Samantha was standing next to the hedge-hedgehog, tapping her foot and checking her gold pocket watch. Five minutes to midnight, where was that stupid girl? She absently curled one of her brown locks hanging from her pompadour hair with her wand and looked about, waiting.
Then there was the sound of horses trotting and wooden wheels rattling as a bright orange carriage came racing up the path. Samantha walked into sight to wave the carriage down, and it slowed to a halt. The Fairy wrenched open the door and out poured Ella, mewing in pleasure. “Not a minute too soon!” scolded Samantha.
Ella straightened herself and dusted off her golden ball gown, then hugged Samantha. “Oh, Fairy Godmum! Oh! I ‘ad the most beautiful night!”
A bell struck from a far-off cathedral, striking the chord of midnight. Ella’s gown began to melt off her, falling onto the ground in piles, back to yellow dishtowels and silvery spun webs. The two horses shrank back to tabby cats, the driver squeaked into a mouse again, and the carriage shrank and rolled into a pumpkin once more.
Ella seemed put off by the sudden returned poverty. Samantha asked, “How did it go?” which brought the light back to Ella’s eyes.
“‘E danced wit’ me all night! The ‘andsomest, most charming prince!” Ella rocked back and forth, hugging herself and humming. Samantha brushed the blather aside and pointed her wand at Ella’s feet, one clad in a glass slipper, the other bare.
“Did you leave behind one of the slippers like I told you?”
The girl nodded. “Are you sure he’ll be able to find me again?”