𝐀 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐬 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐀𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞

𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞

Deciding to break from her thoughts, Angelica went to find her father.
She walked down to the cellar quietly. She didn't want to disturb his
delicate craftsmanship. Seeing her father at his work table, she could
hear him humming a tune. The music box he was creating accompanied his singing.
"How does a moment last forever?
How can a story never die?
It is love we must hold onto
Never easy, but we try
Sometimes our happiness is captured
Somehow, a time and place stand still
Love lives on inside our hearts and always will"
Leta smiled at her father and walked up behind him, placing a kiss on his cheek "That was beautiful papa" Phillip turned around to look at his daughter. He saw so much of her mother in his angel "Why thank you my dear" Helping her father put together the music box, she started thinking "Papa, do you think I'm odd?" She asked "Odd?" Her father questioned "My daughter odd? Where did you get
an idea like that?" She walked around to the front of his work table "I don't know. People talk" "This is a small village. You know, small minded as well" Leta gave him the look as if she didn't believe him "But small also means
safe. Even back in Paris I knew a girl like you, who was so ahead of her time. So different hat people mocked her until the day they all found themselves imitating her" Leta stood up from where she had sat down. She looked at the dozens of sketches that was a range of baby sketches. She knew they
were of her and they were the only recollection she had of her mother. Seeing the portrait on the wall of her mother made her cry even more "What was she like? Please just tell me one more thing about her!" Leta begged.
Phillip had this conversation with Leta all the time. He never told his little girl what truly happened to her mother because it was hard on him as well. He had three children, but only one of them seemed to not leave him "Your mother was fearless" He smiled "Fearless. Just like you" Leta sighed "I wish I knew more about her. I just miss her so" "As do I, my dear" Phillip gathered up his things to take to the market. He closed the music box and walked outside. Not far behind him was Leta. He placed it in the wagon while Angelica made her way around to say
goodbye to their horse Maximus. Leta helped her father with the reins as he climbed aboard the wagon "So, what can I bring you from the market?" "A rose. Like the one in the painting" Leta smiled "Are you sure? You ask for that every year and I always feel so bad"
Her father offered "And every year you bring it" She said to him "Then I shall bring it" He cupped his daughter's chin "You have my word" She smiled as she stepped away, making her way towards the house "Bye bye papal "Goodbye angel" He said as he watched walk up the stairs "Come on'Maximus. You know the way" "I'll see you tomorrow" Leta called after her father as she
watched him trot off "Stay safe" He knew she was responsible, so there wasn't a trust issue. His problem was with how everyone else treated her. Sure she would keep her composure, but he could see past it. Call it a father's
intuition. Leta went back into the cellar and started to sketch ideas of how that could possibly work and smiled to herself. She put everything together and gathered what she needed. Once she was done, Leta made her way into the village. Leta had put her laundry in a barrel and attached it to the donkey. It was her creative mind that put together these sorts of things. As she sat reading, a little girl observed what the donkey was going "What's he doing?" The little girl asked. Leta looked up and smiled at her "The laundry" The little girl saw
the book and wanted to learn "Come"
As the laundry was being done, Leta was helping the little girl learn to read. She had been teaching the little girl how to read for a while now and she enjoyed it very much. All she wanted to do was show people the magic and power of books. After a while, the headmaster of the school found Leta and the little girl Seeing that Leta was teaching the pir how toread, he was furious "That was amazing!" Angelica cheered on the little girl sitting in front
of her "What on earth are doing teaching another girl to read? Isn't he two we have enough?" The headmaster asked. Belle saw Leta, the headmaster, and Clothilde standing around. The two towns people's attention was directed at Leta and the little girl "We have to do something" Clothilde said. The two walked away and later came back with the townspeople. Two of the men took Leta's laundry and dumped it into the
street. Belle immediately went over and helped her friend go and pick it up. Even Perè Robert helped and her looked sorrowfully at the lovely girl who appreciated books. Across town was Gaston looking at himself in the mirror. He was so caught up in himself that he was talking to himself in the mirror "You are the wildest, most gorgeous thing I have ever seen. Nobody
deserves you, but at least I know our children with be beautiful" "Am I catching you at a bad time?" LeFou asked. Obviously annoyed by being interrupted, Gaston replied to LeFou in a slightly vicious tone "What is it LeFou?" "A certain damsel is in distress" LeFou told his friend and Gaston
smirked at himself in the mirror "Well"Gaston said, fixing his appearance "It's hero time. I'm not done with you yet" He said to the mirror and walked off "Me neither" LeFou looked at himself in the mirror and followed Gaston.
