Part One: The Fairies of the Woodland- Family Matters

“Now you’d better get ready for tonight my daughters,” Mama told me and my sisters “ For we are having the dance of the New Year and you must be dressed in your finest.” “Yes mama”, we chorused. As I went up to my room to get dressed, I thought of my family. Mama, who always watches over us, and always has on the sweetest smelling perfumes, made from the extra plants we gather each day. She has long brown hair like mine, and brown eyes. Papa, who takes care of us and cuts, sticks for chairs and tables for our evening parties each day. My five sisters, who with me are the helpers around the house.
Katherine, the baby, (Kate for short) who is the world champion crier and always is making a fuss. She is a nice chubby baby, her short blond hair just starting to grow. She loves farrios a chocolate cookie with bits of brownie and is constantly squawking out “FARRIO! FARRIO! MAMA FARRIO!” I believe those are the only words she knows.
Then there is three-year-old Sarah (Sari for short), who is the cutest little fairy in the whole world. Her curly brown locks hang down beside her little face; her mouth is always smiling with its pearly white teeth. But her eyes her smiley brown eyes are the things that made me take to her. From the day she was born she has been my best friend and I hers. As you may be able to tell she is my favorite of the family.
Next up is five -year old Leighane. Everyone calls her Leah. Her brownish blond hair hangs straight by her sides unlike most other little fairies. She has brown eyes and can fly like the wind. Really Leah can fly seventy miles-per-hour.
Then there is eight-year-old Melissa. (Missy for short) She has curly blond locks down to her shoulders, and beautiful blue eyes. Baby Blue. And it is Melissa who can Double-Dutch 300 times without making a mistake.
Then there is of course me twelve-year-old Dana. I have brown eyes and long and I mean long wavy brown hair. A braid will come down to my knees. I also love to draw. Draw anything! People or flowers or landscapes, but ecspessily horses! I love horses. Well not real horses but fairy horses. They are tiny like us and you guessed it have wings!
And then there is fifteen-year-old Kristen. (Krissie for short) She is a bit bossy, but pretty nice. Her hair is blond and curly like Missy and Kate, and her eyes are a pretty blue green. She loves swimming, but lately she is helping Mama more & more to take care of the little ones. We have always done that her and I, but now she is doing more than half the work. And then there are my brothers.
First there is the baby and unidentical twin of Kate, Ronald everyone calls him Ron. He has short curly blond hair like his sister but unlike his sister he has already began to grow his wings! He’s not even one! I didn’t grow my wings till I was two! He also loves the rattle papa made for him when he was born. He plays with it endlessly!
Then there is two-year-old Gregory, (Greg for short) he has jet-black hair and black eyes. But this is the exciting thing; yesterday just yesterday he learned to fly! Oh I am so excited!
Next there is six-year-old David. (Dave for short) He has short curly brown hair and brown eyes. Plus he loves to talk. He talks so much that he didn’t even learn to fly in a loop till he was five; he talked so much in his lessons.
Next there’s ten-year-old Thomas. (Tom for short) He has straight brown hair and brown eyes and he LOVES to swim. He is even on the fairies Swim Team! (They dug a little space in the ground and filled it with water for a swimming pool.)
Last but not least there is 16 year-old George. He has reddish-brown hair blue eyes and LOVES to make mischief. He is always playing tricks on the girls. But lately there have been less tricks and more serious words. Like Krissie he is getting older and soon he must take a job. I miss the young, playful George.
Sigh! Oh well. Anyway that’s my family!
You probably have guessed we are all fairies. Fairies live in circles of trees surrounding clearings. Every night we go out into the clearing and dance and sing and play. But tonight was special. Tonight was the New Year Ball.
“Hurry up Dana!” Mama said. I snapped out of my trance and hurried upstairs to get dressed. I ran into my room, which I share with Leighane, and Sarah. Sarah was trying to get dressed. Unfortunately she has not mastered getting dressed by herself yet. She had her dress on upside down! I helped her put it on the right way. It was a beautiful blue dress with a full skirt. Leighane was wearing a pink dress which looked like a copy of Sarah’s except for the color. I did their hair and sent them downstairs. Then I got dressed in my white ball gown that mama had made just for the occasion. And just for me. It wasn’t a hand-me-down like most of my things. I applied make-up and put my hair up in a bun. I walked downstairs.
“You look beautiful!” Mama said. All my other siblings came down shortly after that.
“Hurry up!" Mama said "It’s quarter to seven when the ball begins!” We hurried down. All the other fairies were there already. The ball began! The mayor of our clearing spoke. (It was a very boring speech.) Then we danced. I was dancing with Leighane when we heard a noise that sounded like thunder.
“What was that?” Leighane said.
“Giants!!” someone cried, “Run!”

