A Speech In Her Defense

My name is Irene Williams, nee Trent. Until I was forty-five, I believed my and my family's life was nothing out of ordinary. I had worked as an interpreter at an embassy almost since I graduated. When I was thirty-seven, I married Robert Williams, my brother's boss and the ex-husband of the famous actress Linda Williams. When I was thirty-eight, I gave birth to my only son Toby. I repeat, everything went on very nice and pretty normal.

But it was, I now admit, pretty normal as well that Sarah, my husband's daughter from the first marriage, with her head full of fairytales and medieval romances, was prejudiced against me even already when I first met her. She treated me like the wicked stepmother in a fairy story – she really did. And, I suppose, it was my fault as well that it greatly annoyed me. I have a short temper, and after several months of trying to get on with my stepdaughter, I began to constantly argue and scuffle with her as well.

I've never hated fairytales, don't get me wrong. I just thought Sarah was obsessed with them way too much for a teenager. This, too, was the reason of many quarrels.

Naturally, Sarah was often irritated by little Toby as well. She complained on him stealing her toys, and crying too loudly, and so on and on.

Robert, poor darling, felt dreadful about all this. He always wanted to rest a bit at home after his hard work, not play the peacemaker, and he was torn apart between me and Sarah. He promised me to "talk to Sarah", I heard him once promising Sarah to "talk" with me. He never did either, and I quite understand him.

Eventually I gave up and thought that only when Sarah would get married, we'd have a peaceful family.

And then, suddenly, when Sarah was fifteen, everything changed. In the afternoon of one day, she was accusing me of every possible thing, yelling and crying because she had to look after Toby, and locking herself up in her room. In the following morning we saw a completely different girl. She warmly said good morning to me, patted Toby and cleaned the house up by herself.

Later in the evening, I found her sitting in her room, thoughtful. As she was incredibly nice to me all day long, I smiled and asked:

"Nothing the matter, dear?"

"What? Oh, no, Irene, nothing, it's alright."

"Anything with Mike?" Mike was her schoolmate and boyfriend, they had been dating for four months.

"Oh! Mike. I broke up with him this morning."

"Sarah!" I exclaimed. "Are you sure you're all right? Did he offend you? Did…"

"No, no, I just feel I need… I need… to… think… to be alone," she murmured.

And that was all I could get from her. At first I thought it really was nothing – the first crush often ended abruptly. But days went on, and Sarah became more and more quiet and reserved. The only person who could cheer her up was Toby. Gone were the days when she forbade him to enter her room – they spent hours there, playing and laughing.

That's why I wasn't worried for the first several months. I was glad Sarah finally accepted us as a family, and I thought the sudden breakup with Mike, who was quite a nice boy, was just a relatively painless end of the first relationship.

Toby learned to speak, and, to my utter amazement, he also learned to sing – without anyone's particular help. He was able to perfectly memorize a song after hearing it once! He loved singing, and at the age of four he could sing Deep Purple's Burn and The Rolling Stones' Paint it Black without a single error. Sarah strangely reacted to the discovery of my son's talent. She was happy with it, of course, but when I told her about it, I noticed her small sigh and a glimpse of sadness in her eyes.

As for Sarah herself, as time went on, she turned from thoughtful to miserable. She even stopped playing with Toby, and I often caught her sitting in her room, clutching a small red book in her hand, and crying. I sometimes wished she'd go back to her fiery, bad-tempered, even a bit uncaring, but lively and joyous self.

She never told us why she changed. Only Toby, I think, knew it. He looked at her with understanding, and one day (he was four and a half years old) I saw him saying:

"Sarah, I'll go to him when I'm seven. I'll try to fall down a rabbit hole, like Alice – I'm sure it will work. I'll tell him that you miss him."

"It's no use – he hates me now…" Sarah whispered.

I think I should have tried to find out who "he" was. I didn't – I was busy then, and later I plainly forgot.

Sarah never had a boyfriend anymore. The boys who asked her out broke up with her on the same evening. I asked some of them why, and everyone of them said:

"She just sat and stared on the ceiling at the café, not caring a bit for me."

Or something like that.

When Sarah finished school, she insisted on getting a degree in Literature. She attended some small college without much enthusiasm for her future career, and when she got her degree, she found out no one would give her a proper job.

Robert and I searched high and low for any employment for her, and we found only one place. A young man, divorced, with one schoolgirl daughter, thought that the daughter needed some extra lessons of Literature.

And then came the day that changed everything again. Sarah's first day at work.

In the morning, Toby was almost late for school. Robert spilled coffee on his new shirt. When I was at my work, I had way too much to do and also my boss yelled at me for absolutely no reason. A crazy teenage cyclist hit my car on my way home. I was exasperated when I finally arrived home, and I just hoped that Sarah would come home and I would go to sleep at last.

Oh yes, Sarah came home indeed! She ran inside, slamming the door, and threw her purse on the floor with a loud thud.

"I will never set foot in that house again!" she declared fiercely, with tearful eyes. "It's too much! Mr. Harris returned drunk and apparently mistook me for some girl he met at his party. He said I was a very pretty thing, and asked whether I was single, and tried to kiss me no less! – thankfully, at least not in front of the child. I slapped him and left."

