Raek in the park

‘AAhhhhhhh!! Gross!!! I don’t believe it! I was sure I was side-stepping this pile of dog crap! Ugh, this smell hopefully won’t follow me to work!’ Said the man walking at the dog park. His shoe had unfortunately met a pile of dog waste on the dirt path. However, he was in fact correct when he chose to shift his right foot 5 cm to the left of the pile of dog poo. He, unfortunately, was not aware that there was someone else nearby that, by other means unbeknownst to this human, had moved that pile of dog feces 5 cm to the left as well. This set the scene perfectly for that nauseatingly satisfying *squish* sound that would set Raek to fits of giggling.

Raek’s laughter had his small, one foot tall frame, doubled over. He could barely breathe! If it wasn’t for his being invisible to humans, he would have a much harder time pulling these pranks off and evading the silly humans. Oh how he enjoyed being a pixie.

Raek beat his wings as hard as he could and flew around the men and women walking at the dog park. Raek zipped between elbows and rib cages, dove between legs, and would lightly land on people’s fingers, as they would point to a nearby tree or at the geese in the river following alongside the park, then jumping quickly off and flying before they moved their hands.

After having spiralled around a child’s entire body, as they stood there looking at a rock, Raek swooped back up and landed on the child’s shoulder. He wiped away at his forehead with the back of his hand, copying a human gesture he’d seen many times during the hot summer days. He never quite understood why they did this, but, Raek also didn’t sweat. He ruffled his own dark green hair, which he decided to streak with a few strands of yellow today. Another pixie perk. His hazelnut eyes searched the area for more tools to use to play pranks on the people out walking today.It was, after all, what Raek lived for. He was the king of mischief, and this was his park! Everything was a prank to Raek!

He thought hard and imagined guiding a dog between and around their human’s legs, which would make that person fall or stumble, having been entangled in the leash! He placed his index finger on his chin, mimicking a common human gesture for, what he assumed was, striking a pose before taking action!

He beat his translucent wings, shaped very similarly to a butterfly’s wings, and hopped off the small child’s shoulder.

He rather quickly found his target! A man walking with a phone in one hand, and a long-leashed dog, loosely watched, in the other. Ahead of him, walked a small human girl. She was busy running from side to side on the path looking at the different rocks, branches, and the growing flowers found there. Raek never understood how these little beings could grow up as tall as the others. He wondered why he couldn’t or if he ever would be that tall. Maybe he’d have to be super old to grow that tall?

Raek set his sights and dove in front of the dog’s nose, grabbing its attention. The short haired, grey dog stared blankly at Raek. As he set his sights in the direction between the human man’s legs, he was gently tapped, on his back. He looked back and surprisingly saw the little girl giggling and waving to him. Her smile had a few missing teeth and her face was framed by light, strawberry-blond hair, and her loose curls were somewhat dishevelled. Her blueish-green eyes were watching Raek’s movements with a sense of amazement.

Raek flew on the spot, bewildered by what he was seeing. Confusion raced through his mind. Could this little girl see him?

He fortunately snapped out of his stupor as he sensed the dog coming up from behind, ready to pounce on him! Raek dove down and away as the dog reached up and clamped down on air. It then gave chase!

Fortunately, as a pixie, Raek could simply fly up high and avoid the dog. After diving down, he angled upwards, out of the dog’s reach and then looked over at the little human girl. She was giggling and seemed very captured by the flying display.

Raek was utterly confused. This was new! He had never had a human audience before! How exciting! He flew in loops, dived straight down only to pull up right when it seemed he was about to hit face first into the ground.

While he did this, the little girl giggled and squealed with delight, the dog followed hungrily with its eyes, and the human man continued talking on his phone, pausing his walking.

Raek continued on this way, magically moving some dog feces in one direction or another, inconveniencing the shoes of the many people walking by. He would play with the dog, always staying just outside of reach of those dangerous, sharp teeth. He even made some tree nuts fall on people’s heads as they passed by by kicking them off the low hanging tree branches. All the while, the little human girl watched and screamed with joy at his minor acts of mischief. 

