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Carrie opened her bedroom door, threw her backpack down, then slammed and locked the door behind her as her little brother Jamie wailed and pleaded on the other side.

“No! I’m not going to play with you!” She shouted as she flopped down onto her plush, purple bedspread.

Worst. Day. Ever. She had failed her algebra test, Stephanie was still not taking to her (because Carrie had accidentally spilled punch on her favorite dress at the dance last week) and worst of all: her crush Josh was seen walking hand in hand with Ashley in the hallway after 4th period. As betrayed and frustrated as she felt, the tears would not come.

Across from the bed, the small black eye of her Sylvania TV (with the built-in VCR) sat atop the dresser. Slowly, she got up and examined the pile of VHS tapes piled to the left of the TV. She plucked one from the stack: the ratty, worn case of Disney’s “The Lion King.” In one fell swoop, Carrie turned on the TV and popped the cassette into the VCR slot.

Sitting at the edge of the bed, she mouthed all the words to the swells and falls of “The Circle of Life” and the ensuing dialogue between all of the characters. When Simba and his Dad Mufasa got stuck in the stampede, she felt the prick of tears at the edge of her eyelids. As Mufasa fell from the cliff, Carrie’s blessed tears finally fell from her eyes.