Excerpt: The Lost Prince

“You’re not a real prince, are you?” a little girl said as she stood between Eric and his storybook partner Misty for a photo.

He glanced down at the ten year old with a confused expression. It happened sometimes. The kids were to an age where they weren’t fooled by costumes at a theme park anymore, but the parents insisted they do the photo op anyway. Eric could hear the accusation in the girl’s voice, which wasn’t promising.

“Of course I am,” he said with a smile. He hoped she’d go along with it, roll her eyes, or whine to her parents about how lame getting pics with costumed people was. Whatever she said or did, Eric wasn’t supposed to break character. He’d done it a week ago on accident when a college kid asked him if his job was a decent one. It had been a serious inquiry and Eric had replied truthfully without thinking. Someone had informed the boss and Eric was rewarded with an earful about believability and the importance of maintaining the authentic atmosphere of Fairytale Kingdom at all times.

“No you’re not. My dad said you’re just some guy and she’s just some girl and you get paid to play dress up,” the little girl said, her voice dripping with sassiness. She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned up at him while her mother tried to coax her into smiling and putting her arms at her sides.

“Oh, no, sweetie,” Misty said with a sad smile. She placed a gloved hand to her lips and shook her head slowly. “We just like to help little girls and boys make wonderful memories to cherish for years to come.”

“Yeah right. If you were really royalty you wouldn’t bother posing for pictures with little kids all day. You’d have better stuff to do and the paparazzi would be all over this place.” The little girl rolled her eyes and shot a horrid smile at her mom.

Flashbulbs went off. Misty shot Eric a confused look. Eric tried to think of something to say.

“Aren’t you too short to be a prince anyway?”

“Princes come in all shapes and sizes,” Eric said, his smile strained.

Finally the girl and her parents wandered off to the next hapless set of costume actors. Eric let out a sigh of relief.