Fairy Friends

 

by

Sharon Hoosein

”If you’re bored, why don’t you go out and catch butterflies?” Tammie’s mom suggested. She stood with her hands on her hips and bit her lip.

 

”But Mommy, it’s raining!” Tammie pointed out the window. Rain showered down from the grey sky, washing the driveway with mud. Large puddles had formed in the middle of the lawn, turning it into a miniature swamp. A car drove through a puddle on the road and splattered the mailbox with mud.

 

”Oh.” Tammie’s mom looked out the window. She sighed then turned back to her daughter. “Well then. Why don’t you try to catch butterflies in the house or something?”

 

“There aren’t any butterflies indoors!” Tammie whined.

 

”Use your imagination. I’m busy right now. Let’s see, what needs to be done? Hmm, I suppose I could vacuum the kitchen…” Tammie’s mom wandered off to find the vacuum cleaner.

 

Tammie moped and watched the rain run down the window, blurring her view of the outside. She turned from the window and opened the closet, searching for a game to play to pass the time. Tammie groaned and shut the closet door. All of the games were for two or more people. Her mother had busied herself with the vacuuming and her father wouldn’t return until later. She was an only child, and didn’t have any siblings to play with.

 

Tammie noticed her stuffed unicorn Beezley lying on the sofa. She jumped on the sofa and curled up with it. She hugged Beezley close to her and pouted at the wall. The wall was a dull beige color. Fake antique Parcheesi boards and paintings of apples provided the only decoration. Finding the wall ugly and uninteresting, Tammie turned to wiggling her toes for amusement. It only managed to waste a few minutes.

 

”Oh Beezley. I’m soooooo bored! There’s nothing to do!” She complained to the stuffed unicorn. A thread popped out of Beezley’s sewn smile. Tammie pushed it back in place as best she could. She tossed Beezley in the air and caught him in her arms.

 

She wandered back to the window and opened it. A cold, refreshing breeze rushed into the room. Tammie put her face against it, ignoring the growing damp spot on the windowsill.

 

Something hit her in the face. Tammie let out a small yelp in surprise. The thing clung onto her nose. Two sets of shining purplish blue and green wings spread out into her vision.

 

”Mom! Mommy! There’s a butterfly on my nose! I caught a butterfly!” Tammie exclaimed in excitement.

 

”That’s nice, dear” her mother yelled the automatic answer from the kitchen. Her voice was barely audible above the hum of the vacuum cleaner.

 

”Do you have to shout so loud?” A tiny voice asked. Tammie looked around the room to find its owner in vain. The butterfly fluttered off her nose and landed on the windowsill. Tammie gasped. It wasn’t a butterfly at all. It had butterfly wings, but a girl’s body. A leaf wrapped around it served as a dress. The fairy stood only two inches tall. Tammie lifted a finger to touch the fairy’s wet hair.

 

”Pardon my intrusion but—uhm, please be gentle,” the fairy raised her arms and caught Tammie’s finger with both hands. She let Tammie touch her head, but didn’t let go of Tammie’s finger. Tammie unconsciously relaxed her finger. “Ehem—eh, could you—gah, by any chance---?” The fairy asked, staggering under the weight of Tammie’s finger.

 

”Oh I’m sorry,” Tammie apologized. She withdrew her hand. The fairy let out a sigh of relief and sat down to catch her breath. Tammie gazed at the fairy intently.

 

”…and if it’s not too much trouble will you please close the window? It’s very cold outside and I don’t know how well I’ll hold out should a strong gust of wind come and—“ Tammie closed the window. “Thank you.” The fairy grabbed her long damp hair and wrung the water out of it.

 

”Who are you?” Tammie asked the fairy.

 

”Oh yes, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Aurora. How do you do?”

”I’m Tammie. Do you want to play with me?”

 

”If it doesn’t involve going outside, sure.”

 

“Yay! Oh, and this is Beezley” Tammie held out the stuffed unicorn. Aurora petted it.

”Hello, Beezley. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

”Let’s go up to my room! You can meet all of Beezley’s friends!” Tammie bounced up and down excitedly. She ran up the stairs and into her room. Aurora fluttered after her.

