Lisa
opened the door, but frowned upon seeing me.
That surprised me, Madison’s sisters are usually delighted to see a boy
come calling at their home. “Is Madison
home?” I asked Lisa.
“You
brother’s still following me around,” Lisa said, eyes narrowing. She was holding her arms straight down
against her sides and her fists were clenched.
She
hadn’t answered my question, but I was glad Brian was the cause of her
hostility and not me, or something Madison had told them about me. Like the fact I had a fairy, which Madison
did tell some people, like Ms Weaverspell.
Although now I don’t have a fairy.
I put on my best, most charming smile for Lisa, and said, “What has
Brian got to do with me?” I slouched
against the doorframe. “Isn’t Madison
home?”
She
couldn’t resist smiling in response. ““Ummm,
maybe.”
Why
do girls like playing coy or being evasive, and always at the wrong time when
you have the least patience? I kept the
urge to say something derogatory in check and spoke calmly, leaning towards her
conspiratorially, “And what, Lisa, do you mean by ‘maybe?’”
Lisa
unclenched her fists and placed her hands on her hips, “What I mean is, Madison’s
not in the house.”
“And
what, Lisa, do you mean by ‘not in the house?’”
She was wasting a lot of my time, but I really needed to speak with
Madison.
“She
out in the backyard,” Lisa said, suddenly grinning mischievously. “Why don’t you go and see her.”
That
was good enough for me. Since Lisa
didn’t invite me in to go through the house, I walked around the side, and when
I saw Madison out back, I knew the cause of Lisa’s mischievous smile. Madison was sunbathing. It’s unusually for us to have such a sunny
day this time of year and Madison was taking full advantage. She was lying out in the middle of their big
grassy backyard on a pink bed sheet, a glass of lemonade on one corner and a
bottle of suntan lotion on another. She
on her stomach with her arms up over her head and her face buried in hair. She had on shorts and had rolled up the legs
and rolled down the top to expose more skin to the sun. She also had on a swimsuit top, but had unfastened
it so as not to get a tan line across her back.
Lisa
was surely aware Madison wouldn’t appreciate being caught unawares by a boy
when dressed in such a manner, I figured she wouldn’t like it either, but hey,
I it wasn’t my fault, her sister sent me back there so I had an excuse. I quietly approached Madison until standing
over her prone figure.
Madison’s
a lot curvier than I had thought. Her
skin’s very fair, and it was glistening as the sun sparkled off the lotion she
had recently applied. She has nice
muscle tone to her legs and back and a cute bottom. She’s actually quite good looking when you
take the time to stop and notice.
I
realized I was staring and there were probably eyes belonging to curious little
sisters watching from the house, so I woke Madison. “Hey, get up lazy, we got things to do!” I was fun to see her start and a look of
mortification appear on her face. From
behind us in the house, even through the windows, I could hear younger girls
giggling. Madison fumbled behind her
back to re-fashion her swimsuit top and then rolled over, tugging and pushing
at her shorts. She stood up, pulling the
sheet up with her and wrapping herself in it.
Now back in control of the situation, her embarrassment turned to anger. “What are you doing on our property Michael? How dare you invade my privacy like this?”
Back
to the old Madison. “Grab your toga and
follow me,” I said, heading for a small cement bench by the ponds, turning
quickly so she couldn’t see the huge grin on my face.
“Ohhhh,”
I heard her exclaim behind my back, and ventured a look over my shoulder. I was surprised she wasn’t following me, she
was running for the back door of her house.
I went on to the bench anyway and took a seat. She would be out eventually.
It
didn’t take long and Madison did appeared.
She came out the back door and marched across the yard towards me, arms swinging
like she was power walking, the Madison look on her face. She didn’t sit down but halted in front of me
and folded her arms across her chest.
She started to say something but thought better of it and clamped her
mouth shut. She was fully dressed now,
with jeans, tennis shoes and a polo-shirt with sleeves. I noticed she’d combed her hair too. I couldn’t help appreciate what a nice body
she has, after having seen her in sunbathing attire. Her legs are really long. She shuffled on her feet, looking
uncomfortable, and I realized I was staring and looked aside. I waited for her to say something. Finally she took a deep breath, then she spoke,
“Well, you wanted to speak with me?”
I
shrugged and spoke in measured words, “Have you seen Bonnie?”
Madison’s
eyes immediately widened. “No, why would
you ask?”
“She’s
gone. Haven’t seen her in days. I was hoping she’d come here.”
“No.”
Madison sat on the bench next to me, her
anger instantly and totally gone. If
nothing else, Madison is practical, and I could almost see the cogs turning in
her head as she pondered the implications of what I had said. She spoke in a cautious tone, “I wasn’t
expecting you would bring the fairy around anymore, not after learning they
tried to kidnap my sister. If you had, I
was prepared to tell you off and take steps to protect Amie, such as calling
the police.”
“Well
you don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
“And
why not?” Madison said, and put a hand on my arm.
“I
lost my cool,” I said. “I threw Bonnie
out.”
Madison
jerked her hand back. “You did what?”
she said.
Madison’s
reaction surprised me. “I told her to
get out. What else was I to do? I told her I didn’t want to see her anymore.”
Madison
fiddled with her hands, then looked at me with penetrating eyes. “That wasn’t smart, Michael.”
I
couldn’t believe Madison was showing sympathy for the fairies! She was right though, I shouldn’t have
reacted so harshly. It wasn’t Bonnie’s
fault. She was just doing what she’d
been told. She didn’t know any better. “It was stupid of me,” I said, and looked away
from Madison. “I wonder where Bonnie’s
gone. Poor little fairy. The other fairies won’t have anything to do
with her, you know. She was ostracized.”
