UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #1)(9)

“Sorry Mrs. Orn,” Mina called and dashed to the ledge to close the window and blinds.

Looking at the clock, Mina was glad to see that she had woken up with plenty of time to take a morning shower. Grabbing her robe, Mina flung it over the top shower bar and began to work on the infinite twists and turns of the shower spigots. It was easier to crack a double combination safe than it was to coax hot water out of these ancient pipes. Mina said a quick prayer to the god of plumbing and bathroom fixtures and after a few spurts of murky brown water, then hot water eventually began to rain down.

After a quick and refreshing shower, Mina donned her blue terry bathrobe and slippers and pulled on the ancient porcelain bathroom door handle. She must not have prayed hard enough to the god of bathroom fixtures because the bathroom door handle came off in her hands.

“NO….No..no..no. this can’t be happening!” Mina pounded frantically on the door and called for help before remembering her mother and brother had left early. Mina desperately tried to reattach the door handle but all she succeeded in doing was push the other one out the other side.

“AAARRRRGgghhh!” Mina screamed. Getting on her knees she tried to look through the bathroom hole and find out what sort of lock it was. After assessing the situation, Mina discovered she had no clue what it was and how to get out. Frantically she began to pull out drawers and open cupboards to look for something she could jam into the hole and turn the door. Scouring the bathroom from top to bottom, Mina’s eyes rested unwillingly on the toothbrush holder.

Would it work? Should she try? Grabbing the fattest toothbrush, which happened to be Charlie’s, Mina inserted it in handle first and gave a few turns. It pulled on the lock a bit. Opening up another drawer Mina grabbed a nail file and inserted it between the door frame and the catch. If she could budge the latch enough to push the nail file through…She did it. Freedom.

Mina could almost have cried in relief, another reason to talk to her mother about getting a cell phone. But this latest debacle had made her late for school. Grabbing a violet zippered hoody, Mina ran out the door having to double back and grab the Happy Maids packet from the kitchen table.

After pedaling for two blocks on her bicycle Mina heard a slight mewing noise, looking down and to the right revealed and orange tabby cat keeping pace with her. Mina swerved a few feet to the right to avoid the cat and almost ran over a large dog that was to the left of her bike.

“Yikes!” Mina stood up and tried to pedal harder to outdistance the animals, but after a few more labored breaths, she looked behind her and they were still there.

“Go away! Shoo!” Mina was worrying that the dog and cat would continue to follow her and get hit by a car. They sped up and seemed to be chasing Mina. Who would have thought a dog and cat together would be chasing her on her bike?

A loud screech and the large colorful object flying toward her head was the only warning that Mina had of a rooster propelling himself from a nearby fence. Ducking, Mina swerved and almost lost control of the bike.

“What the?” This was the oddest thing Mina had seen in a while. She turned her head to see the rooster land behind her next to the dog and cat and it seemed to join in on the chase.

Turning her head Mina had only a split second to register that there was a large animal directly in her path, and slammed on her brakes. Too late, Mina lost control and flew head long over the handle bars of her bike to land crumpled on the sidewalk. In that instant, Mina recognized the animal that caused her wreck but she couldn't believe it. It was a donkey, in the middle of town. And was it wearing a hat?

~~~

Shivering and sore because of her wet hair and skinned hands, Mina rode slowly the rest of the way to school. She decided today was turning into another epic disaster. When she hit the sidewalk she must have blacked out for a split second. Either that or she was hallucinating, because when she dusted off her hands and looked around, there was no sign of the donkey, rooster, dog or cat. There was no evidence that they were ever there. Mina ran up and down the block looking for the donkey but with no success. Maybe it wasn't a donkey, maybe it was another large dog? Pulling up to the bike rack, she didn’t even bother and threw her bike on the ground, her feet pounding the pavement as she ran up the stairs and into the school.

Mina glanced at her watch; she was five minutes late for class. Keeping her head down she tried to walk as fast and as quietly as she could hoping to avoid the hall monitors. Maybe if she pleaded hard enough to her first hour teacher, she would have pity on her and avoid writing a tardy slip. Yeah right.

Her teacher Mrs. Porter had her back to the door, and was writing on the whiteboard, so she slipped into the classroom and tried to nonchalantly slide into her desk next to Nan Taylor. Mina took a quick peek at the rigid spine of Mrs. Porter noticing that the teacher never turned or made any movement to acknowledge that she saw her late entrance. The grey-haired teacher turned slightly and began to shuffle some papers around on her desk; she didn’t even glance Mina’s way. She was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when Mrs. Porter walked over and dropped a tardy slip that was already filled out with Mina’s name on the top line in perfect penmanship.

She never even saw her teacher fill out the form. Mina took the yellow slip of paper between her shaking fingers and looked towards Mrs. Porter’s desk in confusion.

Mrs. Porter’s thin pale lips tightened into what could only be described as an inhuman smile. “I find that it saves time if I fill out your tardy slips in advance Mina. It’s less of a distraction for the class and you seem to be the only one that has this peculiar problem.” She held up a stack of the small carbon copy yellow forms and spread them so everyone could see her name printed on the next five tardy slips. “As you can see, you haven’t disappointed me yet.” Her eyes tried to crinkle as she laughed but everything looked strange and awkward on her. She was so old the whites of her eyes were no longer white but a pasty grey. Her teeth even looked like faded yellow parchment and her clothes seemed to have come from the 1950’s.