"What?!" I cried. This was too much for me. "You lost the only job you could find?!"

"Yes, and I will not go back there!"

"Sarah! You should have politely shirked the answer and walked away!"

"No! Even though Jenny was a nice girl, I don't want to see her father again!"

"Sarah, when you majored in Literature in some tiny college no one's heard of it was bad enough, but losing the one job you could get with you degree…"

"I would better be a waitress or a conductor!"

"Young lady! You appear to have no respect for your family. You could get an excellent education, a wonderful job, and you're calmly speaking of being a waitress!"

If Sarah was more calm, regretted losing her job, didn't shout so much, I would have been more calm as well. But my nerves after the horrible day got the better of me, and Sarah's cries did no good for them.

"Do you think we're going to feed you all your life?!" I continued. "On some day, you'll have to live on your own, and all you can do is read books and play dolls!"

"No! I didn't get a degree for nothing, Irene!"

"Well, the degree is worth nil if you can't earn your living! Fairytales are all very well, but you can't live by only them!"

"What if you can?" Sarah cried, tears now freely streaming down her face. "What if you can?"

She began running upstairs to her safe haven, alias her room.

"If you could, I would be very glad! I wish I wouldn't have to worry about a careless penniless girl!" I shouted. "I wish it was possible for the goblins of yours to just come and take you away – right now!"

Sarah froze. A strange light appeared in her eyes. For a moment, we were standing and just staring at each other. A thought finally crossed my mind that I had gone too far, and I wanted to walk to her and try to calm her down… but a moment passed.

Thunder rolled and lightning flashed outside, though it was a clear, bright evening. The lights in the house went out. Suddenly, strange creatures that indeed looked like goblins from Sarah's books appeared everywhere. They jumped, and cackling laughter echoed in the hall. I screamed. Sarah was silent. She looked strange: flustered and excited, with her cheeks bright red, and her body trembling.

The main window opened wide, and a white owl flew inside. Once it reached the staircase, it turned into a handsome blue-eyed pale man, clad in a dark cape, with terribly messy blond hair. He wasted no time in taking Sarah in his arms and holding her tight. The goblins cheered even more.

The man turned to me. I thought he tried to look cold and fierce, but the happiness shining in his eyes and a smile in the corner of his betrayed him. He spoke in a deep accented voice:

"Thank you, Mrs. Williams, for granting me power over my precious Sarah again. After six years of anguish and misery, I can finally have her as my Queen," he paused, "my wife. I will marry her in eight hours, our time, and you and your family will be transported to our wedding at six in the morning – your time."

"What do you mean?!" I managed to cry, after standing still and dumbfounded. "Whoever you are – you can't take her away! I didn't mean it!"

"Oh, you didn't?" he chuckled. "The same routine every time."

"Please release her! I'm so sorry! I'll do anything…"

"Once in a millennium, I have the right to defy the laws of magic," he said. "I do it now. I won't give you a chance to run a Labyrinth for her."

"No! No!" I screamed, hoping it all was a bad dream. "Sarah!"

Suddenly Sarah looked up at the man and whispered:

"Jareth, please, let me say a few words to Irene before we leave."

"Of course," he nodded after a tiny pause and released her from his arms, though still held her hand. Sarah looked at me and smiled happily:

"Oh, Irene, I can't say how grateful I am. I have gotten to know Jareth – he's the Goblin King – six years ago. I'll tell you later how… Let's just say there were certain – er… misunderstandings between us, but he showed his love for me back then already. I was just too young to comprehend it, so I rejected him. Only in several weeks after that I realized I loved him too. I rejected my only real love. My refusal was so straight and cruel, that I was sure he hated me… I have been sure of this until now," she looked at Jareth, and he smiled at her. "I assure you I'm more than happy to marry him."

"Oh, I… I see it now…" I whispered, still confused. "I see whom you've been crying for… If so, you can marry, of course… I'm very happy for you…"

"Then, Mrs. Williams, see you – and Mr. Williams, and of course little Toby – at the wedding," the Goblin King said. "I would like to have a few words with my bride before midnight – before the wedding day begins."

Sarah smiled at me once more, and they both disappeared, along with the goblins. I stared open-mouthed at the cloud of glitter in the air. Then I pinched myself. Then I pinched myself again, looked at the clock, rushed to the telephone, and dialed the number of Robert's office.

"Robert!" I cried. "Come home now – Sarah's getting married – to a Goblin King – she lost her job – we will be transported – I still can't make head or tail of all this – anyway, come home quick!"

"Irene?" Robert asked carefully. "Is it really you?"

"Do you think anyone could have thought this thing up?"

I threw the phone away and ran upstairs to wake Toby up – I still had the feeling he knew something more about the goblins and Jareth than I did. He was woken up by the shouting, and now looked at me worriedly.

"Toby," I said slowly, "Do you know anyone named Jareth?"

Toby's sleepiness vanished.

"Why?" he asked excitedly.

"I think Sarah is going to marry him early in the morning," I said, feeling foolish. What would be his reaction?

