• Childish talk of princes and castles takes a princess twist in nocturnal adventure
Diary,
Last night I had a surprise visit by a most unlikely guest. I opened the door when the doorbell rang, but I saw no one. About to go back in, I felt someone tagging my trousers. I looked down to see a small girl looking up at me.
“Hello, Dr Tom,” she said.
“Hello. What can I do for you?”
“I have a proposal for you.”
I looked either way up and down the hall. No one else there.
“What kind of proposal? And where are your parents?”
“I live with my mother. We’re your neighbours.”
That was news to me. “Do you need something? Sugar? Salt?”
“We might need those later,” she said, “but for now, I have a proposal for you. You see, I read a lot. Especially fairy tales like Cinderella. And I know one day my prince will come take me away in his white horse.”
“You say ‘on’ his white horse. ‘In’ means you get inside the horse.”
“Dr Tom, I’m not two years old. I know you can’t get inside a horse. I also know princes don’t live in castles no more. Actually, my mum told me that. But I know princes are rich and handsome. Like you.”
“What?”
“Will you be my prince? You can take me to your castle, or house, and marry me and we will live happily ever after.”
“Little girl, you’re like what, seven?”
“No, I’ll be nine years old in December.”
“Then what are you doing asking a grown man to marry you?”
She laughed and shook her pigtails. “No, Dr Tom. I don’t want you to marry me now. I’m only a kid. That’s why I was making a proposal that you don’t get married until I turn old enough, like twenty. Then you can carry me off on your white horse.”
Down the hall, a door opened and a beautiful woman rushed out to the girl.
“Oh, dear,” said the woman. “I hope she hasn’t been bothering you.”
Now I’m seeing through my mouth. “Of course, not. She’s such a sweet little girl. And you are?”
“Her mother. I assure you, this won’t happen again.”
I wave her apology away. “Don’t be silly. Kids will be kids. Actually, she was just about to tell me a story about a prince and princess. You can both come in. I’ll make us cups of warm cocoa.”
The little girl was right. I am a prince, but she had it all wrong when it came to the princess.