"Steamer" Ella (Based on Cinderella)
Once upon a time, a young girl lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was sweet, nice, and responsible; everyone loved her. She lived with two horrible stepsisters and her haggard stepmother; her father died the year before and left her to rot with her new ghastly family. Nobody knew her real name anymore; everyone just called her “Steamer Ella”. At night, Steamer Ella would use the pot of boiling Macaroni from supper and place her hands and face above the pot to warm herself from the bitter cold. She wore very little clothing; they kept her in maid clothes and wouldn't give her anything nice.
“Get out of the steam, Steamer Ella!” shrieked her sisters when they were demanding something from her from their bedrooms.
“Yeah, the Macaroni lost all of its heat anyway once you stopped boiling it!” howled her stepmother violently from the room above.
“If only they went to Eisenhower Middle School and had Mr. Brugge for an eighth grade physics teacher, then they would have known that steam is invisible. They would know it is really little drops of water. Oh, well I guess they will never learn anything!” Steamer Ella would mutter underneath her breath after they would screech at her.
The family all took her as the maid of the household, she did everything; cooking, cleaning, launder, serving the family; they treated her as a slave. The truth was that her evil stepmother and sisters were jealous of her likeness and elegance. Therefore, their goal was to make Steamer Ella's life as horrible and repulsive as possible.
“Practice, Practice, Practice. Practice millions of times everyday, and you might make it somewhere. Practice like you was going to go to Carnegie Hall.” her family once advised her when she asked why she always had to do the chores and everything else. And why nobody else did anything worthwhile. After that they sent her to clean the cellar, kitchen, bathrooms, and floors.
One day she was cleaning out the spiders from the closet when the doorbell rang.
“I'll let Stepmother get that or else she will be unhappy with me because I haven't finished cleaning this room.” she thought to herself.
“Get the door, you lazy piece of slime! Right now, go!” roared her stepmother while she finished dressing herself when the doorbell rang from downstairs. Steamer Ella decided to get the door without a fight today.
“I know that is perhaps the young male neighbor for one of the girls, so I will take my time.” contemplated Steamer Ella while walking down the long hallway.
“Hurry, Steamer Ella! Go! I heard the Prince was sending an invitation. Go, and run!” wailed her Stepmother from rooms away, hurriedly.
Consequently, Steamer Ella started to run through the rooms, and down the halls; the house was a mansion and she had three floors to cover. On her way through the rooms, the sisters would call and yell at her; tease her about her running; demand her to clean their rooms. When she finally made it into the foyer, she was sweaty and hot from running.
“Wow! There must be a lot of movement in my atoms; I must be vibrating a lot! This is scary; I may have to call the doctor. But while I'm with him, I will also ask him about the mineral called mercury; the ingredient label on our soup for supper has mercury on it.” she considered while she was about to answer to the big, cast iron doors.
She opened to a surprise; the whole of the kingdom was there- everyone except the Royal Family of course. They asked for the maidens of the house. The stepfamily all seemed to run and lunge themselves down the stairs to see what the chaos was. It was an invitation; inviting all the women in the house to come and join the Royal Prince at his ball. It was a week later, and the purpose was to find the Prince a bride.
The following week was spent for preparations for the ball; finding the perfect dresses, hemming the ends, finding the right jewelry- but of course, throughout their selfishness to become Princess, they forgot poor Steamer Ella. Meanwhile, she had to work over-time; not only doing her normal chores, but also doing all the work on their dresses and their getting ready for the ball. Every night, Steamer Ella would cry and cry, for she couldn't go, and was exhausted from the days of work. But even at night they still seemed to need her help.
They were ready to go; all dressed in their deluxe and premium clothes, but poor Steamer Ella. The evil family left from their house in a beautiful golden carriage with a horseman and three beautiful white horses. If Steamer Ella had cried before, she cried harder than ever; drowning in her own tears.
Just then, she saw, a bright light, coming down, from above. It looked like a star, glowing with light and love from old age, but Steamer Ella knew it wasn't. Suddenly, as it had come, it had gone. But instead of darkness, Steamer Ella saw a woman, worn with age, cheery, and caring. She wore clothes the colors of the rainbow; bright and cheery.
“Wow! Dreams do come true, my Fairy Godmother! I will wish to go to the ball!” Steamer Ella reflected aloud.
“I am not your Fairy Godmother! I am your Fairy Spectrum- Mother! But all the same, I have come to assist you in anyway possible. What would you like?” beamed the smiling old woman.
Steamer Ella explained to her Spectrum- Mother about the Prince and the precious ball. She told her of how unfair her family had been to her. But she also expressed how there was no time even if she could go to the ball; the ball started in fifteen minutes, she had no means of transportation, and she had nothing to wear.
“Do not worry Steamer Ella. For I have what most people wish for. I have a third class lever!” her Spectrum- Mother enlightened her kindly.
“I don't know what a third class lever is, but if it grants me my wishes, then I do not care to know,” Steamer Ella revealed to the beautiful woman.
And so, the Fairy Spectrum- Mother waved her magical third class lever and granted her wishes. She gave her a handsome carriage she turned into from a pumpkin! She granted her six beautifully drawn horses, and even gave her a coachman.
