Page 82 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

the coals, each one heating up and glowing red, until the entire firebox floor was crisscrossed in red-hot x’s of hairpins gone molten.
At last, Marie was banished from the room, and Clara stood studying her reflection in the mirror, where she was glad to see a pretty girl in a simple gown. Then she realized that she was still stinging, and the evening was just going to go from bad to worse. This thought was confirmed when the new silver bell her mom had installed for just this night, rang, and rang, and rang again, as the bachelors arrived for her coming-out party.
If ever there was a time for Plan B, Clara knew it was now, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what Plan B might be.
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