Sinderella

Chapter Four: The Ball

Since the night of Emmelina's party nearly a year ago, Cinderella believed that she had been wronged by Katreena. Cinderella did not think that she deserved to become her family's "servant" as she called it. Katreena made it clear to Cinderella and to her sisters that Cinderella was not to be seen as a maid and not to be treated as a maid. However, this did not stop Cinderella from believing she was her family's "servant." In Cinderella's mind, the only one who deserved to be punished was Emmelina. Ironically, her reason for believing this was that she thought Emmelina was the most selfish girl in the kingdom. Little did Cinderella know that this was her sisters' opinion of her.

Cinderella developed a bitter attitude toward her sisters and an even worse attitude toward Katreena. Both of her sisters would do nothing to provoke an angry response, yet that is what they receive from Cinderella.

"Cinderella," Emmelina began one afternoon asking for a favor "could you help me with this? I need to put this basket of linen in the closet but the brooms are tipping over. Could you hold the brooms up for me?"

Emmelina's request was reasonable. Cinderella was not currently doing any work, she was in her room reading her book studying for her next exam. Cinderella stormed into the living room where Emmelina waited for her.

"Why don't you get it yourself?" Cinderella snapped. "You were the one stupid enough to open the closet door without checking to make sure nothing would fall out when you did. If they fall it is on you."

That was not enough for Cinderella. As she turned to leave, she purposefully knocked the basket of linen out of Emmelina's hands casting the contents onto the floor. Cinderella stormed back to her room and slammed the door behind her.

Katreena received the worst attitude from Cinderella. Cinderella believed Katreena to be the devil on earth. She believed that Katreena's discipline was completely unfair and unreasonable. So why would Cinderella treat her mother with any form of respect if she hated her so much?

"Cinderella!" Katreena called from a storage loft in their house. Emmelina and Sabelina had gone for the day and Katreena was at home with Cinderella. "Will come here please?"

Cinderella stormed into the living room and greeted her mother with a stern "What?"

"Will you set the ladder back up for me?" Katreena asked, trapped on the loft. She was trying to get down some boxes of old clothes to pack up and send to the Exchange where they can be given to people in need. However, while she was in the loft reaching for boxes, she accidentally kicked the ladder and it fell to the floor with a hard thud.

Cinderella picked up the ladder and pretended to set it back on the loft so that her mother can get down. However, before the ladder was within Katreena's reach, Cinderella lifted the ladder away and set it against the wall next to the loft.

"You can stay up there." Cinderella said. "Until you learn your lesson about treating your children properly!"

Cinderella was trying to reciprocate her punishment onto her mother, but it did not have the desired effect. Katreena just sat there and reached for the ladder with an old cane she found in the loft. She hooked the end onto one of the handles and carried it closer so that she could grab it and adjust it herself. Katreena climbed down from the ladder, but when she got down Cinderella had vanished, likely returned to whatever activity she was doing prior to being called into the living room.

As a result of Cinderella's nasty attitude, Emmelina and Sabelina would avoid Cinderella at all times. There were rare occasions, however, that Emmelina and Sabelina would treat Cinderella in a similar way that she treated them. Now, they did not abuse Cinderella in any way but they were rather short with her. Of course, Cinderella thought that this was unfair for her to be treated the way she was treating her sisters and her mother. Cinderella had heard the Golden Rule in school, but only thought that it applied to good things. She thought it only meant to be kind to others. It never occurred to her that she was being unkind to her sisters and in return her sisters were not being kind to her.