The Perfect Match

by E. D. Baker

  Cory was almost asleep when she heard the sharp sound of a twig breaking in the woods. Her eyes shot open and she stared into the darkness, imagining all sorts of things. “It was just an animal walking through the forest,” she told herself, and closed her eyes again. Something rustled in the underbrush below her window, and she couldn’t help but picture strange creatures slinking through the woods. She told herself that she’d be crazy to check the windows and doors again, but she finally got out of bed to close and lock the bedroom window. Nearly an hour passed before she finally fell into a restless sleep.

  CHAPTER

  3

  Cory was hungry when she awoke in the morning, so she hurried downstairs, hoping to make a big breakfast. Unfortunately, porridge was the only breakfast food she could find in the larder. Cory had never made porridge before. Instead of a dash of salt, she added a pinch, and then another for good measure. When it was done, she left it on the stove to cool and took the trash out the back door. Although she was gone only a minute or two, she heard the sound of a spoon tapping a metal pot when she stepped inside.

  Cory tiptoed into the kitchen. Peeking around the corner, she was horrified to see a girl a little older than herself standing by the stove eating porridge directly from the pot.

  “What are you doing?” Cory cried.

  The girl turned and nearly dropped the pot. “Nothing,” she replied as she set it back on the stove.

  “What do you mean, ‘nothing’? I saw you eating my breakfast! Who are you? What are you doing here?”

  “I live here,” said the girl.

  “No, you don’t. The Bruins live here.”

  “They said I could eat here.”

  “No, they didn’t, or they would have told me,” said Cory. “This is ridiculous! I’m not having this conversation. You need to leave. Get out and don’t come back.”

  “Who’s going to make me?”

  “I am,” said Cory. She looked around the room, searching for something she could use to protect herself. The first thing she saw was a long-handled wooden spoon. Plucking it from the drying rack, she waved it in the air.

  “What are you going to do, hit me with a spoon?” the girl said, laughing.

  Exasperated, Cory put the spoon down and opened a cupboard door. She grabbed a rolling pin and held it up. It wasn’t much, but it was more substantial than the spoon. “Get out now!” she said, brandishing the rolling pin.

  “Put that down. You’re not going to hit me with that, either,” said the girl.

  “I’m not holding anything,” Cory said, taking a step toward her.

  The girl backed up a step. “Yes, you are.”

  “And I’m certainly not going to bop you with the thing I’m not holding,” said Cory. “Leave, or I can’t be responsible for the thing I’m not doing.”

  “Oh, all right,” said the girl. “I just wanted a little breakfast. Your porridge was awful, by the way. Far too much salt.”

  Cory scowled. “Nobody asked for your opinion,” she said, advancing on the girl again.

  The girl started to leave, but stopped just inside the door. “Thanks for breakfast!” she said with a little wave of her hand.

  Cory locked the door behind her, then ran around the first floor to be sure that the windows and other doors were locked. She didn’t think the girl had taken anything, but she would certainly tell the bears about their brash intruder.

  She sighed as she studied the pot of partially eaten porridge. It was cold now, a stranger had been eating it, plus it was apparently very salty. Ah, well, she thought as she dumped the rest of the porridge into the trash. There’s always bread.

  There wasn’t much to clean up after breakfast, but Cory made sure that everything was spotless before letting herself relax. It wasn’t long before she heard the bears’ voices.

  “You have to admit that visit was worse than the last one,” the father bear grumbled. “All your brother talked about was his promotion.”

  “I wanna go play with my friends!” whined the cub.

  “We’re going to have breakfast first,” his mother told him as she opened the front door. “Your father’s stomach has been growling all the way home. If only he hadn’t gotten into an argument with your uncle Norman just as we sat down to eat!”

  “That wasn’t my stomach growling,” said her husband. “That was me, thinking about all the things I should have said to your brother.”

  “Hi,” said Cory. “How was your trip?”

  “Lovely!” said the mother bear.

