MM: Thy Kingdom Saved

My prompt of the day was temporarily interrupted by my need to rant due to the idiotic challenge of Rush Lamebaugh. I now return to my regularly scheduled prompt.

The prompt: She adjusted his bow tie....

What came out of my head:
She adjusted his bow tie and stood back to admire her husband. Cinderella and her King. It was hard to believe the hurdles they once had to jump through to get to where they were and now they were facing the biggest hurdle of their lives - the continuation of their very existence.

The Kingdom of Happily Ever After was in the greatest depression it has experienced since The Great Depression of the 1920s that existed on the planet Earth. The KHEA governing body even had a proposal on the table to change the name of the province to Thy Kingdom Come as their perpetual prayer to God for help, but the legislators decided to keep the issue on the table until they had all had a chance to take stock of what was before them and the consequences of executing such major changes in response to what would surely be a temporary setback. Depressions didn't last forever - on Earth or in KHEA.

But the proponents for the change were citing the changes that were now instilled in the very DNA of the Earth children and they did not see how those changes could be reversed in one generation. "It took decades and decades to get them as jaded as they are," said Senator Grumpy. "What's going to change them back in a flash?"

So now, Cinderella and her King were preparing for the last ball to be held in the kingdom. Budget cuts had forced the King to look deeply into how he spent the Kingdom's finances and this was certainly a misuse of taxpayer's money right now, given the great need to pump more into the KHEA healthcare system for the sake of Kingdom residents who were slowly dying from lack of oxygen.

Everyone in KHEA was affected, but some were hit harder and faster than others. The creatures of the air - the same ones who helped Cinderella to make her first ball gown, the fairies, even the witches - were no longer flying. The Giant had escaped Jack and Mother Goose country to quietly retire in KHEA, but his home in the sky has collapsed as clouds began to wither away and die and his retirement fund was wiped out.

The problem was that the air in KHEA was not the same oxygen known to man on Earth. KHEA oxygen was part hydrogrn, part nitrogren, and part wishes, hopes and dreams of the children on Earth. The wishes, hopes and dream, a.k.a. WHD, was being depleted as the children of Earth were forced to mature before their chronological age dictated that they should. The crimes perpetrated against them by those in whose care they were entrusted slowly eroded their sense of wonder. Every resident of KHEA knew that WHD from Earth helped form the air of the Kingdom of Happily Ever After and it had to continue if the residents of this world were to continue.

"Rapunzel said she would play the flute for us tonight and The Prince-Formerly-Known-As-The-Beast said he would let his staff sing for us tonight. It should be a grand time had by all - even if it is the last dance before we are extinct."

"Do not worry, my darling," her King said. "The Little Mermaid is going to be doing a lecture and demonstration on underwater living and breathing. Surely one of the good witches can cast a spell on us and send our Kingdom underwater to survive until change comes."

"I hope you are right," Cinderella sighed. She stroked her pet Bambi as Thumper snuggled against her leg to comfort her. "It is very difficult now. Even the Billy Goats Gruff had to take side jobs as trash collectors because their hours were cut short. And I don't know how many times I can listen to Tom Thumb go on and on about feeling shortchanged. It's wearisome."

As the couple strolled down their palatial hallway, Goldilocks came running up to them. The couple had taken her in ever since The Three Bears Mortgage Company foreclosed on her home. "Did you hear," she breathed. "Change! Change has come to the children of Earth!"

"Goldi, have you been nipping at the porridge again? How many times can we pay for your recovery," Cinderella asked, annoyed by the pipe-curled girl.

"No! I'm telling the truth!"

"She is! She is, your highnesses!" Pinocchio had found his way to the palace to deliver the news in person.

"Pinocchio! Shouldn't you be getting ready for your news broadcast? You know you are the only one we can trust with your nose for news." Pinocchio had vied for the job along with Hansel who had Gretel in tow to be weather girl. Jack and Jill tried but never stood a chance because they were always falling down on the job. The news station had decided that with Pinocchio's special nasal abilities, the audience would be most comfortable trusting his reports.

"I heard it through the grapevine!"

"The giant's grapevine?"

"The very one! He was down on Earth again...."

"Ugh," The King gasped. "He knows they think he is Big Foot. I keep telling him to stop exposing himself and us that way!"

"Well," Pinocchio continued. "He was down there, ummm, in their month of January during the inauguration of the King of America."

"I believe that country is run by democracy, not theocracy, Pinocchio," The King reminded him.

"Yeah, well. The Prince-Formerly-Known-As-The-Beast gave Beauty the right to vote and remember how that turned out for them," he replied.

"They got couple's therapy and they are fine now," Cinderella reminded him.

"Nevertheless," Pinocchio continued. "There was this vote down there and the people elected someone who did not come from the royal clan of Bush or Kennedy or Clinton. Imagine that! They elected a commoner!"

"No!" Cinderella and The King were in amazement.

"Yes," Goldilocks shrieked. "But that's not the best part. It's the children..."

"The children,"The King asked.

"Yes, they finally got what they needed. Apparently this commoner Barack Obama gave them all a much-needed infusion of Wishes, Hopes and Dreams! We were dying because the children were dying and now they are becoming revived!"

As The King, Cinderella, Goldilocks and Pinocchio continued to talk, they noticed a brightness start to fall over the great hall of the palace.

"My word, is that what I think it is," Cinderella asked. She gazed up at the massive skylight in the ceiling. Everyone gasped and ran outside.

The trees were already laden with wide-eyed woodland creatures as they stared at the sky. Trolls stood hand in hand with pigs. Red Riding Hood sat atop the Fox's shoulders to get a better look. Witches, birds and fairies were once again in the air all trying to catch the rainbows that filled the sky though rain was nowhere to be found.

"It's true," Cinderella breathed. "The children must have found renewed hope and purpose. The dreams of some of the older children must have come true. Somehow they kept hope alive. It's the only way we could be renewed so swiftly! I can breathe again!"

"Indeed, my Queen," The King said. "Change has finally come."

***************************************************************************

What's this about, Monica?

You don't know? Why, it's my own March Madness!

While you're here, the Start Up Nation Leading Moms in Business 2009 Competition is wrapping up this month. Have you voted for us today? Check it out here. We'd REALLY appreciate it if you vote and you can do it every day until March 31, 2009 PT. There's even a new meter there now to show you how hot we are! Go ahead. Vote! We wanna be hot, hot, hot! Thanks for your support!