a room grown much, much too hot from people, and hot water, and curling irons on the fire. If Clara had not been brought up so very carefully, she would have run around the room and yelled at the top of her lungs. As it was, she only fidgeted and bounced from foot to foot while her hair was crimped and curled, and layer upon layer of petticoat
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