Tonight I am Rapunzel.
A princess.
With my long hair flowing down my back, I climbed up the purple silks set up for my performance. I pulled myself up with my arms and used my abs to bring my knees up as I ascend into my fairy tale world.
The tower.
Telling my version of the story of the princess and how she found her prince as I perform graceful movements in my “tower in the air.” I was nervous, hoping the audience would like my interpretation as well as my performance. Up, up I went. The higher I went, the more I could hear the rumbling of thunder somewhere in the distance. I had to smile. It reminded me of drum rolls and I moved in cadence with the sound. I thought it was cool the inclement weather added an aura of suspense to my storytelling act.
My throat tightened when I heard the music cue up and my prerecorded voice came over the loudspeakers. I continued up the silks, twisting and turning the soft material around my legs, waist, and ankles, pulling myself upward. Every muscle in my body grew taut, every movement a task of endurance and strength. But it wasn’t just the physical strain that took its toll on me. Without the passion I held so deep in my heart, the art didn’t happen. That special something that never failed to make my heart beat faster. I loved being up here. Felt it deep in my bones.
As if every time I pointed my toe or extended my hand in a graceful movement, a spark of light emanated from my fingers.
Like the spark from a magic wand.
Touching the audience with a never-ending trail of fairy dust that extended as far as the eye could see. And into a happily ever after.
If only I could make it come true.
I stretched my body into my first pose . . . a split with the silks wrapped around my legs.
“Once upon a time, there lived in a tower a beautiful princess named Rapunzel.
“A girl so fair with a heart so pure, the playful winds carried her voice through the woods as she let down her long hair out the tower window. Waiting for someone . . . but no one came.”
I leaned forward and flipped upside down, my long hair trailing downward.
“She sang of her lost love . . . a man she adored with her whole heart. They met at a fancy ball where Rapunzel danced and danced all night with the mysterious stranger.”
I held the pose, moving my head, my lips as if I were talking to this stranger and then twirled around in a circle.
“Laughing and smiling, she promised to meet him under the moonlight in the garden for a kiss.”
I blew kisses to the audience as I executed a teardrop, sliding down the silks. The crowd went crazy, but my eyes were only on Ricco. He stepped forward and blew me back a kiss. I grabbed it in mid-air and held it close to my heart.
“But the wicked queen was jealous of the young princess and, before Rapunzel could learn who the stranger was, she gave the girl a strange potion to drink.”
I scrambled up the silks as fast as I could and pretended to drink the potion.
“Rapunzel fell asleep. When she didn’t come to the garden, the stranger thought she didn’t love him and set out on a long journey to mend his broken heart.”
I wrapped myself up in the silks and appeared to lie down in a supine position . . . my head leaning back, my body swinging back and forth as if I were sleeping.
“To make sure Rapunzel never saw the handsome stranger again, the wicked queen imprisoned her in a high, high tower. Leaving her there while her hair grow long and thick. As if by magic. Golden cords twisted into a braid so long, it reached the ground.”
This next move is awesome.
When I raised myself up on the purple silks, pretending to awaken from my sleep, I made a sweeping motion with a long stretch of my arm, my hand pointing to the top of the tent, and a long, yellow silk cascaded down like golden hair.
“But Rapunzel didn’t give up. Every morning when the first breeze flew into the tower to cool her brow, she sat by the window and sang to her lost love. Praying he would hear her song and call up to her in her tower prison, ‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!’ ”
I swung over to the golden silk and, from a hanging position that left my arms free, I rolled up my “hair” and tied it into a loose knot. Then I maneuvered myself into a graceful pose, and then another.
“She dreamed of how she’d let down her hair.
“So he could climb up to her.
“And kiss her.”
I did a flip and twirled around and around, my head thrown back, my arms extended, eyes closed, as if dreaming of his kiss.
“Rapunzel’s passion to find the stranger who’d won her heart was so strong that she captured the fancy of a playful wind goddess. Airiana. A spirit who ruled over the winds of the world. Airiana heard her plea and set out to help her find the stranger.”
A burst of air rushed toward me and blew my hair and the silks wildly around me. I pretended to be frightened.
“She ordered the winds of the world to carry Rapunzel’s song to the ends of the earth.”
I held the split pose with the silks wrapped around my legs as I swung back and forth, as if waiting and praying for my love to return.
“Then one day, the handsome stranger heard her song and followed her voice until he found the tower.
“‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!’” he cried out. Rapunzel looked out the window and cried with joy. It was him! The man she loved.”
I pulled myself up to a sitting position on the silks, looking left then right, shading my eyes with my hand as if searching for someone, then I flipped over into an upside down pose to better hear his call.
“And so she let down her hair.”
With a grand gesture, I swung over to the golden silk and untied the big knot and then sent it tumbling down to earth, clasping my hands to my heart.
“Up, up he climbed and they were reunited. Taking Rapunzel into his arms, they swore undying love to each other. But how could they get down from the tower?”