Part Two: The Fairies of the Woodland- Run, Run

Giants eat fairies!! Our three major enemies are giants, witches, and elves. I thought fast. “Missy” I shouted. “Y-Y-Yes? ” she said. “Grab Gregory and Leah and try to find Dave, and Tom. Krissie and George’ll be alright I guess. Then follow me!!!” I held Sari by the hand, put Ron on my shoulders and held Kate. Missy came running over holding Leah by the hand with Greg on her shoulders. She was followed by Tom. “I couldn’t find Dave. But I think he was dancing with Krissie!” she yelled over the noise. “OK. Grab on!” I shouted. Missy grabbed on to Sarah and Tom grabbed on to Leah. We ran into the darkness. We couldn’t fly because the trees blocked our way. As I ran I thought, Krissie and George could hopefully take care of themselves and Dave too, and Mama and Papa were adults. All the adults were helping prepare the war party. We ran and ran! Until the babies had fallen asleep. I was sure it was midnight. Leah cried, “I’m tired.” Thomas put her on his shoulders and we continued to run. Finally it was morning and we figured we had run long enough. It was only the crack of dawn though so we decided to get a few hours of sleep. When I woke up I saw Tom and Missy in peaceful slumber but where were the little ones? I ran to look. Luckily I found Leah. Her excuse was, “We were only playing hide-and seek!” So I joined the game. When Tom and Missy woke up we had a late breakfast of berries and fruits that grew in the woods. We found a stream a few minutes away and drank its heavenly water. We lived that way for a few days. We used a giant lake that connected to the stream to bathe and wash clothes. Then on the 5th day of living there (I was keeping track) as we ate lunch we heard a cry of “Ahoy!” Pirates! Pirates aren’t really our enemies because they never searched for us, but when they find us they had been known to take us prisoner! Actually they aren’t even REAL pirates they're elf pirates. Still they are much bigger than fairies so when I heard “Ahoy” I grabbed Sarah and hid behind a clump of bushes. “Sari” I said. “We have to be quiet as a mouse.” She loves that expression and smiled but she was quiet as a mouse. We watched in dismay as the pirates took our brothers and sisters who were running around franticly looking for a place to hide. They took the younger ones, and tied the older ones to trees saying, “We’ll come back for you.” Missy whispered, “Don’t worry!” to Thomas and Leah and suddenly I knew I must go with them. What if the pirates threw Kate off the side of the ship? I had to know. So I whispered to Sarah, “Remember that good witch that came to The Clearing one day?” “Yes” she said, “When the pirates take me and Missy, Thomas and Leah run into the forest. Run until you find someone who looks like her. Or a fairy. Tell them what happened Run along the stream! Hurry!!! We trust you.” “O-o-o-o- ok” Sarah said. So I acted like I was trying to untie Missy’s ropes when the pirates came. “Oh? Another” said the captain. They threw us all onto the ship. As the ship sailed away I saw Sarah running by the stream. “Please help us god!” I prayed “Please help Sarah!”

