Friday, November 9th, 1984

     The next morning, the library was closed and the windows shuttered up. The land it sat on was deemed too unstable to be safe for anyone to go in there. Fortunately, my experts said the land surrounding the library was safe, so no other businesses had to close. That afternoon, Deputy Sanchez had a short funeral and was laid to rest. Things had managed to work out the way I wanted, although not the way I’d intended. It wasn’t until this morning when the curse began to play tailor and do its stitching.

     “I’ve got to go.” Graham sat on the edge of the bed and stretched each well-toned leg into his pants.

     “I imagine you’ll have a lot more work to do today.” I stretched in bed, not used to him being up so fast.

     “I’ll have the same amount of work that I always do.”

     “I just meant now that you don’t have a deputy.”

     “I’ve never had a deputy.”

     The general consensus had been that it was actually Deputy Sanchez who was trying to steal the ballots. At least, that was what I’d told everyone. I could understand Graham’s feeling of betrayal.

     “It was horrible, what he was trying to do, but you can’t just dismiss a man like Deputy Sanchez after all the good he did for this town.”

     “Who is Deputy Sanchez?”

     “He was your deputy.” I laughed because I couldn’t believe this. I assumed he must have been in shock still. “You found him in the elevator of the library two nights ago? He’d handcuffed me to a chair? He liked cats?”

     “Regina, I don’t know if this is your idea of a joke, but I’ve never had a deputy. Leroy and I found you in the library after the earthquake. You were alone and you weren’t handcuffed.”

     “Really?!” I marched around the bed and held out my wrists. “How do you explain these bruises?”

     “Those are from my handcuffs.” He winked at me before dashing out the window.

     The day grew even more ridiculous when I had lunch with Kathryn. She came to my office, because I didn’t want to go out and risk seeing Graham. I was still mad at him for pretending like I’d made his deputy up. I didn’t tell that to Kathryn, though. She’s not fully aware of what my relationship is with the sheriff. Or if she is, she’s never brought it up.

     “It’s a shame what happened to Deputy Sanchez.” I said before taking a bite of my sandwich.

     “Who?”

     “Sheriff Graham’s Deputy.”

     “Sheriff Graham hasn’t had a deputy for as long as anyone can remember.” She spoke as though this was an absolute truth.

     “But I was found in handcuffs. Who else could they have belonged to? Sheriff Graham had his on him. They belonged to the man who went down the elevator and came back up burned to death.”

     “Oh, Regina, that’s awful!” Kathryn put her sandwich down. “Don’t say things like that. No one was burned alive. Sheriff Graham discovered you in the library before you could be hurt.”

     “We buried Deputy Sanchez yesterday!” Maybe I was just supposed to go along with this? I couldn’t though. “You were at the funeral! You brought mashed potatoes to the gathering at Granny’s afterward!”

     Kathryn put a reassuring hand over mine. “You’re still in shock. That’s what it is. You need to go home and rest.”

     But I couldn’t just go home and take a nap. Work needs to get done, whether I’m making stuff up in my head or not. And I knew I was not, but the longer I went through the day I realized just how much the curse had corrected itself. Now that the library was shuttered, no one spoke a word about the election. Not one person cared about who was president now. I even asked one of my assistants who won the election. His response was, “I don’t know. I don’t like to vote.” I must have given him a puzzled look, because he added, “But I voted for you, Madam Mayor!”

     Before coming home, I decided to stop at Granny’s for dinner and a glass of wine. I sat at the counter and remembered the riddle about the dress. Not everything had been corrected. In a booth behind me, Marco and Dr. Hopper ate dinner and talked like old friends. Not every hole in the fabric needed to be stitched over, it seemed. Marco and Archie weren’t a threat, but a man being killed by a dragon was. It was working in my favor this time, so I decided to go with it. I don’t know what I’ll do yet if it ever works against my favor.

     But not everyone had forgotten the deputy. Someone in the diner was saying his name.

     I turned and there was Leroy. Judging by his loud speech and delayed movements, he’d had more than enough to drink. He continued to try and get his audience to remember Deputy Sanchez, but everyone around him was either ignoring him or telling him to be quiet. He’d been in the literature aisle more than anyone. Maybe that gave him enough clarity to remember things that others couldn’t? Whatever it was, I’d had enough of the deputy to last me a lifetime. I paid my money and got up to leave, but Leroy saw me and stopped me as I was walking past him. He almost fell off his stool before staggering over to me.

