by Gwyneth Rees
‘Oh yes!’ Izzy exclaimed. ‘I’ve had a lovely time! Precious let me try on her red boots and play with her magic toothbrush and everything! You look really pretty in that dress, Lucy!’
‘Where’s Grandpa?’ Lucy asked. ‘He hasn’t said anything to Mum and Dad about the fairies, has he?’
‘Don’t worry – he’s being really cool about everything,’ Thomas answered. ‘He’s upstairs getting dressed now but he’ll be down in a minute. So did you find out where Precious is hiding?’
‘Yes, but Thomas, listen . . . I’m really sorry for taking all the shrinking dust for myself like that. It was really selfish and you’re right – it wasn’t fair.’
Thomas looked taken aback, and Lucy realized that he wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of an apology. Usually it was Thomas who was being made to say sorry to her or Izzy for something bad that he’d done.
‘It wasn’t fair,’ he agreed, ‘but I’d probably have done the same if I’d got to the dust first.’ He paused. ‘So come on . . . tell me what happened . . . Did you find Precious?’
‘Yes, but I think maybe we were wrong about her,’ Lucy said. ‘I don’t think she is all that bad – not really.’
‘I like Precious,’ Izzy said firmly. ‘I know it was naughty of her to steal Grandpa’s teeth and to catch me in our net, but we did try to catch her first! And she looked after me really well the whole time I was with her.’
‘Precious helped me in the end too,’ Lucy said, quickly explaining to them what had happened when she’d got trapped inside the loft.
‘So where is she then?’ Thomas asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ Lucy said. ‘I thought she’d be here by now. I think I’d better go back and look for her.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ said Izzy.
‘Precious!’ Lucy exclaimed as soon as they stepped outside. The fairy was waiting for them out in the garden and she wasn’t looking very happy. ‘We were just coming to find you! Are you all right?’
‘Do I look like I’m all right?’ Precious grunted.
‘You look just the same to me,’ Thomas said as he joined them.
‘Exactly!’ Precious said grumpily.
That’s when Lucy realized what the problem was. ‘You aren’t sparkling any more, are you?’ she said. ‘Does that mean all your Goodness dust has worn off?’
Precious nodded glumly. ‘I spent so long helping you escape that it’s all gone. I even used up my extra dust on you!’
‘Oh, Precious, I’m really sorry,’ Lucy said softly.
‘Now I won’t be able to get through the Goodness curtain after all,’ Precious said in a shaky voice.
‘How does the Goodness curtain work exactly?’ Izzy asked, since she was the only one who hadn’t seen it in action.
Lucy quickly explained it to her. ‘So Precious thought that if she covered herself in Goodness dust, the curtain might let her through,’ she finished. ‘But she took so long helping me that now she can’t try it out.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Izzy said, frowning. ‘Helping someone is a good thing to do, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, but . . .’ Lucy broke off as she began to see what Izzy was getting at. She stopped to think something through for a moment, before turning to face Precious. ‘Precious, I’m pretty sure Queen Eldora said that the Goodness curtain works by testing how good you are on the inside. And if that’s the case it’s still worth you trying to get through because your inner Goodness levels must have gone up loads since you came back to help me.’
‘Do you really think so?’ Precious looked surprised. ‘I didn’t mean to do anything good – it just sort of happened.’
‘Well, that still must’ve changed your Goodness levels, mustn’t it?’
‘I suppose so,’ Precious agreed. ‘But do you really think they could have gone up enough?’
‘There’s only one way to find out,’ Lucy said. ‘Come on!’ Feeling hopeful, she led the way across the lawn towards the fence that separated their garden from their neighbours’. The golden pillowcase was still hanging on their neighbours’ washing line.
Precious hovered just above the fence, eyeing the pillowcase nervously.
‘Go on then!’ Thomas urged her. ‘What are you waiting for?’
‘What if it doesn’t work?’ Precious mumbled.
‘You’ve got nothing to lose by trying, have you?’ Lucy reminded her gently.
So with the three children watching – Thomas had to lift Izzy up so that she could see over the fence too – Precious flew off towards the pillowcase.
