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This was hardly Eric's first time at the rodeo, as they say. He had walked through this park, eaten the greasy, overpriced food, and seen the animated princesses come to life well over a dozen times in his rather short eighteen years of life. Those princesses were something else. Eric wondered if they even looked like the same people underneath all that hair and makeup, underneath the garishly vibrant gowns. Even as a little boy, growing up and watching all those Disney movies with his sister, he never could see the appeal of these girls. And that's what they were: girls - not women; young girls with impossibly tiny waistlines and impeccable facial features. The way they moved and their mannerisms were even artificial.

He remembered every Halloween of his childhood, when his sister would insist on dressing up as one of the princesses - it didn't really matter which one, as they all had the same Barbie doll-like figure and features behind the different colors of hair and clothing. And then he remembered his mother, who would scoop up his sister in her strong, stocky arms when one of the neighborhood boys gave her a scare with their gory masks. His mother never objected to her daughter representing these fictitious images, perhaps because she knew the illusion of grandeur would soon dissolve with age.

Observing Joanie in juxtaposition to these idealized figures made her seem more real than she really was. Even compared to many of the girls at school, Joanie dressed for comfort, hardly ever did anything to her hair, and best of all - she was smart. It would be alright if these princesses had some brains to back up their looks, Eric thought. Maybe that's what was missing. He loved how Joanie had always been on the thicker side - plush thighs, round cheeks, substanstial arms. But even moreso he found it fascinating how she was always reading some obscure and fantastical literature; the last one she had been telling him about was by Deleuze and Guattari. She didn't have to read this stuff for any particular reason, she just liked knowing things that other people might not. Eric sure as hell hadn't heard about half of these people she was always rattling on about.

After they finished their meal of fried this and that, the pair stood to throw away their trash and exit the restaurant. Eric wrapped an arm around Joanie's sturdy hips, "Let's go, princess."