Deconstructing Royalty

Princess Stereotype

         The air was hot and tacky at the park. She was moist all over—face, neck, pits, collarbone, chest—and whilst running, the scorching sensation between her thighs felt like hot charcoal being rubbed together. Nonetheless, Spencer refused to permit Esmay the chance to refuel. It was Manhunt after all, hence the word “Man.” He had to be victorious.

           Esmay elevated the bottom of her dress a few inches. On the other hand, the skirt was getting caught repeatedly; with every wrong step so far, she was close to landing directly on her face. “Ugh!” She groaned. This time around, the skirt got snatched up by a tree root, and Esmay was constrained to hopping twice on her left leg in order to regain balance. Upon hearing Spencer chuckling rowdily at the base, she turned and stuck her tongue out.

         He shook his head. “How can you even stand walking around in that thing? You can hardly manage it.”

         “I can get around just fine,” she retorted, wrenching the dress, failing to free herself. She huffed and waved the skirt up as if she were laying down a blanket and the twig snapped.

         Spencer walked in a circle around the bench. “Oh, please! One way or another, you’re going to trip on that skirt and face plant into the dirt.”

        Esmay scowled as she approached him, her ‘red as a rose’ lips pursued. She made sure to lift her gown extra high, not wanting to thwart her prodigious stride; if there was one thing she was expertly educated in, it was how to appear intimidating in a dress. “First of all: UN-TRUE. Second of all: As a soon-to-be princess, it is essential that I learn to navigate fluently in elegant clothing.”

       He halted and then steered his head to scrutinize her thoughtfully. As he chewed on his lower lip, Spencer inquired, “You do know that’s a stereotype, right? Princesses wearing dresses?”

       “What do you mean?”

      “It’s like…” The youngster fidgeted with his hands, feeling violated under her powerful scrutiny. “Like, Princesses are supposed to symbolize goodness and purity, right? Well, it’s not the dress that makes her good and pure. Really, it’s not all that important. In reality, it’s the righteous deeds she carries out and her openness to help her people.” He dared to glimpse into her critical orbs and, in that second, was staggered to see they’d actually softened. Her mouth exhibited a mischievous smile, and moreover, two genial dimples on her cheeks.

      “You totally want me to take my dress off again.”

       Spencer’s eyeballs protruded from their sockets. “What? No, I don’t!”