The Friendship of Fey

I admit to using a human to fairy translator from LingoJam.com for one line in the following story.

She was standing at the edge of my yard staring at the flowering tree in the front of my house. I had never seen her before and I was a little concerned about the way she was staring at the little tree. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was going to be my best friend in all the world. There wasn’t anything suspicious about her demeanor, nor was there anything about her that cried out. I watched her admiring my tree with that smile crinkling her eyes.

“Hi there! My name’s Claire, what’s yours?” I yelled across the yard as I walked over to her.

“I’m Amelia, I was just admiring your tree. It is beautiful. What do you call it?”

“It’s called a Dogwood tree and it only blooms in the first part of spring. There is a story about Jesus and the dogwood tree. It is said that the cross he was nailed to was made of the dogwood tree and that because of that it never was able to grow into a large tree. They are mostly used for decoration.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize it was a symbol of Christianity. I am not a Christian. Oh bother, that didn’t come out like I meant. I don’t mean to offend you.”

“It’s okay, I’m not offended. That is the story that came on the label when I bought the tree. I am not much of a spiritual person myself.”

“I didn’t mean that I am not spiritual.” Amelia said as I picked a sucker off of one of the tree limbs. “I am very spiritual. I am fey.”

“Hm, what exactly is fey. You’re not gay are you? Because I am not looking for a romantic encounter. My husband of thirty years passed away two years ago.” I said in a hurry, not really knowing what to say, stumbling over my ignorance of the term ‘fey’.

She started laughing and quickly said, “No, silly, I’m a fairy. A magical being. Only I’m not a full fairy. My grandmother was half fairy and half human so that makes me a quarter fairy. But I am very much a fairy to other fey. They aren’t reel keen on my mixed heritage, but as long as I can use magic, I am considered one of them.”

I started backing away and thinking of excuses to detach myself from this awkward and strange conversation. Amelia was definitely not firing on all cylinders as far as I could tell she was downright bonkers.

“Well, I have to go and call my daughter, she expects me to call her every day about now.” I said heading back to my house.

“I’m sorry, but you are not telling the truth. I am a fairy remember?” Amelia said with a bit of a smile and sadness in that smile. “Please don’t run away. I do so want to get to know you better. I just moved in down the street and I don’t know a soul around here.”

“I didn’t realize that fairies lived in houses.” I said sarcastically. “Aren’t you supposed to live in the woods or under the ground?”

Amelia started laughing again. “Claire, how would you like to come to meet some of my fey friends? I want you to be my friend and if you don’t believe me, we can never be friends. Please give it some thought. I will go now and come back around at eight tonight. We get together around nine o’clock. I will see you at eight.”

I stood there watching her make her way down the road to her house. I watched as she crossed her yard and went into the house that had stood vacant for months. I rubbed the chill from my arms and picked a few more suckers off of the tree and went in the house. I called my daughter and chatted with her for a while and when I told her about my strange new neighbor she said,

“Oh mom, she sounds delightful. It would be good for you to meet new people and get out of that house. Dad wouldn’t want you entombing yourself in the house because he isn’t around anymore. Get out and live a little. She was probably just yanking your chain. She has a vivid imagination. Just go with it and see where it takes you. Oh no, Gotta go Josh just came in with a bloody nose. I swear if it isn’t one thing it’s another with that kid. Love you mom. Bye.” And she hung up to take care of my grandson.

I sighed and went to the kitchen and made myself a cup of tea and a sandwich and sat down to read the morning paper. I read through the obituaries and the local news to see if anyone I knew was dead or involved in scandalous deeds before getting up and starting the laundry that had been piling up all week. The TV was dark, so I turned it on to my favorite show and sat back down at the kitchen table to finish my sandwich and tea. The crossword looked challenging this week so while the TV droned on I made an attempt at solving this week’s crossword puzzle.

I put away the paper and rinsed my cup and plate. The crossword had been easier than I had thought and I had breezed through the puzzle in no time at all. I looked at the clock on the wall. “One O’clock and all’s well.” It said to me in my mind. I checked the load in the washer and added the fabric softener to the load. The backyard was beautiful this year. I’ve not had very good luck in the past with flowering plants. That had been my husband’s favorite pastime. The neighbor’s were envious of his green thumb. My thumb was not so green. But this year, I had made an effort to regain some of the beauty in my husband’s work. I had hired a reputable landscaper to redo some of the flower beds and to weed out the ones that my husband prized the most. I took a glass of water and went out to sit on the porch and gaze at the yard, blooming in a way that I had not seen in a couple of years. It was almost like my husband was still here and it took my breath away.

