Before the Bell

by Kiki Thorpe

  The prickle grew stronger—so strong Spinner could feel it in his toes. Only then did he think to look up.

  But he was too late. All Spinner saw was a flash of pale hands. Then the book closed around him with a snap.

  “Spinner, wake up. It’s story time,” Gabby whispered. The sparrow man had been quiet for so long, she guessed he must have fallen asleep.

  “Spinner?” Gabby whispered again. She leaned down to look inside her desk. Why couldn’t she see his glow?

  Gabby moved her box of crayons, hoping he was behind it. No Spinner. She looked behind her math book. She even checked inside her pencil box. But the sparrow man was gone.

  Gabby got a funny feeling in her stomach. Where could Spinner be? And how could he have gone anywhere without her seeing?

  Other first graders were gathering on the big round carpet, waiting for story time to start. “As soon as everyone is sitting, I can read the story,” Ms. Jesser said, looking at Gabby.

  Gabby went to the circle and sat down. But she kept an eye out for Spinner. He had waited all day to hear a story. He wouldn’t miss it now, would he?

  The teacher began to read a book about a little bear on his first day of school. But Gabby couldn’t pay attention. Her eyes roamed the classroom. There! That gleam of light by the window—was it Spinner’s glow?

  No, it was only sunlight reflecting off a pair of scissors. A second later, Gabby gave a little jump. A tiny face was smiling out from the teacher’s desk! Gabby squinted, then sighed. It was just a picture on the side of a coffee cup.

  “Some people seem to have the wiggles,” Ms. Jesser said, interrupting her reading. “Everyone needs to have their eyes on me.” She was looking at Gabby again.

  Gabby felt her face turn red. Now Spinner had gotten her in trouble with the teacher, too!

  After that, she tried to pay attention. But as the day went on, she started to worry. What could have happened?

  When the last bell rang, there was still no sign of Spinner. As the other kids got their backpacks and left, Gabby didn’t know what to do. What if he came back looking for her and she wasn’t there?

  Gabby saw Lizzie getting ready to leave. “Lizzie, I can’t find Spinner anywhere!” she whispered.

  Lizzie gave her a funny look. “I have to go,” she said. “I forgot I have to help my mom today.” She grabbed her backpack and hurried out the door.

  I guess she’s still mad at me, Gabby thought with a sigh.

  Finally, she and Ms. Jesser were the only ones left in the classroom. “Are you waiting for someone, Gabby?” the teacher asked.

  Gabby nodded. Then, thinking better of it, she shook her head. She was afraid the teacher might ask who she was waiting for.

  Ms. Jesser gave her a confused smile. “Is someone coming to pick you up?” she tried again.

  “Oh!” Gabby suddenly remembered that Mia was waiting for her. Mia would know what to do! “I gotta go. Bye, Ms. Jesser,” she said, hurrying away.

  In the hallway, she almost bumped into Mia, Kate, and Lainey.

  “Where have you been?” Mia exclaimed. “We’ve been waiting forever.…What’s wrong?” she asked when she noticed Gabby’s expression.

  “Um, don’t be mad,” Gabby said.

  Mia frowned. “Uh-oh. Don’t be mad about what, Gabby?”

  Gabby took a deep breath. “Spinner’s missing…but it’s not my fault,” she added quickly.

  “Spinner the sparrow man?” asked Kate. “What do you mean he’s missing? Missing from where?”

  Gabby explained how Spinner had hidden in her backpack so he could hear the stories at school. “And once he was here, I couldn’t take him home. So I put him in my desk. I told him to stay there. But then he disappeared!”

  Mia rubbed her forehead. “Gabby, this is even worse than when you took Bess to the wedding!”

  “It’s not Gabby’s fault,” Kate pointed out. “She didn’t ask Spinner to come. I wish he’d stowed away in my backpack. It would have made school a lot more interesting today.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll help you find him,” Lainey said, putting her arm around the little girl.

  “Let’s start by checking your classroom, since that’s the last place you saw him,” Kate suggested.

  When they got back to Gabby’s classroom, the door was closed and the lights were off. “Are we going to get in trouble?” Gabby asked as they went into the empty room.

