Ever After . . .

Chapter 3

~Maxon ~

All day yesterday and all day today my daughter and Kriss have told me nothing of what we're doing today. We  had a romantic lunch together, away from the kids, and away from work. Now we're going downtown to do something special as a family.

The car stops in front of the Angeles Theater. There I see a poster advertising Swan Lake.

"Kriss. You got us tickets for Swan Lake?" I ask in shock.

"Yes. I hope you enjoy them."

Kriss, Alison, Nathan, Ben, my parents, and myself all get out of the car with our tickets in our hands. We give our tickets to the ticket master, and we find our seats. Not long after we sit down, a screen is lowered down on the stage.

There, sweet music plays, and we see footage of what looks like the history of the ballet. We hear someone me the story of Swan Lake. The story ends and three faces come on the screen. A girl, a boy, and an announcer.

"Hello everyone. I'm honored to be here with the two people who have helped bring this ballet back to life. Who just happen to be twins. The people behind Odette the Queen of the Swans Marissa, and Prince Siegfried, Lucas. How are you?" The announcer said.

"We're great," Marissa said.

Marissa has red hair just like America. But America never married I think.

"So what's it like being a part of something this monumental?"

"Crazy, and a little scary. I mean it's fun, it's just doing this for the first time in almost a hundred years, you want to get it right," Marissa said.

"I have to agree. You want it to go off without a hitch. This ballet is something you don't want to mess up," Lucas said.

"So Marissa, you have one of the most demanding roles. Could you explain please," the announcer asked.

"Well I play two different girls, and each of them are so different. One is light and graceful. The other is straight and sharp. So being able to do both, is incredible really."

"And Lucas. How would you describe your part?"

"Challenging, but not as difficult as Marissa's part. But ballet is difficult in general. So being able to get this part, is just incredible," Lucas said.

"So you two are twins right? Who's older?"

"I am. By eight minutes," Marissa said.

"So what's your favorite part of being older?"

"The bragging rights. I get to hang it over his head."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Lucas responded.

"Okay. Last question. What is your favorite part of the ballet?" The announcer asked.

"Mine has to be the ballet mime. When Odette is telling her story to Prince Siegfried the first time they meet there I one line that I have to mime a lot during their conversation is 'but wait there's more'. That's my favorite part because I do that around the house just to make Lucas mad," Marissa said.

"I don't really have a favorite part. I love all of it," Lucas said.

"Well thank you for taking time out of rehearsal. I better send you back. Now do you have anything to say to the audience?"

"I hope you enjoy the performance just as much as we love performing it," Lucas said.

The screen faces to black, and music begins to play. I see a flash of red, when I look to see what it was, it was gone. The music grows, the curtains rise, and the stage lights lift. And the ballet begins.

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We get to act two, and these beautiful girls in white appear. Then a girl in white with a small crown appears. She is at first frightened by the weapon that the Prince has. Then he discards the weapon, and the girl tells her story.

It's all incredible. How the story is told without speaking a word. At the end of act two, we see Odette turn back into a swan, and the Prince runs off.

Then act three, we're at a ball. Then a girl in all black appears with a man. The girl looks exactly like Odette.

The Prince swears his love to the girl. Then we see Odette "flying" in the background. The girl and the man run off. The Prince is left heartbroken, and runs after them.

The final act is a little emotional. The Prince and the magician fight over Odette. Then they fight each other all through dance. Odette then sees this, and she runs up a cliff in the background and jumps off. The Prince is heartbroken once again, and he runs and jumps off the cliff.

The swans then defeat the magician. The sun rises, and in it's shadow we see the Prince and Odette reunited. The curtain closes and we all applaud. The curtain rises and all the Swans are standing, and they are first to bow. The magician appears, and bows. Finally Odette and the Prince appear and they bow. The conductor is the final one to bow. Someone brings flowers onstage to Odette. They continue to bow until the curtain closes again.