Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It

I woke up from my nap with a terrible headache, which sometimes happens if I sleep for too long.  I laid there with my eyes closed for a few minutes, hoping the pain would subside.  Finally, I decided to get up and make myself a cup of coffee.  If you haven't noticed by now, coffee is my comfort food.  As I walked to the kitchen the pain got worse.  I felt as though my head had doubled in size while I was sleeping.  I started the coffee and turned around to see Bea and Lena staring at me.  "Oh, hey you two," I said halfheartedly.  "I really want to talk to you about this Buttery Sprite business but give me a minute, I need to take some Advil. My head is killing me!"  I said, heading for the cabinet.

"I think you're going to need more than Advil,"  Bea mumbled under her breath.  Meanwhile,  Lena seemed to be looking everywhere but at me.  This couldn't be good.  Just then Cora came fluttering into the room, took one look at me and said, "Oh my gosh, your head looks like a watermelon!"

"Cora!"  Bea and Lena scolded in unison.

 "What?  Look at her!"  Cora shot back.  "Did you think she wasn't going to notice?"    Before any of them could say another word I headed for the bathroom mirror.  I could not believe what was staring back at me.  Indeed, my head looked exactly like a seedless watermelon, literally.   The three miniature musketeers had followed me into the bathroom.   "I'll go find Maeve" Lena said to Bea and Cora.  "She'll know what to do."

And that was the beginning of  the Buttery Sprites attempts to get rid of me for knowing too many secrets of the fairy world.  Over the next four days, in addition to suffering from watermelon head, I was inflicted with the following "annoyances":

Incessant inner ear itch - Might not sound so bad to some of you, but if you've ever had this you know it is enough to drive a person completely mad.

A purple and pink rash covered my entire body and oozed a substance that looked and smelled like fruit punch.  (No, I did not taste it. Ew!)

Rubber bones, which came on while I was walking down the stairs.  Fortunately, I bounced.

And last but not least, I defied gravity for an entire afternoon. This one was actually kind of enjoyable.  I suspect the Buttery Sprites figured that since they couldn't knock me off, they would make me float into outer space instead.  Pretty clever when you think about it.  Except, of course, they forgot about ceilings.

Fortunately for me, Lena was right.  Maeve knew exactly what to do.  She looked straight out of a fairy tale with her long ice blue hair, beautiful blue crinoline lined dress and pearl tiara.  But don't let Maeve's (or Princess Maeve as she likes to be called) looks fool you for a minute.   She was 'large' and in charge.  Just minutes after the appearance of my lovely watermelon head, Maeve sprung into action and set a beautifully orchestrated plan in motion.

First, She sent Ella and Peaches off with a list of flowers and plants she needed to cure the Buttery Sprites' spells,  and instructions to ask the Pillywiggins to help.  For those of you who do not know, Pillywiggins are fairies who come to the human realm every spring to tend to the flowers and plants.  With their guidance, Ella and Peaches completed the task in no time.

Next, she assembled a team of Leprechauns and sent them off in search of a unicorn.  Yes, you read that right, a unicorn. Their instructions were to explain the situation to the unicorn and ask if he would be so kind as to supply them with a small vial of liquid from his horn.  If they were lucky enough to get it, they were to to guard it with their lives.

Bea, Cora, Lena and Phoebe were assigned the task of ridding the pantry of the Buttery Sprites.  This process took 4 long days and was a very secret affair to say the least. I couldn't get so much as a hint out of any of the fairies as to what was going on in my kitchen.  And frankly, judging by what I did know, I figure I was better off being left in the dark.  All I can tell you is when they finally finished their task, they slept for 2 straight days.

Meanwhile, Petunia set about creating all kinds of wonderful smelling potions that cured me of my various afflictions.  When I was finally back to normal and on the ground again, and the Buttery Sprites had been banished once and for all, she called for the leprechauns.  They entered my room with the entire fairy crew in toe.  One of them handed her a small box.  She held it in both of her tiny hands, closed her eyes and smiled. Then, she turned and handed it to me.  Inside was a beautiful, shiny penny with a lovely little flower at the top.  In the center of the flower was a tiny jewel.  I lifted it out of the box to see that it hung from a thin organza ribbon.  Petunia explained that the necklace was a gift to me for being a true believer and friend to the fairies. I was so touched that I almost cried. I thanked the fairies and told them how beautiful it was   Not only was it pretty, Petunia informed me, it was magic.

You see unicorns, as most of you probably know, are extremely innocent, gentle and loving creatures.  They are  much like human children in fact.  Just as the teeth of a human child contain magic, which we learned from the tooth fairies,  so does the horn of a unicorn.  As it turns out, the jewel on the pendant contains a tiny drop of liquid from a unicorn's horn.  Anyone who wears it is blessed with the magic of the unicorn.  That means they are able to see the good and beauty in all of the everyday things life brings, and experience them with the heart of a child.   And that my dear friends is the simple, yet ever elusive thing that brings what most of us spend our whole lives in relentless pursuit of..............true happiness.  Imagine that.

I put on my necklace and thanked the fairies again for their amazing gift.  Then Bea decided it was time to tell me the reason the fairies arrived in my sewing room on that fateful day in March.   "Here is your mission should you choose to accept it,"  she said looking quite serious.  She paused and took a deep breath.  "We want you to help them believe again.  I mean, really believe."

So.........how am I doing so far?

Unpublished work © 2011 Laurie Konevich