Music and laughter flowed up from the open double doors on the gentle breeze flowing through the curtains. Josephine looked up from her studies, longing to join them, but her governess forced her back to the page.
“Your handwriting is atrocious, child!” Her governess, Prudence admonished. “How do you expect your kingdom to enact your orders as the future Queen if they can’t read them?”
“Can’t I go out and enjoy what’s left of the sunshine?” Josephine asked instead. “I’ll study my handwriting hard all night by candlelight if you just let me go play!”
“No,” Her Governess snapped. “You are to sit here until it is legible.”
The routine was the same every afternoon during her studies. During the spring and summers, it was unbearable to hear the people in the courtyard as she practiced her letters. Prudence never let her outside during the times of the festivals and frivolities.
One afternoon something hard smacked into the window and shook the glass. Josephine jumped, her quill sliding across the paper and ruining her studies. Prudence would not be pleased, but she was away for the moment. After a quick glance, she rushed toward the open window to see what all the excitement was about.
Outside, on the balcony, rolling gently across the ground, a rubber ball abandoned. She ran after it and picked it up, as forbidden of an object as it was for the future queen.
In her arms, still warm from the sunlight, it was a forbidden treasure. She would have to deflate it to hide it, a secret treasure from the forbidden outside world. So rare anything ever came over the balcony from the outside unharmed.
The last had been a small bird, and it hadn’t ended well. The bird had snapped its neck on impact. It wasn’t the first bird either.
“Hey!” A voice shouted from below.
Curiosity got the better of her. She looked over the tall balustrades. A young bot, not much older than her, not too clean, soot and dirt across his cheeks, but his skin was sun warmed and bright, his smile wide as he looked up at her.
“Can you toss the ball down?” He asked.
She tossed it down without thinking and ran, cursing herself for not staying, but fearing the wrath of her Governess. As she hurried back to the desk, she was sure she heard a muffled thank you on the breeze.
The next week, something smacked into the window and made the glass shake again.
“Good lord!” Prudence shrieked, jumping from the table. “Is that another bird?” Birds were quite common, none of them survived.
The Governess moved toward the window and found the same ball.
Josephine stayed at the desk, but looking up over her quill toward the window.
“Hey!” The same boy’s voice flowed up from the courtyard. “Can the pretty young lady come down and play?”
She had never heard Prudence so furious. “No!” She shrieked. “The pretty young lady has more important duties, you impetuous rascal!” The ball landed down in the courtyard with a violent whine, slammed into the cement walkway.
The doors were slammed and locked.
“Just wait until your father hears about this!” Prudence threatened.
For the rest of the afternoon, Josephine didn’t lift her nose from the page.
That evening, Prudence dragged her before her father and made her explain. Josephine expected the worst, but her father broke out into an understanding smile.
“A boy in the courtyard?”
“Yes, father, but he didn’t mean any harm.”
Prudence made it all seem like it was the end of the world, but her father seemed to enjoy the whole thing.
“Would you have joined him, if given the chance?”
Josephine smiled, the fear ebbing away. Her father had always been more understanding than her harsh Governess. “I would have loved nothing more.”
Her father’s smile turned mischievous. “Send him a correspondence,” He said. “Prudence,” He said, turning toward the Governess. “Find where this young man spends his time and make sure he gets the correspondence from my daughter.”
The Governess wasn’t pleased, but in the end it all worked out.
Several Years Later
“You’re messing it up!” A young man whispered loudly to his comrades as they directed a balloon up through the balustrades of the palace.
Josephine turned toward the noise, looking up from her first official proclamation to the kingdom, legible and proper. She smiled as she turned toward the shadow of a bouncing balloon on a string through the curtains.
She stepped out of the study and caught it between her hands, slightly warmed from the sun.
“Excuse me!” She called down, looking over the balustrades at the back of their heads. The young man, the leader, the same boy as all those years before, looked up at her and smiled. “Is this yours?”
His smile only got wider as he gazed upon her. “Only if you want to come out and play with me.” An inside joke between them from all the years. “I’ll ditch these knuckleheads, and we’ll go down to the river.” His gaze flicked to the balloon on the string. “But only if you wear that ring there.”
There, floating on the string, tied loosely, was a gentle silver ring. It wasn’t as dazzling as one should have been for a queen, but it was perfect since it was from him.
“You impetuous rascal!” She admonished him.
His smile only grew wider. “My name is Wallace.” He winked. “And don’t you forget it!”