Madison
put her hand back on my shoulder, and it felt surprisingly nice. “I’m sure the others will take her back.”
“No,
I don’t think so, she was banished for helping me. They even clipped her wings.
“I’m
sure she’s okay,” Madison said.
“The
gnomes want to kill her,” I said.
Madison
flinched. “Well, if the other fairies
don’t take her home, maybe she’ll come back to your house.”
I
shook my head. “She can’t, I
specifically told her I didn’t want to see her or any other fairies ever again. She’s honor bound to follow to what I tell
her. She begged me to stay and told me
she would have to obey if I commanded her to go. And I did anyway. She won’t be back. She can’t.
I specifically commanded her never to return.”
“That
was dumb.”
“Yes,”
I agreed. Madison was puzzling. “You don’t hold it against her, that she was
helping the other fairies kidnap your sister?”
“Yes,
I do,” Madison said. “But I was hoping
Bonnie might be of help to us.”
“What
do you mean?”
“I’ve
been worrying recently. Michael, what if the fairies haven’t given up
on their plans to kidnap Amie. They
might try again. I’ve been thinking a
lot on this. Don’t you see, the danger
to my sister could still be very real.
What if they do try again? I
think they might. I’ve given it a lot of
thought. They might be waiting for just the
right conditions, when the portal back to their realm can be opened again. Bonnie said that only happens on rare occasions. They might try to steal Amie on their way
home. I wanted to question Bonnie and
learn more of their plans. She might
even have warned us when the danger was high.”
“You
think she would have helped us over her fellow fairies?” I said.
“Oh
yes, no doubt about it.”
“I
really have messed things up.”
Madison
stood up. “Come on. We’re going to find her?”
“Where
are you going?” I said, as Madison started towards the woods.
“We’ll
check the fairy meadow first,” Madison said, confidence ringing in her voice.
I
hurried to catch her and within minutes we had broken out of the woods and into
the little fairy meadow where I originally caught Bonnie. Madison gave a cry and I let out a whistle. The area had been cleared of the larger ferns
and all the deadfall removed, all the fallen logs and brush, leaving nothing
but a flat clearing except for a small pile of rocks in the middle and a ring
of mushrooms, which was thick and with healthy toadstool pods, unnatural
looking in its abundance.
“Who
could have done this?” Madison exclaimed.
I
felt a chill run up my back despite the warm weather. “Gnomes,” I remarked dourly. I started for the mushrooms.
Madison
must have seen the anger in my eyes, for she chased after and grabbed my
arm. She pulled me back. “What are you doing?”
“I’m
going to destroy those mushrooms.”
“Don’t
you remember what Bonnie said? If you
imperil their escape back to the realm of fairies, they’ll consider you a
threat to their prince and take appropriate action.”
“I’m
not afraid.”
“Just
leave it alone,” Madison said.
“No.”
“For
me?” Madison implored.
“But
I can’t let them take Amie.”
“No,
no.” Madison looked about at the woods
surrounding us.
“See
any fairies or gnomes?” I asked impatiently.
“Look
at the trees across the way,” Madison pointed.
“See the crows?”
I
saw them then, perched in the branches of all the trees to the north, dozens of
them, cocking their heads, shuffling about, not making any noise, but watching
us with supernatural intentness. “I’m
going to kick those mushroom down anyway,” I said. “Then I’m going to stuff the largest rock I
can find into their hole and plug it up good.
I’ll find a rock so big no number of fairies or gnomes would have a
chance to budge it.”
“You’re
scaring me.” Madison said. “What if they
get mad? I don’t feel safe here.”
I
didn’t feel that safe either, but something had to be done. I was started towards the ring of mushrooms
again, got about half way there, and it must have been apparent I had malicious
intent, for the fairies came out. Two of
them. Warriors. A male and a female. I recognized Elisedd and Cadeyrn, two warrior
fairies. They came from opposite sides of
the meadow and crossed in front of me, directly in my path. They had bows in their hands and arrows
notched in the bows, which they brandished before my face. It was a warning, and I didn’t need anything
further, remembering their tendency to dip poison on the tips of their arrows
and spears, and how it had put me in the hospital the last time I’d been
attacked.
I
retreated back to Madison and she clutched at my arms. “Let’s go Michael, please.”
At
that moment a high pitched shout on the other side of the meadow disturbed the
crows, and they all took flight, squawking angrily, and ascended into the
air. We didn’t need another sign. Madison and I turned and ran, back through
the woods, back to Madison’s yard. We
kept going, but skirted around the house and went to my car where we climbed
inside and made sure the windows were up and the doors locked.
“Michael, they haven’t left,” Madison leaned against me. “What are we doing to do?”
“Michael, they haven’t left,” Madison leaned against me. “What are we doing to do?”
I
put my arm around her shoulder and held her close. She was shaking. “If only Bonnie was here,” I muttered. “She would help us.”
Madison
shivered. “Did you hear chem lab got
broken into over the weekend?”
“No,
you think it was fairies?”
“Who
else would be interested in stealing a bunch of chemicals?”
I
held Madison tighter and she put her head on my chest. It occurred to me her sisters might be
wondering what we were doing alone in the car, but I didn’t care. We huddled together for what seemed like an
hour before Madison wanted to go back inside her house. I walked her to the front door and she
thanked me. I wanted to tell her things
would be okay. Not to worry. That I would take care of everything. But I didn’t.
I am determined that no one will harm little Amie though. I’ll make sure of that.
And
we still haven’t seen any signs of Bonnie.
Poor little fairy. I hope she’s
okay.
January 15, 2013
Back to Post 27 with comments
No comments:
Post a Comment