Once upon a time, there was a young lady named Cinderella. After her mother died, her father married another woman who had two daughters of her own. The two girls were very lazy and selfish. Cinderella was beautiful, smart and kind but her stepmother did not like her. When Cinderella’s father died, her stepmother made Cinderella do all the chores plus her online shopping and setting up her stepsister’s online lessons. She also had to do all of their homework, which made it more tiring. They always shouted, “Get it done!” or rather, “I’m late you baboon face!” Nothing Cinderella did ever pleased them.
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One fine morning, the glorious sun shone brilliantly in the sapphire sky, as sunlight streamed through the windows. Cinderella was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. While she was mixing the cereal, she heard some noise from the main hall. She stopped cooking and went over to see what the commotion was about. There, she saw her stepsisters with excited looks written all over their faces. They were holding a golden colored letter covered in glittery sparkles that shone in the light above their heads. Finally, it was her turn to see the letter. It was so beautiful! She held it in her hands for quite a while. At last, she opened it. It read:
Dear Everyone,
Sorry for interrupting whatever you are doing now. I am writing to invite
all the ladies in the kingdom to come to my grand ball at #RoyalCastle
on Saturday. You can come if you want to. Not a must.
Royal Regards,
The Prince
After reading the letter, Cinderella was very excited. She asked softly, “Can I go, stepmother?” When her stepmother heard that, she shot a glare at her and said, “You?! No way! Stay here and clean up the house. When we come back, you’ll wish you’d never been born if I see some dust! Now, go and buy us gowns for the ball! Here’s the money! Hurry up! Shoo! I said SHOO!”
When the day of the ball arrived, they set off wearing the gorgeous gowns that Cinderella had bought. Cinderella sat on the doorstep glumly. She thought, “I want to go to the ball too.” Suddenly, a fairy godmother appeared! Cinderella was lost for words when she saw a fairy godmother. When she finally found them again, she stammered, “Fairy godmother! Why are you here?” Her fairy godmother smiled and said, “Oh! That! Never mind. By the way, why are you crying child?” Cinderella answered gloomily, “I’m crying because my stepmother doesn’t let me go to the ball.” The fairy godmother replied reassuringly, “And you shall my dear. Please bring me your Lego Tesla model S and a chauffeur.” (For younger viewers, a chauffeur (pronunciation: sho-fur) is a person that is hired to drive a car.) Then, with a wave of her wand, the Lego figures turned into real things! After that, she tapped Cinderella’s rags and it immediately turned into a beautiful night gown and a pair of high-heeled shoes. The fairy godmother warned her, “By the time the clock strikes midnight all the things will turn back to normal.” She thanked the fairy godmother and as she turned to go, she realized that she had forgotten her iPhone. She rushed back in and retrieved it.
When they arrived at the Castle, the chauffeur opened the door, Cinderella stepped out grandly and walked towards the castle door. She stepped in and saw hundreds of people dancing together. Once the prince saw her, he dropped his glass of champagne and opened his mouth in awe in sight of Cinderella’s beauty. The prince then approached her and asked her to dance with him. They spent the whole evening chatting with each other happily. Cinderella completely forgot about the fairy godmother’s words and little did she know what was going to happen to her......
DONG! DONG! DONG! DONG! When the clock struck midnight, Cinderella almost fainted in fright! She hurried out of the ballroom as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. She didn’t know that her iPhone had dropped on the marble staircase when she rushed out of the room. When she arrived at what she thought was the Tesla, she realized that every thing had gone back to normal. She had to walk back home in pitch darkness! Every now and then, she tripped over something. It might have been a log or a fallen branch. (No one knows for sure because it was pitch black, remember?)
The next morning, the prince found Cinderella’s iPhone lying on marble staircase. He picked it up and decided to get his men to bring it to every home in the kingdom for all the ladies to try to unlock it with facial recognition. Meanwhile, her stepmother was busy thinking about who was the prince’s dance partner and why did she dart out of the ball so desperately.
Soon, the prince and his men arrived at Cinderella’s cottage. Cinderella saw the prince and rushed out to meet him. The prince smiled and asked, “Hi! Can you try to unlock this iPhone using facial recognition?” Cinderella replied, “OK!” With just one try, she unlocked it! The prince was very happy and asked her to marry him and she said yes! Her stepmother was furious but she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of the prince (actually, no one would want to do that) so she didn’t show her anger.
Later on, they had a very grand wedding. Cinderella’s stepmother lived angrily ever after.
[Thank you SCMP for publishing our story in the July 2020 issue.]
THE END!
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