 

The introductions took hours. Tammie’s shelves were full of stuffed animals, given to her by her parents so she could find some way to amuse herself. Among them were Ipsy the frog, Yipes the wolf and Coconut the stuffed potato.

 

Tammie then made accommodations for the fairy. She took an empty peanut butter jar and threw away the lid. On the bottom she stuffed Lucky, the Beanie Baby Ladybug to act as bedding. She threw in a clean sock for a sleeping bag and washcloths for blankets.

 

”There! All done! You can sleep here if you want,” Tammie smiled. Aurora flew into the jar and tried it out.

 

”Wow, thank you very much! Your hospitality is truly wonderful, I thank you.”

 

”Do you want something to eat? It’s dinner time for me right now.”

 

”Yes, please.”

 

They went downstairs. Tammie’s mother had laid a dinner of mini ravioli and grapes for Tammie out on the counter. At the moment she was downstairs washing the basement windows.

 

Tammie poured herself a glass of milk. She then poured some milk into the cap for Aurora and sliced one of her grapes into four pieces. She set the slices on a napkin and set them on the kitchen table along with the cap of milk. Tammie then darted back to the counter and got her dinner. They ate quietly, but it was more of a comforting quiet, not the awkward silence Tammie was used to when her family ate together.

 

After dinner Tammie went upstairs to go to bed. She gently tucked Aurora under the washcloths.

 

”Goodnight Aurora.”

 

”Goodnight Tammie.”

 

”Aurora?”

 

”Yes?”

 

”Will you stay with me forever?”

 

”I’m afraid I can’t. I’ll have to leave once the weather turns nice.”

 

”No!”

 

”Don’t worry. I’ll say goodbye before I go.”

 

”Promise?”

 

”Promise.”

 

”Cross your heart pinkie swear pineapples eat you if you otherwise dare?”

 

”Cross my heart pinkie swear pineapples eat me if I otherwise dare.” Slightly comforted by the fairy’s promise, Tammie turned off the light.

The next day was a dreary Monday. Tammie woke up without the assistance of an alarm clock and checked on her fairy. Aurora crawled out of the sock and smiled at her friend. She yawned and gave her wings a few quick flaps to stretch them out.

 

”I have to go to school today. I’ll be back in the afternoon. Will you play with me then?” Tammie asked.

 

”Sure. I’ll be waiting for you, take care.” Tammie quickly got ready and threw her small pink backpack on her shoulders. She slowly trudged out of the house and dragged herself down to where the school bus was waiting. Aurora accompanied her down to the bus. After saying goodbye, the fairy fluttered back to the jar in Tammie’s room and waited for her return.

 

After the bus had left Tammie’s mom slowly rolled out of bed. She opened her eyes halfway and yawned. She stared at her digital clock for twenty minutes before it dawned on her that those funny red things were numbers.

“Oh my, I must’ve slept in! I wonder if Tammie is awake yet?” She walked into Tammie’s room and let out a satisfied sigh when she saw that Tammie’s bed was empty. “Tammie is such a darling little girl. She got to the bus all by herself!”

 

The jar on Tammie’s nightstand caught her attention. She walked over to it and peered inside. Aurora had been napping when she felt a presence outside her jar. The fairy crawled out of her sock.

 

Tammie’s mom gasped. “Oh my! I must be dreaming! Could it truly be…?” She jabbed her finger in the jar to touch the fairy. Aurora dodged the finger and fluttered out of the jar.

 

“Hello, my name is Aurora. How do you do?” Aurora perched herself on the rim of the jar.

 

”You can talk?” Tammie’s mom gasped. Aurora quickly suppressed the insulted look that sprang to her face.

 

”May I help you?”

 

”Are you truly a…fairy?”

 

”Yes, I am a fairy. How do you do?”

 

”Oh my gosh!” Tammie’s mom put her hand to her heart.

 

”Do you live here? Pardon my intrusion but the weather yesterday was just terrible so I sought shelter here. If there’s any way I can thank—“

 

”You’re a fairy!”

