The Prince's Nanny by Carol Grace

if his suit and tie were any indication and the girls came running from the kitchen as if they’d been waiting for her to appear.
    It was another grand entrance, she realized as the three of them stopped as if they’d been freeze-framed at the sight of their new nanny appearing with a snake wrapped around her arm.
    For a moment there was total silence, then they all spoke at once.
    “Where did that snake come from?” the prince demanded.
    “Oh, no,” Gianna said.
    “It wasn’t our fault,” Caterina said.
    “Look what I found,” Sabrina said brightly.  “On my balcony.  I love snakes, don’t you?” she asked the girls.  “This one is a beauty.”
    “We have to leave now,” Gianna said and they grabbed their backpacks from the coat rack by the door and ran outside to the waiting car.
    “We will discuss this later,” the prince said with a glance out the window.
    “If you wish, but there’s nothing to discuss,” Sabrina said.  “I feel very fortunate to have a subject for our science class later today.  Snakes are so fascinating.  When the girls come home this afternoon, we will have a lesson on wildlife, particularly reptiles.  How extremely lucky to have some on the grounds as they eat rats and mice and keep the rodent population in check.”
    “Yes,” he said with a strange look on his face.  “I’m glad you think so.  Addio, Ms West, I am late for work.  Good luck.  Buona fortuna .  You’ll need it,” he muttered under his breath.
    Then he too walked out the front door to a waiting car and chauffeur.  Of course the prince was glad to leave his girls in her care and they in turn were happy to go off and have fun.  But were they also disappointed at her reaction?  She hoped so.  She asked herself when would they ever want to study for an exam they didn’t want to take to go to a school they didn’t want to attend?  It was a challenge Sabrina had never faced before.
    Despite pride in the handling of the snake affair, Sabrina otherwise felt like a failure. As she walked to the garden and gave the poor snake its freedom, she realized she’d overslept and missed having breakfast with the twins, missed discussing with them about the schedule she’d planned and obviously missed a chance to speak to their father before he went to work.  She had put on a good face about the snake but now what?
    The house was quiet except for the servants she caught only glimpses of.  This was not the way she pictured her job - preparing lessons all day by herself, but she was determined to put the time to good advantage.  To her dismay when she met the girls at the door at three o’clock they claimed to be too tired to study.  She did convince them to follow her to the garden where she gave a short lecture on snakes.
    “The green snake sheds its skin once a year.  Some people are afraid of snakes.  But you’re not, are you?”
    The twins looked at each other but said nothing.  “I didn’t think so.  There is nothing to be afraid of.  There is only one poisonous snake in Italy, the viper.  Otherwise they are quite harmless.  In fact, they perform useful jobs in the garden by eating mice and rats which is why I let the snake go out here this morning.”
    She had their attention for a while, but when she suggested playing a math game she’d brought with her, they shook their heads.
    “We’re tired,” Caterina said.
    “And sun-burned,” said Gianna, rubbing her shoulder.  “We learned basic knots today.”
    “And jiffy riffing,” Caterina added.
    Sabrina gave up.  It would be counter-productive to push them at this point.  She’d count the snake lesson as her one accomplishment today.
     At six o’clock she and the girls ate a simple but delicious dinner of butternut squash ravioli and a crisp green salad with lettuce from their garden in the kitchen with the cook and two of the maids and the gardener.  It was a huge room with brass pots and pans hanging from the ceiling and