     “Come on, Madam Mayor! You were there. You know who I’m talking about, right? No one believes me, but you do, right? He handcuffed you to the chair.” Leroy reached out for one of my wrists that still had bruises on them, but I pulled it away.

     “Don’t touch me! You need to go home, sir. The sheriff doesn’t have time to arrest everyone for public drunkenness.” I walked out, leaving him surrounded by men and women laughing at him.

Wednesday, November 7th, 1984

     Yesterday was Election Day. I was ready. The ballots had been printed secretly. We staged it to make it look like they’d arrived in the appropriate way so there would be no questions. The church was chosen as the only polling place for our little town. And we had volunteers who had no idea what was going to happen to their leader.

     Not that he knew what was going to happen, either. It was no secret that Leroy’s burden by the curse was his low self-confidence, and his biggest symptom was his frequent drinking. Since I appointed him in charge of the volunteers, Leroy had been seen visiting the Rabbit Hole much more, being cut off at Granny’s or taking a brown paper bag home from the drug store after work. Sidney had really done all the work organizing the volunteers and he was not happy about it.

     So it shouldn’t have been a surprise to me to find out that Leroy hadn’t even shown up to the polls yesterday morning as I placed the first ballot in Storybrooke. It should not have irked me that he didn’t come in to help in the afternoon when I called to see how things were going. And I shouldn’t have been upset that I had to call his apartment from the church when I arrived there after work, but I had a plan in place and I needed my sacrificial lamb!

     My lamb was there by the seventh ring. Leroy burped into my ear before groaning his hello.

     “I’m disappointed, Leroy. I was going to have you and I hand the ballots over to the men from Portland who would take them and officially count them. Now I’ll just have to meet them by myself.”

     “No, please, Madam Mayor! Let me come with you! I won’t screw this up, I promise.”

     “All right. The polls close in an hour. You better hurry up and vote. I’ll meet you with the ballots at the library. That’s where they’re meeting us.” I hung up the phone on the wall. When I turned, I almost walked right into Deputy Sanchez.

     “Excuse me, Madam Mayor.” The deputy seemed to be everywhere I was, lately.

     “It’s all right. Looks like you had to work today after all.”

     “Yes. I wanted to vote before it was too late.” His eyes wouldn’t stay on me as he spoke. “I was on my way out, but I couldn’t help but hear the last of your conversation. I could accompany you, if you like.”

     “Thank you, Deputy, but that won’t be necessary. Sheriff Graham will be meeting us over there, too.” It was only a half-lie. Graham would be at the library after I called him to tell him what happened to Leroy.

     “I could help you carry the ballots to your car.”

     “Sidney will be doing that, thank you.” I nodded goodbye to him, since he said he was leaving.  He nodded back at me and left the church.

     Leroy rushed in and voted. He came to apologize to me and smelled like he’d had the decency to take a shower. I told him there was no need, just to relax and to meet me at the library after the polls closed. He looked at the other volunteers, but they ignored him since he really hadn’t taken part. Leroy left the church too, I don’t know where to.

     Finally it was eight o’clock. We gathered the ballots into boxes, thanked the volunteers and sent them home. Sidney and I loaded the boxes into my car before we went our separate ways.

     I only had to drive a few blocks from the church to reach the library. I took the skeleton keys out of my pocket and used the one for the library. Once inside, I left the lights off and set to work. I dragged a metal waste basket to the center of the floor and pulled over a chair for me. I pulled a few ballots from my purse and threw them in the basket. Then I pulled out my matchbook and waited for him. The rest of the ballots were in a box in my trunk of my car. They’ll be great to have this winter. Nothing warms a house better than the voice of the people.

     It’s been a long time since I’ve enacted an evil plan. I’d been working on this one for most of a year, and I was really worried it wasn’t going to work. There are a lot of things to consider: weather, time of day, who could potentially discover you.

     One key to the success of an evil plan is not to have the intended victim have enough time or sense to think about what is happening. No asking where the officials were to take the ballots from us. No asking why I was only burning a few ballots with a match into one of the library’s metal waste baskets while I’d carelessly thrown the rest down the elevator shaft into the mine below. Any answer I gave would make about as much sense as peasants voting for their ruler anyway. You need to have a sense of urgency without looking desperate. The haze of Leroy’s hangover would cloud his judgment, but he was one of Snow White’s friends deep down inside. I knew he’d try to stop me.

