Once Upon a Time a Sparrow

by Mary Avery Kabrich

  Out of breath, I flop down on the hillside. Danny sits next to me.

  “Danny, I’ve discovered there are other chapters in The Fairy Angel’s Gift that Mrs. Zinc didn’t know about.”

  “But what about the ending?”

  “I told you it was happy, but the story’s not over.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, in my dream last night, Ethan spoke to me.”

  “But dreams aren’t real.”

  “How do you know? Maybe they are and we just forget about them. But I remember mine. And I met with Ethan.” I want to tell Danny about why I was chosen to break the spell, but I can’t trust him to keep a secret.

  “Maddie, this is weird, and it’s making me scared because when I have a nightmare, Mom always says dreams aren’t real.”

  “You don’t have to believe dreams are real. But I do know that the story has hidden chapters, and I can tell you about them. This is how I knew today that fairies change form. But it might just be too scary for you.” I pull up a dandelion and pluck the yellow petals off, tossing them in the light breeze.

  “You know I’m not afraid. Tell me.” He grabs a small stone and flings it down the hill.

  “Ethan did get better, and when his family began to believe, something terrible happened. While they slept one night, it got thick and foggy outside, but it wasn’t just the weather, it was the attack of hope snatchers.”

  Danny’s eyes grow wide, and I know I have him.

  “What do hope snatchers look like?”

  “They can’t be seen, otherwise it would be easy to get rid of them. They’re like the sandman—invisible. But instead of sprinkling sand in your eyes to make you sleepy, they sprinkle fear and worry in people’s eyes. This makes them stop believing in what they think might be possible.”

  “Maddie, you don’t believe in the sandman do you?”

  This makes me giggle. “Of course not! But I might believe in hope snatchers. They took over the entire land of Forever After, where Ethan lives. He lives there with his parents and a sister named Alice, but not Alice in Wonderland.”

  “I didn’t know he had a sister.”

  “That’s because it’s in the hidden chapters.”

  “Where’s Yram?”

  “Well, remember Zerko and Zilla, the mean cousins?”

  “Yeah, they started the rumor.”

  “The hope snatchers kept the rumor going, and soon it was impossible for Yram to help anyone in Forever After because they didn’t believe she was a good fairy. So she needed to find someone to help who didn’t belong to that town and didn’t get sick from the poison smog.”

  Danny looks up at me, waiting. I’m not sure what to say next. He doesn’t think dreams are real, and my dream is as real as this very moment.

  “Yram asked Ethan to find someone to help, someone who believes in fairies and believes he really did get better.”

  “Who?”

  I look at him and wish he were two years older and my sister. I’ve always wanted a sister. I need to think fast.

  “They chose a girl named Mary.”

  “That’s your real name.”

  “Right. It’s a name lots of girls have. That’s why I go by Madelyn.” This isn’t a lie. It’s the truth. I smile because now I know I can keep telling my dream.

  “Maddie, tell me more about the hope snatchers.”

  “Like I said, they’re invisible, and remember, Gwendolyn told Yram they act like they care, but they really snatch hope away.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “Ethan said it’s because sometimes when you care about someone, you don’t want them to get disappointed. The hope snatchers figured out that if people no longer hoped for good things to happen, they wouldn’t ever get disappointed. They also make everyone worry too much.”

  “Like Dad worrying about Rob going out for track?” Danny’s right. I hadn’t even thought of this.

  “Yeah, because Father is worried, it’s not possible for Rob to do well, that he might have breathing problems, and that’s what happened to Ethan. His parents didn’t believe he really could do the things Yram showed him.”

  We both sit quietly for a few moments listening to a flock of starlings overhead. It’s a lot to think about.

  “The hope snatchers live in the land of Forever After.” I pause, waiting for Danny to look at me, and then add, “Not here. They cast a spell on the land, making it hard for everyone to see what’s possible. Ethan is the only one who didn’t get fear put in his eyes. Yram protected him. But because of the spell, no one can see him. And Alice, his sister, has lost hope.”

  “About what?”

  “She no longer believes she can do well in school.”

  “Why not?”

  “I told you. The hope snatchers.”