  “If anyone asks, we’ll just tell them we’re looking for something we lost,” Mia said. “Which is the truth.”

  Kate got down on her knees and peered inside Gabby’s desk.

  “Why are you looking in there?” Gabby asked. “I know he’s not there.”

  “You always start searching for clues at the scene of the crime,” Kate said. “At least, that’s how the detectives on TV do it.”

  “What crime?” Mia asked. “For all we know, Spinner just flew away on his own.”

  “I know,” Kate said. “But it’s more exciting if there was a crime.”

  Lainey was at the back of the room, exploring near the bookshelves. “Look!” she said suddenly. She pointed to a pencil on the floor.

  “It’s a pencil. So what?” Kate said.

  “It’s sparkly,” Lainey said. The other girls looked closer. Now they saw that the side of the pencil glittered faintly.

  “Fairy dust!” Gabby whispered.

  “Our first clue!” Kate exclaimed. “Good work, Lainey.”

  “Maybe Spinner left a trail that we can follow,” Mia said.

  The girls searched the rest of the classroom. But they didn’t find any more fairy dust. “It’s like he vanished into thin air,” Lainey said.

  “The trail has gone cold,” Kate agreed, furrowing her brow.

  “He could be anywhere,” Mia said. “Maybe he’s just off exploring. He’ll probably turn up tomorrow,” she reassured her sister.

  Gabby nodded, but she didn’t feel much better. What if Spinner didn’t turn up? As they went to leave, Mia suddenly said, “What’s that sticking out of your backpack, Gabby?”

  A bit of yellow hair was poking out of the zipper. Gabby opened the bag and pulled out Glorinda. “It’s Lizzie’s doll,” she said. “But I didn’t put her in here. I wonder why Lizzie left her?”

  The older girls looked at each other. “Gabby, you didn’t by any chance tell Lizzie about Spinner, did you?” Mia asked.

  “Maybe,” Gabby admitted. “But she loves fairies. She’d never tell. When you said not to talk about Pixie Hollow to anyone, I didn’t think you meant Lizzie.”

  Mia rolled her eyes. “I especially meant Lizzie.”

  Lainey picked up Glorinda. “Well, I think we may have found the clue we were looking for.”

  Kate grinned. “The trail is hot again. And we’re on the case!”

  For the second time that day, Spinner was getting a close look at the inside of a backpack. It wasn’t Gabby’s this time—this one was purple instead of blue. But one thing was the same. Both bags opened only one way—from the outside. Try as he might, Spinner couldn’t find a way out.

  And he had another, bigger problem—he couldn’t fly. One wing had been bent when the book closed on him. Spinner gave it a flap, testing it, but he knew it was useless. A healing-talent fairy could straighten it out. But of course, there were no healing fairies around.

  “You’re in a pretty pickle this time,” Spinner said to himself. He wasn’t too troubled, though. He’d been in plenty of pickles before. They usually made for very good stories.

  The worst part was that it was boring inside the backpack. Whoever had nabbed him hadn’t even been thoughtful enough to drop the book in with him. “And I’d just gotten to the good part,” Spinner said.

  He made himself comfortable on a small pack of tissues. Then, with nothing else to do, he began to tell himself a story. “So there I was, reading a book and minding my own business. When out of nowhere, someone came along—”

  Spinner paused.
“Someone” wasn’t very good, he thought. No, it wasn’t good at all. Who wanted to hear a story about “someone”?

  He tried again. “A villain came along.…” That was a little better.

  “A bandit came along—no, three bandits! Yes, much better! Three bandits with gold teeth and red eyes came along. They snapped me up in the book and took me off to their hideout.…”

  Suddenly, the backpack gave a lurch. Spinner fell from his seat as the bag was lifted into the air. He was moving! He tried to peer out the crack at the bottom of the zipper. But he couldn’t see anything through the tiny hole.

  “You there! Let me out!” he called. But if anyone heard him, they didn’t answer.

  The light coming through the fabric grew brighter for a time, then dimmed. Spinner could tell that they had gone outside, then indoors again. But indoors where?

  There came another bump as the backpack was set down. The zipper slowly began to peel back. Spinner steeled himself to face his fairy-napper.

