by Elsa Bridger
The girls smiled bravely through tear-filled eyes as they registered their mother’s strained expression. It was hard for all of them really, in different ways. For the girls it was having to learn to be more independent of her. For their mother it was witnessing this struggle, after having spent so much of their young lives in her care.
The first part of the morning’s routine, after hanging up their coats, was to put their drink bottles up with everyone else’s, and place their lunch bags on the racks for later. They then exchanged their reading books for new ones, putting them into their book bags for taking home later. These were then stowed away into their individual drawers; only this morning Sophie’s bag wouldn’t fit in. She looked to the back of the drawer to find out why. There, in the dim light, Sophie could just make out the shape of a book. As she withdrew it she was amazed to see it was the very one she had put under Mrs Vincent’s chair the day before!
“Mrs Vincent," called Sophie, “I left this book under your chair yesterday. Did you put it back in my drawer? Only it’s not mine.”
“No Sophie, I haven’t seen it before. Put it back in your drawer for now and we’ll try and locate its owner later. Right class, can I see all of your eyes please?” she asked, turning her attention back to the formalities of the morning, leaving a perplexed Sophie to return the book to her drawer as requested.
As they sat on the carpet for register Sophie whispered to Felicity, “That book we found yesterday is back in my locker. Did you put it there?”
“No I did not!” exclaimed Felicity loud enough to cause a few heads to turn to look questioningly in her direction.
“Er, Felicity and Sophie… can I have some quiet please?” Mrs Vincent gently chastised. They nodded and looked into their laps. Felicity, taking a peak sideways to scowl at her sister for getting her into trouble, said nothing.
All morning Sophie just couldn’t stop thinking about the book. She decided to sneak her puppy into the lunch hall, which would then give her an excuse to go back to the classroom after, to supposedly put the toy away before it got lost again. This would give her time to have another read of those poems. She couldn’t help feeling they meant something; a message specifically for them perhaps!
“Oh, Okay Sophie,” sighed the dinner lady, “but perhaps Puppy should stay at home in future.”
Just as Sophie was leaving the hall she heard …
“Not you as well Felicity – go on then!” from the same dinner lady.
“You had the same idea?” queried Sophie, as they made haste to their classroom.
“Looks like it,” giggled Felicity, and they hugged with excitement as they entered the classroom. Immediately they became aware of a knocking sound - and it was coming from Sophie’s drawer! They held hands as they cautiously opened the drawer – it was the book!
“I don’t like it!!!!” squeaked Felicity, her eyes as large as saucers.
Sophie gulped down her fear as she lifted the book out with the end of a ruler and flipped it out onto a desk. The book pages fell open to Sophie’s doodle of her favourite fairy, the one she had done the day before whilst waiting for Felicity to use the toilet.
To their amazement, they watched as the sketch slowly peeled itself off the page, stood upright, shuddered and … PING! In a flurry of tiny white stars – popped into life! The girls stood half terrified and half curious as the tiny fairy fluttered into the air stretching and yawning as if she had just woken.
“Oh thank goodness!” she exclaimed. “I thought I was going to stay trapped in there forever!”
The tiny fairy, only about three inches tall, looked at the girls directly for the first time, and on seeing their expressions said; “What is it? Oh I realise I’m a little crumpled, but that happened whilst I was trying to find my way out.” She stroked her dress down in an effort to smooth out the creases.
“It’s… it’s…. not that….,“ faltered Felicity, blinking and rubbing her eyes, still finding it all too impossible to be true and not knowing quite what to say.
“Oh my!” remarked the fairy, “having known what to do to set me free, you surely must have seen a real fairy before? You haven’t have you?” she asked, pausing from the job of re-arranging her hair to stare at them in shocked disbelief.
“N…..no,” stammered Sophie. “You look exactly like the fairy I drew, but that would be impossible… wouldn’t it?” Sophie peered over into the book. The page was now blank where her picture had been. Still not believing it she picked up the book and searched through the pages.
