3 Wishes

Chapter X: "Snow White has gone mad!"

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The next morning I decided I would prove to the dwarfs I was useful. I may not know how to cook, but I do know how to do hair. As we ate breakfast (more bread and porridge) I told the dwarfs I was an excellent hairdresser and wanted to give them all haircuts.

Well, you have never seen people bolt down their food and run out the door so quickly.

"Wait," I called to Reginald, because he was farthest away from the door and thus last to leave. "I'm good at it, really."

He turned back to face me, hands out in an apologetic manner. "You with scissors near our heads? It's just not a good idea, Snow White. Trust me on this." He pulled his cap down tighter over his ears as though to discourage me further and added, "Remember, don't let anyone in unless they're from the village—no matter what. And if anyone comes poking around, you run right over to Widow Hazel's home and tell her about it. She'll send someone to ring the bell and then the townsfolk will gather to help you."

"Which house is Widow Hazel's?" I asked.

He stared at me with a hopeless expression, and I thought he might break down and cry. "It's the one right next door." He pointed in that direction. "Right there. You've been there half a dozen times already."

"Oh. Right. Widow Hazel's. I won't forget again."

He let out a sigh as though he would have liked to believe me but didn't, then hurried after the others.

I cleaned up the breakfast dishes, then went behind the cottage and did the laundry. This involved hauling water from the well, pouring it in a barrel with soap, putting clothes in, and pounding them with a wooden stick. I was hanging their little tunics and leggings up on a line to dry when I saw her.

She wore a dark brown dress, a white wimple that covered most of her graying hair, and carried a basket under one arm. Her face was wrinkled, but she didn't look frail or even that elderly. She smiled in my direction and I noticed that, like many of the occupants of the Middle Ages, she was missing several teeth.

I dropped the tunic on the ground and didn't bother to pick it up. The queen had come for me already.

She walked slowly toward me. "There you are. Working hard and just as pretty as a robin."

I shook my head. "I'm not who you think I am. I'm not Snow White."

She laughed as though I'd been joking, then reached into her basket and pulled out a perfect red apple. "I've bought you a gift. Would you like something to eat, my dear?"

I took a step back from her, wishing I had some sort of weapon. "I'm not really the fairest in the land. I'm just the only one who has all of my teeth, that's all." Then I saw the laundry paddle. I picked it up and held it up like a baseball bat. "Get away from me."

She took a step back, her brows wrinkling. "Snow White, what's come over you? Is that any way for a proper young lady to act? Put down that stick at once."

I supposed it was bound to happen. You can't just put a modern, self-empowered girl into medieval times and not expect her to snap. I'd already had to bite my tongue and let myself be ordered around by Cinderella's stepfamily. I was not about to stand by and let myself be poisoned.