‘Good luck!’ the children all shouted together.
And the last glimpse they had of Precious was of her red shiny boots as she disappeared from view.
‘If she doesn’t come back, we’ll know the Goodness curtain has let her through,’ Lucy said.
As the children waited, Thomas continued to hold Izzy even though she was really too heavy for him, and Lucy thought that this was the closest she’d ever seen the two of them.
‘You know, we’re much luckier than fairies,’ Thomas said suddenly, looking thoughtful.
‘How do you mean?’ Lucy asked.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter how good or bad we are, our parents would love us just the same, wouldn’t they? I mean, they’d never say we weren’t allowed to come home again.’
Lucy hadn’t thought about that before. ‘You’re right,’ she agreed. ‘Imagine if we had to pass through a Goodness curtain every time we wanted to go home!’
‘I’d hardly ever be allowed in,’ Thomas said, grinning.
‘That would be horrible,’ Izzy gasped.
‘Precious has made it, I think,’ Lucy said.
Thomas nodded, setting Izzy down on the ground. ‘Come on. Let’s go back inside and tell Grandpa.’
Grandpa was entering the kitchen as they walked in through the back door and he looked relieved when he saw Lucy. ‘We were wondering where you’d got to,’ he said to her. ‘Are you all right?’
She nodded. ‘Thanks for helping us, Grandpa.’
‘No problem at all. I told your parents I found my dentures under my pillow during the night. I said I’d put them there myself and totally forgotten about them. Now they think I’m losing my memory, but still . . . They’re feeling quite guilty about blaming you children for taking them so I think you might be in for a treat or two today. Now, Lucy . . . Tell me what’s been happening with those fairies . . .’
Lucy told him everything, and when her dad came downstairs five minutes later, the three children and their grandfather were sitting round the kitchen table chatting and giggling together.
‘What’s going on?’ Dad asked, hardly able to believe what he was seeing – his father and his children never got on as well as this.
‘We’re having a private conversation,’ Grandpa said, tapping the side of his nose, ‘about fairies.’
All three children gasped out loud, but they soon saw that it didn’t matter that Grandpa had told the truth.
‘Fairies, eh?’ Dad said, sounding amused.
‘Tooth fairies actually,’ Grandpa added.
‘Well, as long as you kids aren’t planning on asking the Tooth Fairy to increase the money she gives you for your teeth, you can talk about her all you like,’ Dad said jokily.
‘He really doesn’t believe in fairies, does he?’ Thomas said as the doorbell rang and their father went to answer it.
‘No, and I’ll tell you why.’ Grandpa had a twinkle in his eye. ‘It’s because he’s middle-aged. Children and old folk are the ones who believe in fairies. Middle-aged people hardly ever do.’
‘Why don’t they?’ Izzy asked.
Grandpa shrugged. ‘Maybe it’s because they’re too busy worrying about other things – like their children and their old folk!’
‘Dad says he’s worried about his middle-age spread too,’ Lucy added, which made Grandpa laugh.
‘I’m still going to believe in fairies when I’m
middle-aged,’ Thomas said firmly.
Lucy and Izzy both agreed that they would too.
Just then the children’s father came back into the room holding a tiny white envelope in his hand. ‘There was no one there when I opened the door,’ he said, sounding puzzled. ‘But this had been posted through the letter box. There’s no writing on it and there’s nothing inside except a blank card.’
‘Let me see,’ Lucy said. As Dad handed her the envelope she saw the sparkly gold writing on the front straight away – To Lucy, Thomas and Izzy.
She quickly opened it. There were two things inside the envelope – a little card (which also had sparkly writing on it) and a loose gold star.
Lucy shook the gold star out on to the table and picked up the card to read it:
Dear Lucy, Thomas and Izzy,
You are invited to attend our fairy meeting tonight, where Queen Eldora has something very important she wishes to discuss with you. Afterwards there will be a party where you will be the guests of honour. Please be waiting for us by the golden pillowcase at midnight tonight.