“You drew a picture in the book?” accused Felicity. “When?”
“It was while I waited for you to use the toilet…..” Sophie confessed, her voice trailing off in embarrassment.
“Oh never mind that now,” Felicity retorted, still flustered. “But how did you……happen?” she continued to query the fairy, who had regained some composure by this time.
“The book of course,” replied the fairy matter-of-factly.
“But it’s just a book,” said Sophie, frowning with disbelief, still leafing through it only to find that page after page were blank.
“Ohhh! The poems, of course! It’s starting to make sense now,” Sophie suddenly exclaimed excitedly.
“Wow! You mean, the wicked fairy’s curse – we broke it? It’s a magic book?” gushed Felicity in wonderment.
“Yes, yes,” retorted the fairy, seeming a little impatient now, “and I’ve been shut up in there for weeks – and with so much to be done. Oh, I dread to think of the havoc he has been wreaking whilst I’ve been imprisoned!” She started to flit erratically in the air, wringing her tiny hands together as memories came back to her. A frown on her face marred her dainty features.
“But I drew you – I made you up. How could you have existed before?” puzzled Sophie.
“Just as I thought you understood!” the fairy snapped, throwing her hands in the air in a gesture of despair. “I simply don’t have time to sit around teaching the obvious. Thank you for your help, but I really must be going. There’s so much to be done if things are to be put right; if they can be put right, that is!” She started to fly off towards an open window.
“Wait!” called Felicity. “What’s wrong? Can’t we help?”
She stopped, flew back a little way, and turned to see the girls standing there looking forlornly at her. The fairy let out a quiet sigh, her shoulders drooping a little.
“I was hoping you would know already, having broken the spell and all. Sorry, but there simply isn’t time to explain,” and with that, she turned abruptly and flew out of the classroom, leaving a pair of very deflated girls behind. They turned to face one another, Sophie asking;
“Did that really just happen?”
“Did what happen?” asked Felicity.
“You know, the book fairy coming alive…..” answered a confused Sophie.
“Just kidding!” laughed Felicity.
“You…!” Sophie retorted, giving her sister a friendly cuff on the arm.
They both lapsed into a moment of silence as the fact that they’d just met a fairy began to sink in.
“A real… life… fairy,” Felicity murmured dreamily. “Wasn’t she pretty?”
“Very…. but not what I expected.” Sophie had a note of disappointment in her voice.
“Mmm, I know what you mean. I thought she was actually really quite rude.”
Sophie nodded in agreement, adding; “And we don’t even know her name.”
“Let’s take the book home and you can try and draw another fairy – perhaps the next one won’t be so grumpy!” suggested Felicity.
“Yes, I’ll make sure I draw a big smiley face and give her some colour – perhaps she needed a little bit of pink,” agreed Sophie feeling a little brighter now, pink being her favourite colour.
As if it had been timed, the bell rang in the playground signalling the end of lunch break. They put the book into Sophie’s book bag and carefully pla
ced it back in her drawer.
The Notebook Mystery
Neither twin could concentrate on anything that afternoon. They’d been caught gazing out of the window from which the fairy had flown on more than one occasion, even to the point where, when their mother came to pick them up at home time, Mrs Vincent let them out last so she could speak to her.
“Mrs Bridger, your girls haven’t seemed quite themselves this afternoon; very quiet and distant. I do wonder if they are coming down with something. Perhaps an early night do you think?”
“Oh, but we aren’t tired...” interrupted Felicity “…it’s just that we saw a fairy this afternoon and …..”
“That’s nice darling,” their mother cut in, barely listening and clearly just playing along with what she perceived as being her daughter’s overactive imagination. “Yes, maybe an early night is a good idea Mrs Vincent. They have had a few later ones recently what with visiting their new pony after school.” She affectionately stroked Felicity’s hair whilst she spoke.
“Oh Mummy…” complained Sophie.
“We’re not tired!” insisted Felicity again.