 

”Yes, I am a fairy, thank you.”

 

”D-do you h-have…?” Tammie’s mom rubbed her fingers together rapidly. “G-gold?”

 

”Why yes, I do. Fairy gold though, I’m sure it’s not quite what you’re think-“

 

”Do you have it?”

 

”Yes, I have it.”

 

”D-do you know where it is?” Tammie’s mother lowered her wide grin to Aurora’s eye level. Aurora saw the greed in the smile and got the general message.

 

”It’s right this way.” The fairy led Tammie’s mom into the backyard. The rain had stopped, but it was still damp. Aurora shuddered, but Tammie’s mom followed eagerly behind her, only a nose width away.

 

”It’s just under here,” the fairy hovered over a brick lying beside the driveway. “Are you sure you really want it? Fairy gold isn’t like—“

 

It was useless. Tammie’s mom had already begun digging. She pulled up the grass and scraped away at the dirt with her bare hands. Aurora sat on the driveway and watched her. After a few minutes Tammie’s mom hit pay dirt.

 

”Gold!” she cried. “ Gold! Goldgoldgoldgoldgold!”

 

“Is everything alright?” The fairy asked. Tammie’s mom ignored her. She was too busy squealing with joy to hear. Tammie’s mother waved her arms and kicked her feet in a strange happy dance.

 

”Is everything alright?” Aurora repeated her question and flew closer to the woman with a look of concern on her tiny face. Tammie’s mom kept dancing. The back of her hand hit the small fairy. Aurora dropped onto the driveway, stunned. A heavy foot fell on her a moment later.

 

Crunch.

The blood chilling crunch brought Tammie’s mom back to sanity. She froze. Slowly she picked up her shoe. Fairy blood was streaked along the bottom. More fairy blood was streaked on the driveway, along with tiny dismembered limbs. Four beautiful purple blue and green wings were scattered along the trail.

 

”Oh god. Tammie.” Tammie’s mom bit her lip with worry. She scraped what she could off the driveway and covered the rest with the dirt she had dug up to find the gold. She shoved the gold inside her pockets and waited for Tammie to return.

 

Tammie shot off the bus like a rocket, eager to go see her friend. To her surprise her mom was waiting for her at the driveway with a smile on her face.

 

”Mommy!” Tammie ran over and hugged her mother happily.

 

“Tammie! Guess what? We’re going to McDonald’s! Just mother and daughter eh?”

 

”Ok, but first I want to check on my fairy.” Tammie rushed into the house and up the stairs, without pausing to think how her mother knew about her fairy. Tammie’s mom rushed after her, mumbling all things they could do, all the places they could go, all the things she could buy off the top of her head. Anything to make Tammie slow down. It was all in vain.

 

Tammie found the jar empty. She dashed to every part of the house calling Aurora’s name. No answer. Her young face turned bright red and tears poured from her eyes.

 

“Where’s Aurora? Aurora! Where are you?” she whizzed past her mother darting here and there frantically.

 

“Maybe your fairy decided to fly away,” Tammie’s mother suggested.

 

”No!” Tammie screamed at her mother. “She didn’t say goodbye! She said she’d say goodbye to me before she left! Something happened to her!” Tammie’s mother shifted her eyes guiltily from her screaming child.

 

”Well I’m sure she’s very happy now, wherever she is.”

 

”You killed her didn’t you?” Tammie saw through the lie. “You killed her didn’t you? You killed her! You killed Aurora!”

 

”Of course I didn’t. I would never kill your fairy.”

 

”Yes you did! You killed Aurora! You killed my fairy!” Tammie sobbed and grabbed Beezley, hugging him with all her might. She fell onto her bed, shrieking angrily. “You killed her didn’t you? You killed her! You killed Aurora didn’t you?”

 

Tammie’s mother let out a guilty sigh and walked out of Tammie’s bedroom, closing the door behind her. Oh well. She’ll get over it. She reassured herself. She reached inside her pockets for the gold.

 

Her hand brought out nothing but leaves and dust. Tammie’s mom searched her pockets frantically. No gold. It was gone.