"What happened to your garden Francis?"

“Momma, Momma! Come here and see what I found in the attic!” Shirly was so excited and scared out of her mind, she was practically screaming at her mother, Francis.

“Shirly!” Francis started to scream in return and immediately tried to calm herself. “Sweetheart I am working on a very big project. I know you're bored, but do you think while you are in the house you could use inside voices, please?” Francis’s tone had changed from frantic to pleading.

Shirly did all she could to calm herself. Her hair was standing on end. She could not decide if she was still excited, or becoming more afraid of what she had found in the attic upstairs. “Okay, okay.” She smoothed her clothes and tried to calm her voice. “Mom, I found some kind of a weird door in the attic upstairs. PLEASE, PLEASE come and see?! I know that you have a deadline this week, but I’m very excited and kind of scared.”

Now Shirly was very well known for her outrageous imagination. She was 10 years old and refused to sleep in the dark. She was superstitious. If a broom fell, anywhere, she and Francis would bake cookies for the company that was going to be coming. She also had an intense fascination for the occult. She amused her mother with her conspiracy theories of the government and neighbors. Francis would consider putting an end to Shirly’s over consumption of television and internet occult research. But Francis was a single mother who worked from home and Shirly was an only child. It was a blessing in disguise that she was such a curious child and kept herself so busy with her curiosity and imagination. She was so convincing in her arguments, and bossy, that she had her own league of minions at school. Alas, it was winter break and storming. So, no play dates this week.

“Okay Shirly, okay. I need to take a break and make us some lunch anyhow. Let’s go up and see what you think you’ve found up there. I am guessing it would makes no difference if I told you that when I bought this house last year that I went through every single nook and cranny. … Nope, it does not matter to you in the least.” Francis mused to herself and smiled. She loved her little girl’s love for life so much, it made all their struggles so much easier to tackle.

After the words, ‘okay’, left Francis’s mouth Shirly stopped listening. She was on her way up to the third story of the house. At the end of the hall on the second floor there was a heavy, old door that opened to stairs that led to the third story attic. It was a tight staircase, and it creaked a lot and loud. There was no sneaking up there, Shirly had tried more than a few times when they first moved in.

Shirly got bored but was good at finding something to entertain herself. Her mother had been adamant about not going up to the attic, no matter how much Shirly begged or tried to sneak up there. Francis felt that the wood was too old and had too much mold. She wasn’t sure about how structurally sound it was. She promised Shirly that in the summer they would update the attic. Shirly would have her own secret clubhouse, or whatever she wanted to call it.

Shirly had begun to make so many plans for what she and her friends would do. It might have made things worse for Francis by promising Shirly the space would be hers. Sometimes there was no stopping this child from the thing that she wanted. Especially when it comes to secret, adventures and all of the imaginationing.

Francis had finally given in today and let Shirly go up the third-floor attic. She made Shirly promise that if she opened the door to the attic that she would let her work, without a lot of interruptions. No interruptions would be too much for Francis to ask of Shirly. And now here they both were, not even two hours later, with Francis sucked into another adventure. She was hoping that she would be able to go up and take a peek and that would be all. She was hungry, and it was time for lunch after all. She heard the old stairs creak very loud, as Shirly practically stomped her way up. “Momma, where are you? Come on!”

Suddenly, Shirly let out the most ear piercing, spine tingling screech Francis had ever heard come out of her little girl. Without a thought she charged up the stairs after her. “SHIRLY?! What?! Talk to me!” She was hysterical. “Shirly, what’s happening?! Are you okay?!” She could feel her blood pressure sky rocketing as she reached to top of the stairs. Her gaze darted frantically from every corner of the attic. She was looking for Shirly. There was nothing in her entire life, or many lifetimes that would have been able to prepare her for what she found.

Shirly was sitting on the floor, in the far side of the attic where the huge bay window is. This is the window that won Shirly over when they bought the house. It was magical to her, she had fallen in love with the window, and then the house immediately.

There it was. There was a tiny open door on the left wall of the bay window. Francis had known it was there and thought it gone to nowhere, she had thought that it was merely decorative. The door looked to lead directly to the outside yard, only three stories up. Now the door was open, and there was a glowing light. The light looked and felt as if spring could be a light. It was so beautiful. Francis could swear that she saw sparkles in it. “No, that must be dust,” She thought to herself, “but no. Look, there they are. Look at them. It cannot be.”

“Mom, fairies. Look, fairies. Can you believe this.” Shirly spoke in such a calm that it broke Francis’s bewilderment. She looked at her daughter, expressionless. There were fairies, in her attic, and they were coming out of a tiny door that seemingly led to nowhere. All the fairies had suddenly stopped dancing around Shirly. They seemed to all be gazing at Francis. It was then that the same calm that had taken over Shirly was now taking over Francis. Neither had felt such calm and happiness in their lifetimes; it was euphoric.

The tiny door in the attic on the left wall next to the bay window opened up a fairy portal. They came through the door with slow apprehension and a lot of curiosity. It seemed that when they became aware of Shirly they were immediately at ease, and very, very excited. To Francis it looked like the fairies knew her, like Shirly was a long, lost friend. They were so excited to see the little girl, in their dancing, their tiny bodies started to glow. It had all stopped abruptly when they became aware of Francis.

She was now standing, as still as she could, and so very calm. One of the fairies darted to her, and practically stopped and stood on her nose. They all seemed to have their own color of glow, but this one was a pretty peach rose color. The tiny creature looked Francis in the eyes, for what seemed to be a 1o minutes. The fairy placed one tiny hand on Francis’s nose. If the fairy was touching Francis, she could not feel it. Just as abruptly as the fairy darted to her, it shot up, almost through the ceiling. It was so fast it looked like a mere trail of light. It started to fly in circles, and the rest started to follow; they started to swirl around Shirly and Francis. They both felt that they were almost lifted off of the ground in the whirl wind of tiny fairies and light. When mother and daughter thought they were going to fly, the fairies stopped and began again to dance and then sing. The singing sounded like tiny, soft windchimes. As the singing went on, Shirly and Francis began to understand the words.

It was hours later that Francis regained her self-awareness in the present. It was night. The sun was long gone, and the stars were out. Shirly was still singing and dancing with their new magical friends.

“Shirly, it is way past bedtime. I think It’s time for us to say good night to our friends.” Francis spoke to Shirly as if they had known fairies existed as long as they knew the sun and stars were the same thing. The fairies cried in loving protest, and flurried around Shirly and Francis. They were giving them both a hug good night. Shirly and Francis smiled and held hands as they descended the stair case.

…..August that same year….

“Francis! There are so many beautiful butterflies in your garden. Oh my goodness. And bees and dragonflies. Your garden looks like fairies have blessed it with their magic.” Molly, Francis’s sister had come to visit for the last month of summer before school started for Shirly. She was now beginning to think she would have a hard time ever leaving.

Francis and Shirly responded in unison, “It is blessed by fairy magic.” They both giggled. It seemed that only the two of them could see the butterflies, bees, and dragonflies for what they really were. Molly giggled with them, completely unaware.