     But Leroy had only been my planned victim for about a week after I’d first appointed him in charge. I’d already put him in his place and the curse had been doing the rest since then. He was no longer a threat. My real sacrificial lamb was more persistent, and when I turned to the sound of his footsteps and was blinded by his flashlight, I knew my plan would work.

      “How long have you known?” I held my hand over my eyes to try to block the light.

     “Since the beginning.” Deputy Sanchez lowered it so I could see him better once my eyes settled. “I heard your conversation with Sidney at the diner back in June. Then I decided to follow you and overheard your conversation with Leroy. I listen to my gut a lot and my gut was telling me something wasn’t right. So I’ve kept an eye on you this whole time. I found your copies of ballots at the printing press for the Mirror. Nice try, but I knew exactly what you were planning.”

     “And that was?”

     “You were going to turn off people from voting and from the library, by using one of the loudest advocates of it as an example.”

     Not bad. “Go on.”

     “Leroy was the only volunteer you invited to help you take the ballots out of our precinct. But wouldn’t you just take them across the town lines? Why would you go to the library? Because there’s a mine underneath that leads out of town! You were going to make sure it looked like an act of self defense. That he attacked you and tried to steal the ballots.”

     Close enough. “Well, you’ve found me out.”

     “I know these few are for show.” He pointed to the burning ballots. “Where are the rest of them?”

     I didn’t say anything. Instead, I glanced at the elevator door. He saw me look and then I did something to make sure he wouldn’t ask questions: I ran for the door. He reached me before I got there, pulled me back to the chair and handcuffed me to it. Then the deputy ran over to the elevator and turned the wheel to open the doors. They opened with ease and Deputy Sanchez stepped inside. He nodded at me for the last time before the doors closed.

     I’d sat in my chair for only a couple of minutes before the ground trembled. Then a loud BOOM rocked the library and knocked most of the books off their shelves. I wasn’t sure whether or not the floor would cave in, but then Graham ran in, followed by a stunned Leroy, and the ground became still.

     “Why are you here?” I honestly couldn’t figure out that the sound from the library may have made him come and not my command.

     “It’s good to see you, too.” The sheriff unlocked my handcuffs. “Deputy Sanchez called me for back up. Where is he?”

     I pointed to the elevator. By now, the smell of the air had changed from old books to sulfur and something burning. Graham walked over to the elevator turned the wheel. The gears on the other side of the doors chugged as they tried to start up, but by the third time they whirred and pulled the elevator up to the main floor. But when the doors opened, Deputy Sanchez wasn’t standing. He was slumped in the corner, very charred and very dead.

Thursday, June 14th, 1984

Twenty-eight years is a long time to look at the same dress

There will be those who see a hole and think it is a sleeve

Rid the room of those who would rip the fabric

The tailor will stitch it back

The greater the tear, the greater the repair

The sleeves may not be even, but the dress will fit

     I was searching through the book this morning looking for a rule that fit this particular issue. This was the closest I could find to anything that made sense.

     Speaking of dresses, my clothes are fitting so much better. Aerobics class is crucial to maintaining my sanity—that and Hibiscus Hollow. If I could have put my plan into action by now, I would have. But everyone is aware that elections don’t happen until November. It’s not like I’m incapable of patience; I waited over nine months to enact the curse and I waited years before finding the right man to murder Snow’s father. But the wait for November is killing me. Fortunately Ruby’s aerobics classes calm my anxieties. I am out-shining Mary Margaret as the best student. No one will say as much, but the fact that Ruby doesn’t point to Miss Blanchard as the prime example tells me as much.

     Having until November just gives me more time to make sure everything’s just right. What it also does is give more people the chance to visit the literature section. Just to make sure I haven’t been too rash, I’ve visited the bookshop where I bought my cookbook my first day here. There were some stark differences between the two places. For one, the bookshop sold no fiction. Even the children’s books were instructional. But the people who shopped there knew what they were going in for. No one was milling about discovering new topics that might interest them.

     “The library is not the problem.” Sidney and I were taking a break at Granny’s. I wasn’t fully sure of my plan yet, but I knew I needed ballots printed. The printing press at the Daily Mirror is the perfect place to do that, especially when the other people who work for Sidney do whatever he tells them, like not to go near the printing press under any circumstances. The curse simply wasn’t going to allow government officials to gather our votes, even though it allowed the people of Storybrooke to get magazine subscriptions. I don’t really understand why that is. “The issue is television,” he continued. “The news is so up to date on T.V. that less people are buying newspapers. I can put whatever you want in the paper, Regina. You know that and your father knew it. But as long as everyone has a television, they’ll know there’s more out there.”