I jumped. I had fallen asleep sitting on the porch and a noise had startled me. I looked about and saw that a woodpecker was hopping from limb to limb of the old oak tree in the center of the back yard. A sharp tapping noise coming from his beak as he strove to get the grubs out of the tree. How on earth do those birds survive that hammering? I thought as I watched it flit from limb to limb. I looked at my watch and saw that the time had slipped away while I was dozing. It was now close to seven and I decided to take my daughter’s advice and go with Amelia.

I clambered out of the rocker I had been sitting in, stiff with the chill of the day. I went in to the house and headed to my room to find something decent to wear. I wasn’t sure exactly what Amelia had meant when she invited me to meet her friends but I wanted to look nice for the occasion. I put on a shawl over the dress I had chosen and went out on the front porch to await her arrival.

She showed promptly at eight walking up the street. Amelia waved at me to come on with her as she continued walking down the street beyond my house. I met her at the curb and joined her as she walked. “I’m so glad you decided to come with. I was hoping you’d be willing to see beyond what I am. We are going to have so much fun tonight.”

“Just where are we going?” I asked suddenly not sure that I wanted to join this crazy woman in whatever venture she had planned for us.

“We’ll be there shortly, I will tell you when.” She said dancing a few steps and waving her arms about.

I was starting to get a strange feeling that maybe I should’ve stayed home when she suddenly stopped and said, “We’re here, take my hand.”

I reached for her hand and suddenly, eyes started spinning and my brain shut down and next thing I knew i was lying on my back looking up at stars through the tops of trees and a very anxious Amelia staring down at me.

“I’m okay, I think.” I said as I went to get up. Amelia pulled on my hand and I stood up. “Where are we?” I said swirling around and seeing a forest where moments before had been asphalt and houses.

“We’re in fey land. This is where I go to visit others like us.” Amelia laughed and twirled around.

“What do you mean, like us?”

“You’re one of us. You are fey.”

“No, No, No. You’re wrong. I am human and you’re crazy. Take me home this instant.” I cried out. Not believing a word she said.

“I know you lost your husband and have forgotten your origins. He was fey. That’s what attracted him to you and you to him. You have magic also. You did a crossword that seemed like child’s play today. Did you not?” Amelia went on dancing about and swinging her arms about as a child would. Her dancing was mesmerizing and I watched her suddenly aware of others behind me and as I looked around I saw that we were not alone. We had been joined by a small group. They also were dancing about. She grabbed my hands and said, “Come on Claire, let go, dance. Be who you are. You aren’t a quarter or a half breed like me, you are one hundred percent fairy. I talked to your daughter yesterday and she was so worried about you. She said you had lost your way; that you had stopped calling. She and I have been friends for years.”

My head was reeling this couldn’t be. Fairies are make-believe stories that we read when we’re children. I gazed at the bodies dancing in the moonlight and saw that more had joined the group. At the edge of the forest, my daughter joined us. I ran to her and she hugged me and said, “Mom, I knew you were lost, but I never knew that you had forgotten who you were when dad passed away. You need others like yourself. When I told Amelia about how sad you were she agreed that we needed to do an intervention. You have to remember who you are. Can you do that for me? Please mom, I can’t lose you too. You have so much life left in you. We have an extended lifeline. You know this. Dad would’ve not like hearing that you had forgotten you were fey. Please mom, please I beg you, Remember.”

I shook my head, “No it isn’t real. It isn’t. I can’t be fey. Your dad would be so disappointed to hear such nonsense coming from you. Where is Josh? Have you brainwashed him to believing this also.”

“MOM, STOP IT! Josh is over there playing with his friends. This isn’t nonsense. Listen to me and do as I say. Close your eyes and repeat after me. ‘Open Freetra eyes Den show cye Freetra true self’(Open my eyes and show me my true self).”

I was skeptical but I did as she asked and closed my eyes and repeated the words. My senses reeled as I felt the power behind those words. I opened my eyes and looked at the woman standing in front of me. My daughter glowed with an iridescent hue. The other fey around me also glowed in varying shades of lilac and pink. My grandson came running up to me and hugged me fiercely as I struggled to make sense of my surroundings.

“What happened? Where are we?” Bewilderment clouding my mind. I was fey. I was of the fairy. What had happened to my mate? Then I remembered, the sadness of losing my husband, mate. I had lost my way and my will to live. My days had stretched into months which became years of solitude and a darkness that had swallowed my soul and identity.

I looked down at the concern in my grandson’s eyes and said, “It okay now Josh, I remember.”

Amelia took me by the hand and my daughter took her other hand and we danced and I remembered joy in the union. We danced until the moonlight left us. Amelia had freed me and I would never be alone with my sorrow again.

“Thank you, Amelia for giving my life back to me. When my husband died, I forgot who and what I was. I will never forget again.”