  “Terrible!” said the father bear.

  “Boring!” said the cub, heading toward the stairs.

  While the father bear looked in his wallet for the money to pay Cory, she told the bears about the girl who had eaten the porridge. “Just make sure you always lock your doors,” Cory told them. They all turned to look at the front door that was still standing open.

  “Thank you for house-sitting,” the father bear said as he handed her the money.

  “We might need you again in a few months,” said the mother bear. “My brother already invited us back.”

  “Or never,” said the father bear. “Because that’s when I want to see him again.”

  When Cory returned home, she was surprised to find her uncle cutting the dead blossoms off flowers in the front yard. “You didn’t have to stay home from work on my account,” she said. “I told you I’d be fine.”

  “I didn’t,” said Micah. “However I am glad to see you back. School was canceled. That novice water nymph broke the pipes again, although it was a slow leak this time and the janitor didn’t discover it until early this morning. I thought I’d start on that enclosure for Noodles that the animal doctor suggested.”

  “That would be wonderful!” said Cory. “I have to send a message to Blue, then head over to the FLEA station, but I can help with the enclosure when I get back.”

  “Don’t make any promises you might not be able to keep,” Micah told her. “There’s a message in the basket for you.”

  “Do you know who sent it?” Cory asked as she started up the porch steps.

  Micah shook his head. “I didn’t look. Hey, Noodles!” he shouted at the woodchuck. “Don’t dig there! You already dug up all my other hyacinth bulbs!”

  While Micah hurried to rescue his remaining bulbs, Cory headed for the message basket. There was only one message waiting for her.

  Corialis Feathering,

  I need someone to watch my daughter for the afternoon today. My neighbor, Gladys, recommended that I contact you. Can you come over around 1:00?

  Minerva Diver,

  2372 North Shore Road

  Cory knew exactly where the woman lived, having babysat Gladys’s younger children just down the street. Gladys lived in an enormous shoe with the youngest of her forty-three children, forty-two of whom had been kidnapped by her husband, the Pied Piper. Gladys was a good woman and Cory doubted she would recommend her to someone who wasn’t nice, so she sent a message back to Mrs. Diver saying that she’d be there.

  After sending a message to Blue, Cory left for the FLEA station house. Located in the middle of town, it was a big building set between the Merry Maiden, which specialized in clothing for female ogres, and the Rowdy Radish, a fruit and veggie juice bar. The station house took up most of one block. It had only a few windows, but the thing that Cory noticed most were the three doors evenly spaced across the front. The door on the far left was no more than two feet tall. Cory thought it was probably meant for smaller visitors to the station, like sprites or brownies. The door on the far right was twelve feet tall, and looked thicker and sturdier than the others, reminding her of the door to Olot’s cave. The door in the middle looked normal, so Cory took that one, and found herself in a small room with two more doors and a counter with a sliding glass window above it.

  A little old brownie woman sat behind the counter, her head barely visible over the top. She wore an angry scowl, which only got worse when Cory said, �
��I’m Cory Feathering. Officer Deeds asked me to come in to make a statement.”

  “You just made one, so go ahead and leave,” the little woman said with a sour twist to her lips.

  Cory sighed. The little brownie woman reminded her of a teacher she’d once had; a difficult woman whom she had never liked. “That wasn’t the statement I need to make,” said Cory. “May I please see Officer Deeds? He’s expecting me.”

  “Humph!” said the little woman. “Then why didn’t you say so in the first place?”

  When the woman got down from her seat, Cory could no longer see her. She could hear the patter of feet, however, and a door opening and closing. A short time later, the door opened and two sets of feet were back. While the brownie woman climbed back onto her seat, the goblin officer, Deeds, opened a door to glare at Cory.

  “Follow me,” he barked.

  Cory followed him down a long corridor lined with drawings of various species, some nasty looking, some not, but they all had names and dates under their pictures. She paused by the picture of a slobbering troll. “Spleen Ripsnort. Arrested on” it said, followed by a date.

