Green Planet

by Anthony E. Southby

  ‘That is how she was before she became Azor the horrible,’ Chimzen said, shaking his head in disappointment. ‘She was like that in the beginning, and that is what she has been restored to, a creeping flower snake.’

  ‘Be careful Chimzen, the other fairies might try and escape!’ Philip exclaimed, pointing a twiggy finger towards them in fright.

  ‘Not to worry boys, they won’t be going anywhere,’ the wizard laughed. ‘Let me inform the two of you about what just happened now. The flower fairies always had the magical ability of turning into whatever they wanted to be, so all that I’ve done to them is I’ve turned up the heat a little bit.’

  ‘Yes, we can see that alright,’ Philip interrupted indignantly.

  ‘Wait a minute lad, let me finish. This brief period spent here has been like an eternity for these creatures. Life is very demanding for us as people, with much expected of us if we hope to succeed. During this process we have to confront many obstacles if we wish to grow, and reach maturity. You see, this I believe is the very purpose of life. That we may learn from our mistakes and make better choices the next time we are confronted with similar circumstances. So that when we leave this life our spirits will have matured, and we will be prepared for far greater spiritual events. What you have witnessed here today is a perfect demonstration of this. Unlike us, the flower fairies have never had to endure hardship, thus they have never been moulded into anything of good character before. Things have always come easy to them, so by resorting to evil they are quite simply doing what they know best, doing what comes easy. Life is a refining process, with many enduring trials along the way, trials which mould us into better people. That is exactly what has just happened here today; the flower fairies were put through a spiritual process of refinement, equivalent to a life of endless tribulation. What you have witnessed here is four Floranion fairy beings, physically and spiritually taken through the fire with the purpose of moulding their characters, separating the gold from all foul impurities. These three fairies have just woken from an endless nightmare of hardship and pain. They are cleansed of impurities and have accepted those things of truth, just as I thought they would. I guess you could say their awakening is like an entrance to heaven. Please do be nice, boys.’

  ‘You’re not serious are you, Chimzen?’ Frank asked in disbelief.

  ‘Dead serious, my boy.’

  ‘And Azor, what went wrong with her?’

  ‘Well well, Azor is another story altogether. The more trials she went through, the more she resisted them, instead of learning from them. As much as she suffered the consequence incurred by her own selfish pride, her foundation of beliefs was still a garden of weeds. Sad to say, she’s a lost cause. I guess she was created to be a flower in the first place for a damned good reason. Other than her sweet smell, she’s not really worth all that much to anyone anymore, and never was in the first place.’

  Chimzen beckoned the kneeling flower fairies over to his side. Stooping his head down low, he took a good look into their eyes, and stood upright again, beaming with content.

  ‘You can always tell by the eyes; they are the windows to your soul, and these ones speak the truth.’

  ‘Are zyou God?’ Gallica asked, smiling innocently at Chimzen.

  ‘No, not at all, Gallica dear!’ the wizard exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. ‘That’s far too much responsibility for me to take on, thank you.’

  ‘They battle a bit with memory loss after such a gruelling experience; she will be herself again by tomorrow I’m sure.’

  ‘Not completely herself; I hope,’ Frank said.

  ‘No, never lad, her days of deception are over.’

  Chapter 23

  The stars shone brightly, filling the little abode with a magnificent brightness, which seemed to signify the beginning of a great transformation over the flower planet. The boys gazed through the roofless abode as several fiery shooting stars flew in all directions like a spectacular firework display lighting up the sky. The little flames continued to flicker in obedience to Azor’s magic spell, her last and quite ironically her most helpful one as well. Although, with the sky so incredibly bright now they weren’t really of much use any longer, just like Azor.

  The flower fairies walked shyly towards Frank and Philip, clutching their tiny hands in front with their flowery heads humbly bowed over. Frank hastily lowered his leafy head in fright and shifted closer to Philip, still feeling distrust for the approaching flower creatures.

  ‘Never mind Frank, they are quite harmless,’ the wizard chuckled, ‘they will restore you again; just accept them.’

  ‘Who are ya mun?’ Paulina addressed Frank with genuine childlike innocence.

