Chapter 3
Cinderella
"Good morning Snow White." said Cheryl cheerily the next morning as she got Snow White out of bed to get her ready for the day. It was another overcast day and Cheryl felt rather lazy. In fact, it looked as if it were going to rain again. "Guess I can't go to the park today, it's going to rain." said Cheryl to herself as she sat Snow White down into her chair. In fact, Cheryl was still wearing her nightgown she felt so lazy. "Maybe I should have a little nap, I still feel a little sleepy since it's dark outside." said Cheryl to herself as she collapsed onto the couch in order to go to sleep. As she slept, she dreamt about being a princess wearing a fancy ball gown and dancing the night away with her handsome prince. Both Greg and Sonja came into the living room to see what Cheryl was up to, but both found her fast asleep on the couch. Greg covered her up with a light blanket and then gave her a tender kiss on her forehead and Sonja sat down in a recliner to read a book while Cheryl had a nice long nap. Greg of course, went ahead and played some music in his room after having cleaned up the breakfast dishes. Later, when Cheryl awoke, the sun was shining again, the bright sunbeams dancing off of the living room walls. "I guess that I can go play in the park after all." She happily said to herself as she got up from the couch to go upstairs to get dressed. A short moment later, Cheryl was all set to go to the park, except, there was only one problem. One of her shoes was missing. "I guess that I'll have to put on my sneakers instead of my favorite black shoes." she thought to herself as she knelt down to lace up her pink sneakers. "Can I come with you?" asked Sonja as she noticed what Cheryl was doing. "Sure, I'm itching for your company." said Cheryl as she grabbed her lunch box and got onto her tricycle. Greg at the moment, was doing grocery shopping so he wasn't able to come along with the girls to the park. It didn't take Cheryl and Sonja long to reach their favorite park. Just two blocks away from their house, there was a vast landscape of trees, flowers and many other such things. Cheryl's favorite place to meet up with her friends was by a big round stone fountain with a huge waterfall in the middle of it which sprayed out water jets in all manner of directions. Today however, she and Sonja had decided to have a picnic lunch here and enjoy the sunshine for as long as it would last. Cheryl had even brought along her favorite large ball and a few other things to keep herself and Sonja busy for quite some time. As soon as they got to the large fountain, they spread out the picnic blanket and sat down upon it. It was a rather peaceful day at the park today, not many people around and the sound of the wind blowing through the trees was rather peaceful and meditating. "So Cheryl, what's for lunch today?" asked Sonja curiously. "Mostly finger foods Sonja, I was planning this outing yesterday but when I saw that it was dreary this morning, I thought I'd have to cancel it, but since the sun came out earlier, I was able to come here after all." said Cheryl with a grin as she unclipped her red lunch box. "I'm really glad that we got to do this today." said Sonja with a huge smile on her face as she unzipped her green lunch box. "Me too." agreed Cheryl happily as she unwrapped a scrumptious peanut-butter and jam sandwich from its wrappings. As it turned out, both friends had a very delicious lunch of sandwiches, fruit, cookies and ever so much more. Cheryl had even brought along some chips for a snack for later. Both drank some delicious orange juice as they thought about how they would spend their gorgeous afternoon together. Straight after lunch, both girls ran for the lake and skipped rocks together to see whose rock would get to the other end first. As it turned out, it was a tie. Then, they skipped across the stepping stones and skipped their rocks back to their starting point. Sonja's rock got there first this time. Next, after having skipped back across the lake on the stepping stones, the girls took off their socks and shoes and dipped their feet in the lake while they relaxed comfortably on some rocks at the water's edge. "Too bad Greg isn't here right now, he'd love how relaxing this is." said Cheryl with a broad smile as she stared down at the swirling water lilies a few paces away from her. "Yeah, he's totally missing out on a peaceful stress-free afternoon." said Sonja with a sigh as she picked up a green water lily from the water which was still damp. "Make a wish." said Cheryl in a sing-song voice as she noticed what Sonja was doing with the water lily. Sonja did so. Then, she let the water lily drop with some slight ripples on the water's surface. After awhile, they both played an energetic game of catch with Cheryl's huge pink ball. One time Sonja threw it so far, that it landed in