The shoe box wasn’t going to work, you can imagine the attention we would attract if I took a shoe box to church with air holes along the side. Everyone would naturally assume I had some type of animal or reptile. I rummaged through my closet and found an old hoodie sweatshirt that wasn’t too worn, with a large pocket across the front and the school logo printed above the pocket in faded white letters. I held the large pocket open for her inspection, “This might work,” I suggested.
The fairy frowned at me and put her hands on her hips.
“You have to stay out of sight!” I cautioned her.
The fairy glanced to the shoe box we had used before.
“No way, people will want to see what’s inside?”
The fairy scrunched up her face and rocked back on her heels.
“Look, do you want to go or not?”
“Yes Michael, Bonnie want to go,” the fairy spoke up quickly. Then she ran forward, jumped into the air, and flew straight across the room and right into the pocket of my sweatshirt, folding her wings as she ducked inside. The pocket ran all the way across the front of the sweatshirt. I put my hands in each side and slid her to the middle. She squirmed into a sitting position with her knees in front of her and her arms encircling her knees, facing forward. I thought it should be okay, if I kept at least one hand in my pocket at all times then the bulge would not look too unusual. “Bonnie, you doing okay in there?”
“Too dark,” the fairy said.
I didn’t know what I could do about that, but the fairy took care of the problem herself. I felt her twisting around some, and before I could stop her, she cut a small horizontal slit right in the middle of my sweatshirt and poked her head out. That dagger of hers is very sharp.
“Bonnie, you have to keep your head in or people will see you.”
Immediately the fairy withdrew her head, she was trying to be cooperative. At least now she had some light and see could see where we were going.
“You okay now?”
“Yes Michael. Bonnnnie okaaaaay.”
“We’re going to try this out now,” I whispered, then I left the room and went downstairs, the fairy in my pocket. I found Brian in front of the TV with a frown on his face and stepped in front of him to see if he would notice anything unusual.
“Hey, you’re blocking the TV,” Brian sat forward, waving me to get aside.
I didn’t budge. “Brian, Lisa said you’ve been bothering her.”
“What, what, Lisa?”
“You know, Lisa Renard from church. She said you follow her around at school.”
Brian turned red in the face and said, “Get out of the way, jerk, I’m trying to watch TV.”
“She doesn’t like it,” I said. “Leave her alone.”
“You are an idiot,” was Brian’s only response.
I stepped casually out of his way and he settled back into the couch, frowning in his usual manner. I’d given him the message from Lisa, and my test was successful. He had not noticed a thing and I felt confident the fairy would not be noticed by anyone. Unless she got to moving around or making any noises, which was a good probability, I knew, but I had to try. I couldn’t keep her in my room indefinitely.
On the drive to scripture study, while still in the car, the fairy climbed out of my sweatshirt and flew up to the dashboard, where she sat watching the neighborhood go by with great interest. If anyone looked our way they would hopefully think I had an unusual dashboard ornament. We stopped at Westley’s house to pick up my friend, and he got all excited to see the fairy again, and Bonnie was excited to see him too. She even sit on his knee part of the way to church, until I came to a stop sign and the unexpected braking caused her to tumble off. Then she returned to her spot on the dashboard. I was a little worried about her cooperation at church, but she obediently got back in my pocket upon arrival at church parking lot, no problem thus far.
Brother Abernorth taught a lesson about Shadrack, Meshack and Abeggino and not eating Babylonian meat or wine, and the fairy sat in my pocket very quiet and amazingly still. It couldn’t have gone smoother. The only hitch was that I had to keep my sweatshirt on throughout class and it got a little hot. Bonnie didn’t make a sound, and I soon stopped worrying about her. Not so Westley. He couldn’t stop glancing over at us and had such a stupid grin on his face and kept shaking his head at me in wonder. I was glad when the closing prayer was given, before he burst, unable to contain himself, and alerted the whole class.
Someone did notice us though.
She caught up with us in the parking lot. “What are you boys up too?” she questioned suspiciously.
“Nothing
I couldn’t resist. “Guess what I have in my pocket?” I said.
I grinned at her and nodded my head. “Come on Westley,” I said, and headed for the car. Of course
Bonnie leaped out of my hand and momentarily hovered between us. “
Madison gave me the look as Natalie and Tosha came up on either side of her, but they didn’t see the fairy. They glanced at me, and then back at Madison, and smiled. “Hey
It amazes me at how skilled the fairy is at avoiding notice. And also at how quick girls are to jump to conclusions. “We have to go,” I said, and started up the engine. It made a nice roar.
I saw the fairy let go of Madison’s skirt and fly under the car. She reappeared on the passenger side, and flew into Westley’s open window, making him jump clear out of his seat, but totally unseen by the girls on the other side of the car. I squealed tired and pulled away quickly, and we left
We stopped my house before going to school, so I could drop the fairy off. I’d assumed Bonnie had gotten enough outdoor adventure for the day, but I was wrong. I took my little fairy back upstairs, relieved we hadn’t been caught, and sat her on the desk, where she sat in her bedding and beamed up at me gratefully. “Thank you Michael,” she said gratefully, and now that I think of it with a mischievous look on her face.
I shed the sweatshirt and hung it in the closet, so there would be no mistake on her part that she was not going with me to school; and besides, it had gotten hot. I told the fairy to be good, and left her in the room. She didn’t even argue with me, which did surprise me somewhat.
Unfortunately, on the way to the car, I got distracted by Mom, and I think that’s when the fairy got past me, flew downstairs, out the door, and into the Mustang, all unobserved by neither Westley nor I, nor my mom.
I’d surprised Mom coming out of the kitchen. She turned back quickly, but not before I saw she’d a new set of mortgage papers from Unger. She had a guilty look on her face. “You’re not going to sign those,” I said.
She shrugged. “I already have. These are just my copy.”
“Mom, you didn’t have to do that!” I was so angry, my head hurt, but she looked so dejected I had to desist. I really do hate Unger, and I’m going to think of a way to fix things for my mother. But for the moment, there was nothing I could do, I had to get to school, and so I shook my head at her and left. I pulled the door shut behind me harder than I meant too and it made a loud slamming noise. I felt bad about that, knowing it might distress Mom.
Westley must have noticed I was upset, for he immediately went to work cheering me up. “Did you see the look on
I couldn’t help but grin.
“She thought we left without the fairy,” Westley chuckled. “Dummy.”
“The way the fairy disappeared, she must have thought it flew up her skirt,” I said, and we both got to laughing.
So we joked about Madison and her friends all the way to school. I had no idea the fairy was hiding in the backseat, where she found my backpack and climbed in among my text books. I might have squished her when I picked them up and slung the backpack over my shoulder, but I guess she was okay.
I didn’t notice she was there until I was sitting in first period class, Chemistry Lab, Mrs. Weaverspell’s class, who is also a member of our church.
I have to go now, Brian’s downstairs yelling at Mom about something. I’ll finish telling about what happened at school later. The fairy caused big problems for me, and even bigger problems for Ms. Weaverspell.
November 12, 2012
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