“Why?”
“Cause I want you to take me flying. That’s all I ever wanted.” And with that, she slammed the door shut. A second later, she opened it again and said in a very quiet voice, “I would have kept your secret. We were best friends.” She paused for a second then added, “We were sisters.”
*****
“Grammy, I’m so mad I could scream. How could she? It’s my diary.” If Egg were an egg, she would be a fried one.
“Sweetheart, right now that’s beside the point. I need you to fly over here right away. Can you leave for about an hour without anyone missing you?”
“Sure, I’m here with just Ashley and Brad. They won’t miss me.”
“Wonderful. Please get here as soon as you can.”
*****
Ten minutes later, Egg landed at the back of her grandmother’s house, knocked on the door and went inside. “Hi, Grammy.”
“Hi, Sweetheart. Thank you for getting here so quickly.”
“What are we going to do, Grammy?”
“First, I need to tell you the reason Grazy and I are no longer best friends.”
“I didn’t know you were best friends?”
“We were . . . a very long time ago” and the older Eloise told her the story of how Grazy became Crazy and very unhappy.
“So that’s why she won’t give me back my diary.”
“Yes. But maybe we can exchange the diary for a flight with Flying Girl.”
“Oh . . . do you think so?”
“I believe she will. So, let me tell you what I want you to do . . .”
“You mean you’re not coming too?” interrupted Egg.
“No. I don’t want Grazy to see me . . . it might upset her again. Besides, when she sees you, she’ll think it’s me.” Grandmother and granddaughter not only shared their first names; but they also shared something else. When Grammy was Egg’s age, she looked almost exactly like her namesake. The resemblance was amazing. And in all the times that Egg had visited, she had never met Grazy, though she saw her once or twice from a distance. And almost certainly, Grazy saw her. But the older woman’s eyesight wasn’t very good and she probably never noticed the resemblance between her ex-best-friend and Egg.
So the older woman gave her granddaughter instructions.
“Well then . . . wish me luck.”
*****
Grazy walked slowly down the path towards the lake. In her hands were a camera and the diary. This time she was going to be ready. She would set-up the camera but hide it from Eloise. When her ex-best friend flew over, she would take pictures . . . it would be the proof she needed. Then the newspaper would definitely publish the story and everyone would know she wasn’t crazy.
She made her way to the very spot where she had been fishing fifty years ago and first saw her friend fly. There was a bush at the edge of the cliff and a perfect place to set up the camera. After hiding it, she took a cord, attached one end to the shutter switch, and held the other end in her hand.
Smiling at how clever she was, she sat down and waited.
*****
Egg flew the short distance to the lake. She hovered above the surrounding cliffs looking for Grazy. After a moment, she spotted the woman sitting down next to a bush at one of the highest points above the water.
She flew over and slowly and gracefully landed right in front of her. “Hello, Grazy.”
The older woman was stunned into the silence. She stared at the girl with her eyes as wide as saucers and her mouth hanging open. It took her a full minute before she could talk. “Eloise . . . is that really you?”
“Yes, of course.”
“But . . . but . . . you’re so young. You have to be the same age as when I first saw you fly.”
“I’m nine . . . so that would be about the right age. You were probably ten at the time.”
Grazy wasn’t sure which shocked her more – seeing Eloise fly, or seeing her so young. “But . . . but . . . how is it possible? I just saw you an hour ago. How did you become young again?”
Egg was to try and avoid fibbing to Grazy if at all possible. So she ignored the question and said, “Grazy, I’ll take you flying if you’d like. I should have done this fifty years ago. I hope you’ll forgive me?”
“No . . . I can never forgive you.”
“I understand. But take my hand anyway and we’ll fly over the lake.” Egg held out her hand.
“No.”
Now the young girl was confused. “I thought you said if I take you flying, you’d return the diary.”