  “This is our walk of shame,” said Officer Deeds. “Let’s hope we never see your picture here.”

  “Why would you?” said Cory. “I’ve never done anything to warrant being here.”

  The goblin officer snorted. “You’re here now, aren’t you?”

  Cory stared at him in disbelief. “Because you asked me here to make a statement!”

  “Likely excuse,” he said, shaking his head. “Here, have a seat. Junior Officer Blue is going to sit in while you tell me what happened. He wants to be a Culprit Interrogator, so he needs to learn how it’s done.”

  “But I’m not a culprit! I haven’t done anything!”

  “That’s what they all say,” said Officer Deeds. “Can’t you people ever come up with anything new?”

  “But I . . . You can’t . . .”

  “Cory!” Blue called, emerging from a different hallway. “I got your message. I’m glad to hear the house-sitting went well. Here, have a seat.” He pulled out a chair for her in front of a desk, then dragged another chair over so he could sit beside her.

  Officer Deeds sat down across from them. Reaching into a drawer, he pulled out a fresh leaf and an old, chewed ink stick. “So,” he said. “Start at the beginning.”

  “Well,” said Cory. “It all started after I quit the Tooth Fairy Guild.”

  “Why did you quit?” asked Officer Deeds. “Did they beat you? Steal your lunch? Threaten to turn you into sausage? Roll you in a carpet and dance the tarantella on top of you?”

  “No, of course not. It was nothing like that! The job just wasn’t right for me. I wanted to help people, and collecting teeth wasn’t helping anyone.”

  “That’s not much of a reason for quitting,” said Officer Deeds.

  “Is this really relevant?” asked Blue. “I thought you wanted to hear what the Tooth Fairy Guild has done.”

  “I do,” said Officer Deeds. “Stop changing the subject, Miss Feathering. Tell me what happened after you quit.”

  Cory rolled her eyes and started again. “One morning someone threw a big plaster tooth through our window.”

  “And did you report it to the FLEA?” asked Officer Deeds.

  “You know I did. You were the one who came out!”

  “Uh-huh,” said the officer as he made a note on the leaf. “And what happened next?”

  “A lot of things,” said Cory. She proceeded to list all the times the TFG had harassed her or tried to make her life miserable, from making rain follow her wherever she went, to plaguing her with worms, and seagulls, crabs and gnats, to sending a wolf to try to blow down her uncle’s house.

  Officer Deeds wrote everything down, using one leaf after another, while Blue did his best to keep the goblin from tormenting Cory. When she thought they were finally done, Deeds gave her a baleful look and said, “That’s quite some story, miss. I don’t know if anyone will believe it.”

  “A lot of people believe it! And I have tons of witnesses.” Cory told him of all the people who had seen what the Tooth Fairy Guild had done and how she was sure they would all back her up.

  When Officer Deeds finally pocketed the leaves he had used, he turned one last time to Cory and said, “We’re going to need you to testify in front of a big jury. We’ll send you a message when the date is set. It should be in a week or two.”

  “I’ll have to go through this all over again?” Cory said in dismay.

  The officer nodded. “In front of many people.”

  “I’ll be there,” Blue told her as he took her hand. “You won’t be alone.”

  “They won’t let you in,” said Deeds. “Only the board and the person testifying.”

  “Well, then, even if I can’t be present, your grandfather will be because he’s on the board.”

  “Pfft!” said Officer Deeds as he walked away. “I never have believed in coddling the prisoners.”

  “Don’t pay any attention to him,” Blue said as he escorted Cory out of the station house. “He’s always like that. He likes to unsettle his suspects and it’s become such a habit that he does it with everyone now. Are you going home? My lunch break just started and I can give you a ride.”

  “No to home, yes to the ride,” said Cory. “I have a job at one on North Shore Road and I should head straight there.”

  “What is it this time? Mowing lawns, canning beans . . .”

