Emma's Castle

The walls of a castle are indeterminate – that means you can’t really know how tall they are. At least not when you’re 4 foot nothing with your shoes on.

Sometimes I just sit in the grass and lean back, crane my head up until the whole wall is fighting against the sky in my vision. And I wonder what it would be like to scale it. Really climb it to the top and be a parapet.

“I bet I could touch the sun,” I whisper to myself, imagining it like warm dips of honey sticking to my fingertips. “Or take a scoop of the moon,” I wonder, picturing a giant heap of cool crater ice cream in my palms.

I’m Esmeralda Marie Meredith Anne the third, Emma for short. I’ve lived in this castle my entire life, but I think each morning I find a new, untouched corner of the land and buildings to explore.

This morning, the sun was calling to me so I followed her dipping dots of honey. She led me to a clearing not far from the castle gates. I could still see the towering walls of home.

Noticing what looked like a collection of sticks, I stepped closer.

“What do we have here?” I questioned the trees.

Somehow still intact, a nest rested on the forest floor, three perfect eggs inside. Each sphere was speckled with turquoise and violet.

Craning my head up, I saw right where it’d fallen from: a branch in one of older trees.

Immediately, I knew what I had to do. I might be a princess, but climbing trees was one of my favorite past times.

I scoped out the tree, eyeing the branches that were slung low and seemed big enough to hold my 65 pounds. Planning, I traced the path I could take with my fingers.

Carefully, I balanced the nest in my one hand. Having only one arm free for gripping and pulling was going to make this trip challenging, but not impossible.

Slowly, I shimmied up the trunk, making my way to the first branch to take a breather and check on the silent eggs.

Reaching my leg to another branch, almost in the splits, I pulled myself to the next rung.

"Woah!" I screamed, as I almost lost my balance, leaning a bit too far forward on the branch. The nest wavered, one twig springing free and flying toward the ground, but the rest were safe.

I finally made it to the spot I’d planned and spotted a cozy space between the trunk and the branch where the nest could rest safely.

Once I’d placed the nest snuggly in its new home, I stood and glanced around.

“I am a bird,” I whispered, looking down to see the enormous space between me and the ground. I knew that the castle walls were surely higher than this branch, so I couldn’t help myself. I climbed higher.

I climbed until no more branches would hold my weight.

I climbed until little was between me and the stark blue sky.

“I can touch the sun,” I said, reaching my hand to the shining, orange ball and imagining, once again, the warm drops of honey coating my fingers.

After sitting on that branch for what felt like hours, I finally made my way back towards the ground.

Today had been an adventure, an amazing one. I had saved a family of birds and touched the sky.

Tomorrow, another adventure would await, and I, Esmeralda Marie Meredith Anne the third, would be there.