"My Simple Humble Neighborhood" by Mona
Disclaimer: The characters of Aladdin are copyright Disney and used without permission but with respect. "My Simple Humble Neighborhood" has been slightly altered, but the work is still copyright Carole King. No profit is being made off this story.
Author's Note: This is my first Aladdin fanfic, though not the first with the characters of Aladdin in it. ("For Bitter or For Worse" holds that title. It's in the Disney section if you're interested.)
(Here's where it all began,
Here's where I heard that beat
Here's where I learned to run
With my fleet feet
In my simple humble neighborhood
On my simple humble street)
Aladdin strolled through the streets of Agrabah. A few of the children stopped to wave. The youth smiled and waved back. He reached into his vest and withdrew a small sack, then stopped in front of an adobe building. A sign on the door read "The Lost Ones." He opened the door and entered.
An elderly woman looked up. "Aladdin?"
"Mostly everyone calls me Al now, Patience."
Patience blushed. "I apologize, your highness."
"You don't have to call me that. I'm not sultan yet."
"You always were a modest mouse. What brings you back to this place?"
"I just came to drop off this." Aladdin tossed Patience the sack.
Patience opened it and extracted several gold coins. "Oh my."
"It's the least I can do." Since his birth mother died, Aladdin had come to think of the orphanage director as a replacement.
(Here's where the dreams I had were crowded on a stoop
Pecked and pushed and puzzled
Just like chickens in a coop)
[Flashback]
"I'm so sorry," Patience sobbed. "But we're full up, and we're expecting more."
Twelve year old Aladdin nodded. "I understand."
The orphanage matriarch's hands trembled as she dropped three coins in the orphan's hand. "Spend them wisely."
(Life wasn't always neat
In my simple humble neighborhood)
It was a week after Aladdin had left the orphanage. He had tried to stretch the coins, but money could only go so far. And he was hungry.
The young boy opened a small case in which a gleaming dagger was nestled in a bed of cloth. It was the only piece he had of his unknown father. He considered selling it, but the piece seemed to have its own energy, and Aladdin couldn't see himself letting go of it. He closed the case and moved on.
A produce vendor was looking the other way, so Aladdin seized his chance to steal an apple.
"Stop, thief!" came a distant but gruff voice.
The beginning thief bolted.
The vendor looked up. "Ah, Lieutenant Razoul."
"For someone who just got robbed, you're pretty calm," replied the guard.
"Robbed?"
"Some streetrat just snatched an apple from your cart."
"And? It was only one, right?"
Razoul looked annoyed. "It starts off innocent, but soon they'll be running Agrabah."
"Nonsense," answered the vendor. "Whoever that so-called 'streetrat' was, he represents the unspoken-for multitudes."
"Softie," muttered the future captain.
(Here's where I learned society's ways
How to long for a gulp of fresh air)
"Rajah!" An eleven year old Princess Jasmine stomped her foot.
The tiger yawned and went back to sleep.
The young princess sighed. "I'm so bored." She sat at the edge of a fountain. "When I look over the palace wall, I can almost touch Agrabah. Can you believe I've never been outside these walls? What good is a princess who can't even enter her own kingdom...who just sits locked up in her palace all her life?"
Jasmine's father watched his daughter from a palace tower. "She's growing up so fast."
Lazilia, his wife, reclined on her pillows. She was confined to bed most of the time. "Pretty soon we'll have gentlemen callers knocking on our door." She played with her gold necklace.
The Sultan shuddered. "I can only imagine. Promise me--"
"I can't promise anything. Look at me." Lazilia's skin, olive in her youth, was now an ashen gray. Her dark eyes, once with a hint of mischievous laughter in them, were glassy and sunken. "I can't lie to you. I don't have much time left."
"But who'll help me with my decisions? Everyone calls you Mrs. Sultan."
"You can appoint a Royal Vizier." The queen lifted her husband's turban, where a small amount of gray-streaked black hair still grew. "Just remember you make the rules."
[End flashback]
(I survived just barely
Before you came into my life)
Aladdin returned to the palace. He noticed his wife reading a book on royal etiquette. Sneaking behind her, he covered her eyes. "Guess who?"
"I don't feel fur, so it's not Abu. Iago's on a date with Thundra, and Genie's entertaining Father outside. Aladdin, maybe?"
"You win." Aladdin sat beside Jasmine. "What's with the book?"
"Father didn't tell you we have guests coming tonight?"
"Guess it slipped his mind. I don't know if I'm cut out for this."
"Don't be ridiculous. All Agrabah needs is a caring leader."
"I'm no prince. I tried being one -- but I've spent the past years ekking out an existence in Agrabah's alleys." He glanced at the ring finger of his left hand. At his request, the Royal Jeweler had made a simple gold band. Fancy, clunky rings weren't his style.
"The Prince Ali situation, or the time Mechanicles tried to turn the desert into glass...you were just hiding behind a mask. "You weren't happy, and neither was I. I love you, Aladdin. Just the way you are. Besides, it's not like you'll have to do the ruling ALL by yourself. Don't forget. I'll be with you every step of the way."
"I won't forget....what did you say again?" Aladdin grinned.
Jasmine punched him playfully.
The end.
My Simple, Humble Neighborhood by Mona