Years later, Belle and I had a routine that established early on. I woke up and put on my red dress and brown boots that matched my sisters and picked up my book so I could return it.
"Good morning, Ada," I looked up and noticed Belle standing at the end of the hall.
"Good morning, Belle," I smiled at her before we walked downstairs together and left our small cottage.
"Little town, it's a quiet village," Belle sang as we walked down the stairs. "Every day like the one before."
"Little town full of little people," I added. "Waking up to say..." The clock struck eight and everyone popped out of their homes and walking down the street.
"Bonjour."
"Bonjour."
"Bonjour."
"Bonjour."
"Bonjour."
"There goes the baker with his tray, like always. The same old bread and rolls to sell," Belle sang while buying a roll and placing it in her pocket.
"Every morning just the same, since the morning that we came to this poor provincial town," I sang petting a horse with a smile on my face.
"Good morning, Belle, Adalina," Monsieur Jean greeted taking his hat off to greet us.
"Good morning, Monsieur Jean!" Belle greeted. "Have you lost something again?
"Well, I believe I have," he told her. "The problem is, I can't remember what!" Belle and I laughed at him before petting his donkey. "Oh well, I'm sure it will come to me. Where are the two of you off to?"
"To return these book to Pere Robert," I told him.
"They're about two lovers in fair Verona and a girl fighting to protect her family," Belle told him.
"Sound boring." I made a face at Belle and we just laughed before continuing on.
"Look there they go. Those girls are strange, no question." The schoolboys sang while walking into the building.
"Dazed and distracted can't you tell?" The schoolmaster asked. Belle and I hopped the rocks across a small pond before passing the other women and girl washing clothes.
"Never part of any crowd 'cause their heads up in some cloud." The older women sang.
"No denying they're a funny pair those girls!" The young girls added as we walked where they were folding their clothes.
"Bonjour, good day, how is your family?"
"Bonjour, good day, how is your wife?"
"I need six eggs. That's too expensive."
"There must be more than this provincial life," Belle and I sang before walking into the church.
"Ah, if it isn't the only bookworms in town," Pere Robert greeted. "So, where did you run off to this week?"
"Two cities in Northern Italy," Belle told him.
"I was in another world full of magic," I said grinning.
"We didn't want to come back," she told him. "Have you got any new places to go?" She turned to his small book collection and looked through it.
"I'm afraid not," he answered. "But you may reread any of the old ones if you like."
"Thank you." Belle took a different book and I swapped mine out for a new one.
"Your library makes our small corner of France feel bigger," I said.
"Bon voyage."
"Bye." And with that, we were walking away from the small church and made our way back home with our noses in the books.
"Look, there they go. The girls so peculiar."
"I wonder if they're feeling well."
"Good-bye."
"With a dreamy far-off look," I bought some jam from a vendor before we made our way to Agitha. "And their nose stuck in a book. They're a puzzle to the rest of us, those girls."
"Oh! Isn't this amazing!"
"It's my favorite part because..."
"You'll see. Here's where she meet Prince Charming."
"But she won't discover that it's him till later on." I sang holding the book close to me.
"Now it's no wonder that her name means "beauty" and "noble". Their looks have got no parallel." The dressmaker sang walking out of her shop and staring after us like everyone else.
"But behind that fair facade, I'm afraid they're rather odd."
"Very different from the rest of us,"
"They're nothing like the rest of us,"
"Yes, different from the rest of us are those girls!" We walked to Agitha and Belle handed her the bread.
"Here you go."
"Thank you," she said smiling at us. "No jam?" I smiled before pulling the jam out and giving it to her. Belle and I nodded at her before walking away with her watching us as we went.
Upon the hill above the village, two men were riding back home after a long hunting trip. The taller of the pair looking through a scope at the sister feeding the geese.
"Look at them LaFou," he told his oldest friend. "My future wife. Belle and her sister are the most beautiful girls in the village. That makes them the best. It would be improper for me to wed the younger. So, I shall protect her properly as her brother once Belle marries me."
"But they're so well read," LeFou reminded him. "And you're so... athletically inclined."
"I know," Gaston told his friend. "Belle can be as argumentative as she is beautiful." Gaston took the scope back from him.
"Exactly! Who needs her when you have us?" LeFou asked him.
"Yes," Gaston agreed. "But ever since the war, I've felt like I've been missing something. And they're the only girls that give me that sense of..."
"Je ne sais quoi?" LeFou asked him.
"I don't know what that means," Gaston said as they rode back into town.
"Right from the moment when I met them, saw them. I said they're gorgeous and I fell. Here in town, there's only they, who's as beautiful as me. So I'm making plans to woo and protect them." Gaston sang.
"Look there he goes, isn't he dreamy. Monsieur Gaston, oh, he's so cute!" The triplets gushed. "Be still, my heart. I'm hardly breathing. He's such a tall, dark, strong, and handsome brute!" Gaston's horse kicked mud on their dresses making them scream. Gaston gave them a look before walking into the village.
"It's never gonna happen, ladies," LeFou told them before joining his friend. Gaston moved to the fountain looking for the sisters as they walked through the people.
"Bonjour."
"Pardon."
"Good day."
"Maus, oui."
"You call this bacon?"
"What lovely flowers."
"Some cheese."
"Ten yards!"
"One pound."
"Scuse me!"
"I'll get the knife."
"Please let me through!"
"This bread."
"Those fish."
"It's stale."
"They smell."
"Madame's mistaken."
Well, maybe so."
"There must be more than this provincial life!"
"Just watch I'm going to make them my family!"
"Look there they go. Those girls are strange but special. Two most peculiar mademoiselles. It's a pity and a sin. They don't quite fit in. But they're really are funy girls, beauties but funny girls. They really are funny girls! That Belle and Adalina!"
