The Princesses and Houdini

On a Saturday morning after breakfast, Millie was in her room colouring in her Princess Colouring book. Her mom came into her room carrying a big cardboard box which she placed on the rug beside Millie’s bed.  

Millie turned in her chair and saw that the box was empty.

“Time for some spring cleaning. Millie, I want you to put all your clothes that are too small into this box and we’ll donate them to the Thrift Shop.”

Millie pouted. “I don’t want to give away any of my clothes.” 

Her mom put her hands on her hips. “If you don’t make some space in your dresser, I’ll have to stop buying you new clothes.” 

Millie also put her hands on her hips, “ You can’t take my clothes. They’re mine.”  

Her mom sighed. “We’ve gone over this already, Millie. Your old clothes don’t fit you.”

“Yes, they do. I can still wear them.” She folded her arms in front of her, but when she saw her mom step towards her dresser, she leapt off her chair, and planted herself between the dresser and her mom. She stretched her arms out to block her mom. 

“Don’t be silly, Millie. Now, move aside, and we’ll go through your clothes together. Think of how happy a younger girl will be to receive these clothes.”

Millie clenched her hands at her side. “I’m not giving away my clothes.”

Her mom frowned and narrowed her eyes, and Millie braced herself. Then her mom smiled and her shoulders lowered. Millie didn’t lower her guard in case her mom was just trying to trick her into relaxing.

“As you wish, Millie. You can keep your old clothes, as long as you promise to wear them every day.”

Millie’s arms came down. “I promise.”

Her mom smiled. “Lunch will be ready soon.”’

Millie breathed a sigh of relief when her mom left her room. After lunch she’d flatten the cardboard box and put it into the apartment recycling bin, but now she’d put on her most favourite princess dress.

She felt very much like a princess, because she had been granted her wish. Her favourite pink princess dress felt so smooth and soft when she held it against her cheek and she liked how the fabric was so shiny. She pulled the dress on over her head, but it wouldn’t go any further.  She took it off and undid the zipper at the back, and tried again, but this time she couldn’t get it over her shoulders.  

“Mom,” she cried out. Oops, she’d made a mistake. She couldn’t let her mom see her struggling to get her dress on.

Her mom’s footsteps sounded in the hallway. Millie stuffed the dress under her bedspread.

“Did you call me, Millie?”

“Uh, no, I didn’t call you, Mommy”

Millie waited until she heard her mom walk into the kitchen and turn on the tap.  

She laid the dress on the bed, and tried to pull the zipper down more, but it wouldn’t go any further.  

Millie looked around. She didn’t have a sewing machine or a needle and thread and she didn’t know how to sew, but she had a good pair of pink scissors. She found them in her desk drawer and used them to cut the pink material just a tiny bit below the bottom of the zipper. The material was slippery and difficult to hold and cut at the same time. The cut was a little crooked, but it was too small for her mom to see. 

Her mom’s footsteps sounded again in the hallway, and Millie threw herself against the door.

“Are you okay in there, Millie?” 

“Yes, Mommy, I’m fine,” she called out in a pretend bright voice.

She waited again, until she heard her mom being busy in the kitchen. Then she pulled the dress over her head, but she still couldn’t get it over her shoulders. She took it off and measured an inch with her two thumbs beside each other and cut some more. That didn’t look like much, so she measured and cut another inch, and then another inch. She was getting better at cutting straight.

Now she put the dress over her head and shimmied into it. She smiled at herself in the mirror in her pink princess dress.

Triumphantly, she walked out into the kitchen and paraded for her mom.

“My little princess,” her mom said, and put her hand to her mouth.

“I told you I can still wear my old clothes,” said Millie.

“Yes, you’re a little Houdini,” her mom said.

“Is Houdini a princess?

“No, Houdini was a very famous magician, and I think he’s the only one besides you, who would’ve been able to get that dress on.

Millie wondered if Houdini would’ve secretly used scissors. She sat down at the table and said in her princess voice, “Ring, ring. Bring me my lunch.”