“Well Mrs Vincent doesn’t need to hear all this. We can discuss it later at home. Thank you for letting me know, Mrs Vincent. Hopefully it won’t be anything more than too much excitement.” At that comment, the girls smiled and exchanged a knowing glance. If only she knew!
Their mother watched with interest on the walk home as they talked quietly but animatedly with each other, as if sharing a secret. No quarrelling, no back chat as she asked them to take off their shoes. They practically flew upstairs when asked to get changed out of their uniforms, with not the slightest sign of their usual irritation. Sophie was clutching her book bag to her like it was her most treasured possession.
“Why don’t you leave it down here?” Their mother took hold of a corner of the bag, “I’ll check to see if there are any letters in it for me from the school.”
“No!” squealed the girls in unison.
“Hey, don’t snatch!” Their mother scolded as Sophie pulled against her in an effort to maintain her grip. “What’ve you got in there?” she probed, her suspicions aroused. The girls anxiously looked at one another as if trying to think of an excuse.
“Come on, let’s see it.” Their mother held out her hand, now deeply suspicious of its contents. They had no choice but to hand it over. Their faces couldn’t have looked more guilt-ridden as she lifted out the old book.
“Gosh, no wonder your book bag was so heavy. Is it from the school library?” she enquired whilst flicking through its pages.
“It’s, it’s….” stammered Sophie.
“It’s not a library book is it? There’s hardly any writing. Who does it belong to? It’s not one of yours is it?” she asked – now quite sure this was the reason for the secrecy earlier.
“Well, we tried to give it back to Mrs Vincent after we found it…,” Sophie said defensively, trying to explain.
“But Mrs Vincent wanted to do the register and told us to put it in our drawer for a while and we brought it home by mistake,” finished Felicity.
“Could we just play with it tonight? We promise to take it back tomorrow,” begged Sophie.
“Well…”
“Please!” implored the girls in unison.
They sensed their mother softening a little. “But it’s just a blank notebook; what could you play?”
“We just like to pretend it’s magical,” offered Felicity, her fingers crossed behind her back.
“Oh alright, but do NOT write in it. It’s not yours remember?” relented their mother.
“Yes!” said Felicity, a little too enthusiastically. Their mother frowned, an amused frown. Of all their toys, they get most excited over an old plain notebook. She smiled to herself whilst watching two pairs of cute little legs energetically disappearing up the stairs.
They carefully shut their bedroom door and set the book out ready.
“Right,” said Sophie, “this time I’m going to draw a really happy fairy.”
“Sophie, please could I draw one this time? You’ve already had a go,” pleaded Felicity.
“The only problem is we’ve just promised Mummy that we wouldn’t write in it.”
“Well, strictly speaking we won’t be; I'll be drawing.”
“That’s true,” conceded Sophie. “I can’t say I feel good about it though.”
Felicity had already begun to sketch out her favourite fairy with the book's pen. Then, once happy with the outline, she carefully coloured it in using her crayons. She wondered what would happen if she coloured outside this outline; would the fairy have sticky-out bits when she came to life? The thought of it made her smile with amusement. She gave her fairy blond hair, tied up in a neat little pony tail. She wore a light purple dress on which the skirt looked as if it had been fashioned from flower petals (short, in case a long dress hampered flying). She had a mental image of a frustrated little fairy with her long skirts entangled in brambles; that wouldn’t do! They had already managed to create one irritable fairy it seemed – she didn’t want to meet another.
“How much longer, Felicity?” asked Sophie. She was pacing the room, not able to settle to anything in her eager anticipation of another fairy encounter.
“Not long Sophie. I’d like to use some glitter glue for her wings, but we’d have to ask mummy for that, and then she’s sure to want to see what we’re doing.”
“The glue might stick her wings together anyway,” worried Sophie.