     “We can’t get rid of televisions.” Was I never supposed to watch Hibiscus Hollow again? “And even if we did, there’s still the radio and magazines. Outside information will always come into Storybrooke. I’m telling you, the problem is the library.” I looked down at my hands. My fingernails still had newspaper ink under them. That stuff is persistent.

     “Well you can’t just close down the library. Not without a good reason. Do you want to be mayor again?”

     He was right. I threw my napkin onto my empty plate. Granny’s was packed today. Everyone in town was there, it seemed. People were standing by the door, waiting for a booth or a seat at the counter. Deputy Sanchez was two tables away on his lunch break. Mr. Gold was leaning on his cane, perturbed that he couldn’t buy himself a seat. Ruby was blowing her hair out of her face as she scrambled to serve everyone their food. Granny stood behind the register with her eye on everyone, ready to tackle anyone if a riot broke out. Leroy was just getting up from the counter with a lunch to go when he saw me. He puffed his chest up and walked over to our table. Sidney tried to shoo him off, but Leroy ignored him.

     “I want to volunteer to work the polls for our precinct.” He stared directly into my eyes; sure I’d turn him down.

     I decided to call his bluff. “Leroy, right? Sidney, you remember Leroy from career day at Miss Blanchard’s class.” Sidney looked the janitor up and down, but said nothing. It didn’t matter—I had an idea. “You clearly have a passion for how our electoral system works. I’d like you to be in charge of organizing the volunteer poll-workers.”

     Leroy immediately began to fidget. “I’ve never been in charge of anything before.” He reached with a stubby finger to pull his collar away from his neck. “I just thought I’d help in the background.”

      “Well, that’s what makes Election Day so special.” I loved this. He hadn’t expected this from the woman who almost couldn’t remember how she got into office just a couple months ago. “You should be in charge of this. It’s a great responsibility and the whole town will be counting on you. And then when the polls are closed, we can take our ballots to the federal officials in Portland.”

     “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

     “That’s how it’s going to work this year. The government is trying something new. I received a call from our governor just last week.” I knew he wasn’t going to question me on this. Leroy was sweating, probably hoping that I’d change my mind. “You won’t let your town down, will you, Leroy?”

     “Yes—I mean no!”

     “Thank you. I knew I could count on you.” Oh, how I loved piling the praise on him as he squirmed. “I’ll gather a couple other people to help you. Sidney will call you tomorrow.”

     Sidney glared at me, less than thrilled that I’d just volunteered him. Leroy squeezed out a sort of thank you and took his lunch out of there. My lunch with Sidney had ended as well. I left the payment on the table and made my way out, but was stopped by Deputy Sanchez as soon as I’d walked out the door.

     “I just heard your conversation with Leroy.” He’s a scrawny many who might not own a comb. “Could I volunteer to work the election too?”

     “How nice of you, deputy. I’d say you could ask Leroy, but I’m sure you’ll need to work that day.” I smiled and he gave me a little nod before walking off.

     I need a good reason to close the library? How about death by dragon? Would that be a good enough reason?

     The best way to prevent people from ever going in there again is by proving that it’s too dangerous to do so. I’m going to send Leroy down to see Maleficent. And then when everyone sees his charred corpse they’ll shut down the library and forget about voting at the same time.

Wednesday, March 8th, 1984

     It all started on Saturday. It was Miner’s Day, an actual holiday designed to preserve the town’s history and culture. Did you know that this town was founded by miners? They didn’t have electricity, so the nuns made candles for them. No word on who made them matches.

     I was asked to attend the commemoration of the library that day. According to everyone, the first entrance to the mines was right on that spot and the elevator was actually used by the miners to go down into it. The elevator turned 100 years old this Miner’s Day and everyone was there to mark the occasion.

     I’d never seen the library busier. Easily one hundred people were crammed inside, squished in the aisles and pouring into the main reading area. Every aisle was full except for the literature aisle. I smiled from my spot at the podium as people avoided the aisle with their own stories in it as though it wasn’t even available for standing room.