Now was time for his big finale! He had his audience, he had his target, as the park was getting busier with dog walkers as well as people simply out for a walk, and he had his plan.

While entertaining the little human girl, Raek had seen a very large dog, and its human, walk by and continue up the park path. If he could taunt the dog to run at full speed in this direction, it would create so much chaos and would be hilarious to behold! Coffees spilled, dogs unleashed, confusion everywhere!

He motioned to the little girl to wait here, made a mental note of a tree with red leaves nearby as a marker, and flew off up the path to where he guessed the large dog would be.

After a few short minutes, he found the large dog. It had brown, white, and black patterns on its fur. Its shoulders were as high as its human’s hips! Its large paws looked like they would be great for running, thought Raek. It was breathing out its mouth and the small pixie could see the dog’s long, piercing teeth! Those would scare anybody, he hoped!

He flew down and buzzed around the dog’s snout, going in circles around and around until he caught the dog’s attention. The dog seemed uninterested. It simply looked at Raek, then looked away and kept walking forward. Raek landed unto the dog’s head and started pulling at one ear, then the other, and then decided to poke at its nostrils. The dog simply shook its head, gave a lazy bite to shoo Raek away, and continued along its way.

But Raek was determined. After all, this is what he lived for! If he couldn’t annoy this dog enough to have it join in on his plan, although unknowingly of course, he couldn’t consider himself the king of mischievous acts!

He was determined and used his right index finger and started tapping it on his chin, trying once again to strike a pose. He then looked around and noticed another human giving their dog a handful of treats and saw one fall onto the ground.

He quickly zoomed in, snatched the treat, and flew back slowly towards the large dog, the treat hidden safely behind his back.

As he flew within a foot away from its mouth, he waved the treat, enticing the large dog with the smells emanating from this strangely smelling, to Raek at least, dog food. The large dog perked up immediately!

Raek slowly flew in figure-eights, making sure he maintained the large dog’s attention and when he felt he had it, he slowly flew back down the path, leading the large dog’s head back toward the little human girl. The large dog slowly turned its head, following Raek with hungry eyes, but of course, the eyes were only for the treat. And slowly, the large dog started to turn around and started to walk towards Raek. Despite its leash starting to tighten, the large dog resisted its human’s pull and kept walking towards Raek.

The little pixie stopped flying away and held the treat out promisingly, hoping the large dog was convinced it would get the snack in mere seconds. The large dog bent all four legs, ready to pounce, eyes on the prize, tail wagging, and gave chase! Now Raek had it, he was sure of it.

Raek’s grin swallowed half his face as he was thrilled his plan was coming together. He waited a bit longer and at the last moment flew off away from that large, flopping tongue. He knew his plan was working since as he flew away, interweaving between the different people, he would hear cries of surprise and shock as the large dog was, Raek thought, not as graceful as he when it came to avoiding a crowd.

He could see the tree with red leaves up ahead and Raek was glad for it. Flying around people made him slower and this dog was fast! He was only mildly worried, of course. Raek always had everything under control, most of the time.

The pixie made it to the spot and flew in circles a few times, relishing in his victory as all around there were more cries of surprise and shock! Dogs were barking and overall mayhem in this little area! But, one sound was missing. He didn’t hear a little human girl’s laugh.He looked around frantically, absently dropping the dog treat onto the path. His audience was gone! All three, the dog, the human man, and the little girl, were all gone. He couldn’t see them anymore. He scrunched up his face and scratched his head, another human gesture he’d noticed that filled him with confusion with its purpose but thought it fitting as he was confused!

Raek’s eyes opened wide and a look of glee spread on his face. He figured it out! That little girl played a prank on him! She must have been another pixie, much larger mind you, but which explains why she could see him! There she was, pretending to stumble about like a little human would and acting as if she belonged to that company of human and dog . Oh man, she had Raek doing so many tricks for her and convinced him a HUMAN could see him! She’s quite skilled, thought Raek.

He’ll have to keep his eyes open for this one for the next time she comes back. He’ll commend her on her prank but just you wait, he’ll return the favour!

Raek looked side to side, guile in his eyes. He ruffled his hair and flew up high, revelling in the future mischief he was going to accomplish.