Chapter 3 There are about 50 girls waiting in front of the palace. This is more than I thought! I notice some of the girls I know. Seralana, that wench, I know her she hates kids. Tina, she refuses to even lift a finger. The others I know are like that and worse. I know that I am the most qualified. I wear a pale blue dress. It falls to the ground of course. It is a little more formal than the other one I was wearing, but not to fancy. I am number 27. I hear my number, see the other girl come out, smooth my skirt, and walk in behind the guard. I notice that he is very young and handsome. Before I get a good look at him I arrive to where the queen is, I notice that it is in the play area, so this is more of a test. I walk in and shake hands with the queen. She waved her hand palm up on top of a table signaling to have tea with her. She smiles as I bow politely and sit down.

"Ah, you are a Winkarski," she says, noticing my knots, "what is your name?"

"My name is Alana," I reply politely back to her.

I feel a tug at my dress; I look to see the princess' wide eyes looking at me. I smile at her and she smiles back. "I like you," she says, "do you wanna play?" she asks me, holding up a doll for me.

"Only if your mother would allow me to," I say, glancing over to the queen. I just realized that that was the test, to see if I would play with Serenity.

Her mother thinks for a moment, then smiles and says, "go on, Serenity doesn't play with others much." I give the queen a 'thank you' look and turn to Serenity who is now looking very happy.

"So, what do you want to play?" I ask her.

"Tea party with dollies," she says, she looks like she expects a 'no' from me.

"That seems like a great game," I tell her, Serenity beams, the queen looks over at us approvingly. Serenity pulls me over to a corner and we begin to play 'tea party' with 'Mr. Johns' and 'Mrs. Johns', two of her dollies. Before long someone laid a hand on my shoulder, it was the queen.

"It is time for Serenity to go to bed," she said. Serenity groaned, complaining about never having people to play with as she walked out of the room; I laughed to myself.

"Alana," says the queen, I look at her, "Serenity enjoyed your company. You are great with kids. How would you like to be the royal nanny?" she asked me.

"Nothing would make me happier," I said with a smile on my face.

"You would have a room in the palace to be able to be with Serenity all the time," she told me, thinking I might be discouraged.

"That would be great, I agree that it would be necessary for me to be at Serenity's disposal all the time," I say. The queen looked again at me approvingly, "I will have your items moved into your new room tomorrow, you must go home to your family now," she said, leaving the room, before she exited she once again turned to me, "a guard will escort you there and back," than she left.

I went home and found everyone waiting for me by the table. "Ow' di' go (how did it go)," asked Becky, my 3-year-old sister; she is considered very smart.

I took a deep breath and said, "I am now the queen's royal nanny, I will be moving into the palace tomorrow morning," I let out the rest of my breath out quickly. Everyone smiled and came up hugging me, I was very confused.

"That is a wonderful honor honey," said my mom, "cook," she shouted to the kitchen. Out of the two doors came our cook carrying a medium-size blue cake, I gasped.

Mom smiled and said, "we knew you would get it so we made you a cake," she said, "we talked to a guard about being the nanny. We will be able to see you any time we want, half of your salary will go to us, the rest will be for you to spend, you will get about 1000 Seri (cee rhi) a week," she said. I stared at her in surprise, 1000 Seri is a lot of money (about 3000 do1lars now), and I would be getting half of it! I was liking my job even more, having fun and getting 1000 Seri at the same time. We had dinner and cake and then I went up to my room to pack. The next morning as I walked into the palace I thought 'and so begins my life in the palace.