     That changed about halfway through the ceremony. The whole thing was supposed to last around a half an hour, but that didn’t count getting people arranged inside, or one of the speakers running twenty minutes late. So many bodies meant the library was getting considerably warm despite the cool weather outside. The people were fidgeting, and I wondered if part of the curse for anyone here was claustrophobia.

     Sure enough, as I was delivering my speech on the historical richness of our town, Leroy started making his way towards an empty space, and the crowd spit him out into the literature aisle. I tried not to stop speaking so as not to draw attention to him. He looked surprised as though he didn’t know the aisle existed, but then calmed down and looked ahead at me.

     Once the ceremony was over, about half of the people left for the fair at the church. The nuns held a small one every year to help the sale of their candles, apparently. The rest of us stayed behind to socialize and have lunch. I was in the center of the library, chatting with men who were once kings. Albert Spencer kept pestering Mitchell Herman about his son. Back home, Mitchell had been Cinderella’s father-in-law, but here he was the local cannery tycoon. He was surrounded by wealth but isolated the ones he should love. Albert was asking Mitchell if his son was still with his girlfriend. It seemed to be a subject he didn’t want to touch and I didn’t care. My eyes wandered to the main desk, and there was Leroy checking out a book! The librarian seemed to have no qualms about doing her job during a private engagement. I excused myself from the gentlemen to see if I could get a better view of Leroy’s book. I had to know if he checked out a book from that aisle. It could have been a different kind of book; non-fiction, self-help, hygiene. I was getting closer, but the check-out process had ended and he was leaving. I certainly wasn’t about to follow him out, but the thought of asking the librarian what he checked out crossed my mind.

     I didn’t get the chance to ask. The floor only shook for a couple of seconds, but it was enough to scare everyone. People ran for the doors and flooded into the street. They were panicked and confused, but no one was injured. I found Sidney in the crowd and grabbed him by the arm. I knew what had happened, but I was going to make sure the people thought something else.

     The next morning I watched the people as I went for a walk. A little bit of rain in the morning doesn’t scare me into my car anymore. It always rains here. Beneath umbrellas and under eaves, everyone was reading the daily paper and talking about what had happened at the library the day before, or at least what I wanted them to think happened. She was too far below to do any real damage. Maybe it was the sounds of all the people that woke her up or maybe it was the smell of the chicken lunch with chocolate cake? Whatever stirred Maleficent, the people of Storybrooke simply thought it was settlement of the earth due to the mine underneath.

     I also observed something else. Passing an apartment building, Leroy’s face peeked through the blinds of a fourth-story window. As it disappeared, a white square sign with “Reagan ‘84” painted in red and blue replaced it. The sign didn’t surprise me, since he seemed so passionate about voting. At the time I shrugged it off and continued my walk.

     But Monday evening I visited the library before they closed. There were two more people in the literature section, and before the librarian had locked the doors for the night, two more books were checked out. Yesterday morning on my walk to work, two more signs for presidential candidates were up in front of homes.

     It wasn’t only thoughts of the election that stirred in these people as more of them shared the same coincidence. Discovering the literature section of the library was like catching a virus. First, you walked through it and picked up a book. It didn’t matter if you checked it out or not; once you read a page or two, you began to get ideas. Ideas like personal choice, self expression and even the desire to leave Storybrooke. The travel section of the bookstore down the street was bustling with people buying maps and travel books. No one was going anywhere, of course. The curse prevents that.

     The most alarming thing is that the people who enter the literature aisle are slowly reconnecting to their original selves. Today at Granny’s Diner, Archie sat down beside Marco and the two just chatted away. Until today, I’ve never seen them even look at each other. I saw the former cricket and puppet-maker in the literature aisle on separate days. I don’t even know if they’d met until today, but there they were talking like they’d known each other all of their lives.

     But the library was becoming a popular place to visit. Tonight after work I wasn’t even allowed inside. Due to the event on Miner’s Day, the number of people allowed inside at any given time was lowered and the limit had been reached.

     Why the curse allowed a library in the first place, I’m not sure, but this is something I need to handle now. I’ve got to find a way to shut the library down or risk people coming out of the curse, let alone having others think they can elect someone who will hold more power than me. 

Wednesday, January 18th, 1984

     I’ve only taken Ruby’s aerobics class twice and I’ve certainly seen enough of Mary Margaret, but as mayor there are certain obligations. Today was Career Day at Storybrooke Elementary. I had to go to Miss Blanchard’s classroom with all of the other leading examples of the community and speak to children who would be too young to hold a job in this world for the rest of their cursed lives.