Part Three: Fairies in the Woodland- Verlas

And then the land disappeared. Please called Leah to no one in particular, “Rescue us!” “Calm down!” I said, “Sarah will get help!” “Why ‘d you have to come with us?” asked Missy “ Sari’s only three. It will take her ages to find help if she ever does!” “She will!” I said, “I know she will.” We were chained to the walls of the ship and I was remembering the look on Sarah’s face when I had left her. I just knew she’d come. She had to. “Dinner!” called a pirate. He gave us a dinner of bread and water and unchained us so we could eat. “I’m scared!” said Greg, and Kate and Ron started to cry. “Waaaahhh!” I went to feed the babies and calm them down. I was beginning to get afraid that if they didn’t stop endlessly crying they would get thrown overboard. It wasn’t all my imagination either. The pirates had threatened that! Meanwhile Sarah was running (she told me this later) she ran and ran suddenly she ran into a beautiful spirit-like creature. “ Are you good?” she said. For goodness sakes “Are you good?” What was she thinking? “I’m a verla.” It said. “Of course I’m good! Haven’t you heard of verlas little one?” “No” said Sarah. Oh my gosh! The fairies at home talked about verlas all the time. I have no idea why she didn’t remember. Verlas were bad! Verlas were pirates’ wives! “Oh well don’t worry little one” the verla continued “ I’ll take you home and help you get fixed up. There you can learn all about verla’s. C’mon! My name’s Sarah.” “Mine too!” said Sarah “ That sounds great but the reason I came here was to help Dana and Kate and Ron and Missy and Greg! Can you help me?” “Of course!” So as they waked Sarah told her, her story. “Hmmm. I’m not sure if I’ll be of use. But when you come stay with me for the night you can rest up, and in the morning we verlas will help you look for help.” “OK” Sarah said. So Verla Sarah took her to a room. Then the verla went to talk to her friend Verla Georgia, the town mayor. She explained to her that Sarah was planning to save her sisters and brothers. “That would utterly disrupt the pirates mission!” said Georgia “Exactly!” said Verla Sarah. “So we must make her forget about her brothers and sisters. (Sneak!) Do you have a spell, for forgetting?” “Hmm." said Georgia. "Oh yes. Wait here! I’ll get the Forgetting Powder,” She went inside and came back out with a tiny bottle. “Sprinkle some of this on that fairy Sarah every day. She’ll forget everything and believe whatever you tell her!” “Oh my!” said Verla Sarah “I’ll pretend I’m her mother. He, he, he! Me, a mother? Think of it!” She went home and that sneak sprinkled the powder on Sarah. Her plan worked perfectly! When I heard this I thought, “Oh good now Sarah’s going to get away, break out, Leave!” But no, Her plan worked perfectly! She sprinkled the powder on every day for two weeks. Then on the morning of the first day in the third week the giants came. Giants are a threat to everyone in the forest including verlas! “Lock yourself in honey! Save yourself!” yelled Verla Sarah pretending to be Sarah’s mother. In the excitement of the war though Verla Sarah forgot all about the Forgetful Powder. Yeah! Sarah remembered who she really was. Little by little. After two days her remembering was fully completed. She knew what she had to do! Sarah ran out the back door and into the woods. She remembered the words I’d said “Follow the stream.” She continued down the stream and found little creatures called floras. Floras are flower-like creatures. They can fly buy it is VERY hard for them. Pirates had captured some of them too! She told them her story. They asked if she wanted to come back to their village, but Sarah said no. “I need to help them right away!” she said. She trusted these creatures. I don’t know why but it’s a good thing she did for together they came up with a plan. “7” Leah counted meanwhile in the rocking ship Missy had gotten seasick. It was the 7th time she’d thrown up since Lunch! “You got to let us take her to the Deck!” I said “Fine but one and only one person may come, and not Miss I’ll-take care-of-you.” “Fine.” I said. I whispered to Leah, “You go Leah. If anything happens just come down and tell us.” “OK” she said, “I’ll go.” 5 minutes later she came running down. “DANA! DANA!” she yelled sobbing between each word. “THEY’VE THROWN HER OVERBOARD!” “WHAT?” I yelled, “ They (sob) just (sob) said ‘ now your sisters on the deck (sob) now she’s in the sea.’ And they (sob) threw (sob) her overboard (sob-sob-sob)!!!!” “Oh my gosh.” I gasped. “She can hardly swim!” Suddenly Tom jumped up, “ I’ll get her Dana. I’m the best swimmer in our clearing!” He began to yell and pound on the door! “You better let me out!!! You better!!” “Okay matey” said a pirate “but she’s already way far behind.” I rushed out with him pushing back Greg. “You can’t go!” I said “You’ll freeze and there’s undertows and riptides and” “You just watch me,” he said. He took some string from his pocket and tied be to the railing of the deck. “ You just stay right there.” he said and jumped into the FREEZING water after Missy. He swam and swam. She had just enough strength to reach out! “Tom” He pulled her back and I managed to untie myself and throw a rope down to help them up. The pirates were behind us laughing and getting drunk. “He’ll never do it!” they said. “ You would think that wouldn’t you.” I said. They turned around and there we were our hands on our hips smiling at them. Ha! Ha!