the lake with a small splash. "Oops, I'll go get it." said Sonja as she rolled up her pant legs prior to entering the lake. But Cheryl had already beat her to it, her pant legs rolled up to her knees and she was already knee deep in the water striding towards the floating pink ball. "Got it, it's coming over to you." called Cheryl excitedly to Sonja as she threw the ball over to Sonja. Sonja then caught the ball as she stood on the shore of the lake. Later, both girls were exhaustedly sitting on a park bench munching the large bag of sour cream and onion flavored chips and slurping on a big bottle of water that Cheryl had supplied them with. Afterwards, they threw their trash into a large trash can and got onto their bikes to ride back home. On their way home, Sonja stopped at the pizza parlor to pick up a large pizza for their supper. It certainly would save Greg from picking up something for supper that evening. When they arrived home, Greg was eagerly waiting for them. "Hi girls!" he greeted them as he gave them both a big hearty hug. "Hi Greg!" they greeted him happily as they returned the hug warmly. "What's this you got here?" he asked curiously as he spotted the pizza. "We went and got a pizza for supper tonight, it also came with garlic fingers for a nice discounted price." said Sonja sweetly. Greg smiled and put the pizza and garlic fingers away in the fridge for the moment. "Where did you girls go today?" asked Greg then as he went to unpack the groceries. "We went to the park after all, since the sun came out before noon." explained Cheryl as she helped Greg put the groceries away into the cupboards and fridge. "That sounds like fun, too bad I missed out on a nice picnic lunch." said Greg as he patted Cheryl fondly on her shoulder. "That's okay, there's always next time." said Cheryl sweetly as she puts away some bread loaves in the bread box. Later, while Cheryl was watching TV, she was magically whisked away to the attic. "Why in the world am I up in this dusty old attic?" she asked herself curiously as she noticed all of the old trunks which held precious memories inside of them. As soon as Cheryl's eyes adjusted to the dim light, she spotted her copy of "Cinderella." lying on a nearby old-fashioned bureau. Cheryl got up from where she had been sitting and ran over to the bureau. With the help of an old lamp that still worked, Cheryl was able to flip open her storybook. She then grinned happily as she gazed at the ornate calligraphy of every picture. Suddenly, a glass slipper popped up. "Maybe this is the part we have to act out today." said Cheryl as she glanced at the one glass slipper that had gone missing. Maybe Cheryl's missing Mary Jane shoe was the clue to the part all along? Cheryl then remembered that she was wearing one Mary Jane shoe on her foot but she had been unable to find the other. That's why she had switched to her pink sneakers when she had decided to head for the park. Cheryl then went into her bedroom and lay the storybook on her own bureau and then she ran downstairs. Greg was already trying to force the missing shoe onto Sonja's foot, but it kept sliding around since it was slightly bigger than her own shoes. "Can I give it a try?" asked Cheryl sweetly as she sat down next to Sonja on the couch. "Sure." said Greg as he knelt down in front of her. He then slid Cheryl's shoe onto her foot and it fit like a charm. Then, he buckled it up for her as some magical sparkles lifted Cinderella off of the floor and into her golden chair with the glass slipper in the center of it. "Oh look! Cinderella's back on the shelf in her chair!" said Sonja delightedly as she noticed the sparkles dissipate. "Two down, twelve still to go." said Greg with a grin as he gave Cheryl a huge hug of happiness. "And so far, we've been able to act out the special scenes like clockwork." said Cheryl with a grin as she kissed Greg on his cheek. "Do you think that maybe tomorrow you'll be kissed awake like Aurora?" asked Sonja curiously. "Goodness only knows." said Cheryl and Greg in unison as they exchanged goofy grins. That evening after supper, Cheryl went ahead and had a nice relaxing bubble bath and she re-read Cinderella since she wanted to take in the part of the story where Cinderella and her prince danced the night away. Soon after, the book magically disappeared and was magically put away on the bookshelf in the tree fort where all of the other fairy tale books were neatly kept. As Cheryl lingered in her warm bath, she barely noticed this since she was lost in her own daydreams. Soon after, she was bundled in her pyjamas and she was ready for bed. Both Cinderella and Snow White were fast asleep as well. "I hope that we have wonderful dreams tonight." she sighed happily to herself as she slid sleepily between her silken sheets. Soon after, she was soundly asleep, dreaming her very best and fondest dreams.