     Children ran around the classroom while the adults stood out of their way in a corner. Miss Blanchard was unphased by her students’ lack of decorum. She projected her voice and asked the children to quiet down and sit at their desks for their guests. She then offered an arm and gestured to all of us to take the seats placed for us along the wall. I chose a chair between Graham and Granny. Soreness spread through my thighs as a reminder that I still had a ways to go before I’d be in shape again. It took more time for me to sit down than it did for the children to quiet.

     “Perhaps we should take it easy for a while?” Graham spoke low so as not to distract from Miss Blanchard talking to her students.

     “It’s not that. I’m taking this aerobics class with Kathryn to help me lose weight.” I spoke low too. Granny was looking at Miss Blanchard, but I knew she was listening to us. That woman has better investigating skills than Sidney, who was the first to go up before the class.

     “You don’t need to lose any weight. I like you just the way you are.”

     “Sheriff, you would like me even if I shaved off all of my hair and painted myself blue.”

     “What shade of blue?”

     Granny cleared her throat and shifted in her seat away from me, confirming my suspicions. Sidney finished explaining his job and took some questions about the paper from the students before returning to his seat. Graham was next. All the children were enthralled by him. As soon as he was done he had to go back to work. The rest of us sat through Dr. Hopper, Dr. Whale (who pointed out to the students that he was a real doctor, with a look to Archie) and then Granny. Finally it was my turn.

     The children didn’t seem to be as interested in what it was like to be mayor as they were about the position of sheriff, but that was fine.  Miss Blanchard then opened it up to questions.

     “How did you become mayor?” A little boy asked.

     I wasn’t prepared for this. I don’t know why. I thought back to my first day here. It was in Sidney’s paper. Granny told me too, I think.

     “I was elected.” I said, rather proud of myself for remembering.

     “Like the president?”

     I must have looked like I didn’t know what a president was, because Miss Blanchard stepped in.

     “We’ve been learning about the presidents, since this is an election year.”

     I knew this was an election year and I knew what a president was. I’ve been learning things in our library and I’ve slightly paid attention to the news commercials in between “Hibiscus Hollow” episodes. I didn’t need Miss Blanchard to interrupt me like that. What I hadn’t thought about until then was these people thought they’d be voting in the next election. I entertained the idea of telling the children that we don’t vote in Storybrooke, but as far as everyone knew, most of them had voted for me. Maybe.

     “Yes, just like the president.” I smiled at the bored little boy. “Except there are so many more people voting all over the country. The president might be announced before all the votes are counted. It isn’t as important to vote in the bigger elections as it is the smaller, more local ones.”

     “That’s not true!” A man with a dark beard shouted from the back. I recognized him as one of Snow White’s dwarves, but I didn’t know his name here. His brown shirt and trousers suggested he was on the janitorial staff here. “Election day is the one day when everyone has a say. No one’s voice is more important than someone else’s!”

     “Leroy’s right, children.” Miss Blanchard had the nerve to do damage control in front of me. She took one look at me and shrank. “But so is Mayor Mills—sort of! It is a much larger election, but everyone’s vote counts. It just takes longer to count everyone’s vote!” She laughed at her own play on words, but one look from me assured her it wasn’t funny.

     I didn’t pay any attention to the rest of Career Day. As Leroy spoke about how important cleaning toilets was, all I could think about was how important voting was to him. If it was important to him, how many others would think it was important? What would happen if those people found out that no one outside of Storybrooke would come to collect their ballots? This is something I’ll have to prepare for. It should be easy.

Friday, January 13th, 1984

     Every part of my body hurts.

     Last night, I donned what’s called a leotard in purple, along with blue tights and a soft blue headband. Kathryn and I went to the event room at Granny’s Bed and Breakfast along with several other women of the town. All the other ladies were squished into their leotards in many bright colors. Some of them had weights wrapped around their wrists and ankles. Most had brought towels. Kathryn insisted I bring one, though at the time I couldn’t imagine why. Kathryn and I joked about how seriously some of these women were taking this, even though I didn’t know what to expect yet. Kathryn described it as moving in rhythm to music. It honestly didn’t sound like aerobics would help me lose weight, but Kathryn was excited and I knew it made her feel good to get me out of the house.

