Books are a uniquely portable magic. ~ Stephen King

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

If You Dream of Fairies

f You Dream of Fairies is a story I wrote for my daughters and niece last summer. I will present it here in serialized form. It was my first foray into fiction.

In case you missed something:
If You Dream of Fairies - I
If You Dream of Fairies - II
If You Dream of Fairies - III
If You Dream of Fairies - IV
If You Dream of Fairies - V
If You Dream of Fairies - VI
If You Dream of Fairies - VII
If You Dream of Fairies - VIII
If You Dream of Fairies - IX
If You Dream of Fairies - X
If You Dream of Fairies - XI
If You Dream of Fairies - XII

As the weeks went by, familiarity was re-established. The girls read together and played quiet games in the garden. They laughed and danced on the lawn once more. Neither of them spoke about fairies or the fairy door anymore. After a couple weeks Liz had almost convinced herself that it had all been a dream.

“If you were a flower,“ Maria mused, one lazy afternoon, “what flower would you be?”

Liz didn’t have to think about her answer longer than a moment. “I’d be a sunflower.”

“Oh that works!” Maria squealed. “Because you’re beautiful and strong.”

“I like that birds and animals can eat the seeds, too, so they’re sort of functional.”

“Yes! Yes!” Maria agreed eagerly, clapping her hands as she answered. “You’re good at this! What flower would I be?”

“You’re more like an orchid.”

“We can’t grow those in our garden.” Maria said with a slight tinge of disappointment in her voice.

“No, they’re hard to grow because they’re so rare and delicate. But when one does manage to grow, it is treasured – cherished, even.”

“I’m not hard to grow.” Maria said, her lips just beginning to pout.

“No. But you are delicate and beautiful. And certainly cherished. Everyone wants to be like you but no one quite can.”

“That’s not so…” Maria declared, a pretty pink blush flushing her cheeks.

“See? You don’t even know it. That’s part of what makes you so special and rare.”

“Come along, Sunflower!” Maria said, in a clear attempt to change the subject. “Let us search for the Sun King!” This game continued until Maria was called to run an errand with her mother.

Liz stayed in the garden and took a nap with Keebler, who had remained behind.

She woke up to Keebler barking and pawing at the fairy door. There was another envelope against the tree. It said:

For You

in the same beautiful script as the last one. She approached it with less caution than before, hoping it would be more fairy dust. It was. But among the dust this time were a few scattered petals. Long, golden petals. Sunflower petals. Liz once again basked in the happiness the fairy dust seemed to encourage. She raised her arms and face to the sun, laughing merrily. She carefully put the petals in the pages of her book to preserve them. She’d show them to Maria later and she’d HAVE to believe. The sunflowers in their garden had just started to grow tall. None were close to blooming yet. What other explanation could there be for the petals?

The brightness of her smile rivaled the very sunshine itself.

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