  “But what do you mean ‘do well’?”

  “She’s smart like Ethan, but for some reason, she’s taking a long time learning to read.”

  “Oh.” Danny looks at me without saying anything, and I’m so glad he doesn’t understand about Sparrows.

  “You see . . . Alice has a father who’s under the spell of the hope snatchers. His hope is that she does as well in school as her classmates and that she learns to read. If she doesn’t, she might flunk.”

  “That’s awful. I’d hate to flunk.”

  “But now her father is so afraid she’ll never learn to read, he has given up hope and never even listens to her try. He’s always correcting her spelling and giving her the look that something is wrong.”

  “What’s going to happen?”

  “Remember I told you that Ethan and Yram chose a girl named Mary who believes in fairies to help break the spell?”

  “Oh yeah, but you didn’t tell me why she was chosen.”

  “It’s because Yram knew she liked to read words backward.”

  “Why would anyone want to do that?”

  “Because it’s fun. Did you know that the word dog read backward becomes the word god?”

  Danny rolls his eyes upward, and I can tell by the movement of his lips that he is seeing and reading those two words in his mind. “You’re right! That’s really neat.”

  “Well, this girl happened to notice something special about her name and Yram’s name.” I grab a stick and motion him over to the packed dirt ridge. I write my name and copy it backward. I then point to Yram’s name. “This happens to be how Yram spells her name.”

  “Neato!” he yells.

  “It’s neat all right, and Yram thought so too. That’s why Mary was asked to help.”

  Danny looks up at me with a serious face. “So, how in the world will Mary break the spell?”

  “You’ll have to wait until next time when I tell more.”

  I like going to bed early these days, now that I have Yram to look forward to. Once Mom kisses me good night, I squirm around and peer up at the wall behind my bed. With only the night-light on, the dream catcher is hard to see; I have to squint to tell where it ends and the wallpaper begins. I know Grandma O’Leary would have called my dream catcher marvelous.

  I pull The Fairy Angel’s Gift out, study Yram’s picture on the front, and open the book up somewhere in the middle. I close my eyes and pick a spot with my finger. Carefully, I look at all the words around my finger and right away I see one I know: help. It has a period next to it, so I back my finger up to the beginning of the sentence and read, “I need your help.” That’s what Yram had told Ethan.

  I close my eyes and see Ethan, and he has the same message for me: “Yram needs your help. You know the secret of her name.”

  ~CHAPTER 31~

  1967

  THE RECESS BELL rings, and I can’t wait to slug the tetherball. I hate when math is spoiled by words that make it impossible for me to do it without Paulette’s help.

  “Madelyn, you know this word. All you have to do is sound it out.”

  “Wu-at.”

  “No! It’s what.”

  “
Paulette,” I whispered, “you don’t need to shout it.”

  “Why can’t you remember?” she asked, still using a loud voice. I shrugged my shoulders.

  I’m first to reach the tetherball line. I grab the ball, ready to take on whoever steps up. It’s Bobby. I forgot to watch where he went. If I had seen him before grabbing the ball, I would have changed my mind; he’s such a sore loser, but here I am facing him. He rolls his eyes and turns slightly away. I can tell he also would have planned differently if he knew I was who he had to play against, because I can easily whip him.

  I eye the ball resting in my left hand, make a fist, and prepare to slug it my hardest. I glance over at Bobby. He’s ready to hit back, and I notice a fat Band-Aid with gauze wrapped around his finger. I missed seeing it this morning when I passed by his desk, but now it stares back at me, big and ugly.

  I smack the ball hard and it wraps three times around the pole before I remember where I am. Uncle Joe really must have been talking about Bobby.

  The ball begins its tight, fast circling. I blink hard, step in closer, and begin clobbering it with all my might, making it arc out of reach each time. Bobby is jumping and swinging, and he looks funny, like a puppet. The ball is wrapping tightly around in my direction; he doesn’t move in fast enough to stop it. One more blow will surely finish him off, but for some reason I don’t step in and give that final blow. The ball slows down, and Bobby catches it in time to turn it around. I step back and watch him bring it to a tight wrap in his direction. I see his face change from a cartoon-screaming look to his usual slight smile. He wins but doesn’t brag. I walk away.