     Ruby’s aerobics instructor outfit verses Ruby’s everyday outfit had less fur and more spandex but was otherwise the same. She stood at the head of the room and waited for everyone to settle down. When that didn’t happen, she put two fingers in her mouth and whistled as loud as she could. All the women quieted and looked ahead.

     “Thanks, guys!” Our instructor said. “I see some new faces tonight. When we really get into the workout this might seem really hard. Don’t feel bad if you can’t keep up tonight, but keep moving. It’ll get easier the more often you come to class. I’ll come around when I can to help you get the moves right, but if I haven’t come over to you and you think you’re stuck, just watch Mary Margaret!”

     Ruby pointed to the side of the room and there she was. Clad in her forest green leotard and white tights, Miss Blanchard blushed and waved to all the admiring faces.

     “Thanks, Ruby, but everyone should watch you.” Mary Margaret tried to turn the attention back to Ruby, but everyone just beamed at her, even Katherine. “I’m a student, just like the rest of us.”

     “But you’re so good. You’re better than me. You should be the teacher.” Ruby’s praise made all the women laugh. I was unable to keep my eyes from rolling up.

     Eventually the laughter calmed down and the class began. Ruby turned on some music from her cassette player. Music blared from the machine and she encouraged us to step to the music. I tried to forget about Mary Margaret and focus on the program, which became more fun. It started out with a simple step touch and then progressed into grapevines. All the women took three steps to the side and clapped then three steps to the other side and clapped. This only went on for a few minutes before the lunges began.

     “That’s not quite right.” Ruby was making her rounds as she’d promised. She didn’t seem to approve of the way I kept one foot firmly planted while I threw the other one forward and bent at the knee. “You need to go lower.” She put her hands on my hips and pushed me further down as my knee bent. I let out a very audible groan when the pain shot through my thighs. “Good!” Ruby took this as a good sign. Back home, I would have taken it as grounds for execution. “Feel the burn, Mayor! Keep doing it just like that.”

     As soon as Ruby moved on to her other students, I went back lunging in the less painful way. But then my eyes moved over to Mary Margaret. She was lunging so low she was almost doing the splits. My hatred for her grew, and I told myself I could do that, even though today my body is telling me that I clearly could not. I did as best as I could to keep up with her from that point on.

     Ruby returned to the front of the class and taught us what I can only describe as some sort of dance routine. At best, it reminded me of something local villagers would have performed for Snow, her father and I when we traveled. There were more of those grapevines, followed by kicks and arm thrusts and even jumping jacks. By this point in the class, I wasn’t the only one having a difficult time keeping up. At least two thirds of the women were sweating and staggering their way through the routine. Had this been an actual dance we had to perform for a ceremony, we would have brought shame to our village.

     After the dance routine, there was a brief pause for us to dry ourselves off and grab a drink of water. I actually thought we were done and started to grab my things and leave. Kathryn stopped me and informed me there was still floor work to do.

     Floor work is a special kind of torture. We all got down on the floor on our towels, because I certainly wouldn’t want to lie directly on that carpet.  We got onto one side, propped ourselves on an elbow and stretched out our legs. The music slowed down. Ruby had us raise our top leg, lower it and repeat that forever. Then we did it some more, only with that foot flexed. Then we did it even more, but with our knee bent. All through this, Ruby reminded us to breathe, which proved to be necessary. I think I’d forgotten about my air intake while I was willingly destroying my leg.

     We finally stopped. I thought our teacher was being merciful until she had us turn over and work out the other leg.

     Turning around forced me to watch Mary Margaret exercise. She hadn’t even broken a sweat. Her hair was perfect. She was raising and flexing as though this was the easiest thing she had ever done. I endured this mocking of my misery for as long as Ruby made me. Finally we’d reached what was ironically called the “cool down”. It involved slow stretching which made my skin burn up.

     At long last, we were done. The class actually applauded Ruby, who clapped right back at them. I couldn’t wait to leave, but Kathryn was hanging around chatting with Mary Margaret and Ruby. I clutched my sweaty towel and joined them.

     “Thank you so much for coming, Mayor!” Ruby was ever the hostess. “It’ll get easier for you the more you do it.”

     “That wasn’t so hard.” No one believed me. “It certainly wasn’t hard for you, was it, dear?”

     Mary Margaret avoided my gaze, mumbled something about school in the morning and left. Kathryn and I took that as our cue to leave also. I don’t know if I was crazy from exhaustion or angry with Miss Blanchard, but I promised Kathryn I would go to class with her on a regular basis. Today, my body doesn’t think that’s a good idea, but I’m going to do it anyway. I’ve faced worse things in my life, and I WILL beat Mary Margaret at aerobics!

