Page 2 of Anchored Love
“Drake says fart.” My brother said all kinds of gross things and never seemed to get in any trouble whatsoever. He was the golden child. Drake never did anything wrong. Outside of Jess being the baby, he was Mom’s favorite.
“Princes shouldn’t talk like that either,” she murmured softly. I leaned over the edge of my bunk and watched her tuck Jess in.
“He’s an ogre.” Jess giggled, and I had to agree with her on that one. “He smells like a swamp like Shrek.”
Drake had hit puberty which meant his room always smelled like someone had just let off a stink bomb. If Mom asked me to go in and get something from the room, I had to plug my nose and move super fast before the smell attacked me. His room should be quarantined. Who knew what grew under his bed.
“Girls. That’s enough. Your brother isn’t a smelly swamp ogre. Princesses and Princes should be many things, but most of all they should be kind.”
“And good with swords,” Jess interjected.
“That’s important in some situations, yes. But one day when you’re older, you will meet your dashing prince, and when you do, he will be handsome with a caring heart. He’ll be loyal and protective. A prince should be respectful. Prideful but never vain.”
“Like the lines in our arms?” my little sister questioned, and I laughed.
“No, sweetheart. Vain means to think too highly of one’s self.”
“Oh. Like you’re sitting up way high on a cloud.”
I laughed harder. My sister was a real ditz.
“It’s time to close your little eyes and float away to dream land, giggle boxes.”
“You didn’t tell us a story.”
“Alright. Once upon a time in a far away land lived two princesses named Everly and Jess. One night they kept being naughty and not doing as their mother, the queen, told them to.” Mom tickled Jess in the ribs.
“And a smelly ogre named Drake ate them. The end.” I leaned over the edge of my bunk, sticking my tongue out at Jess.
“I heard that,” Drake called from his room.
“That’s enough for tonight. Get some sleep. Turn that TV off and get your teeth brushed, young man,” she called across the hallway to his room. That was another thing that was unfair. Drake had his own TV and gaming system in his room.
As I closed my eyes and Mom turned off our lamp, I wondered if I would someday meet my prince. Would he be all the things my mother said he’d be? Or would I be kissing frogs my whole life?
