Cindy climbed the stairs to her attic on the night of the Prince’s Ball, feeling sad. She opened the door. There on the mannequin hung the lovely and retro blue dress she had pulled from her mother’s old steamer trunk. She touched the blue tulle with her fingertips and tears rolled down her cheeks.

Cindy walked to her window and watched her stepmother and stepsisters leave for the ball. A bright light appeared behind Cindy. She turned around and there stood a lady in a hooded, rainbow-colored robe and rainbow-colored rain boots.

“Come now,” the strangely dressed lady said. “Don’t cry.”

“Who are you?” Cindy asked.

“I’m your Fairy Godmother. Let’s get you ready for the ball. Time’s a wasting.”

A wand slid from one of her oversized sleeves. The Fairy Godmother waved it, and Cindy stood in her mother’s blue dress with blue strappy sandals, her hair styled into a chic updo and perfect make-up.

Cindy glowed. “But Fairy Godmother, I…”

“You look retro chic. Off you go now, but remember, at midnight the spell will be broken, and you’ll change back into yourself.”

“But Fairy Godmother, I don’t have a ride,” Cindy said.

“Heavens me!” The Fairy Godmother said and touched her forehead. “You can’t walk.”

She closed her eyes and waved her wand. “Look outside.”

Cindy looked out the window and a chauffeur with a limousine waited outside. She faced her Fairy Godmother. “Oh! Thank you! Thank you so much!” She kissed Fairy Godmother on the cheek.

“Remember, midnight,” Fairy Godmother said.

Cindy hurried down the stairs and outside to the car. When she arrived at the mansion, music and laughter wafted in the air. She danced and danced and met the Prince of the Manor. They felt an instant connection with each other. She forgot about her midnight curfew. When the church bells chimed midnight, Cindy and the Prince were talking in a secluded corner of the mansion when her sandals, hairdo, make-up, and limousine disappeared. Only her blue dress and worn-out sneakers remained.

“Oh no!” Cindy tried to run, but the prince grabbed her hand.

“Don’t go,” the prince said. “I enjoy talking with you, and the night has only just begun.”

They talked and danced during the rest of the ball. People stared at Cindy, especially her stepmother and stepsisters, but neither she nor the prince cared. When the night ended, the Prince knelt on one knee and proposed to Cindy with an heirloom ring. She accepted.

Cindy returned home to pack her things. When she arrived, her stepmother and stepsisters hurled insults at her, but Cindy ignored them. She was moving into a much better life. “Now, you must do your own work,” she said and laughed as she walked out the front door and to the Prince’s waiting limousine.

That morning at the Bible Fellowship Church in a small private ceremony, the minister married Cindy and the Prince, and they lived happily ever after with many friends and family by their side.