Things I Almost Remember: A Selection Story

The Music Box

Over the coming weeks, Johnny and Connor taught Kate everything she needed to learn about being the lost princess of Illéa.

"What is your full name including your title?" Johnny asked one day when they were reviewing some of the things Kate had been learning.

"Her Royal Highness Princess Kerttu Lena America Koskinen of Illéa," Kate answered promptly.

"Where do your middle names come from?" Johnny asked, trying to see how much she could get right.

"My grandmothers, Queen America Schreave and Lena Koskinen," Kate answered without a second thought. "Grandma Schreave lived with us in the palace. She always used to play hide-and-seek with me around the palace and she would teach me how to play piano and even how to climb trees. Mama did not really like to run around like Grandma and I did, but she used to watch us for hours, doing her work at a table nearby outside."

Johnny tried his best to force a smile. As the weeks had gone on, he and Connor had told Kate stories they remembered about Princess Kerttu, and they had insisted on Kate reciting back Kerttu's stories as if they were her own. They wanted to make sure that, when she hopefully was able to be presented to the French Royal Family, she would start to realize that either she was Kerttu or she would know her story enough to pass herself off as the lost princess. However, there were moments when Kate would start describing moments like this one with Kerttu's grandmother or remember skills they hadn't taught her like how to properly sip tea or how to curtsy.

Johnny wanted to point these out to Kate, but Connor had insisted that they not. Connor did not want Kate to find out about their plan to try to pass her off as the princess even if she did not turn out to be Kerttu. Johnny hated lying to Kate, but he also felt that, in a way, she would find a family of some sort in the end if she was able to get to France. He thought that had to at least count for something.

A few days later while they were discussing the members of the French Royal Family, Johnny decided to show something to Kate he had been hiding from her. He finally felt it was the right time to show her.

"Kate, I want to show you something," he said coming out of his and Connor's bedrooms and held the secret item behind his back.

"What is it?" Kate asked, looking up from the old book on Illéan history Connor had smuggled from a bookstore that she had been studying.

"This is a music box Kerttu, maybe you, let me borrow the night before the attack when I was having trouble falling asleep," he said holding it out to her. "Her Uncle Ahren gave it to her a few years before for Christmas.

Kate took the music box from Johnny and examined it. It was an old fashioned ornate gold music box with ornate gold leafing and beautiful painted floral designs. She was immediately fascinated by it. As if on instinct, Kate wound the music box and opened it. A beautiful haunting melody began to play 

"It's on old French lullaby," she whispered as she traced the gold leafing carefully with her finger.

"Yes," Johnny said. "Kerttu used to miss her uncle greatly, she loved him so much, almost as much as her parents. He gave her the music box to remind her of him and France, and she always used to play it before she went to sleep. She gave it to me because she thought it would help me too."

Kate hummed slowly as the music went on, and then, she began to sing.

"Au clair de la lune,  on n'y voit qu'un peu : on chercha la plume,  on chercha le feu. En cherchant d'la sorte, je ne sais ce qu'on trouva, mais je sais que la porte sur eux se ferma."

The winding music box began to slow, and the song came to an end just in time with Kate's singing. Kate slowly closed the music box and began to stare at it.