CHAPTER 5

Scrub-a-dub-dub

The next morning, Cupid found a thick, creamy envelope with gold lettering at the front door. It was the official invitation from the prince for the Grand Ball that evening! He was throwing the ball in order to find his true love and invited everyone in the kingdom to attend. Cupid was hexcited until Stepmother yanked the invitation out of her hands and told her, “This invitation is not for you.”

Now it was Cupid’s turn to be upset. She pointed at the invitation. “But… look! It says everyone in the kingdom is invited. Everyone. That means me, too!”

“How dare you disagree with me, young lady?” Stepmother yelled. “And anyway, this house is still a mess! You absolutely cannot attend the ball.”

Cupid was disappointed. She wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Not to mention, she’d finally get out of the raggedy clothes she’d been wearing all the time. But then she noticed Charlotte and Prudence at the top of the stairs exchanging worried glances. Somehow, they looked more upset than Cupid felt. The mystery continues, Cupid thought. What is wrong here? Why don’t they want to go to the ball? She had to find out.

Cupid decided she’d start with Prudence, and this time she knocked very carefully at the door.

“Come in!” Prudence called, and Cupid slipped her head past the door. “Oh,” she said, “it’s you.… What do you want?”

“Aren’t you just so hexcited for the ball?” Cupid asked in her most cheerful voice. “I know you’re going to have a fableous time tonight in your beautiful new dress, Prudence.”

“Why would I?” Prudence said with a groan as she stood up and walked toward the door. “Tonight will be just like any other night. I’ll go the ball, be miserable, come home, and then my mother will blame me for not trying to have a good time. Even if I did try, I still wouldn’t be able to do anything right.”

Cupid didn’t understand what was wrong, and she wanted to help. But before she could say anything at all, Prudence walked out of her room and shut the door behind her.

A short time later, Stepmother told her two daughters to fetch their new gowns; they had to start getting ready right away for the Grand Ball. Immediately, Charlotte and Prudence became sour and cranky, and started barking orders at Cupid to do more chores.

“Cinderella, you have to empty out all the shampoo bottles and wash them, and then pour the shampoo back in the clean bottles. How can I possibly wash my hair with shampoo that’s not in a clean shampoo bottle?” Prudence complained.

Just as Cupid finished washing each and every shampoo bottle, Charlotte walked into the bathroom and looked carefully around the room. Cupid couldn’t help but get the sense that Charlotte was looking for something to be wrong. Finally, she looked up at the ceiling and smiled triumphantly.

“Cinderella hasn’t dusted the ceiling in the bathroom, so how could I possibly do my hair in here?” Charlotte announced, and waltzed out of the bathroom with a dramatic sigh. Cupid quickly grabbed a stepstool and tried to dust the ceiling, but she still wasn’t tall enough. Then she remembered her feathered friends! The little birds were happy to help. They flapped their wings across the ceiling. But just as Cupid thought she’d finished with all her chores, Prudence came up with a new one. She wanted the mirror polished. And then Charlotte decided that the bathtub should be cleaned again, even though it was sparkling.

Cupid didn’t mind the hextra work, but she did suspect that the stepsisters were making up chores for no good reason. Cupid thought back to Cinderella’s fairytale—then she remembered! In the story, the wicked stepmother said Cinderella couldn’t go to the ball unless she finished all her chores. The stepmother thought the chores she gave Cinderella would be impossible to finish, so she would never get to go to the ball!

Then Cupid realized—maybe in this story, Charlotte and Prudence were making up these chores so they couldn’t get ready in time for the ball! Why were the stepsisters so opposed to going to the ball?

Finally, the girls couldn’t come up with any more silly chores, so Cupid set to work on getting them ready. She fixed Prudence’s long, shiny black hair in an elaborate crown braid. “This looks spelltacular, and you won’t have to worry about your hair getting messed up when you dance,” she told her. Cupid thought she saw Prudence’s eyes light up at the word dance. But almost immediately her eyes grew sad again, and her face returned to its usual sour expression. What can I do to change this story? Cupid wondered. I’m not even going to the ball, so how can I help? Then, she had an idea.

It was time to call for backup.