Sleeping Beauty Revisited

1933

The room was dark, lit by a single torch.  As the chanting grew louder, the stone walls started to glow dimly.  They had to hurry.  If the soldiers found them they would be sent to the camps, then the clan would be lost.

"....She will fall into a deep sleep, but in one hundred years, she will be awakened by the kiss from the man of her dreams."

The gypsies took a last look at their daughter hoping she would be safe.  Leaving the room, they extinguished the torch at the entrance to the chamber, then shut the hidden door.  Once they got outside, they ran to their truck.  The knew they wouldn't reach the safety of the border.

1993

The dark haired boy threw his suitcase on the bed and started packing.  Why did Dad have to be transferred out of the country now?  It wasn't fair!  Nancy, the most beautiful girl in town had finally agreed to go out with him, he wasn't being bullied anymore, and his family had finally gotten a second car.  The only good thing about the move, was that he would get to live in the Black Forest, the birthplace of fairy tales.

"Dan, are you okay?  I know you don't want to move, but your father has enough to worry about without your temper tantrums." His mother, Jane said calmly.  She didn't expect an answer; she never did.  All she wanted was obedience.

The drive through the forest was gloomy.  The trees were so thick, that their shadows left it twilight at noon.  The army base looked organic, like the backdrop of any good fairy tale.  Officers' quarters were in the "castle," but Dan's father was enlisted.  The Sorensens would have to settle for a cottage with its back to the outer wall of the fortress.  The roof of the cottage was thatch, and the walls were fitted together out of natural stone.  It was one of the few military houses big enough for their family.

Dan's two sisters, Anna and Britney, chose the attic rooms, and his parents naturally took the master on the second floor.  Dan's bedroom was in the cellar.  It actually wasn't too bad.  It was like an apartment with a private entrance- okay, it was a storm door, but still.  Dan's dad Harry told him that in return for no sulking, he could decorate however he wanted.  Dan filled the floor to ceiling bookcases with fantasy novels and showcased his collection of Andrew Lang's colored Fairy books- it wasn't like anyone else would see them.  He put Escher prints on walls that he painted navy.  It didn't really make up for losing Nancy, but it was better than he expected.

The on base school was like all the other schools he had gone to, except that German was a required course, and he wasn't picked on for being the new kid.  Not much anyway, because everyone else was an army brat too.  Dan's classmates did warn him to watch out for strange dreams.  Supposedly, any male who slept in the cellar room had the same dream.  The dream of a beautiful girl who was supposedly locked in a vault since 1933.  She would sleep until kissed by her soul-mate, at least, that's what they told Dan.  The accounts were remarkably alike.  The girl had raven hair, large dark eyes, and full pink lips.  Everyone described her dress as a heavy silk, in a combination of vivid colors in blue, green, and gold, but that was mostly told by the girls of his class.  In legend she was flamboyant and spirited, but Dan was sure that was exaggerated.  Girls back then were supposed to be quiet and mannerly.  Dan was sure that she would be a perfect innocent, and would come to life at his kiss.  After her long sleep, he would be the only person who would understand her, and she would exist for him alone.  Finally he would have the perfect person to walk through gardens drenched in moonlight, and actually listen to anything he wanted to say.

Dan had been in Germany for a week, and as he lay in bed awake, he wondered if he would ever have the promised dream.  Then the world was full of mist hiding a procession of gypsies.  The tribe looked sad, but resigned, and the girl was at the end of the group.  She truly was a princess.  She looked as beautiful as he was told, but no one had mentioned the pride or dignity of her bearing.  Dan followed them in the dream down into his room, and through the wall of bookcases.   The passage was a maze, but the leader of the procession traced the right wall with his hand and found the true path.

Dan woke abruptly thinking, "What a dream!"  It was too real not to be true.  He had to find out.  Dan pulled one of the bookcases, and it swung away from wall revealing a door.  How could it be opened?  After several hours of looking for loose stones he was frustrated.  Dan knew there had to be a way.  He leaned with his back against the door, and slid down.  He jumped as felt something shifting under his but.  The door was open.

Dan stepped inside the passage and flicked a match.  In the moment before the light failed, he saw that there were no cobwebs, signs of vermin, or even dust!  It looked like the passage in his dream!  Dan touched the wall with his right hand and moved through the maze.  He came to a doorway, and his hand bumped into something.  The torch!  Dan struck another match and lit it.

He looked toward the center of the room, and saw her.  She looked just like he had pictured her.  Dan knelt by the side of the bed sure that He was her soulmate.  He closed his eyes and brushed her lips with his.  It worked!  Her eyes fluttered open as she sat up in bed.  Her dark eyes focused on him, and her smile faded.  In a voice heavy with sleep, she said, "It's just you."  Her eyes unfocused as she lay back down, falling into sleep instantly, to dream again.