Love from,
The Tooth Fairies
PS This writing will only be visible to those who believe in fairies.
PPS Please reply with the gold star if you can come.
At the bottom of the invitation were the letters RSVP, followed by a star-shaped outline, where you were obviously meant to stick the gold star if your answer to the invitation was yes.
Lucy handed the invitation to Thomas and Izzy to read, and Grandpa leaned over to look at it too. Mum came into the room while this was happening and Dad told her, ‘I think they’re playing some sort of pretend game.’
The children were so excited that they quickly left the grown-ups and rushed upstairs.
‘But how will we get our reply back to them?’ Izzy asked as they carefully stuck the little gold star on to the bottom of the card.
Before she had even finished speaking, the card had floated out of Lucy’s hand. The envelope that they had left on Lucy’s bed was lifting itself up into the air to join it. The card slipped itself inside the envelope and the children ran to the window to watch as the letter flew outside and disappeared in the direction of the golden pillowcase.
For the rest of the day the children could think about nothing except the fairy party. Izzy was especially excited since she had never been to Fairyland before, and she kept asking Lucy and Thomas lots of questions about what it was like there.
‘It’s not just a party,’ Thomas reminded his sisters, as they all gathered in Lucy’s room that afternoon. ‘We’ve got to go to the fairy meeting too, remember.’
‘Maybe we’d better take two outfits,’ Izzy suggested. ‘One for the meeting and one for the party.’
‘Knowing Queen Eldora, her meeting might go on for so long that we don’t even get to the party,’ Thomas said.
‘Don’t be silly,’ Lucy said quickly, seeing how worried Izzy was looking. ‘There will be a party, Izzy. It’s just that we might have to sit through quite a long meeting first.’
‘Maybe we could sleep through the meeting,’ Thomas joked. ‘I fell asleep once in a meeting we had at school and it made it pass much quicker!’
‘Goldie and Bonnie said that fairy meetings are fun,’ Lucy reminded him. ‘But we might still feel sleepy, so I reckon we should go to bed really early tonight and try and get some rest before we go to Fairyland. I can set my alarm clock to wake us up before midnight. What do you think?’
‘Your alarm clock didn’t wake us up this morning, did it?’ Thomas pointed out.
‘Only because I forgot to set it,’ Lucy said. ‘But to be extra sure, we could ask Grandpa to come and check we’re awake at midnight as well. He’s always getting up in the night to use the bathroom anyway, so I don’t think he’d mind.’
‘Grandpa’s gone all grumpy again,’ Izzy pointed out. ‘He might not want to help us.’
Lucy and Thomas looked at Izzy. It was true that ever since the fairy invitation had arrived, Grandpa had been keeping himself to himself, just like he usually did. At lunchtime he had hardly eaten a thing and he’d gone up to his room straight away afterwards, saying that he needed to rest.
‘Maybe his bad hip is playing him up,’ Lucy said. ‘Why don’t we go and see him?’
So they went and knocked on Grandpa’s door.
‘Come in,’ Grandpa grunted, so quietly that they only just heard him.
They went inside and found him sitting in the armchair by the window looking fed up.
‘Grandpa, is something wrong?’ Lucy asked immediately.
Grandpa turned his face away from her and didn’t reply.
‘Is your hip hurting you?’ Izzy asked, taking a step towards him.
‘My hip’s always hurting me,’ Grandpa grunted. ‘Nothing new there.’
The children didn’t know what else to say. They looked at each other and shrugged, but just as they were beginning to leave, Grandpa suddenly added, ‘Just because I’ve got a bad hip, it doesn’t mean I can’t still enjoy a good party.’
Lucy frowned, not really following him.
‘If I was to be invited to one, that is,’ Grandpa said sharply.
Then Lucy thought she understood what the problem was. ‘Grandpa, are you upset because the tooth fairies didn’t invite you to their party?’
‘Of course I’m upset!’ Grandpa snapped. ‘I believed in fairies long before you three did and this is how they thank me!’
‘I’m sure they didn’t mean to leave you out, Grandpa,’ Thomas said quickly. ‘I expect they just didn’t realize you’d want to come with us, that’s all.’