  “Babysitting,” Cory told him. “I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to take jobs like this, but this is for a friend of a friend.”

  She had enjoyed watching Gladys’s children and appreciated that their mother had warned her that a strange woman was saying bad things about her. The strange woman had turned out to be Mary Mary, the head of the Tooth Fairy Guild, who was out to punish Cory for leaving the guild. After Gladys stood up for her, Cory considered her a friend, which meant that helping out a friend of Gladys’s was one way of saying thank you.

  CHAPTER

  4

  It didn’t take Cory and Blue long to get to North Shore Road. When they drove past Gladys’s house, some of the children were outside playing while an older girl who Cory had never seen before sat in a lawn chair reading a book. Gladys had told Cory that some of her older children weren’t doing so well out on their own and one or two might move back in with her. It looked as if one of them had. The children all waved when they saw Cory, and looked disappointed when she and Blue continued down the street.

  Blue had been checking the addresses on the mailboxes and finally stopped in front of the last house before the lake. “This is it,” he said, pointing at a mailbox covered with painted water lilies. “Is your client a flower fairy?”

  Cory shrugged as she climbed off the solar cycle. “I don’t know anything about her, but this house would be perfect for a fairy specializing in water lilies. Look at that view!”

  The road ran down to the water’s edge where a dock and a boat ramp were located. On the right side of the road, people had parked their carts and solar cycles. On the left side, a large house was set well back from the road with a lawn that sloped down to the lake.

  “Do you want me to wait until you go in?” Blue asked, eyeing the house. “I should go straight back to the station, but I can stay.”

  “There’s no need,” Cory said. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from me for a while. I have rehearsal tonight, so I won’t be home until late.” After giving him a quick kiss, she watched Blue ride off before starting down the path to the house. Although she was capable of taking care of herself, it was nice to have people care about her the way Blue and Micah did.

  The house was silent as Cory stepped onto the small porch and knocked on the door. She waited a few minutes and had begun to wonder where everyone was when she heard voices coming from the lake. A woman with long green hair was emerging from the water with a girl around ten years old behin
d her. The girl seemed reluctant to leave. As she trudged to the shore, a tendril of water rose out of the lake and followed her. When the girl finally stepped onto land, the tendril fell back into the lake with a splash.

  “Hurry up, Rina!” the woman called as she walked toward the back of the house.

  When Cory thought the woman had had enough time to get inside, she knocked on the door again. “Coming!” a voice called from inside the house.

  Less than a minute later, the door opened and the woman stood in front of Cory rubbing her dripping hair with a towel. “Minerva Diver?” Cory asked.

  “You must be Cory,” the woman replied. “I’ve heard so much about you from Gladys and her children that I feel as if I already know you. Come in! Rina will be down in a . . . Oh, here she is! Rina, I told you that you need to change your clothes. I’m going to ask Cory to take you to the park.”

  “But I want to go back in the lake!” the girl said in a whiny voice.

  “Absolutely not! I told you that you were grounded for two days after what you did at school, yet you still went in the lake today! Cory, I’m sorry you have to deal with this, but I have an appointment I can’t miss. I’ve never had anyone babysit Rina before, so this is a new experience for both of us. I wouldn’t have known who to call if Gladys hadn’t recommended you. If someone had been more careful, there would be school today and I wouldn’t have had to bother you.” She gave her daughter a pointed look. “Go on, Rina, and be quick. I’m going to give Cory money for ice cream, but she’s not to buy you any unless you listen to what she tells you.”

  Rina perked up at the mention of ice cream, but she still grumbled as she disappeared up a flight of stairs.

  “I’m sorry about that,” said Minerva. “Rina’s not usually like this and . . . Oh, who am I kidding? She wasn’t like this until she heard about the baby, but ever since I told her, she’s been surly and stubborn.” Minerva patted her rounded stomach and sighed. “Now all she wants to do is swim in the lake. Sometimes it takes me hours to get her to come to the surface.”