SNOW WHITE FALLS ILL

 Snow White looked back at the overgrown castle and wondered if she would ever see it again.  If she became Queen, how would she restore the palace?  Would any of her people still be alive or would the plague take them all?

Snow White was filled with an unbearable sadness as she and the Huntsman rode deeper into the forest toward home.  The world of her happy childhood was gone forever; it lived on only in her memory.        
     
                 

Her tired mind began to wander.  She felt so hot! She saw her fairy friends floating in the sky; it was Winter now.  Snow White floated through the sky with the fairies as the snow drifted about them. She called out to the sisters, but they didn't seem to hear her. The snow...the snow did not cool her.  She drifted away into the blackness of the night...so hot

"Snow White fell ill on the long journey through the woods," said the Huntsman to the seven little men who clustered about her bed. "She grew fevered and cried out in her sleep. When I touched her face, I knew she had caught the plague from her poor father who is gone. I am so very tired myself...I think I will sit down for a while and rest before I go home."

The Huntsman collapsed into a chair and drank the cold water the leader of the little men gave him.  He could not recall his name...

The little men looked gravely at one another. The Huntsman had fallen ill as well.  They knew their simple herbs and potions could not heal their beloved Snow White and the Huntsman
The must send for the Fairy Queen!

 

"I am here, my friends and my magic is very powerful.  I will cure both of them.  Let us get to work."

THE END OF AN ERA

There in that grainy black and white photo of the Wesleyan Drama Club in 1962 are my closest friends from that special time in my life.  On the left is Mr. Russell, who hated being photographed, and next to him is me looking tired as I always was in those days.  Most of the girls in the picture were set to graduate in 1963 and my closest friends, Linda and Bootsie, married two days apart at the end of that school year

And our beloved director, Mr. Russell, was fired and we never learned why.  I am not even sure that he knew.  He was an extraordinary director and an excellent drama teacher whom we all respected.  All of us were stunned and Mr. Russell looked shell-shocked.  I began to wonder if I even wanted to return for my senior year since my closest friends would all be gone.

The school year sped to a close.  There were exams to take, clothes to pack,  bridesmaid dresses to make, shoes to be dyed and of course, plans to be made for the summer.  I was to be a Junior Marshal at Graduation and then go straight to Tifton for Bootsie's wedding.  The next day I would travel to South Carolina for Linda's wedding and then take the train to Asbury Park, NJ, where I hoped to work as a waitress for the summer.  There would be no time to go home.  My mother had inexplicably gone to New York with my little brother, Jim, while my dad and my other two brothers, Rick and Bill, remained at home.  Everything in my life was changing at lightning speed.

Just before he left town three of us went to Mr. Russell's apartment to say goodbye.  We stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say.  He had found a job in another state and would leave the following day to find an apartment.  Finally, my two friends each said goodbye, promising to write, then went out to the car, crying.  I just stood there like a lost soul not wanting to leave.

Mr. Russell smiled wistfully and said a line from Medea.  "The world has turned and turned sharp!"  I nodded, unable to speak.  We held each other for a few moments and I knew I had to leave.  We wrote, of course we wrote, but I never saw him again.

Medea from the 1963 Veterropt, Wesleyan College

A VISIT FROM THE DYING QUEEN

Snow White stood looking out the window of her father's room. She would regret for the rest of her life the two years they had missed being together. She should have tried to see him, but she had been afraid of the Queen.

A hoarse voice broke the deathly quiet of the morning. The Queen had entered the room.

"I came to see my husband.  Huntsman, why are 
you here and who is that woman?" said the Queen, looking haggard and dull-eyed.

"Your Majesty," said the Huntsman, quickly kneeling on one knee. "I fear I have terrible news.  Your husband, the King, is dead of the plague." The Queen looked stunned; the King was her only protection.  "This woman is my niece Belinda.  She has knowledge of healing herbs and hoped to save the King, but we were too late.  I am very sorry, my Queen."

"I am alone then," she said, dully.  "My ladies in waiting have all died. I don't know what to do."  The Queen sat heavily on the chair near her husband. "I loved him you know, but he loved only my beauty.  Well, that's long gone." She laughed bitterly, then drew herself up.  "Huntsman, take your niece and leave.  I have a royal funeral to plan."

Snow White crossed rapidly to the Huntsman and together they left the room.  But at the door Snow White turned and spoke.  "Madame, you look ill. You should go to your bed and I will send a servant to look after you."

"You are right; I don't feel well, but I shall stay a little longer with my husband."

                     

The Huntsman took Snow White's hand and they
raced down the stairs and through the empty passages.  They saw no one, the palace was empty.

"There is no one left to send to the Queen," said Snow White.

"She will die alone,"

said the Huntsman.

Snow White and the Huntsman mounted his horse and rode toward the woods and home.  Soon Snow White would be Queen, but she had not allowed herself to know it yet.