“True,” agreed Felicity – her mental picture of the fairy had now developed to not only being trussed up helplessly in brambles, but her wings were now stuck together too! She shook her head to get the pitiful scenario out of her mind. “It’s very tricky to find just the right colour for her skin… does this look OK?” she asked, slanting the book towards Sophie so she could see.
“Oh she looks lovely!” Sophie answered encouragingly.
“Now to colour her eyes – blue, I think.” Felicity spoke softly as she worked. “Some nice long eyelashes and – oh, I nearly forgot, she’ll need shoes. Purple shoes to match her dress, maybe just a shade or two darker, and a small pink flower for each one. I’d like those to sparkle too, but never mind.” She completed her fairy with some nice cherry red lips. “There!” she beamed, holding the picture up at arm’s length for them both to admire her handy-work.
“Perfect,” smiled Sophie. “Now let me think, what did I do last time before the fairy appeared? Oh, I remember. You were coming back from the toilets, and I felt guilty having drawn in the book, so I shut it and put it down under Mrs Vincent’s chair.”
“Okay,” said Felicity, closing the book. “We don’t have her chair, but I can’t see that making a difference so I’ll put it on the bed here.”
They both then settled to wait, holding hands across the bed, watching the book intently for any sign of life. A good few minutes passed and they began to fidget, impatient to meet their fairy.
“Nothing’s happening, Felicity,”
“Should I take a peak to see if she’s still there?” Felicity suggested.
“Might as well,” Sophie sighed.
Felicity knelt on the floor and bent her head level with the book so as to move it as little as possible. She slowly opened it to the page where she’d drawn the fairy.
“It’s still there,” she whispered.
“Perhaps we should leave the book open. Maybe that’s what upset the last fairy,” said Sophie.
“That's a good point,” agreed Felicity. Leaving the book open she sat back down again to wait. Nothing.
“I don’t understand…” puzzled Felicity.
“What if we turn away? She might be shy,” suggested Sophie.
“Good thinking,” agreed Felicity. Still nothing.
Next they tried leaving the room and, when that didn’t work, they tried putting the book back in the book bag. Nope. So they too
k it out again and left it under the bed, then on the floor, then on the window sill. Zilch!
“Oh, I’m fed up!” erupted Felicity, overcome with frustration. “It must have been just a stupid daydream after all.”
“Should I try and draw one?” offered Sophie. “Maybe it’s something to do with me.”
“Well you can, but I’ve had enough,” snapped Felicity. “I’m going to see if dinner’s ready.” Suddenly realising how hungry she was, she left Sophie alone in the room.
Sophie set herself down comfortably to draw another fairy, making her dress a pretty pink and edging the bottom with rose petals. Her shoes matched, with a little pink bow on each. Her hair was blond and mid length, curling outwards at the ends, with just an Alice band to hold it off her face. She gave her fairy blue-grey eyes, long lashes, and beautiful wings shaded with a delicate pink hue, and of course a happy smiley expression. Although the result of adding eyebrows did make her look a little surprised, Sophie concluded that was still far better than looking grumpy. Satisfied with her effort, she placed the open book onto the bed just as her mother called her down for dinner.
“It’s been awfully quiet up there,” commented their mother as they took their places at the table. “Are you sure you’re behaving?”
“Yes, seriously we are,” nodded Felicity earnestly.
“Eat up then ladies,” she said, as she set down plates of tuna pasta bake and broccoli before them. The girls ate hungrily in silence, lost in their own thoughts and eager to get back to see if Sophie’s picture had come to life.
“Can we get down now please?” asked Felicity as soon as she swallowed the last mouthful of her meal.
“Don’t you want dessert?” asked their mother.
“I’m full up,” she answered.
“Me too,” agreed Sophie.
“Off you go then – take your plates out to the kitchen please,” she added before they had a chance to evade one of their responsibilities. Not for the first time, their mother wondered what on earth was going on with her daughters. Refusing dessert was a first, without even checking to see what it was too! Perhaps Mrs Vincent was right, she pondered, maybe they were sickening for something.
