A Rapunzel Story

Courtney and Julia sat down in the plush red seats of the movie theatre. They carried bags of deliciously buttery liquid heart attack popcorn and boxes of creamy chocolate. They had been eagerly anticipating the film that was about to start for months, it starred their favorite actress, Charlotte Harris. A Rapunzel Story was made by the producers of A Cinderella Story. Charlotte Harris played Claire, the modern day Rapunzel, and Johnny Bandol co-starred as the dashing Prince Charming.

“Ooh, I am so excited for the movie to start! It looks so cute!” exclaimed Courtney.

“Oh my gosh, I know” gushed Julia.

Just as the lights were dimming, Courtney noticed an older man, probably about 60, walk into the theatre and sit down by himself. She poked Julia and whispered “Look at that old man over there. What’s he doing at a movie like this?” as she pointed across the theatre to where he sat. They both giggled scornfully but then the previews began and they forgot all about the old man.

Afterwards walking out of the theatre they were effusive with praise for the movie, “That was her best movie ever!” was Julia’s reaction. “She should win another Oscar for that!” claimed Courtney. As they waited for Julia’s mom to pick them up, Courtney noticed the old man again. He was walking to his car with a smile on his face, but a single tear rolling down his cheek. I wonder what his deal is, she thought incredulously before climbing into Mrs. Gilman’s car after Julia.

The next morning as Julia was eating breakfast her father said, “Hey Courtney, what’s that movie you saw yesterday? A Rapunzel Story? It’s gotten really rave reviews. Was it good?”

“Yeah! It was really good. Can I look at that?” Her dad passed her the newspaper and Courtney scanned the page he had been looking at. Phrases such as “Harris shines֔ and “top-notch casting֔ jumped out at her. But what really caught her eye was a small story at the bottom of the page. A few random movie-goers had been interviewed about their reaction to A Rapunzel Story. The paper had published three, showing a picture of the person, their name, and their statement. An old man named Jeffery stated, “Charlotte Harris as Claire was poignant like you haven’t seen her before. A Rapunzel story is a must see.” The picture was of the very man she had seen the night before. Why does he care so much about a teenage chick flick that he would get his opinion published in the paper? Courtney wondered. She thought about Jeffery the rest of the day but came up with no answers. The next day at school she told Julia about seeing the old man in the paper.

“He is so weird, what kind of grown man sees a girly movie and cries about it?” she laughed. Courtney faked a laugh to appease her friend, but secretly felt that there was more to it that just an eccentricity.

~*~

Jeffery Harris sat in his den staring at the image paused on the screen of his TV. A pretty girl with brown hair and a winning smile beamed at him from the scene he had paused while watching The Princess and the Pauper. She was Charlotte Harris- world renowned actress, winner of 2 Oscar’s and 5 nominations, teen sensation, and... his granddaughter.

When Charlotte had first declared her intention to become an actress and move out to L.A. in search of work he had been furious. As her sole guardian since the passing away of her parents, he didn’t want to see her throw her life away on an impossible dream. Sure he thought she was a good actress, but what if that was a doting grandfather’s biased opinion? He had absolutely forbidden her to go but woke up one morning to find that she had anyway. Her heard nothing from her after that and had no way to contact his granddaughter.

Then two years later a preview came on for a new chick flick coming to theatres called The Princess and the Pauper, starring none other than Charlotte Harris. How proud and relieved he was to see that his beloved granddaughter had succeeded! He felt remorseful that he hadn’t been able to support her the whole way, but ever more proud that she had gone for her dreams despite a sourpuss like himself getting in her way.

Faithfully he went to see each of her movies in theatres- and there were many. She had contacted him soon after the premiere of that first film, but being a teen sensation and all, she didn’t have much time to visit. He didn’t mind though, he was pleased to share his talented granddaughter with the rest of the world.