Young Writers Society

I would say “Once Upon a Time” to start out this story. But it isn’t really appropriate because people would think this some sort of cheesy fairytale. It is a tale but no fairies are involved only dazzling enchantresses. It’s not cheesy either there’s lots of misery and anguish throughout. It involves a shy, smart girl, the man who wouldn’t stop chasing her, the man in agony needing to be loved and of couple of eccentric sidekicks along the way.

In England there lived the King and Queen. Their names have long been forgotten. It’s the names of their two youngest the twins that count . John and Gerald. They were a different story from their well-behaved siblings entirely. Handsome and arrogant they lived life like a party and never had any ambition. Because they weren’t eligible for the throne they were lazy and never studied.

All the royal children were raised by nannies, governesses and tutors, their parents being distant figures to look up to. None of them had experienced real love and none knew what they were lacking. With 9 of them it was hard to get any individual attention from any adult so they branched off on their own doing what they pleased. One day in their early childhood as Mandre, their French tutor took them out for a walk they encountered a beggar woman out by the castle woman. She was begging for a bite to eat. She was thin and had sores covering her face, her clothing in tatters. As one of the sisters took out her purse the tutor rebuked her and ushered them away. When John asked why they couldn’t help the old woman the tutor replied, “Because she’s good for nothing worthless hag. She depends on others for a livelihood and cannot be trusted.” His face grimaced as her said this and no one said another word.

That was years ago and no one in the family remembered that. Their two oldest sisters were married and Lucy and Jane were engaged to royal men in far-off places. Earl was in line for the throne and Stephen was a world famous jouster. That left Gerald and John at the bottom of the child pyramid, alone and unsupervised, just the way they liked it. John was always the more sensitive type and didn’t go with his brother’s pranks so easily. As he had no one else to be with all day they ended up doing whatever Gerald wanted to do anyway. They escaped their tutors (something John agreed to with great relish) and released the stable horses in the middle of the night, whooping and hollering (an activity John believed to injure the horses)

Throughout all their shenanigans only one person was continually aware of these activities. Cortland, the royal advisor appointed to the overseeing of the care of the royal children or more aptly; the frazzled caretaker of the twins. He had short, curly, chestnut colored hair and a small handlebar mustache that he was very proud of; waxing and trimming continually. Cortland was the model of a noble advisor to the King, all rules all the time. Unfortunately because of his obsession with obedience and punctuality he was appointed in charge of the children’s upbringing. This position came around when the 55^th successive nanny in two years quit and His Majesty was worrying what to do with his royal twins. Lord Cortland suggested that His Eminence find someone with a firm hand to take charge of the job. Cortland was immediately appointed, being the best candidate for the position.

Disgruntled and annoyed he took on the job on what he thought was a temporary basis; I mean how hard were a couple of children going to be? Cortland found out the second he walked into the old nursery. He was slammed in the face with something that felt soggy and soft. Spluttering he pulled it off and yelled, “I demand to know who’s responsible for this at once!” All he heard was giggles. Annoyed he looked around the room that was in shreds. Tables were overturned and the curtains ripped off, there were feathers everywhere that came from pillow stuffing. He heard a creaking sound come from the ceiling, looked up and saw to his dismay John and Gerald unscrewing the chandelier. With a strangled scream he yelled “OFF! OFF!! GET OFF OF THAT YOU NAUGHTY BOYS!” Cortland waved his short arms around, the boys roared with laughter at this sight, and he started to rectify one of the tables. He climbed on it and much to the boys surprise jumped up and grabbed the ankles of the boys. After a couple hard tugs he successfully pulled the twins off. Surprised and humiliated the boys allowed themselves to be made to clean up the mess they made.

But that day was born the silent but ferocious battle of dominance between Cortland and the royal pains.