Read Online The Midnight Dancers: A Fairy Tale Retold by Regina Doman - Free Book Online

buffeted by crosswinds. In the dark.

    Rachel waited until she was sure her parents were asleep for the night, then she rose out of bed. The other girls, alerted, followed, some stifling yawns.  Most of them didn’t get changed into their night clothes any more, but simply put on comfortable clothes to go to bed, in anticipation of an outing.
    But to Rachel’s surprise, Prisca got out of bed wearing an emerald green dress. “What are you doing?” Rachel hissed. The dress was an old semi-formal dress of their mother’s that had been hanging in the storage closet for as long as anyone could remember.
    Prisca just shrugged, “I just wanted to wear Mom’s dress. Is that a problem?”  
    “Suit yourself.” Rachel let it go.
    They filed quickly down the stairs to the cave, through the woods, and out into the cool moonlight on the beach. Rachel stretched and arched her back.
    “So why are you dressed up?” Linette piped.
    “I just wanted to,” Prisca said, raising her eyebrows. She put her hands on her hips and spun around. The dress flared out, showing off her legs. “Rachel said we could do whatever we wanted.”
    “Sure. Whatever floats your boat,” Rachel said. “Just make sure you don’t ruin the dress.”
    “I felt like getting dressed up tonight.” Prisca produced the zippered pencil case that served as her secret makeup bag. She usually hid it in her backpack during the school year, to make up her face as discreetly as possible after she reached school. Makeup was banned at Bayside Christian, but that didn’t stop the girl students from trying to get away with as much as possible.
    “Do my face too, Prisca, please!” Liddy begged.
    “Let me do my own face first.” Prisca spread out her makeup on a smooth rock, and began to pick out eye shadow. “That is, if I can,” she said, “I don’t have a light. This will be interesting.” It was a full moon, but still different from daylight.
    “I’ll do your makeup for you,” Becca said. “I can see to do you, and then you can do me.”
    “And me,” Liddy insisted.
    “Antsy pantsy. All right.”
    Rachel wandered away from the makeover to the water.  The other girls followed her.
    “Well! That was an ordeal at dinner tonight,” she said. “What a name—Fester. Paul Fester. I wanted to laugh when we were introduced. Can you imagine having to go through life with a name like that?”
    “Oh, come on,” said Miriam. “He was okay.”
    “He’s a geek,” Rachel said. “What normal guy dresses up in a clown suit and goes out juggling?”
     “Paul said he would teach me and Debbie to juggle,” Linette said, skipping through the sand. “I showed him how I could do a frontward walkover, and he said he would teach me to do it backwards. He said that if we were really good we might be able to be in his act with him.  He said he could jump through a flaming hoop if he had someone brave enough to hold it up for him. I said I wouldn’t do it but Debbie said she would, if he showed her how.”
    Rachel rolled her eyes at Miriam. “Well, he certainly gets on well with the youngsters.”
    “That’s probably why he wants to be a clown,” Cheryl added.
    “I like him. He’s cool,” Brittany spoke up unexpectedly.
    “You’re too young to know what cool is,” said Taren disdainfully.
    Brittany said nothing, but crossed her eyes, stuck out her tongue and touched her nose with it.
    As they talked, they were making their way down the beach. Further down the shore, the beach turned into woods.  Halting a few yards from the first trees, Rachel threw herself down on a sandy spot and sighed. “I’m so bored,” she said.
    “Maybe we should get Paul to come down here and juggle for us,” Miriam suggested, and Rachel coughed, laughing.
    “That’s good,” she said appreciatively.  She kicked at a pebble with her toe, picked it up and threw it in the water. Inside she wondered if Taylor would come through tonight.  She searched the deserted bay