The River

hahahaha! I'm so funny...read this: it was a homework assignment from a while back. (c)QE3

Dear Ms. Moore,
I was unable to complete my homework last night exactly as it was assigned, simply because, if it was me I would never had lost my shoe in the first place. Unlike poor Rhodophis, I wouldn’t have been intimidated by the other servant girls, and I would have gone to the ball with my head held high no matter what.
The three servant girls poled their raft around the bend in the river without giving Rhodophis a backwards glance. Rhodophis, the last and loneliest servant girl, bent back on her haunches and gazed upon her reflection in the water. A single tear danced its way down her cheek and splashed into the water. Rhodophis laughed at herself and stood up. “Look at me!” she exclaimed, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hands. “This is exactly the way Kipa and her friends expected me to behave. While they are off feasting and dancing with our pharaoh, I am left here to weep in the dirt.” She turned her attention to the basket of laundry she was expected to wash and fold. “Well, we’ll see about that.” She muttered. On top of the pile was the beautiful linen dress that belonged to her master’s daughter. The dress was as white as the Nile was blue, or the deserts were gold. She fingered the fabric in her hands, and held it up to her chest. The fabric fell almost to the ground, and she had to hold up the skirt so as to not drag it in the silt. “Wash the linen,” she sang to herself. That was what she had been asked to do. She bent down to the water and began to scrub gently at the pure white linen dress.
Once this task was finished, she slipped behind the servant’s quarters and changed out of her rags and into the beautiful dress. Watching the skirt sway in the wind as she walked, Rhodophis made her way to the lush gardens. “Weed the gardens.” Finding her way among the many flowers that grew there, she danced to the plot of land where the lotus flowers grew. She carefully selected the loveliest flower she could find. In full bloom, it matched the rosy gold of her slippers. She tied her hair back from her face in an elegant bun with a long strip of linen, and placed the flower delicately atop it.
“Grind the grain.” Rhodophis, realizing her hunger, hurried off to the kitchens. “I have no time to grind grain if I ever want to see the pharaoh!” She eyed the already made biscuits stacked in a pyramid on the counter. “I’m sure no one would miss one or two,” she whispered, pocketing her small lunch.
Luckily, Rhodophis and the other servant girls worked less than five mile from the pharaoh’s palace. The party was scheduled to begin in one hour, and being a good runner Rhodophis thought she could make it just in time. She threw a long travelers coat on over her dress and drew the hood up over her eyes. She didn’t want to be recognized by anyone along the way. Eager to get started, Rhodophis forgot to remove her red leather shoes…

She arrived at the palace gates just in time. Under the cover of a cluster of palm trees, Rhodophis slipped off her robe and hurriedly ate her remaining biscuit. (She had eaten the other one along the way.) Stepping out from behind the trees she was thrust into a crowd of people of all classes—from noblemen to slaves and pheasants such as herself—and was pushed and shoved through the palace gates. The crowd was led into a large antechamber and then on to the palace’s ballroom to the right, or banquet hall to the left. Here the crowd thinned out as people chose either to dance or feast. Recognizing the other servant girls gorging themselves in the banquet hall, Rhodophis decided she fancied a dance. As she stepped through the carved stone doors, a hand was offered to her.
“Would you like to dance?” a kind voice offered. Shy around men, Rhodophis accepted humbly but kept her eyes on the ground throughout the dance. When the song ended, Rhodophis made to pull away but the firm hands held her where she was. “Another?” the voice asked.
Rhodophis danced all through the night with her mysterious admirer. As the clock chimed twelve, he led her outside to the palace gardens. Only under the moonlight, away from the crowds and din of the ballroom, did Rhodophis dare to look into his face. She started and stepped backwards. It was the pharaoh!
He laughed, offering her his hand, “My name is Amasis.” Rhodophis’s mouth dropped open out of shock. After a long moment, when she finally remembered to bow, she tripped clumsily over the hem of her long dress. There, glinting in the moonlight, a red leather slipper could clearly be seen.
“Rhodophis?” She spun around quickly. Kipa and a few of the other servant girls were headed her way. She hadn’t even noticed them come into the ballroom! “Rhodophis! Come here this instant!” Kipa shrieked, stamping her foot. But they had surely noticed her.
Rhodophis turned to Amasis, “I have to go. Thank you,” she remembered to bow this time before hurrying off down the dusty dirt road.
In the dark she strayed slightly from the path and her foot found its way into a muddy puddle. Her slipper stuck in the mud, but she had no time to go back for it now…