“Yes, your highness, your lunch is being served,” her mom said in a hoity-toity voice and placed a plate with a sandwich and three carrot sticks and two celery sticks and a glass of orange juice in front of her.

“You didn’t ask me, ‘Will that be all?” Millie said.

“Because Princess Millie, that will be all,” her mom said.

“Oh, okay,” Millie said and bit into her egg salad sandwich. Her dress was stretching and pulling on her tummy and she heard a little tearing sound at her back. She quickly coughed to hide the noise. 

Her mom was preparing food at the kitchen counter. She turned to Millie with her eyebrows raised.  “I hope it wasn’t a bit of egg shell getting caught.” 

Millie shook her head. When her mom turned back to the counter, she took another bite, and heard another rip. She quickly tried to cough just from her throat, so her stomach wouldn’t move.

“Are you sure, you’re okay,” her mom said.  

Millie tried holding her tummy in, but she couldn’t hold her breath and eat at the same time.

“Have you lost your appetite, Princess Millie?”

“No, I don’t feel like eating,” Millie said, and as she stood up, she heard a long ripping sound. Her eyes flooded with tears, as she covered the rip with both her hands, and went running to her room.

Millie threw herself face down onto her bed and cried into her pillow. Her mom came into her room, and sat on her bed beside her and stroked her hair and patted her shoulders.  

“I’m not a princess. I’m not even a Houdini princess,” she said, between gulps of crying.

“There, there, of course you’re a princess,” her mom said, continuing to stroke her hair.

Millie sat up, her cheeks felt red and sore. She wiped away the rest of the tears in her eyes.

“But if I was a real princess or even a Houdini princess, I’d be able to use magic to put on and take off my princess dress without ripping it,” Millie said, finding more new tears coming out of her eyes.

“No, sweetie, Houdini would never have tried to get out of a princess dress that was so small, because he’d know it would be impossible, even for him, to get out of,” her mom said.

Millie looked down at her pink dress, the front of it still looked pretty, but she could feel where it was ripped at the back. “I don’t want to grow up, Mommy. I want to stay little forever. If I can’t wear my princess dress, then I won’t be a princess.”

Her mom wrapped her in her arms. “You don’t need this dress to be a princess.”

“But it’s my special princess dress, and now I’ve ruined it,” Millie cried.

“You’ll always be a princess to me, even if you’re dressed in rags,” her mom said.

“Or clothes that are too small?” Millie smiled through her tears.

“Yes, and you might be surprised to know, that I’m still a princess as well.”

Millie’s eyes popped open. “You? How can you be a princess?”

Her mom pulled out a gold coloured ceramic heart she had on her necklace, which Millie had forgotten about and read the back of it, ‘To my Princess Mom, love your Princess daughter, Millie.’ 

Millie giggled. 

Her mom smiled.  “Didn’t you know that princesses come in all sizes; tall and small, thin and round and every size in between.”

Millie gave her mom a hug. “Can we fix this dress and give it to a princess who is smaller than me?”

Her mom nodded. Millie opened her dresser drawers, and pulled out all her clothes and spread them on her bed. “I’ve got more clothes I can donate to smaller princesses.”  

Millie and her mom laughed, as she held up some of her clothes which were way too small. When she wasn’t sure, she tried them on, but not all the way. This time she was careful not to rip them.   

“I’m so proud of you, my princess,” her mom said when she’d filled the cardboard box. 

Millie stood up, “Now, can I see your favourite princess dresses, Mommy.”

Her mom had not one, but two dressers, and a very large closet. Millie pulled one drawer, but she couldn’t get it open, because it was jammed packed with clothes. Then she tried to open the closet door, but it was so full, it wouldn’t open.

Her mom put her hand to her forehead and sighed, “You’re not the only princess who doesn’t want to give up her princess dresses.” 

Millie grinned.  

Her mom laughed. “I’m going to need at least five boxes.”

Millie and her mom pulled on the closet door together.  

A little man wearing an old black suit and a black hat squeezed out.  “Princesses, that had to be the most difficult escape of my life.”  

 He waved a silver wand and Millie saw princess star dust swirl in the air, as Houdini vanished out of the window and into the blue sky.