“No, I’m not going to return it. I found it and now it’s mine. And . . .” she reached into the bush and took out the camera “with these pictures I just took of you, that newspaper will buy my story. And in a week, the whole world will know that you can fly and that I’M NOT CRAZY.” She yelled the last part.
This wasn’t going according to her Grammy’s plan and Egg wasn’t sure what to do. “Grazy, please come fly with me.” Egg held out her hand.
The older woman angrily shook her head and took a step backwards. Unfortunately, she tripped over the cord she had tied to the camera’s shutter. Her arms wind-milled in a frantic effort to regain her balance, but it was too late. Grazy screamed as she fell off the cliff.
*****
About ten minutes later, Egg returned to her grandmother’s house. When she went inside she said with a big smile “Grammy, I got my diary back” and held it up for the older woman to see.
“Oh, that’s wonderful dear. So, tell me what happened.”
“Well, it didn’t quite go like you thought it would.”
“Really? What happened?”
“Grazy didn’t want to go flying. She had a camera hidden in a bush and took my picture. She was going to sell it to some newspaper.”
“Oh, my. Why did she change her mind?”
“Because she fell off the cliff.”
“What? Is she alright?” asked the horrified woman.
“Oh, she’s fine. I caught her just before she smashed into the rocks at the bottom. Thank goodness I wore my ring on my right hand.”
Worn on her left hand, the ring allowed Egg to change her size. Worn on the right hand, it gave her great strength.
“I’m glad, too. But what in the world made you wear it? And why did you wear it on the right hand and not the left?”
“Umm . . . I don’t really know. When I was getting dressed, I had no intention of putting it on. But when I went to close the little chest, the ring kind of twinkled at me. So, I took it out and slipped it on. But, I don’t know why I put it on my right hand.”
“Very, very interesting. It’s like the ring knew it would be needed. Anyway, finish your story about Grazy.”
“Well, after I saved her, she gave me a big hug and started to cry. Then she said she was sorry and that she missed me . . . I mean you . . . and she would burn the pictures. And, she gave me back the diary.”
“Did you ever take her flying?”
“We flew around the lake then I flew her to her house.”
“And . . .”
“She hugged me once more and smiled. Then she went inside.”
“You did wonderfully, my love. I’m very proud of you. Only . . .” she didn’t finish so Egg did for her.
“. . . only you wish she could remember so that you two could be best friends again. Right?”
Eloise, the elder, didn’t answer. She couldn’t; she was crying for a friend she had lost so many years ago.
Chapter 2 – Itchy and Scratchy
The next evening Egg decided to call her grandmother to make sure she was alright. She had been very upset about ‘you know who’. “Hi, Grammy.”
“Hello, little one. How are you?”
“Actually, I think I might have gotten poison ivy or something on my face when I was at the lake. My cheeks are bright red and they itch something terrible. I look like a circus clown. Mom says it’ll go away in about a week. But that’s not why I called. I wanted
to make sure that you were okay. Are you feeling a little bit better?”
“Oh, sweetheart, thank you so much for asking. Yes, I’m feeling terrific. Do you know why?”
“Because I called?”
The older woman laughed. “Well, that’s part of it. But the other reason is that Grazy and I made up. We’re friends again. Isn’t that marvelous?”
“GRAMMY” Egg yelled in her excitement. “OH MY GOSH. That’s just way too cool for words. How? What happened?”
“It was the most amazing thing. About ten o’clock this morning, I answered a knock on the door and to my surprise, it was Grazy. In her hand was a vase full of spring flowers that she had picked from her garden . . .”
“. . . and she said ‘Eloise, these are for you.’ Well, I stood there like a big goof just staring from Grazy’s face to the flowers.”
“Then what happened?”
“After an embarrassing few moments, I finally found my voice and said ‘Thank you, Grazy. Would you like to come in for some tea?’ And she said yes. Anyway, we sat and chatted about this and that for a while then I just had to ask what made her come over . . . was it the fact that she was moving away?”