  A round, freckled face peered down at him. It isn’t a bandit after all, Spinner thought with a twinge of disappointment. It was Gabby’s friend Lizzie.

  “Hi, little fairy,” Lizzie whispered. “We’re home.”

  Her big hands reached for him. Spinner braced himself as she lifted him into the air.

  The girl held him up to her face, so close that he could have counted each and everyone of her freckles. Spinner had never been this close to a Clumsy’s face before. He noticed her long eyelashes and the fine hairs that covered her cheeks like fuzz on a peach.

  Lizzie was studying him, too. Her giant eyes roamed from the toes of his holey shoes up to the tip of his stocking cap. “I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “A real fairy.”

  “I’m a sparrow man, technically,” Spinner said.

  At the sound of his voice, Lizzie gave an excited squeak and almost dropped him. Spinner grabbed her thumb to keep from falling.

  “Steady now. It’s a long way down,” he said.

  “Sorry.” She lowered him to the floor. As he stepped off her hand, he sank up to his ankles in the carpet. Looking around, Spinner saw he was in a bedroom. The cliff next to Lizzie was a bed. A blue coverlet spilled over its side. Beyond it, Spinner could see the looming shape of a dresser.

  Lizzie watched him the whole time. She seemed to be waiting for him to do something. “Why don’t you fly?” she asked at last.

  “I can’t. My wing is bent. Somebody closed it in a book,” Spinner said.

  “Sorry,” the girl said again, and this time she really did look sorry. “I was afraid you’d try to fly away.” She leaned closer to examine the damaged wing. “Does it hurt?”

  “Not really.” Fairy wings were like hair or fingernails—they didn’t feel pain.

  “So does that mean I can still have my wish?” Lizzie asked.

  “What wish?” asked Spinner.

  “The wish that you’re going to grant me.”

  Spinner chuckled to himself. The Clumsies he’d met in his travels always asked for wishes. Somehow, they’d all gotten the idea that fairies lived to grant them. From those silly fairy tales, no doubt, Spinner thought.

  “I can’t grant wishes. I’m not that kind of magic folk,” he told Lizzie. “But if you were going to ask for a wish, what would you wish for?”

  “I want to be a fairy!” Lizzie exclaimed. “I want to be tiny and take rides on birds and wear dresses made out of flowers.”

  She looked at Spinner hopefully. He shook his head.

  “Well, if you can’t fly and you can’t grant wishes, what can you do?” Lizzie asked with a sigh.

  “I can tell you a story,” he said, then wished he hadn’t. Storytelling was his magic. He didn’t share it with just anyone.

  But Lizzie didn’t seem to be listening. “Oh! I almost forgot!” she said, giving a little jump. She grabbed Spinner and whisked him through the air with a speed that took his breath away.

  “You have to warn me when you’re going to pick me up,” he said, gasping.

  “Sorry,” Lizzie said again as she set him down on top of the dresser. “I wanted you to see my fairy house.”

  Standing on the dresser was a little round hut. It was made out of glued-together twigs and bits of moss. A path of seashells led up to the front door.

  “Go on. Go inside!” Lizzie urged.

  Spinner opened the door. In the room was a fairy-sized bed and a small table. The table was set with a plate, bowl, and cup, as if waiting for a guest.

  “It’s very nice,” Spinner said uneasily.

  “It’s your new home!” Lizzie said. “I made it myself. I was going to put it outside so a fairy would come and live in it. But now you’re here! I’ve always wanted to have a fairy.”

  For the first time that day, Spinner started to feel worried. “But I can’t stay,” he tried to explain. “I already have a home in Pixie Hollow.”

  Lizzie’s expression clouded. “You have to stay!” she cried, her voice rising to a frightening pitch that filled the room. “You haven’t even done any magic yet. And besides, I traded Gabby fair and square.”

  Traded? thought Spinner. What was Lizzie talking about?

  The door to the bedroom opened and a woman came in. She had the same green eyes and freckles as Lizzie. She was holding a baby on her hip.

  “Lizzie?” she said. “Please keep your voice down. Ollie’s trying to nap.”

  “Mommy, look!” Lizzie cried. Without warning, she scooped Spinner off the dresser and held him up.