“I love the white horses, they are charming and lovely!” Steamer Ella humbly told her Spectrum- Mother, as she patted its back and mane.
But, she answered back honestly, “Why, those aren't white horses! How could you ever think such a thing you silly girl! Are you colorblind?”
“Why of course I'm not! Why would you ever say such a thing? Of course they are white! What other color would it be?” inquired Steamer Ella, in total shock.
“Oh! Dear me! I only meant that they are horses whose color has photons that reflect everything back.” Spectrum- Mother answered her, “But yes, they are exquisite, all the same.” she added sharply.
Steamer Ella ignored this truthful fact, for she had only just remembered she couldn't go to the ball dressed as a servant. Therefore, Spectrum- Mother turned her attire into a gorgeous white and blue dress, and gave her a pair of delicate gorgeous glass slippers to wear that night.
“Oh! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I could never thank you enough!” cried Steamer Ella in all her excitement to go.
’ÄúYou're welcome, Dear!’Äù replied the woman, ’ÄúBut don't forget- you must be back by midnight. If you are not, all my magic will disappear on you.’Äù
She waved her off cheerily, but Steamer Ella wasn't listening very well, at what the Spectrum- Mother told her. In all her joy she left, ready to meet the Prince.
On her coach, in her way over towards the palace, she heard fireworks, and looked outside. The coach stopped for rest, one of the horses was having problems. She knew she was still 703 meters away from the castle, so she wanted to see what the speed of sound is. She saw the light (fire) from the firecracker, started counting, and then she heard the crack, and then stopped counting. She counted 1.78 seconds. To be good at math, she tested many times. She got: 1.78, 1.69, 1.70, and 1.75 seconds. The average was 1.74 seconds, she found.
“Oh, so the speed of sound is 404 meters per second! Wow, that's fast, but not as fast as it would be if traveling through my shoes which are glass of course.” she scientifically stated.
Steamer Ella arrived only ten minutes late, but she arrived making a huge entrance. The Prince saw her, and knew this magnificent girl was to be his Princess. They danced all night; all the people smiled and watched them. Fortunately, her family didn't recognize her. They danced through every song throughout the night. Steamer Ella was so happy and giddy with joy that she forgot to look for the time.
“Wow! That trombone played an extremely low note! I wonder how much energy it contains.” The Prince acknowledged her through one of the dances.
“Wow! You're really smart.” she told him kindly.
She didn't realize it, but the huge grandfather clock, hanging on the wall, was chiming twelve behind her.
“Oh, it's nothing. That is just simple science.” he blushed modestly in reply.
As she spun on the next turn at the music, she noticed the big clock, chiming, and stopped in her tracks.
“I have to go! Right now!” she anxiously told him as she hurried to run out.
“Why? The ball isn't over yet? And I haven't announced my new Princess!” said the Prince, obviously flustered.
Steamer Ella ran out the door and out of the palace as quickly as she could. The Prince ran after her, but she was too quick for him.
“But I don't even know your name! And I was to choose you for a bride! Come back!” he reasoned into the night air.
At the stairs, Steamer Ella lost one of her glass slippers, but she knew there was no time for her to stop and get it. She knew that once the spells broke, and the Prince saw her for who she truly was, then he would despise her; so she continued on her escape.
The Prince found her little glass slipper and knew it was hers.
“I must go out and search for her, I must have her as my Princess!” the Prince told himself angrily.
Steamer Ella made it home just on time, but all of the magic was lost before she made it half way home. Moreover, she made it home seconds before the family arrived back. Steamer Ella sat crying in the corner, for hours. She cried because she knew she would never see the Prince again, she knew they would never marry, and she knew that she would never get out of this horrible awful place. But she didn't know that the Prince was on a search of his own.
“We will go to every household, and we will find all of the women in the county. Only one woman will fit this small of a shoe size. Try this shoe on every woman, even the maids and nannies. I will go with you, I should remember her face.” spoke the Prince boldly, determined to find his Princess.
That day, Steamer Ella was depressed and down in the blues. She was not ready to work, and did her chores very badly. She thought of nothing but the Prince. But then the door bell rang. She slowly walked to the big cast iron gates.
Slowly she opened the doors, and she saw the whole of the Kingdom, but this time, the whole royal family was there.
“May all the women in the household please come and let us in.” spoke the royal guard in his monotones tone.
Steamer Ella's face lit up with joy as soon as she saw her Prince. Naturally, the glass slipper wouldn't fit on anybody else's foot, but one. As soon as Steamer Ella tried on the shoe, he knew she was the one. They had searched almost the whole empire, but he knew this was his Princess. Steamer Ella pulled out her glass slipper from the night before, out of her apron. Both rejoiced at once.
“Steamer Ella, will you marry me?” the Prince asked delightfully on one knee, with a diamond ring in one hand.
“Of course, you are my one true love! But I do not want a diamond; diamonds are not actually rare and valuable as people think. The only good use of them is sound being able to travel extremely quickly, so I want a ruby ring instead.
Steamer Ella left the house that day, but before she did, she had to make sure of one thing- to let her family know that they had given her a false name.
“You should know that water boils at 94 degrees here in Albuquerque, and you should know that I don't sit in steam, I sit in water! She rejoiced aloud to her family.
That day, the Prince and Steamer Ella were married. And they lived happily ever after.
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