  ‘What do you mean, who am I?’ Frank snapped, backing up in fear. ‘You know damned well who I am!’

  ‘Ya I do?’

  ‘Yes, you are the reason that I’m a no good tree, look what you’ve done to me.’

  ‘I did?’

  ‘Yes, you did, and now you’ve still got the cheek to play games.’

  Frank wasn’t exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer when it came to obscure concepts; he was just far too practical to understand the abstractness of transformation and cleansing. Philip was a scruffy mega ruffian, but most of his attitude was only really to cover his own freckled face insecurities. He was quite a sensitive, deep-thinking boy, who possessed a good understanding of change, an understanding of deep heart change. The one thing he definitely knew beyond any shadow of a doubt was that his experience over the last few days had matured him immensely, and he was beginning to understand how precious life really was, and that he should take more responsibility for his actions in future. Frank had changed, make no mistake, but not quite to the same degree as his friend.

  ‘Just leave them, Frank,’ Philip interrupted, much to his surprise. ‘Can’t you see they are not the same anymore? Look at their eyes, look at their humility, and look at the peace they seem to radiate.’

  ‘Have you gone mad, Philip?’

  ‘Just look!’

  Without saying another word the boys sat gazing at the fairies. Frank was a bit reluctant at first, crossing his branches and huffing in frustration. Feeling quite uncomfortable, the fairies stood waiting anxiously under the close scrutiny of the boys. They had no idea where they were; it was like they had woken from a bad dream, and the awakening was like a dream itself. It was very unpleasant standing here under the close inspection of two talking trees and a tall man with a green robe.

  ‘You are right, Philip,’ Frank admitted, shaking his leaves. ‘They used to have a black cloud hanging over them; now all I see is a crystal clear sparkle.’

  ‘Yes exactly Frank,’ Philip agreed. ‘Now look at their eyes.’

  The wizard smiled, looking at the boys, while the trio hovered above him in slow-moving circles. Lily Madonna started grinning and the next thing all three of them were seated next to the boys, giggling like mischievous schoolgirls.

  The fairies chatted with the tree boys for hours, no longer using seductive tones, only innocent chatter like three intellectual girls. The boys eagerly told their story, informing the fairies of the previous day’s events. After a bit of mental stimulation the flower fairies soon regained their memories and placed all the missing pieces together.

  ‘Did zwe really do all zat, oui?’ Gallica cried in shock, disgusted by the creature she once was.

  ‘Then we have to sort things out, my dears, don’t we?’ Madonna said firmly, standing to her feet and fluttering her delicate wings.

  ‘Why, can you?’ Frank asked, delighted with the thought of being human once again.

  ‘Af curse we cun mun. Af curse!’ Paulina chirped, waving her hand forward. ‘Piece af cake mun.’

  Gallica grabbed the empty wooden bowl originally filled with the chocolate drink poison and wiped it clean with a few scattered fern remains. Then the flower fairies each carefully plucked a cleansed petal from their head arrangements and placed it into the bowl.r />
  ‘What zflavour would zyou boys like this time?’ Gallica asked. ‘Zshould zwe make it zchocolate again, oui?’

  ‘No, definitely not!’ Frank blurted in disgust.

  ‘Make it pinana’ Philip said, looking at Frank for approval.

  ‘Good idea.’

  ‘Zvery well, pinana zit is oui,’ Gallica said, smiling sweetly.

  Liliy Madonna took the bowl from Gallica and placed it on the ground, deep in thought over how to word the spell:

  ‘Wooden bowl we command you fill,

  Sweet pinana juice that brings a thrill,

  Blending now with the purest petal,

  The sap of tree to blood will settle,

  Transformation of the organic being,

  Restored to man on earth be seen,

  May this curse be broken and no longer hold,

  Skin blood and bones their lives unfold.’

  With these words the petals at the base of the wooden vessel began to sizzle into a sticky mass of sap, releasing a sweet yellow liquid, which slowly filled the bowl to the brim. The flower fairies gazed over the bowl of magical pinana juice, beaming with the satisfaction of performing a spell without the help of Azor the horrible. Paulina reached for the magic pinana mix and raised it carefully, handing it to Frank in delight like a little girl making scones for the first time and giving one to her mother for a taste test approval.

