Page 84 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

as a child.) She was very pleased indeed to see Clara, and not Marie.
Clara, on the other hand, was standing in the middle of M. Lesue’s destroyed handiwork, and she was horrified to see M. Lesue.
As M. Lesue looked at Clara’s stricken face, she was very sorry indeed that nature had given her, Michele Lesue, such a black and sour visage. Here she was, scaring the poor child! In her attempt to comfort Clara, M. Lesue did what she always did when confronted with a child she wanted to hug and hold and comfort, but had no right to do so. M. Lesue became officious. She bustled about, picking up corsets and bows and stuffing them into the wardrobe. She pulled down each of the seven dresses and flung them over her arms. In the act of trying to comfort Clara, M. Lesue completely and totally terrorized her.
When the room was cleared of all the fluffery, and, as M. Lesue headed to the door, a strangled croak from Clara stopped her exit. A quick peek down the hall, and then the little seamstress did something she had never dared to do before – she contradicted her patron and jeopardized her paycheck. All her desires for a child of her own came out in a succinct combined blessing and warning, “You have chosen to dress as who you are – may you be as wise in choosing your path in life. Be brave, mon petit, be brave. For you, there is still time.”
Before Clara could open her mouth, M. Lesue was gone.
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