The Princess and the Pearl
by Linda Kirk
The princess knew it was too late when the warning came from beyond this life. Two of the three little pigs had cried out to her: We took your pearl and ignored it – you ignored ours. She heard their voices while lying on a monument made from clear plastic mattresses. The prince stood smiling at her from the bottom of the translucent stack. Just how many are there? Ten? Twelve? You’re so sensitive, he said from below, holding a pearl – or was it a pea, bleached white from the sun. He poured the pearl from one hand to another, and from up on top, she couldn’t tell if he had palms or paws with pinsharp claws, sharp as a trap. I like how I can see through them, he said, nodding at the sheer assembly. The better to watch you with. Whichever it was, pea or pearl, when he slipped it below the very last mattress against the floor, her tower teetered and shifted, the shrill vibration rifling up her legs and belly. She thought then of her friends. The foolish pigs had built their foolish houses, and she her foolish bed, where she waited: a pearl, or a pea, a wolf, tongue, and teeth, and an ending in the morning.
Linda Kirk is special education teacher with a BA in writing living in Madison, Wisconsin with her family. Her publications of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction with Rose Red Review, Apeiron Review, and Running Press are the hopeful precursors to well-written but pleasantly addictive romance novellas, as of yet unpublished.
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “The Princess and the Pearl”? Sometimes smashing together the biblical wisdom of Jesus’ parables with the more recent wisdom of children’s fairy tales just works – like adding balsamic vinegar to stir-fry sauce. You taste, nod, and enjoy. The first version of “The Princess and the Pearl” began as a doodle in the ample margins of a church bulletin and never outgrew its roots.
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