Week 1 Storytelling: The Queen of Hearts and Her Tarts

Cherry Tarts For Your Heart

April had never intended on winning Prom Queen, but it had happened. Having the football quarterback as your boyfriend helped your chances though. She remembered the dark red dress she had been wearing and the signs her friends had made, stating that they wanted “The Queen of Harts” to win. April hadn’t been a big fan of it but Roy had loved it. He thought it was a clever use of her last name, not recognizing the infamy that came with the title. The signs had been plastered all over the senior hallway and the cafeteria, covered with pictures of the happy couple.  

“April, sweetie! Your tarts are ready!” April loved her mom, but she had become very distracted with work ever since her parents had divorced, “Oh and I forgot to tell you, Roy is heading over soon to talk to you!”

This made April panic a little inside. They hadn’t seen each other in over two weeks, with sparse texts in that time. Instead, April had been spending her time with an old friend, Nate. He had been out of town since January studying abroad. He was home schooled and his parents loved to travel so this was the third time Nate had been gone for several months ‘studying abroad’. This time they had gone to Japan, where Nate's fathers' family immigrated from. She remembered getting the text that they were back in town. 

“Hey April!” Nate was always bursting with enthusiasm, “We’re back from Japan! We should totally hang out sometime because… I’m back from Japan! And bonus! I have gifts for you! Let me know when you’re out of school so we can hang!”

This was during her last week of school. Roy didn’t know about Nate. They had been dating since the end of January and Nate had been in Japan. But when Roy found out… April had never seen him get so mad before. She had told him that Nate was her best friend since they were kids, but that hadn’t helped. He demanded she cut off contact with him, which is when the fighting started. To fill her time April had been baking and made plans to hang out with Nate. 

The tarts! April rushed to the kitchen and quickly pulled out the cherry tarts, Nate’s favorite. She had made them because he was coming over later that day as well. She would have to text Nate about Roy and try to reschedule.

“Hey Nate! So… Roy is coming by later and I don’t think you both being here would be a great idea right now. The cherry tarts are ready so I’ll let you know if you can swing by for those this evening or something.  Sorry!” 

As she was searching for the perfect emoji to show how sorry she was, she heard the doorbell ring.

“Crap, that must be Roy,” April left the tarts on the kitchen table by their back door to cool.  She then went to the front door to let Roy in. 

“Hey April, can I come in?” Roy looked nervous at the door. 

“Sure, what did you wanna talk about?” April wasn’t sure what to expect from this conversation. They walked into the living room and they sat down on the couch.

“Well, I just wanted to let you know that I was sorry and that I want to work things out if you’re willing to forgive me? I made a big mistake yelling at you about Nate, so I’m sorry.” Roy was still looking at everything but April’s face. 

“It’s okay, is that all? I’m baking and don’t want anything to burn.” April wanted Roy gone, she liked him but this was way out of character for Roy. 

“Oh, uh, yeah. I just felt like I should say that in person.” Roy finally looked April in the eyes, “I guess I’ll head out then.”

“Okay, thanks for the apology. We can try and hang out sometime next week? Maybe see a movie or something?” April was glad Roy was heading out the door because she realized she had forgotten to send the text to Nate and was hoping he wasn’t already here. 

“Yeah, sure. That’d be nice,” They both started walking towards the front door when April saw it. Nate was peeking through the back door at the tarts. Well he had caught Roy’s eye too, “Hey wait, whose that guy? Were you having a guy over that I didn’t know about? What’s going on April? Is this why you’re trying to shove me out the door?” 

April had to suppress an eye roll and let Nate in. 

“No Roy, this is Nate. He was coming over today but I meant to tell him to hold off since you were coming over. I forgot to send him the text though. He was just coming over to catch up. And I thought you were just apologizing for yelling about Nate?” April was walking to the front door, hoping Roy would take the hint and leave.

“Well yeah, but if you’re hanging out with him behind my back that’s a bit different,” Roy turned to face Nate who was starting in on the cherry tarts on the kitchen table, “You need to back off my lady and stop taking tarts that you don’t deserve.” Roy crossed his arms, waiting for a response.

“Mph-sorry-crshmph-I didn’t-mphsh-mean to cause trouble,” Nate was trying to finish eating the tart he had picked up, “I promise, I won’t take anymore tarts or bother April. We just wanted to catch up; we’re friends, that’s all.”

“Nate you don’t need to apologize, Roy does.  Or he can leave.” April was mad, “And Roy I am not ‘your lady’ so don’t think you can treat me like your property. I take back what I said, you need to leave” April grabbed Roy’s arm and took him to the front door. 

Once Roy left, April apologized to Nate and they sat and ate tarts until they were satisfied.

Author's Note:

I liked this assignment because we got to test out our creativity. This week I chose to write about The Queen of Hearts and Her Tarts. The story was from The Nursery Rhyme Book:

 The Queen of Hearts,
She made some tarts,
All on a summer's day;
The Knave of Hearts,
He stole those tarts,
And took them clean away.

The King of Hearts
Called for the tarts,
And beat the Knave full sore;
The Knave of Hearts
Brought back the tarts,
And vowed he'd steal no more.

I liked to re-imagine the story in current times with a girl who happens to have the last name Hart and her struggles with the King (Roy) and the Knave (Nate) and that perhaps the King doesn't always win.

Bibliography:

The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke, 1897, link

Photo Information: photo taken by L. Sperl on flickr