  Frank edged back, a bit hesitant.

  ‘Ah, come on Frank,’ Philip chirped, ‘you are already a tree, how much worse could it possibly get?’

  Frank leaned forward, his hands trembling slightly. He took the bowl from Paulina and nervously placed it to his mouth, causing a few drops to splash over the side.

  ‘Drink it slowly, my dears,’ Madonna said. ‘The reaction the juice will have on your system is very painful; you will need to do it in stages.’

  ‘To return from a lesser being to a greater being is a big shock to the system, boys,’ Chimzen added. ‘Remember what happened before.’

  The boys gasped, remembering the dreadful transformation process from monkeys to humans. Frank sipped the juice slowly and handed it across to Philip with wide eyes. It tasted wonderful and he could have quite easily gulped it all down on his own. Philip wiped his mouth after taking a slurp, and sat waiting anxiously for the unpleasant transformation.

  ‘Do you mind if I take the bowl for a moment, my dear?’ Madonna asked Philip.

  ‘S-sure,’ he stammered, looking a bit surprised. Madonna grabbed the pinana remedy and flew across to Patroux’s pot. Very gently, she tipped the bowl, allowing the magic pinana to splash over onto the pot soil. Then she hastily returned the juice and handed it to Frank. Patroux had been sitting very quietly during all the commotion, only able to force a few words in absolute desperation. Azor had held the power over him, filling his multicoloured beak with parrot fashioned nonsense and monotonous rhyming. He was very powerful and she felt the less he spoke the safer it would be for everyone. Even though Lily Madonna had been deceitful at the time, there was always a part of her that felt sincerely sorry for him.

  The process was a slow and painful one as the magic juice began to take its toll. Frank could feel an intense burn inside his trunk, while the sap congealed into blood. Philip clutched his trunk belly in pain while the juice slowly seeped into his system.

  ‘Here, have some more,’ Frank gasped, handing the bowl back to his friend. Rather reluctantly, feeling his roots begin to shrivel and reshape, Philip took another sip.

  ‘Ouch!’ Frank yelled, clutching his nether regions in agony. It felt as though all his pubic hairs were being yanked out in bunches as the leaves burst back to normal. The leaves on Philip’s head began to shrink, with many floating to the ground like summer turning to autumn.

  Frank’s branches pumped with blood so intensely that it felt as though his twiggy hands were being savagely whipped by his school teacher’s ruler.

  ‘It’s nearly over boys,’ Chimzen encouraged, ‘just hang in there, it won’t be long now.’

  Quite suddenly the pot in the corner started making groaning noises like an ogre in a deep sleep awakened by a solid clubbing to the head. The plant pot shattered into a thousand pieces, sending the parrot plant hurtling off the ledge onto the ground below. Its stem swelled up like a plant on steroids and it wriggled about like a thick twisting snake. The multicoloured plant beak swelled to double its size, rippling and boiling like a scientific experiment gone wrong. The stem sprouted two long shoots towards the top and two more at the base which sprung out into thick elongated green extensions. The result was an enormous green stick man like the ones drawn by a five year old, complete with an oversized colourful head. The chemical reaction continued with its work, rippling through the cartoon creature in animated convulsions. Soon the texture lightened to a transparent green, while the thick elongated protrusions sprouted five hideous stubs on each. The stubs lengthened into perfectly defined toes and fingers with human skin and tiny hair follicles. The head no longer resembled a giant all day lollypop, instead it had all the features of a regular human being, someone with hardly any hair on their head, but a human being nonetheless.

  Frank and Philip couldn’t care less what was happening in the corner; they both felt like they were giving birth to a baby tree, and were struggling to push the baby’s roots out at that moment.

  Frank’s fingers popped back into existence. It felt more like he had had them blown off with a hand grenade they hurt so much. He examined them carefully to make sure that they were all still there after the little incident with Azor earlier on. Much to his relief his boxing hands were as good as new.

