Cherry's Adventures of the Princess and the Frog

chapter 5

Cherry, Atticus, Darla, and Patch looked for a costume department. Cherry fell behind a little and tried to catch her breath and catch up with them at the same time. A little boy tugged on her shirt.

"Not now, sweetie..." Cherry said to the boy before noticing he looked a lot like someone she knew. "Oh, my..."

The little boy smiled to her and gestured for her to come to his stand.

"I'm sorry, I don't have time for--" Cherry was about to say.

The boy began to pull her over to his stand.

Cherry sighed and pulled up the stool that was in front of the stand and had a seat. "Okay, let's get this over with."

The boy took out a rubber red ball and showed it to her face. Cherry nodded to show she could see it. The boy then put the ball under a cup and started to spin the cups all around and smiled once he was done.

"Um... That one?" Cherry pointed to the cup in the middle.

The boy removed the cup to see if she had gotten it right. There was no ball though. The boy cupped his mouth and shook his head. Cherry then tried the cup on the right. The boy picked up the cup and fluttered his lips.

"Uhh... This one." Cherry pointed to the cup on the left.

The boy removed the cup, but still no ball, he then pouted and shook his head. He then grabbed his throat as he hiccuped and sounded like he was suffocating and then coughed roughly and took her hand, spitting up the ball in her hand and smiled with an eager nod.

"Whoa!" Cherry winced out of both disgust and amazement.

The boy smiled to her.

"Raymond!" an older female voice called. "Where are you!?"

The boy put his ball in his pocket, collected his cups, into a box that was scribble titled as a 'MAGIK KIT' and the boy ran off after clicking the box shut and rushed to his mother.

"Wait!" Cherry called. "Where are you going!?" She then saw as the boy ran off to a lady that seemed to be looking for him.

"Raymond, there you are!" the woman hugged the boy. "You worried me sick!"

The boy frowned to his mother apologetically and nuzzled against her in the hug.

"Still giving the silent treatment, huh?" the woman sounded disappointed. "Honestly, boy, your father and I told you, if anything is bothering you, just tell us and we'll try to fix it, we'll believe you no matter what."

The boy slowly shook his head, looking like he was fearing for his mother's safety if he said anything.

"Oh, never mind, come on, your father's waiting." The woman told him.

The boy nodded and followed his mother, looking nervous as they ran into a butler who carried heavy bags while chasing after Prince Naveen as he was in casual clothes in order to blend into the crowd. The silent little boy looked around nervously, almost as if he had been haunted by something or someone, and stayed close to the childish comfort that was his mother's warmness and endless nurturing.

"That has to be him." Cherry said.

"Cherry?" Atticus called. "Cherry! Oh, there you are... Come on, let's go."

Cherry nodded to him and started to follow as she studied what she had discovered, but looked back to keep up with her friends.

"Where could we find costumes?" Patch asked.

"There's a place!" Darla pointed to a costume department that was across the street.

With that, they all went into the costume shop to hurry up and get costumes before the good ones would be gone for tonight.