“No . . . well, that’s part of it” she said. “But, the real reason is that I had the strangest dream. You and I were at the lake and you were young again. And then you saved me when I fell and . . .” she stopped talking and looked down at her hands that were resting on her lap. “. . . .it’s all kind of mixed up. But what I did remember very clearly was how much you meant to me, how much I loved you.” She stopped again, and this time she wiped at the tears in her eyes. “I’m just an old fool for wasting all these years over something so silly. And I was hoping that you could forgive me.” Now she was sobbing uncontrollably.
Eloise walked over, sat by her childhood friend, and pulled her close. “We’re both old fools, and there’s nothing to forgive.” Now they were both crying, not from sadness, but from happiness.
“So, my little one, Grazy and I are friends again; even if it’s only for a little while before she moves away.”
“Grammy,” Egg sniffled, “I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you, dear. I know the flying suit will bring you great joy and many wonderful adventures. I just pray that it doesn’t ever come between you and the people you love.”
*****
That night Egg went to bed very happy. It was so wonderful that her Grammy got her best friend back . . . even if it was only for a little while. As she snuggled into her big fluffy pillows, she decided that tonight she would take her Grammy’s advice and ask Dazzle about the creepy snake bracelet before she tried to figure out what it did. Both she and her grandmother shared the same uneasy feelings about it. She closed her eyes and as she almost always did, Egg fell asleep very quickly.
“Dazzle” her mind called out. “Dazzle, can I talk to you?”
“I am here.”
“Hi, Dazzle. Hi Storm.”
“Storm cannot hear you.”
“Oh. Why?”
“He is not here.”
“Where did he go?”
“Nowhere.”
“Huh?”
“It is not important. Someday I will explain.”
“If you say so,” the girl answered reluctantly since her curiosity was piqued. “Dazzle, can I ask you something?”
“You may ask. But, be warned, I may not be able to answer.”
“I want to find out about the magic of the bracelet but the snakes really, really scare me. I don’t like snakes. So . . . “
“Scared? Did you say scared?”
“Yes. So I was wondering . . .”
Dazzle interrupted her. “How do you face such fear?”
“Um . . . that’s why I’m talking to you. I’m afraid to put it on because it might do something super horrible. So I was hoping you could tell me that it won’t hurt me.”
“The One I seek would never require assurance such as that. She would be cautious, yes . . . careful, most certainly . . . but never scared into inaction. Your reaction to the bracelet saddens me. I had believed you were the one I have waited so long for . . . but may haps I was wrong. I must leave to consider this unfortunate development.”
“No, no . . . Dazzle, wait” but she was gone. Egg woke up from the dream with a start. It took her a moment to understand where she was and what had just happened. Then she put her hand to her cheeks and tried not to cry.
But she did. Dazzle was gone and she felt like she had lost her best friend.
*****
Egg got out of bed and with a great effort, she forced herself to stop crying. She needed to think and that’s hard to do when your face is leaking water all over your pretty pink pajamas.
Her first thought was that this was the only time that her Grammy’s advice turned out to be wrong. And not just ordinary wrong, but catastrophically, monumentally, gigantically, stupendously and spectacularly wrong. Well . . . you get the idea.
Even though it was late, Egg wanted to call her grandmother and tell her what had happened. But before she dialed the number, an idea came to her. She went to her desk, took out the key and unlocked the chest that contained her flying suit and jewelry. Off went her pajamas and on went the suit. Then she took a deep breath, gathered what little courage she could muster and pulled out the dreaded, and ever-so-icky, snake bracelet.
Holding it with just two fingers and at arm’s length, she looked at it through scrunched eyes that were almost squinty shut. Taking one more deep breath, she went to slip it over her right hand.
But she couldn’t. As the bracelet crossed over her fingers, it began to shrink. It became so small that she couldn’t get it past the widest part of her hand. “Curiouser and Curiouser,” she said to no one in particular.
The ring and necklace had been too large for her. But each time she put them on, they would shrink to fit. So why was the bracelet shrinking to stop her from wearing it. That didn’t make any sense.
