Snow

  Snow jerked awake and looked around. She was laying in a little bed half covered in an old grey blanket. The sunlight outside was getting dimmer and the dwarves would be on their way home soon. Pushing the blanket away, she stood up and straightened her dress.
  "I must have fallen asleep making the beds," she thought to herself. Then in an instant she remembered Violet, the old woman who had given her a green apple she claimed was magical. Had that all been a dream? Walking over to the basket she had used to pick vegetables, she peered slowly inside. She gasped as she saw a shiny green apple sitting on top of the freshly picked carrots and potatoes. It had not been a dream. Violet was real and so was the apple.
 Snow leaned down and grasped the apple between two fingers carrying it carefully to the window to see it in the light. It looked just like a regular apple but Violet had said one bite contained the magic to break a spell. Snow admired it for a few seconds, tilting it back and forth.
  "Such silliness," she said aloud. "I have work to do."
  She set the apple down on the windowsill and picked up the basket of vegetables. There were three little beds still left to make but she could do that later. As it was, she was already going to have to race to make dinner before the dwarves got home.
  As she worked she tried to keep her thoughts away from Violet and the story she had told but the witch's words stuck in her head.
  "Have they ever said they loved you?" she had asked. It had seemed a silly question in the moment but as Snow considered it, she could not recall a time any of them had claimed to love her. Sometimes they did not even thank her for what she did, only reminded her that there was always more to do.
  "Surely that does not mean I am under a spell," she told herself. But still the suspicion lingered.
   Before long, Snow heard the sound of the dwarves coming up the front walk. She smiled knowing they'd be relieved to sit down with a bowl of hot vegetable soup and a piece of fresh warm bread.
  "Welcome home, gentlemen," Snow said, walking to the door and throwing it wide open. The dwarves all raised their hands in greeting as they piled through the narrow doorway.
  "Something sure smells good," Alistair commented. "Is that carrot and potato soup?"
  "It is indeed," Snow told him.
  "Why is my bed not made?" Garrett asked, standing in front of the row of seven beds pushed against the far wall of the cabin.
  "I fell asleep in the middle of making them," Snow said with a giggle. "And then when I woke up it was time to make supper."
   Garrett did not look amused.
  "Well see that it's done after we've eaten," he ordered shortly.
  "Yes of course," Snow said with a nod. She turned back to the pot of soup and stirred it slowly. Had Garrett always been so quick tempered? Violet's words flashed through her mind again. Surely a few harsh words did not mean the dwarves were evil.
  "Is dinner almost ready? I am one hungry dwarf," Elias called out, over the racket of seven men putting away their tools and taking off their boots.
  "It is ready now," Snow declared happily. She took eight bowls from the cupboard and began carefully filling each one.
  Moments later, seven dwarves and Snow sat around a large thick wooden table slurping hot stew from tin bowls. The men made hearty sounds of approval and some pulled apart their bread and dipped it in the broth.
 Snow looked around the table and considered each of them. They certainly did not look like evil men. Violet must have been mistaken.
 "I have a silly question," Snow announced. None of the dwarves looked up.
 "Have any of you ever seen or heard tell of witches in these woods?"
  Seven spoons clanged as they dropped against seven bowls and each dwarf looked at Snow with wide eyes. She blushed slightly and set her spoon down as well.
 "Why would you ask such a thing?" Elias wanted to know. Snow scrambled for an answer. Clearly this question bothered them more than she had anticipated.
 "There was a crazy old beggar woman who came across the cabin today. She was telling tales of witches and spells. Quite entertaining but clearly she was mad."
  The dwarves nodded in agreement and picked their spoons up.
 "Quite mad she is. There are no witches in these woods. Not since King Roland had them all locked up," said Garrett. Snow's ears perked up at the familiar name. Hadn't Violet spoken earlier of a King Roland?
 "And don't you forget to make those beds when you're done eating," he reminded Snow. She nodded and went back to her soup.
 
   Later after all the dinner had been eaten and the dishes cleaned and put away, the dwarves changed into their nighclothes and climbed into their little beds. Snow looked at them all and smiled.
 "Sweet dreams, all of you," she said kindly. Then added, "I love you all."
  She waited a few moments hoping to hear the words repeated back to her but nothing came. With a quiet sigh she walked over to her own bed by the window. Looking up she caught sight of Violet's apple. Maybe it all had been a dream. Perhaps Violet was a figment of her imagination. Or maybe not. Maybe she was living here with seven men who did not love her and only wanted a slave to do all their chores and keep them warm at night.
  "Perhaps this is not the life I am meant to have. Perhaps I want to be more than just a maid to the seven dwarves," she thought to herself. And with no more hesitation, she walked to the window and took a bite of the apple.