  How could his father think he’s stupid?

  I bend down, pretending to get papers out of my desk, and peek at Mrs. Zinc’s messy stack on the floor next to her desk. It looks the same minus The Fairy Angel’s Gift. Now I can settle into work.

  “Madelyn,” Paulette whispers, loud enough for Ricky and Tommy sitting behind us to hear. “It’s time for you to get your extra reading help.”

  I’m busy copying words from my grammar book onto lined paper. I don’t want to bring it home for homework or Mom will try to make me read the words. I ignore Paulette.

  “Madelyn.” I look up and see fat Mrs. Ellen taking up the entire doorway. Paulette made me tell her where I really went last week, and now I wish I had lied. I’m the only Sparrow who has to leave class and go into a closet for an extra reading lesson. I slam shut my grammar book a little too loud; Mrs. Zinc puts her finger to her lips. She’d have made a good librarian, always hush-hushing everyone. I don’t want to go, so I’m slow to get up.

  “Madelyn.” Mrs. Zinc’s quiet voice booms through the classroom. Everyone turns to face me like I’m in trouble or something. I’ve waited too long to get out the door, and now they all know it wasn’t just to go help Mr. Griffin. I shove my unfinished work into my desk and shuffle toward the hall. I pass Bobby and notice he is all done with his grammar assignment and is now trying to finish the math page from this morning. This makes me feel good. Maybe I am better at math than he is. But he’s watching carefully, and I know he’ll find out why I’m leaving class.

  I keep my head down while walking out, pretending I don’t know Mrs. Ellen. But as soon as the classroom door shuts, she’s acting all excited to see me, as if she missed me or something. Once I brought The Fairy Angel’s Gift home, I completely forgot about her.

  I follow four steps behind until we reach the closet next to the PE storage room. Maybe Mr. Griffin will need to take more things out and make lots of noise. This hope makes it easier to slide into the chair Mrs. Ellen pulls out for me. I watch Mrs. Ellen squeeze around the table and into her own chair and then grin wildly.

  Why am I here?

  “We’re in for a treat. We’re going to play word bingo.” She places a plastic grid filled with words and a stack of word cards in front of me. I don’t like bingo. It’s boring, and I always lose.

  “Here, Madelyn. All you need to do is place a card in each space. Don’t worry about reading words, just listen carefully while I read them.”

  I hear a little noise next door. It’s Mr. Griffin! Maybe it’s loud enough for her to hear.

  “Mrs. Ellen, I think I hear Mr. Griffin.”

  “Hmm, maybe. He’s not being too loud today.”

  “But maybe he still needs my help.”

  “Madelyn, I think Mr. Griffin can manage today without your help. Do you want to learn to read?”

  I hate this question. I want to get out of the closet. I turn away. I don’t know her rules about pulling up my hood, but I decide to pull it up anyway. I’m not sure what to do next. It’s quiet. If I run out, that’ll only make Mrs. Zinc mad, but I’m certain I can outrun Mrs. Ellen.

  “I think if you give it a try, you’ll like this game. And it’ll help you with reading. You’re a smart girl, and I bet more than anything you do want to get good at reading.” This reminds me of what Ethan said about his younger sister, Alice, how she forgot because of the spell, forgot that reading is what she wanted to learn more than anything, but I make myself stop thinking about this. It’s too sad. I turn back toward Mrs. Ellen and keep my hood up; she doesn’t seem to mind.

  “I can read some words.” I’d like to read more. I’m so glad she doesn’t say anything—she just smiles—and her smile is different from Mrs. Zinc’s. I like her smile.

  Mrs. Ellen begins to say one of the words on the grid, but I don’t know which one it is. She says it slowly, the way I sometimes sound out words. I’ve never heard a teacher do that before. Usually they say the word so fast that I don’t hear letter sounds. I begin to wonder if Mrs. Ellen is different.

  “Lli-i-ft.”

  I know it starts with the letter l, but that next sound . . . I can’t remember if that sound is for the letter e or i. To me, both these letters mostly sound the same. Mrs. Ellen seems to read my mind and says the key word for letter i: “Igloo, ih.”

