Page 92 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

confusion, but also they were on a seek-and-destroy mission. First, they raided the curio cabinet and broke a couple of Clara’s dolls. Then, they paid an inordinate amount of attention to the refreshment table – especially the end with all the nuts. By the time they were through, nuts had been scattered from one end of the buffet to the other, causing the poor maid – who had been frightened by mice in the clock upstairs – to react in horror when she saw the state of the table. Quickly cleaning up the mess, she checked under the table and in the corners for any signs of mice.
The boys had returned to the curio cabinet, and as the maid passed by, the cabinet gave a little jump – just like the clock upstairs. The poor maid fainted dead away, and had Drosselmeir not been as quick of foot as he was keen of eye, she would have fallen over into the punch bowl. He carried her downstairs to the kitchens and put her under the care of the housekeeper. By the time Drosselmeir returned, several of Mother Stahlbaum’s wooden statues were in pieces near the fireplace, and the boys were making their way to the intricate carvings on the staircase – where he had hidden the Nutcracker.
Still not sure of their intent – but fearing for Franz – Drosselmeir quickly strode across the room on his long, long legs. And just as the boys spied the Nutcracker amidst the carvings of trees and nuts and candy and animals on the staircase leading up to the clock, Drosselmeir collared their, well, their collars. With his hand firmly gripping the necks of their blue velvet jackets, Drosselmeir dragged them down from the balustrades they were scaling, and out of reach of the Nutcracker.
Exhaling in relief and fear combined, Drosselmeir glared down at the boys. He realized something was amiss, wrong
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