The crackling of the fireplace felt like the loudest sound past the tips of her ears. She stood waiting behind the hearth, as it were, the small fire all contained in a trick kettle made to look as large as a hearth. Strewn around the makeshift stage were other magicks like this, tricks and glimmers to make the audience applaud. It wasn't the audience she was hearing most now, or the lines the girl should have been listening for.

It was only the pounding of her heart that Little Charley heard inside her ears.

On stage was her Da, the shining star of the play going on at the moment. Off the stage, he was the shining star of her whole life. Charley was named for him, Charlotte was not exactly the same as Charles or Charlie, but it was close enough for everyone to call her Little Charley. When she grew up, she could be Charley for real, and write plays to put on so people would clap. Just like Da did for this one, "The Enchanted Cobblers," based on a Grimms' tale about little elves who helped a shoemaker.

But first came today, a day she had practiced long and hard to be included in. Ma wasn't sure Little Charley was ready for the part, alone on stage with just one other child like her, until her effort and Da convinced her. Her heart knew what a big moment it was, try as she might to quiet its eager thumps. The girl had enough butterflies in her stomach and jitters in her feet, she didn't need the thumpa-thumpa-thump to join in. She had to be able to hear her cue from on stage, over the organ and the audience and the crackling of the fire.

On stage in the role of the cobbler, Da would be saying, "Another pair of shoes complete, yet tomorrow comes despair. I have no more leather left to make more, not even a single pair. Times are hard, my dear." And though she couldn't hear the reply from Maggie playing the cobbler's wife, Little Charley knew the line by heart, "Aye, dear husband. It seems our luck has run dry. When the fire burns itself down tonight, I shall have to feed it from our own table."

Little Charley started at the creak of the "hearth" as it shut, hiding the flames from view. The stage was dimming, almost impossible to see in the daylight but for her practiced eyes. She had spent enough time backstage, staying as quiet as a mouse as soon as she was old enough to be the one to hand over a prop or offer up the water ladle. Now her feet pattered swiftly to the stage entrance, avoiding the decorated tree to tread into view softer than the low organ music shifting between scenes.

Behind the girl, Felix clomped louder across the stage even though he was clad in long socks just as she was. Their matching floppy hats and fringed, green costumes made the pair into the elves of the play, who would normally arrive to cause mischief and mayhem to a scene. As the limelight began to glow again, Little Charley settled into her part, making a big show of looking around the "room" of the set.

"Would you look at this humble home, dear brother!" Charley began the line she had practiced a hundred times. She cast her eyes wide to the corners of the audience, while most of the set stood behind her. There were simple shelves half-filled with shoes, most of the pairs from her family and the rest of the troupe. Over the hearth, a "mantle" held a single yule log with candles set in it. A pine garland wrapped around it and the mantle, one of the few real props on the stage. On the "tree" nearby, painted ornaments shaped like pickles and tinfoil made to look like tinsel laid across branches collected from the nearby forest glued and mounted to look like a real Christmas tree. Only the workbench, moved out from the shop wagon to sit strangely on the stage, and a few boards built to look like half a table, sat in front of the children. "I see an empty table and the fire is out. There isn't much here for us, hardship has settled here like dust."

Felix, whose floppy hat had nearly fallen across his face, stood closer to the workbench. It was his job to appear as if he was making a wise appraisal of the cobbler's work, and one Charley could only observe him out the corner of her eye. He was more than a year older than her eight but a newcomer to the theatre along with his da, who had taught Charley how to paint the shelves that stood behind them. "But brother, look! " Felix pointed with his fingers, barely raised enough to be visible from over the workbench. "There is goodness here in this place. The shoemaker has a kind heart. "

At that point, some of the audience chuckled. By now, Little Charley knew they were supposed to be curious what the elves would do. She and Felix were expected to sow chaos across the set, perhaps by stealing the shoes or destroying the workbench. Elves in tales often did that, just not in theirs. Instead, Charley stepped up alongside her fellow elf at the table. They pulled out tools and cloth, made to look a bit like leather from far enough away, from places hidden so the audience couldn't see. Together, they pretended to sew leather and glue the pieces together, working quickly and quietly as the organ hummed out a whimsical tune. Da said it would look like they were building a whole shoe out of nothing but magic.

The real magic was still yet to come. After what seemed like forever, Felix leaned down to whisper into Charley's ear. "Now, quick like! "

This was a cue not even Little Charley could miss. Their hands both undid the locks on the trapdoor built into the table, letting it spring open. From it spewed forth a host of shoes and boots and slippers, lovingly purchased by audience members before the show began. There were all sizes, thrown up to them by a stagehand underneath the table, made to fit children both young and old, and even those for grown-ups. After the play was over, the troupe would donate the shoes to folks in the city who had none.

Little Charley had fun as she caught and arranged the growing pairs of shoes onto the table, sometimes running back to place a few on the shelves or under the tree. One pair she set to look like it had just stepped out of the hearth, trying not to grin and giggle along with children in the audience who noticed it not long after. By the end of their scene, when Felix and Charley turned to each other to dust off their hands in an exaggerated fashion, the cheers and applause brought a real grin to the girl's face as they echoed in her chest.

By the time they left the stage, her heart swollen with glee, Charley had a little taste of why Da wrote so many plays.

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OOC: Based upon a Brother's Grimm tale with a Christmas setting, and as many decoration traditions that could fit.

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