  The game is easy and sort of fun. All I have to do is figure out what word it is that Mrs. Ellen says and then put a marker on it. If I’m wrong, she gets to put her marker down. This is a very different way to play bingo. And a very different way for teachers to say words—slowly, making it possible for me to figure them out. I just don’t like being the only kid in my class who has to see Mrs. Ellen.

  I try to slip back to my desk without anyone noticing, but it’s impossible. Everyone is working on a writing assignment, and Mrs. Zinc makes sure the class is quiet. I peek in the door, and because Bobby sits next to the door, he looks right up at me. I know he’s wondering why I’m not at my desk working.

  “Madelyn, we’re supposed to rewrite each of these sentences so that they make sense and have the right punctuation,” Paulette says.

  I look at the blue ditto worksheet full of words I can’t read. I’d rather be doing math, but Mrs. Zinc doesn’t allow it. Then I think, all I need to do is copy a few and that’ll satisfy Mrs. Zinc. It’s how I always handle these dittos. I look over at Bobby. He’s writing fast. I start to copy down the letters and then stop. Things are different now. I’m reading words from The Fairy Angel’s Gift. I learned new words with Mrs. Ellen. And if I don’t try harder, I’ll flunk third grade, something Paulette and Bobby have no idea about.

  ~CHAPTER 32~

  1967

  THE FIRST THING I do after getting home from school is shut my bedroom door and bring out The Fairy Angel’s Gift. I’ve been waiting all day for this. Every time I close and open the book, landing my finger somewhere in the middle of the page, I find something important to read. The word my finger lands on now is big, seven letters, and it looks impossible to figure out. I start by saying the sounds of the first two letters: dee. Deeliiive. I’ve never heard of delive. I notice a period after it, so I move my finger to the beginning of the sentence. Saint Rita! I know these words. I don’t even have to sound them out: “Come with me, all you have to do is,” and now I know the last word, “believe.” It’s from my favorite scene!
Of all the sentences in this entire book, my finger has brought me here.

  I spring up and grab the picture pinned to my bedroom door, with the letter b and the leaf, because now I can write the word the way Father wants me to. I find a black crayon and write out d-e-l-e-i-v-e under her picture. I pin it back up, and I’m ready to look for fairies.

  I slip out of my room, happy that Danny doesn’t notice, and head for the hiding place where I had seen the fairy in disguise. Parting the bramble with a stick, I clear a spot to squeeze in and crouch down on my knees. Soon I hear Father’s car pull into the driveway. I listen to his heavy steps move toward the house. He doesn’t even see me, and this makes me think that I can be a spy. At school, everyone notices me even though I try to not to be noticed. I keep a lookout for something small flying through the air. My legs begin to ache, and soon I hear the roar of Uncle Joe’s truck. I’ve spent enough time watching for a fairy.

  Uncle Joe lifts one leg out at a time. He stands and stretches next to the truck. When he sees me, he grins and reaches his arms out in front. I rush up and give him a hug.

  “Hi, Uncle Joe.”

  “Hi, Sister Bard, whatcha up to?”

  “Nothing much.”

  “Hey, maybe you can help me out with this.” He reaches into his shirt pocket, the same one with his cigarettes, and pulls out a piece of newspaper. “A buddy of mine at the work site gave this to me. It’s a job announcement for something a little more up my alley. The print is so small I can’t make it out. I need a pair of reading glasses.”

  “You have glasses?”

  “Like I said, I need a pair. But your eyes are young. I’m sure you’d have no problem at all reading this one here.” He points to a paragraph with a circle around it. I glance up at him and he nods.

  I think of all the words I’ve been reading and decide for sure I will be able to figure out a few. Maybe enough to make sense. Uncle Joe’s right; it is little print. The first line of words has so many letters thrown together—I have no idea how to begin to sound them out.

  “Oh, I see what you mean, it’s written small. I think I might also need glasses.” I pull the newspaper clipping close to my face, then move it out away and look closely at the letters. Several groups come together. “This word here is big enough to see. I think I know it, it says—”