Gaston hadn't reached Leta until she had made it home. Behind Leta was Belle, and Gaston found her troublesome. She always seemed to get in the way when Gaston tried to approach Leta. Though he thought Belle was beautiful, her attitude towards him made her unwedable to him "Leta, I heard you had trouble with the headmaster. He never liked me either"Gaston was behind the fence while Belle and Leta were inside of it. Both started walking further through the garden and Gaston ran the fence trying to follow them "Can I give you some advice about the villagers though? Their never going to trust the kind of change you're trying to bring" Gaston stepped over the fence and crushed one of the cabbages that was growing. Belle saw this and sneered at the man "How rude. You have no care for anything but yourself" Leta huffed as she watched Gaston stomp on more of the cabbage "All I wanted to do was teach a child to read" Leta told the man in front of her "The only children you should concern yourself with are" Gaston motioned between him and Leta "Your own" Leta looked at him in digits and Belle huffed "That's enough we want nothing to do with you" Belle sneered "I'm" Leta tried to make her was towards the house, but Gaston got in her way "Not ready to have children" She opened her gate and
locked it behind her, preventing Gaston from getting through "Maybe you haven't met the right man" Gaston suggested, leaning against the gate "It's a small village Gaston, I've met them all" Leta told him and left him there "Maybe you should take another look"Gaston suggested, unlocking the gate and following after her "Some of us have changed" Leta turned around and looked at him. Gaston had a sad smile on his face "Gaston! We could never make each other happy! No one
can change that much!" She slowly made her way up the steps "Oh Leta. Do you know what happens to spinsters in this village after their father's die?"Gaston turned and pointed to Agathe "They beg for scraps like poor Agathe. This is our world Leta. For simple
folk like us, it doesn't get any better" Gaston at that point ha grabbed onto her dress and climbed up the steps. Leta once again stepped back towards the door and pulled her dress away from his hands "I might be a farm girl, but I am not simple and I'm never going to marry you Gaston. I'm sorry" Leta
closed the door and left his standing there "To be honest, you can always come and live with me" Belle's voice
caused Leta to jump from her place, trying not to make any noise "Well that will never work. That's just weird" Leta told her friend and they both giggled.
Stopping their little fit, they both went back to serious "Your clothes are in your room. Better luck next time trying to clean them" "Thanks" Leta thanked her "Is there anything I can get you
before you leave?" "Nope. I've got to be home to see papa before her leaves for the market. I assume your father has already left" Belle remarked "Yes. And thank you very much" Leta told Belle as Belle was making her way toward the door "Bon voyage Leta" Belle waved goodbye and was off. Leta went to the window, watching Belle leave. She also waited until she knew that Gaston had left. Once he was out of sight, she
stepped outside to feed the chickens.
"Can you imagine? Me, the wife of that boorish, brainless..."
She huffed, picking up the chicken feed.
"Madame Gaston, can't you just see it? Madame Gaston, his little wife, ugh"
She threw the chicken feed angrily on the ground.
"No, sir! Not me! I guarantee it. I want much more than this provincial life!"
Leta ran outside the boundaries of the town and to the open field. She went there when she was stressed and right now she was just really agitated.
Standing in the middle of the field with no one around her, she sang to her heart's content.
"I want adventure in the great wide
somewhere. I want it more than I can tell. And for once it might be grand to have someone understand. I want so much more than they've got planned"
She stood there for a little while and took in the view. It was so beautiful and quiet. No one to judge her and a place where she could express herself. Her life was lonely, but fulfilling. The only thing that made her happy were her books and her dreams. She was never able to get the face of the handsome man out of her head. She wanted him to be real so she could get rid of Gaston. Maybe she could find true happiness with him because she knew Gaston would never provide her with that. Realizing it was was almost sundown, she went back home. She was surprised to see Maximus, her father's horse, but her father wasn't there. The wagon was no longer attached to him. Leta looked around, getting worried as to what happened. She ran inside, looking for any trace of her father. There was nothing. She ran back outside and went to Maximus "What happened Max? Are you hurt?" She examined the horse "Where's papa? Can you take me to him?" The horse seemed to nod his head. She gave a nervous smile and
mounted the horse. She grabbed onto the reins and pulled him away from the cottage "Then take me to him"