  Philip clutched his cheeks which felt as if they were on fire, definitely a lot worse than any sunburn he had experienced before. The thick sap turned back to blood, burning through his vessels like liquid fire. His grotesque old age face filled slowly with human blood, and although rather agonizing, his woody texture returned to soft skin tissue.

  During all the healing and restoring going on the trio noticed Chimzen’s discomfort with all the stinging sores and slash marks on his body and decided to do a bit of restoration of their own. Much to Zip’s delight and to the general satisfaction of the other Malco balls, they set about demonstrating a bit of healing magic of their own to the flower fairies.

  The trio spun into action, administering laser treatment to their master’s nasty wounds, weaving in and out, knitting the torn flesh with perfect precision and accuracy. The tissue cells responded to the fine laser beams, with the magical heat therapy stimulating the cells to rapidly regenerate and heal the wounds.

  After much frustration and terrible agony Philip and Frank were fully restored to human beings for the second time. They both sat huddled together stark naked and flushed red with embarrassment. The flower fairies tried not to look at them, but couldn’t help giggling amongst themselves; it really was a funny sight. Then after a very long minute or so their clothes reappeared in a magical flash. Just as before, they sat fully dressed in their filthy tattered school outfits.

  ‘Sorry my darlings,’ Madonna said, holding her mouth to disguise a bursting grin, ‘you drank the magic pinana so slowly that unfortunately your clothes took a while to respond to the potion. Never mind my darlings, as long as all the bits and pieces are well covered now just like they ought to be.’

  * * * * * * * *

  ‘What! Who’s that?’ Frank exclaimed, looking to his right and shifting back in fright.

  ‘Oh my golly goodness, what’s all this sticky stuff on my face?’ Patroux asked, fumbling with his ears like a small child waking up from a disturbing dream. His black thick rimmed spectacles were covered in sticky plant sap, and dangled from the end of his nose, while he peeked blankly over the top like a bewildered blind man.

  ‘Darling Patroux, you are back!’ Madonna exclaimed. All three flower fairies flew towards him and embraced him fondly like a long lost father. The startled Druid shifted hastily backwards, groping at
the soil in fright.

  ‘Get back you murdering devils!’ he squealed, sounding like a pig lined up for the slaughter. The flower fairies stepped back in fright, looking a bit confused by his desperate outburst.

  ‘Just give the poor man a chance to regain his senses, ladies; the transformation has been a bit of a shock to the old boy. He just needs a bit of time to pull his human self together,’ Chimzen said, stepping closer. ‘The fairies have changed their ways, Patroux; there is no need for you to worry yourself any longer, they won’t harm you.’

  ‘Chimzen, my dear friend, it’s so good to see you.’ He adjusted his sticky spectacles in an attempt to see his wizard friend better. ‘What a nightmare it’s been; years and years of absolute torment.’

  ‘Yes indeed, it must feel good to be a man again.’

  ‘A man?’ Frank whispered to Philip, looking over the peculiar looking Druid. ‘Now I see why he loves fairies and flowers so much; he’s a blinking fairy himself. Look at how he’s dressed and listen to his girly voice.’

  ‘Yes, he does look rather queer, doesn’t he?’ Philip joked.

  ‘Dressed up all gay and pansy with that flowery get up.’

  Patroux was a feminine character with a high-pitched voice and ladylike manner. He wore a brightly coloured floral robe with a pair of brown felt shoes, each one painted with a large daisy down to the toe. He had an unusually large, almost bald, head with thick tufts of greyish black hair sprouting from the sides, which overhung his unusually large pointed ears.

  ‘That head of his must contain heaps of brains, Frank, just look at the size.’

  ‘Yip, he looks like a bit of a reject from society, doesn’t he?’

  ‘I guess that’s why he’s here; earth didn’t want him around anymore.’

  Chimzen made a loud throat clearing sound to get the boys’ attention. He crossed his arms and frowned at them. ‘Have you boys got something you would like to say, perhaps?’

  ‘No-er, sorry sir we were just talking about going home,’ Philip lied, sounding a bit shaken.

  ‘Very well, my boy, just make sure that your nose doesn’t start growing.’

  ‘Yes sir,’ Frank answered, red with embarrassment.