Princess Normal

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess... well, she was mostly beautiful anyway... I mean, most people thought she was reasonably attractive... she certainly wasn't UGLY. But she was definitely human.

Anyway, once upon a time there was this princess. Sometime... well, ok, it was pretty much now... I mean the present. And she wasn't really a princess, she was just... her. Princesses are mostly out of date these days, especially in America (well, they were always out of date in America... real princesses anyway). But she wasn't the princess-y type either. She was far to practical.

But for all her practicality she had a romantic imagination that sometimes (often) got her into trouble. Not serious trouble... not REAL trouble... but trouble in her mind and in her heart. Despite her dedication to keeping a level head, she was most practiced at having a broken heart.

But she was not to be pitied! No, sir! With the aid of time, determination, and discipline, the heart will indeed respond to the mind! Practice makes perfect, she would practice bliss! She would practice bliss or she would die.

Not to be dramatic or anything. But when life becomes truly unbearable, the only reasonable choice is to die. Life had never become truly unbearable, but had come close enough to be quite legitimately terrifying.

But we digress.

She bared her shoulders on sunny days, but wore sunscreen to avoid the cancer. Today was not sunny. It was snowing. Rather, it had been snowing a few minutes ago, but had stopped. It was the day after the end of the world, and everything continued as normal...

As normal...

As normal...

As normal...

As normal as could be... as normal as ever was... which is to say, not very normal at all...
She was in a coffee shop. Someone was singing and playing piano. She had ordered beer. She drained her glass and put on her coat. She drained her glass, set it down, put on her hat, covered her bare shoulders with a linen scarf, and put her coat on one arm at a time... no, both arms together, and zip.

She walked to work. Even fairytale princesses have to work... if they want to pay the rent. It was too cold to risk not paying the rent. There was too much snow. End of the world snow.

What a beautiful apocalypse.