Princess of Boring

Chapter 3

"Sorry," she said, "I got distracted by the view."

"No worries," the girl said, "we have plenty to do." She smiled brightly at Annuetta and went back to humming as she worked.

Soapy water on the glass, scrape it off again, mop the edges with a drier cloth. What's outside of this window?

The deer were gone, but the horses were still there. Next window, the same thing. Annuetta looked at the long, long hallway and sighed, but she'd promised.

The girl was humming again while she worked.

"Why do you hum?" Annuetta asked to distract herself from how boring washing windows was.

"It helps me to pass the time," the girl said. "It is such a dull job, but humming helps."

The princess tried it. They sounded like a pair of bees buzzing. She laughed and kept humming along. The windows went by one by one. Every once in a while, she stopped and looked at what they had left to do; then she'd sigh. The girl never looked down the hall.

Part 3

"Don't you want to know how much we have left to do?" she asked, fairly sure that wasn't complaining.

"No," the girl said. "I can only wash one window at a time. I'll know I'm done when there are no more windows to wash."

Annuetta made herself stop looking down the hall. Scrub, squeeze, wipe, over and over and over and over until she moved to wash the next window and there were none left.

"We're done!" she said and jumped up and down.

"So we are." The girl put her cloths and rubber thing on the cart. Annuetta placed hers there too. Her arms ached and her hands were wrinkled like raisins. They pushed the cart to a room that had a sink for the dirty water and a basket for the wet cloths. They left the cart there.

"So," the girl said, "what do you want to do?"

"I don't know," the princess said, "there is nothing to do in my room."

"I've never seen your room."

They walked down the hall and into the very empty room.

"Oh," Annuetta said, "my window is dirty. Wait here." She ran to get some cloths and the rubber thing, then cleaned her window.

"There," she said. "that's better."

The girl sat in the middle of her rug holding a piece of string.

"What are you doing?" Annuetta asked.

"This is called Cat's Cradle." The girl showed her how to weave the loop with her fingers and taught the princess how to transfer it from one set of hands to the other's. They played with the string until the princess's stomach rumbled.

"We've been working all day," Annuetta said. "I'm starving."

"Here," the girl said. "You keep the string and practice." She got up to leave.

"Wait," Annuetta stopped her. "What's your name?"

"I'm Sally," the girl said and curtsied.

"Annuetta." The princess curtsied back. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"It depends on what the King asks me to do tomorrow," Sally said.

Annuetta placed her string carefully on the window sill, then ran to find her parents to tell them about her day.

***

Annuetta woke up in the morning and groaned. Every part of her hurt, but she crawled out of bed and got dressed.

Sally wasn't in the hall, but the windows let in even more light. The princess sat on a window sill and looked for the deer by the forest. She giggled as one of the horses rolled on the grass.

After a while she went to her room and played with the string, but it was more fun with two people.

She opened her mouth to complain, then closed it again.

After breakfast, she put on her next oldest dress and went looking for Sally.

Annuetta had to search for someone to talk to, almost like the servants were hiding from her. She did have a habit of dragging them away from their work to entertain her.

"Sally's out in the garden behind the palace," a maid said. Annuetta ran off to find Sally. Maybe they could play tag.

Sally was working in a huge garden with a hoe. Her hair was covered with a kerchief and she hummed as she chopped up the weeds and piled dirt around the stalks of corn.

"Good morning, Princess," Sally said.

"Can you play with me today?" the princess asked, "And just call me Annuetta when we're alone."

Sally smiled broadly and curtsied.

"Thank you, Annuetta, but I have to hoe the corn."

"Let me guess, my father asked you."

Sally just nodded and went back to work. Annuetta sighed and looked at the corn. There was a lot of corn. Her muscles were sore from yesterday.

"I'll help," she said, "and no complaining."

"Okay then," Sally said. She pulled a kerchief from her pocket and tied it around Annuetta's head. Then she took gloves from another pocket and made the princess put them on. A second hoe lay beside the garden.

"You were hoping I'd come," Annuetta said.

"I thought you might," Sally said. "I'm glad you did." She showed Annuetta how to use the hoe to chop the weeds and hill the corn. "Be careful not to hurt the corn," she said. "The cook uses the produce from the garden to cook for the Palace."