Toby jumped on the bed:

"Yay! At last! She should have done it before! I told her he loved her!"

"Is he r-really a Goblin King?"

"Oh, yes! He rules over a whole country of magical creatures, goblins mostly, and the center of his land is a big Labyrinth with a large Goblin City and a castle!"

I pinched myself once more. I didn't wake up, so I said, still dazed:

"Toby, put on your best clothes. He said we'd be transported to the wedding."

Robert came home. By that time, I had calmed down a little, so I told him everything more clearly. For the first few seconds, I feared he'd believe me mad. But then he saw the glitter in the hall and Toby's cheerful assurances that the Goblin Kingdom exists.

"Still, I don't like it that the fellow just… whisked her away," he said, worried. "It was, you know, careless of you, dear – to throw such insults at Sarah."

"I know!" I cried. "I almost hit myself for it!"

"Are you sure it wasn't against Sarah's will?"

"Yes, I'm telling you. The two of them were madly in love, it was obvious. You could see it from a hundred yards away."

"Of course they're in love!" Toby interrupted. "Jareth sang sickeningly sweet love songs to her six years ago! He gave me the gift of music – to prove that his love for Sarah is true! And Sarah cried for him all these years!"

…Robert and I couldn't get over the astonishment when the clock rang six in the morning. Only Toby was happy and at ease. Another cloud of glitter surrounded us, the world blackened for a moment, and then we found ourselves on a large square, crowded with dwarves, goblins, and who knows whom else.

In front of us there stood a huge castle. Just as we appeared, the gate of it opened – to reveal Jareth, now dressed in purple, red, and maroon, with steaks of blue in his a bit less messier blond hair, and Sarah in a puffy white glittering dress, her hair done in a bit odd but not unattractive way. They outstretched their hands to show the engagement rings.

The crowd broke with cheers:

"Hail to the King and Queen! Long live the King and Queen!"

Fireworks exploded in the sky. Elves started to play a joyful tune, and everyone began dancing. Jareth gracefully led Sarah down the stairs.

We pushed our way to the couple.

"Irene! Dad! Toby!" Sarah exclaimed. "Oh, I've never been happier in all my life! Welcome to my new home."

Jareth nodded to Robert:

"Hello, you must be Mr. Robert Williams. I'm very happy to meet you. Sorry for wedding your daughter so hastily, but you don't know what I felt during these years. I don't want to talk about it… ask my subjects if you want… But believe that I love Sarah more than my world, more than my life."

Robert smiled:

"Now I finally know for certain we're in a fantasy world. Of course, sir, I can see you're genuine with your feelings. And Sarah has been so miserable too! We never knew…"

"Oh yes, she told me," Jareth kissed Sarah's forehead. "I assure you that, had I had power over her, I would have courted her – or dated, is that the word you use? – properly. But with these words, I couldn't even get near her, only in my owl form."

"It's all my fault…" Sarah began, but Jareth silenced her:

"Don't muse on it. It's all over, precious. Let's not think of the past on this day."

Toby was obviously tired of the grownups talking of boring things, so he stepped forward and grinned:

"Hello, Goblin King!"

"Hi, Toby," Jareth laughed as he hugged the boy. "You've grown up into a very fine young man. And how do you like my gift of music?"

"Oh, very much!" Toby said. "Only I remember every song I hear, so apart from Led Zeppelin and Dire Straits and such things, I'm forced to remember these sugary girlish verses you sang to Sarah six years ago!"

After all the worrying and excitement, we couldn't help but laugh in unison. Then Jareth and Sarah began to dance, and Toby ran off to play with the goblins. Robert and I stood and looked at each other until Robert chuckled:

"Well, since we aren't going to find anything out until later, how about we dance as well?"

…The wedding lasted for many hours. I managed to learn the story of Sarah and Jareth's acquaintance, not from the newlyweds themselves, but from a talking fox who called himself the noble Sir Didymus. I was shocked, to say the least. And for the umpteenth time, I was sorry I was on bitter terms with Sarah back then. If Sarah had someone she could confide in and who would believe her, maybe she would have told me or Robert the story... Maybe we could have thought of something… Maybe she would have reunited with Jareth earlier…

But it was difficult to think of sad things. Just seeing Jareth and Sarah together boosted the mood.

Late in the evening, the groom and the bride bade us goodbye, and we were transported back to our world. Toby promised to visit Sarah every weekend, and Robert and I – to visit them during vacations.

So that's it. That's how my stepdaughter became the Goblin Queen Consort. She still is, and she's the happiest person I know. Her husband is a little strange and a bit overly jealous of her, but when did Sarah need anyone normal? Anyway, Jareth is also charming, and can sing wonderful songs, and is a good fantasy king, and loves Sarah very much.

Why did I speak of all this for so long? Well, you know, I tried to clear myself of all suspicions of being a wicked stepmother. I'm not one! Why? Well, can't you see it? A wicked stepmother always tries to ruin the beautiful girl's romance – and usually gets near to succeeding! While I – though unconsciously – restored Sarah's relationship and reunited her with her beloved prince (well, king) charming!

I hope you understand now that I'm NOT the wicked stepmother. Don't you agree?