Thursday, January 12th, 1984

     I know it’s been a long time since I’ve written in you. I haven’t felt like doing much of anything since I hurt Owen and separated him from his father. I haven’t felt guilt like this in a very long time.

     Once he left, things went back to not changing. No one advances mentally or emotionally. Owen would have grown up. I don’t know how I would have explained to him how no one else grew older while he continued to do so, but maybe he could have become my one true confidant here. I saw myself in him. Even though there is very little of it here, I could have even taught him some magic.

     As for what little magic there is here, I did have to use some. Owen came back for his father with some guards shortly after he left but was unable to see us. The curse did that on its own to prevent outsiders from coming in. As for his father, Kurt, I had him placed in the mental ward in a cell next to Belle. He’s been placed in a stasis curse for the time being to prevent him from aging until I decide what to do with him. No one suspects a thing at the hospital; he’s fed with fluids while he lies still in his bed. Those who are required to help him merely think he’s comatose.

     I’ve tried to make my own changes in order to make life a little more bearable for me here. One thing that’s helped is something called television. I finally turned it on one night and little people appeared and began to talk inside. After I realized there were no real people in the box but only images, a show called “Hibiscus Hollow” came on. There was a woman named Rosaline who was very wealthy. Her dress was silver and her shoulders were massive. Her black hair sat frozen around her head in many tight curls. Rosaline was being chided by Rico, a man who was clearly her lover. He was chiding her for shutting down an orphanage, but she defended herself by saying she did it as revenge against Susan—who ran the orphanage—for stealing her husband. It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen, and yet I understood Rosaline’s motives.

     I returned to the television every Wednesday night with a plate of lasagna in hand to see what Rosaline would do next. Without magic, she was able to ruin Susan’s life and have both Rico and her husband want her before her husband’s brakes on his car were mysteriously cut and he drove off a cliff. She has truly been an inspiration to me and a reminder as to why I put the curse into effect in the first place.

     I began to emulate Rosaline in appearance. All of my coats have shoulder pads now. I even went to the salon and got a perm so my hair could be as tightly curled as hers. The perm was a mistake, but at least it didn’t last forever. My gratitude to Rosaline, however, will.

     I’ve also been learning more and more about this world. I’ve gone to the library many days after work to check out a book on history or geography. One section I abhor is the literary section. There lies all of the stories of the people of Storybrooke. When I’ve been there, the others who are in the library seem to avoid that section, which I believe to be the work of the curse. But it is still a possible threat and something I need to watch.

     Kathryn and I met up for lunch yesterday. We usually meet so we can talk and she’ll go on and on about David. Honestly, this man sounds almost as stupid as he did back in the enchanted forest, and he’s in a coma here. He wasn’t exactly charming to Kathryn, as she remembers it. But the longer he’s in that bed at the hospital, the more fondly she speaks of him.

     “Is something wrong?” She asked me after her monologue about David’s fondness for animals. “You look uncomfortable.”

     “No.” My thoughts weren’t transparent, but my attempts to stop my sweater seams from cutting into my armpits were. “My washer and dryer must just be broken. All of my clothes have shrunk.” Now it was Kathryn’s turn to look uncomfortable. I demanded she tell me what was on her mind.

     “You’ve put on weight.”

     “I have not!”

     “You have, Regina.” Kathryn leaned in. “I know you’ve been sad and you’ve been staying home whenever you don’t have to be out. Any time I’ve been over, all you eat is lasagna or your apple turnovers.”

     She was right. My tree was so empty I was resorting to buying apples at the market. Back home, I was more active with horseback riding and plotting revenge. But here I’d been doing neither.

     “What do you suggest?” I thought about using another one of my pieces of magic to banish the weight, but then it might just come back and soon I’d be without magic when I might really need it.

     “Ruby holds an aerobics class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s really fun, why don’t you come with me?”

     “What is aerobics?” It sounded like flying lessons.

     “It’s exercise! And there’s music and everyone wears bright clothing! It’s so great. I have so much energy now.  Please, Regina. You’ll fit back in your clothes in no time. You’ll love it!”

     I agreed. Kathryn was thrilled because we could go shopping for workout clothes, which we did after I was done at work. And tonight we exercise.