I spun round and round, and then slipped into different graceful poses to express my joy.
“Rapunzel said she would cut her hair and they’d use it as a rope.
“‘No,’ Airiana said. ‘I know a better way.’ The wind spirit blew into the tower room with the bluster of an avenging angel. ‘Take my hands, and together we will fly to a place far from here where you will be safe.’”
I did an inverted flip as the wind blew stronger. I held the position to give the audience a chance to anticipate what would happen next. Guessing, hoping that somehow Rapunzel and her love would get away.
I love this next move—a dramatic drop.
I wrapped my left thigh and tucked the silk tail behind my back and then wrapped my stomach over and over. Then, with my arms stretched outward and holding the tails of the billowing silks in my hand, my legs stretched out—
I executed a double star drop, cascading down the silks, my body spinning and twirling over and over like a falling star!
So off they flew, Rapunzel and her love, with Airiana as their guide to a faraway land where they lived happily ever after.”’
My spirit soared on my way down the silks—every twist and pull of my muscles working in harmonic rhythm—filling me up with joy. You did it. I knew in my heart it was the best performance of my life.
When my feet touched the ground, standing on my tiptoes, I unraveled the silks from my legs. I was about to take a bow, blow kisses—was Ricco nearby to catch them?—when I stopped.
I was so into my spin, I’d blocked out everything around me. Every whisper, every shout out, but this was way more than a shout out. This was deafening, loud applause. Really? I rubbed my sweaty palms on my gold bodysuit. I knew I’d done well, but this good?
I looked out into the audience and my jaw dropped. Even through the glare of the spotlight shining on me, I could see smiling faces, the cheering and applause so passionate, I stumbled when I took a bow, but I caught myself and turned a faux pas into a low curtsy, giving me time to catch my breath. Never did I expect such a reaction.
I really lost it when the audience got to their feet, whistling and yelling, Bravissima!
Ricco came out of the dark behind me like a magical genie, the scent so peculiarly his spiking and then he wrapped me up in his velvet voice. “You were magnificent, bella,” he whispered so only I could hear him. He put my white satin cape around my shoulders and kissed me on both cheeks.
“I can’t believe it, Ricco. All the years of work on the silks, like it was all for tonight.”
“It’s like magic.”
“Magic?”
“Si, no one can believe their eyes. You are like a goddess come down to earth.”
I shook my head. “I’m just a girl from South Philly. Nothing special.”
“You’re special to me,” he said, waving to the audience, everyone on their feet, standing and applauding, I tuned them out for a moment because I was trying to take in what he said. I heard right, didn’t I?
“Ricco, I . . .”
“I have no right to say this, Afton, but you have a rare talent. Your elegance and strength dazzle the eye and warm the soul. If only you’d allow me to help you share that talent with the world, I’d never let you down. I’d be there for you always.”
Oh. My. God. I wanted to cry and I did. Hot tears burned my eyes and streaked down my cheeks. I knew now what was missing when I performed. Why I never wanted to let my feet touch the ground. I wanted to love and be loved, to have someone believe in me, something I lost when my mom left and my dad died. Emma stood by me, but I became the parent and she was the child. I wanted someone I could lean on when things didn’t go right, someone to share things with when they did.
That special man-and-a-woman sharing that you see in every look he gives you, feel every time he touches you. Every whisper of love that makes you shiver. And in that moment, even though I knew it could never work between us—him, a royal. Me, a working class girl—I knew I was in love with Ricco.
But I could never tell him.
And that made me sadder more than anything. Sadder than leaving Monterra after the festival. Sadder than leaving my teammates, whom I’ve come to like and admire.
But I owed it to Emma not to break my promise. To keep us together. I would never dare to believe that any man, especially a royal, would want to take on the burden of my younger sister. Yes, maybe Ricco did like me a little, but I couldn’t hope that he meant anything more than that. When the fairy dust wore off and he saw me again in my plain black leotard, blue jeans, and flats, he’d see me as I am.
A girl with a dream. Who for one night got her wish before she turned back into a pumpkin. Yes, I rewrote the ending to this fairy tale because I couldn’t see it going any other way.
Till then, I’d never seen my sister so happy. I saw her sitting in the royal VIP section, smiling and clapping her hands. Marianna, Ricco’s sister, whispered in her ear and made her giggle, though she never made a sound. I noticed a secret glow in her eyes that gave me hope that someday she’d speak again.
“I will never let you go, Afton,” Ricco said, his arm around my waist. Oh, those big hands of his felt so right. “Never.”
I blinked. I swore he read my mind again. “Ricco, you know I can’t.”
“Don’t say another word, not now. We’ll talk later,” he said, taking me by the hand and waving to the crowd as they wound down their applause and the theme music came up for an intermission before the grand circus finale. “We have royal business to attend to.”
“What do you mean?”
“No more excuses. Princess Katerina insists on meeting you.”