‘Well, they should realize! Insensitive little creatures! I really don’t know why your grandmother bothered with them so much!’
‘Grandpa, why don’t you just come with us to the party anyway?’ Lucy said. ‘The fairies will be glad to see you, I’m sure. They probably just didn’t think of inviting you because you’re a grown-up.’
‘Do you think so?’ Grandpa asked, sniffing.
‘Of course! Anyway, we want you to come with us, don’t we?’ she added, looking at the others.
‘Yes, Grandpa, we do,’ Izzy and Thomas both said together.
‘Well, if you really think I should come . . .’ Grandpa was beginning to look a bit cheerier. ‘I shall have to look out something to wear. The trouble is, I haven’t brought any smart clothes with me.’
‘I think you should wear these,’ Izzy said, pointing to their grandfather’s red-and-green-striped pyjamas, which were neatly folded up on top of the bed. ‘I think they’re much nicer than the clothes you wear during the day.’
Grandpa laughed. ‘I might just do that Izzy,’ he said. ‘After all, it’s nice to wear bright clothes to a party, isn’t it?’
‘It’s not just a party,’ Thomas reminded them all. ‘We have to go to a fairy meeting first.’
‘Oh yes, the fairy meeting . . .’ Grandpa frowned because as a rule he didn’t tend to like meetings very much either. ‘I wonder what that’s going to be about.’
‘Queen Eldora is always having meetings,’ Lucy replied. ‘It probably won’t be about anything in particular.’
But as it happened, Lucy was wrong . . .
Lucy remembered the Meeting Room from her earlier trip to Fairyland, when Goldie and Bonnie had been showing her and Thomas around. But when they got there shortly after midnight she hardly recognized it.
The noise was deafening because the room was now filled with at least a hundred chattering fairies who were sitting round the table waiting for them. There didn’t seem to be a Chair-fairy today, but on a high throne at the end of the table Queen Eldora was presiding. She had sent Goldie and Bonnie to fetch the children and now she smiled in greeting as they entered the room. She looked surprised to see Grandpa, whom the two fairies had readily agreed to shrink down and bring through the golden pillowcase to Fairyland along with the children.
Izzy was the most excited
to be there. She had beamed with delight as they travelled in the fairy lift, and in the town square she had gasped out loud at the fairy houses. She had dressed in her own fairy costume for the visit, which had magically shrunk down in size when she did, so that apart from the fact that she didn’t have wings, she looked just like a real fairy. Lucy and Thomas still had their wings from the last time they had been there and they were wearing their fairy clothes again too. And Grandpa looked very cheery in his red-and-green-striped pyjamas.
‘Come and sit beside me!’ a familiar voice called to them.
They looked across to see Precious sitting at the table. She had saved seats for the three children on either side of her and now one of the other fairies moved along to make room for Grandpa too.
As they all sat down, Queen Eldora clapped her hands for silence. ‘Welcome to our fairy meeting!’ she announced. ‘And an especially warm welcome to our guests – Lucy, Thomas, Izzy and . . .’ She broke off, looking politely at Grandpa, whom she had never met before.
‘This is our grandfather,’ Thomas said. ‘He believes in fairies too.’
‘We thought it would be all right to bring him,’ Goldie and Bonnie said. ‘He was quite easy to shrink.’
‘I’m very pleased to meet you,’ Queen Eldora told Grandpa. ‘And I now have even more pleasure in declaring this meeting – our first ever to include humans as well as fairies – officially open!’ She waved her toothbrush in the air, which the children assumed was some kind of official sign in Tooth-Fairy Land.
‘As you all know, this is a very special day,’ Queen Eldora began, smiling as she looked round the table at all her fairies. ‘I’m pleased to announce that Precious has passed the test of the Goodness curtain at last, and although she is going to have to work very hard at being a good fairy from now on, at least she is back among us again.’
A cheer went up at the table and Precious beamed with pleasure.
‘And now we can all get on with doing what we do best – collecting children’s teeth and making Goodness out of them!’ the fairy queen declared.