  From the way she looked right past him, Spinner could tell that Lizzie’s mother couldn’t see him. But the baby could. He gurgled with delight and shot out his chubby hands.

  “Ollie, no!” Lizzie screeched and jerked Spinner out of his reach.

  “Lizzie!” her mother said. “Please don’t scream at the baby. What’s gotten into you?”

  “But he almost got my fairy!”

  “What fairy?” her mother asked, frowning.

  “He’s right here!” Lizzie waved Spinner under her mother’s nose. Spinner clung to her hand, trying not to fall. “His name’s Spinner. I traded Glorinda for him at school—”

  “Glorinda?” her mother interrupted. “That nice doll Grandma bought you? You shouldn’t have done that. What are we going to tell Grandma?”

  “But, Mom! I have a real fairy now,” Lizzie tried to explain.

  Her mother rubbed her forehead in a tired way. “When you go to school tomorrow, ask for your doll back. And please try to be quiet this afternoon. Ollie really needs to sleep.”

  She turned and left, with the baby looking back over her shoulder at Spinner and Lizzie.

  When they were gone, Lizzie flopped onto the bed. She set Spinner down on the pillow next to her, to his great relief.

  “It’s not fair,” Lizzie cried. “All she cares about is Ollie. She doesn’t even care that I have a fairy. She pretended she didn’t even see you!”

  “She can’t see me,” Spinner explained. “Most grown-ups can’t.”

  “Why not?” Lizzie asked with a sniffle.

  “Only those who believe in fairies can see them.”

  Lizzie considered this. “Having a fairy is nothing like I thought it would be,” she said with a sigh.

  She looked so sad that Spinner couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for her. “So will you take me back to Gabby now?” he asked gently.

  Lizzie frowned. “Why should Gabby have a fairy and not me?” she asked.

  Lizzie thought fairies were like dolls, Spinner realized. Something to keep for your own or trade away. He had to make her understand that he didn’t belong to anyone.

  Suddenly, he thought of a way he could. It was so clear to him, he wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before. “Lizzie, maybe I can make your wish come true after all,” he said.

  Lizzie’s eyes went round. “You can?”

  Spinner nodded. “I’m going to tell you a story. It’s called ‘Thumbelina.’”
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  “Oh.” Lizzie’s face fell. “I thought you meant you could make me into a fairy. Anyway, I already know that story. My mom read it to me.”

  “Ah,” said Spinner. “But you’ve never heard me tell it. Now listen.…”

  Gabby stood on the steps of Lizzie’s house, staring up at her front door. The door was red with a little metal knocker. Next to the door was a doorbell. Gabby glanced from the doorbell to the knocker. Which one was she supposed to use?

  She looked back at Mia, Kate, and Lainey, who were watching from the sidewalk. Mia made a little motion with her hands as if to say “get on with it.”

  Gabby took a breath and rang the bell. Then, for good measure, she rapped the doorknocker, too.

  She could hear a baby crying inside the house. “Coming!” someone shouted.

  After a long wait, the door opened. But it wasn’t Lizzie standing there. It was her mother. She was holding Lizzie’s crying baby brother, and she looked annoyed.

  “What is it?” she said. Then she saw Gabby. “Oh. Lizzie can’t play right now, Gabby. Ollie is having trouble napping. Every little thing keeps waking him up. So we can’t have anyone over today.” She jiggled the baby on her hip.

  Gabby’s feet felt frozen to the step. She knew she should say something about Spinner. But the way Lizzie’s mom was looking at her made her mind go blank.

  “We’ll make a playdate for another time, okay?”

  “Okay,” said Gabby.

  “Bye.” Lizzie’s mother went inside and closed the door. Gabby turned and walked back down the steps to where Mia, Kate, and Lainey were waiting.

  “What happened?” asked Kate.

  “Lizzie’s mom says she can’t play,” Gabby told them.

  “That’s it?” Mia rolled her eyes. “Gabby, why didn’t you ask her if Lizzie could come out?”

  “Or you could have told her she has something that belongs to you and you need it back,” said Lainey.

  “I didn’t think of that.” Gabby felt close to crying again. “You guys should have come with me.”