Freeform Friday: Don't Call Me Princess

Don't Call Me Princess

by Belinda Roddie

Little Addison was bored

in her tower. She had read

all her books, her mother

wouldn't let her go outside

because of the rain, and her

cat Stevie was going mad

and needed to calm

all six of his tits.

And she hated being called

princess. She didn't feel like

royalty in her little suburban

castle, and all the white kids

living nearby didn't treat her

like royalty, either.

The white kids played their video

games and pretended to be knights,

but they would never set up

a throne for her. Nor would they

curtsy to her. To them, she was

never meant to be anything more

than a subordinate to them.

They didn't matter. Addison

was beautiful, and her curls

would look divine beneath

a crown. But she refused to be

called a princess: "Don't,"

she'd warn her father after he

came home ragged from his office

job. "I only go by Queen."

Once the rain stopped, Little Addison

would go outside and survey

her domain. All the eucalyptus

trees and rose bushes would

sway with every step she took.

She'd use her plastic wand as

a scepter, and she'd read from the

greatest scholars of all to Stevie

once he was finally chill.

Her majesty had a kingdom

to maintain. And thus, everything

had to be beautiful. And no one,

in her decree, would ever be bored.