Since she had no choice, she took the bracelet off her hand and it grew back to its original size. So she quickly tried to put it back on . . . but it shrank again. “Guess I can’t fool it.”
What to do, what to do? Calling her grandmother seemed like the logical next step. But again, as she was about to dial the number, she stopped. If she was going to be Flying Girl and battle evil, defeat ugly villains and save cats, dogs and obnoxious boys from harm, it was about time she made her own decisions. Well, maybe she would ask for advice sometimes since she was still only nine. But right now she goofed and she needed to make it right.
“Okay” she said out loud “exactly how did I goof?”
While she pondered the question, she sat on her bed holding the bracelet in her left hand while slipping it on and off the fingers of her right one. It was kind of neat watching it shrink then grow then shrink.
As to how she had messed up, she wasn’t really sure. So, she replayed the conversation with Dazzle. “Oh my gosh. I said I was scared then, to make it worse, I said I wouldn’t do anything until she said it wouldn’t hurt me. Yikes. What kind of superhero would say that?”
A horrible thought popped into her head. “What if Dazzle is stopping the bracelet from fitting. Maybe because she thinks I’m afraid, she won’t let me wear it.”
She wasn’t really expecting an answer . . . but she got one. The eyes of the snake twinkled. Egg’s mouth dropped open and she sat there staring at it. “That was weird,” she finally managed to say.
She tried the bracelet one more time . . . and this time it slipped easily over her hand and shrank to fit snuggly on her wrist.
*****
“Dazzle.”
“I am here.”
“Dazzle, I figured out why the bracelet didn’t fit.”
“I know. What became of your fear?”
“Oh, that. It was just me being little girl silly.”
“Fear of the unknown is not silly.
“It isn’t?”
“
Only if it stops you from doing what needs to be done.”
“So it’s okay to be afraid?
“Many times it is wise to be afraid. It makes one more cautious.
“Are you ever afraid?”
“Every day.”
“Why?”
“Of this I cannot yet speak.”
“Dazzle, are you going to leave me again?”
“Perhaps. But, you are only two tasks away from proving yourself.”
“What happens then?”
“Then I will tell you my story. And, from that moment, we will be sisters.”
“Really? Will I get to meet you?”
“Be patient, little one. In time you will know all.”
“Good night, Dazzle.”
“Egg . . . my heart sang with joy when you faced your fears. Sleep well.”
Chapter 3 – Fog City
Egg had absolutely no idea.
Sitting on the edge of her bed in her flying suit with the serpent bracelet snug on her right wrist, she wasn’t sure what to do next. It wasn’t like she really figured out how the other jewelry worked . . . it had been pure luck. But now she had to unlock the mystery of the stupid snake or Dazzle might never come back.
But she couldn’t even guess at how the thing worked. She lifted her hand and stared at the bracelet thinking it might give away its secrets if she was nice to it. After five minutes, it was obvious the snake had nothing to say – at least not to her.
She glanced at her alarm clock and wasn’t particularly surprised to see it was almost midnight. Her eyes were heavy and it was difficult to stay awake – this was way past her bedtime. She tried to think . . . but the inside of her head was lost in a fog.
Sighing loudly, Egg got up and went to the bathroom to splash water on her eyes. Looking in the mirror over the sink, she had to frown at the bright red cheeks staring back at her. She really did look like a clown and the boys at school would never let her forget it.
Egg shook her head sadly at the frightful sight staring back at her. It was so unfair. She put her hands over her cheeks to cover the unsightly color, looked at her reflection and said “Eloise Grace Graystone – you don’t deserve to be punished for helping Grazy and Grammy.” She squeezed her cheeks as if trying to grab the redness in her hands so she could throw it away . . . then said the strangest thing. “Poison Ivy be gone and take with you this unsightly redness.”
Boxed Set: Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood: [The 12 book 1st adventure + the series prequel] Page 24
