The Carnival Princess

Her Royal Highness, Taino Princess Elo, rises from her comfy bed with a grumpy face. From the height of her four-year-old regal self she orders her siblings out of bed at 6:30 am and declares that pancakes are to be the royal dish on this morning’s breakfast table.

En route to the stairs, she makes her second Royal Declaration, expressed with harsh undertones, “I WILL NOT go to kindergarten today.” Preferring to ignore the statement, siblings and grandma rush to the kitchen to fill HRH’s breakfast orders. She helps to prepare the batter and choses star anis and cinnamon to tickle her taste buds. The first pancake is served to Her Royal Highness because when she is hungry, she gets grumpier by the minute.

Princess Elo take a single bite and declares that’s quite enough to satisfy her little belly. Hops from her chair and proclaims with a strong voice, “And, ANYWAYS, I WILL NOT go to school today.”

We remind HRH that today is her carnival party at school and her outfit lays waiting for her.

“I marked your robe, headdress, and scepter with your name. Nothing gets lost in your festivities, and you can continue playing with it when you come back,” assures grandma.

Loud screams, shrill and hurtful for anyone’s ears, “I told you, ANYWAYS, I WILL NOT GO TO SCHOOL TODAY.”

Grandma sighs, rolls eyes to heaven, asking for angelic support. “Anyways” seems to be the word of the day today.

The big brother soothes HRH and tells her we would all come to look at the beautiful show they had prepared for carnival. After history class a couple of days ago, it had been decided that everyone would dress up as Taino Indians, and Her Royal Highness had such a lovely headdress to impress her regal state on anyone.

“Noooooo, this is stupid. I WILL NOT PUT FEATHERS ON MY HEAD. Everyone will laugh at me. This is too stupid. ANYWAYS, I WILL NOT GO TO SCHOOOOOOOOL.”

Pancakes start to burn in the kitchen. Grandma rushes to flip and toss the rest of the meal. The siblings entice HRH Elo with all sorts of cajoling words to put on her regal dress. She knows her carnival dances, sings with a lovely voice, and rises the same with, “And I WILL – ANYWAYS – NOT GO TO SCHOOL TODAY.”

The chauffeur arrives to pick up her Highness. And is left waiting.

The cleaning lady arrives for work, talks to her Highness Elo with sweet words, “Come, let’s do your hair, put on some make-up and your outfit to make you look really nice, Princess Elo.”

She looks, grins, and proceeds to walk up the stairs to her room. We hold our breath, stare, wait, hope – and, “I TOLD YOU I WILL NOT, NOT, NOT GO TO SCHOOL TODAY. AND NOT DRESS UP, AND NOT GO THERE, AND ANYYYYYWAYSSSSS NOT….” Her Highness bursts into bitter tears.

The solution would have been to rope up the Princess, force her to get dressed and be driven to school. But, I guess, that’s considered bad parenting. So, HRH Elo is now sitting on the living room carpet and orders her subjects around. Dogs and cats to the left, Barbie dolls to the right, and everyone else goes into the play box.

We keep quiet, drink our tea, eat our pancakes – those which did not burn – and take some deep breaths to face another royal day ahead. It’s only 8:30 am.