Princess Thief: Stealing Your Heart by Jennifer Enander Page B

çois made an
angry face.  Juliette giggled with the crowd.
    “OK,
OK, one more time.”  François set the top hat back on the table.  “Young lady,
fill that hat with milk again.”
    Juliette
emptied the pitcher into the top hat.  Fran çois gave an evil smile as he waved his
magic wand.  ““Abracadabra!  The milk is gone!  Young lady, place the hat on
your head.”
    Juliette
peeked into the top hat, shrugged again, and put the hat on her head.  She
waved happily at the crowd.  There wasn ’t so much as a trickle of liquid.
    Fran çois, enraged,
grabbed the hat off of Juliette’s head and angrily put it on his own head-
    -and
was immediately drenched with milk from the hat!
    The
children pointed and laughed.
    “Ohhhhh!”
he yelled with false rage.  “I’ll get you!”  François ran offstage briefly then
returned carrying a full pitcher of milk.
    “Oh
no!” Juliette said and comically ran to stage left as François followed her,
ready to toss the milk on her.  She then ran all the way across to stage right
with François trailing her menacingly.  Just as he caught up to her, she bolted
for the front of the stage and stopped right in front of the crowd of children.
    Fran çois stood right
behind Juliette.  “I’ve got you now!” he yelled.  He pulled back the pitcher,
ready to soak her with milk-
    At
the last second, Juliette ducked!
    Fran çois tossed the
contents of the pitcher over Juliette into the crowd of children-
    Everyone
held their breath-
    As
confetti began to rain gently down on them.  There was no milk in the pitcher
at all!
    The
adults laughed and applauded; the children didn ’t know what to think, gazing up
at the falling confetti, trying to catch it in their hands.
    Both
Juliette and Fran çois
took a bow.
    “And
now,” François announced, “for my final trick, I am going to perform the
‘Disappearing Booth.’”  The stagehands wheeled out a tall black box about the
size of a telephone booth.  “I will use my powers of magic to make the young
lady disappear!”
    Juliette
glided over to the booth and stepped inside.  Fran çois stood next
to the booth holding the curtain as the two had a brief conversation. 
Guillermo wasn’t sure, but it seemed like there was some tension between
François and Juliette.   Finally, she shook her head emphatically, “no,” and
François flipped the curtain closed.
    That
was odd …
    Fran çois spun the
booth around twice while chanting, ““Abracadabra!  Alakazam!”  He stopped the
booth and flipped open the curtain with a flourish; Juliette was gone!
    “Now
to make her reappear.”  François closed the curtain and spun the booth,
repeating his chant.  “Make the princess reappear!”  He pulled back the curtain
to reveal-
    - a
cute, white, plump bunny rabbit sitting at the bottom of the booth.
    The
children were enthralled, pointing at the bunny and calling out to their
mothers.  “Look,
mom!  A bunny!”
    Fran çois scratched
his head, checked his magic wand, and said, “You’re not the princess!  Let’s
try it again.”  He closed the curtain, spun the box, said the magic words, and
when he opened the curtain — the box was empty.
    “Hmmmm,”
he said.  “I think I’m going to need some help.  Children, help me chant.  When
I say ‘one, two, three, princess appear’ I want you to say it with me.  Are you
ready?”  François spun the box.  “One, two, three, princess appear!”
    The
children tentatively repeated the words.  Fran çois flung back the curtain and —
the box was still empty.
    “No,
no, children, you have to say it like you mean it.  Now, once again,” François
closed the curtain and spun the box, “one, two, three, princess appear!”
    This
time, the children shouted the words confidently.
    Fran çois nodded,
smiled, and said, “This time, I’m sure!”  He tossed aside the curtain, and —
    —
the box was still empty.
    Fran çois made a
point to tap the inside of the