Part 4: Fairies of the Woodland- Floras and Flying

“ So I take your pot and carry you to the ship?” asked Sarah “Right! Fly as fast as you can!!!!!” said Flora Mandrena “Right. And then we split up. Right?” “Right.” Sarah and the Floras were going over their plan to save us. Finally! What if Missy had NOT been saved? What if Kate and Ron had been thrown overboard? Anyway. “OK. Ready everyone” Sarah asked. She picked up the pot and flew off. She flew and flew until her wings grew tired. She felt like dropping down to the ground only she couldn’t for there was no ground only the deep blue sea. Finally after they had been flying for hours Flora Mandrena shouted “Land ho!” “That’s not land!” Sarah said, “It can’t be! It’s - It’s Could it be? A ship?” She flew closer “Yes! YES! It’s the ship.” Said Flora Mandrena. “The pirate ship! Oh what will we do Oh what will we do?" “Split up” Sarah said, “You two go that way and distract the pirates! You two go with them and steal the keys! Then come back here and we’ll release the prisoners!” “Don’t worry!” I stroked Kate’s head “We’ll get out somehow. Achoo!” Missy, Tom and I had gotten bad colds from our little swim but we were recovering. I was putting Kate, Ron, and Greg into the rock-hard beds in the cell. Missy, Tom, and Leah were looking out the window for signs of help. “Kate? Ron?” I asked. They were asleep. I sat looking with the others for a while. Then I asked, “Tom what time is it?” “8 PM” he said looking at the watch he’d been wearing that terrible day. “Oh my gosh! We’d better get ready for bed! The pirates’ll have us up at 5” “Just a minute” said Tom “ I think I see something!” “You do.” Said Missy “In the air. It looks like …no it can’t be.” “Like what?” I demanded. “Umm. Umm…” “A FAIRY!” Leah screamed “SARAH” I rushed to the window. “It is. Oh my Sarah….” “ For goodness sakes” said Tom “ Can you stop all the mushy stuff? She’s carrying some floras on her back. Wake up the floras in the next cell Leah, and Missy call to Sarah make sure she knows where we are. Dana you and I have to get the little ones it’s a long way back to land I’m sure and they won’t be able to fly that far.” We rushed to our tasks. “I’ll get Kate and Sarah.” I told Tom. “You take Leah and do you think Missy can manage Ron and Greg?” “Yeah. She’ll be fine.” Tom shouted as a huge cheer arose Sarah was there. She looked tired and relieved. I grabbed her in a hug. “I said NO MORE MUSHY STUFF!” said Tom “We’ve gotta hurry!” I picked up Kate. Tom had Leah and Missy had Greg and Ron. “Wait!” Sarah said “the floras!” We helped to replant them and Tom took their pot. We were ready to go! Suddenly a pirate came running up from below deck! “You’re not getting away that easily,” he said thrusting his sword from one side to another. But we flew right over him away above the dark sea. We flew and flew. “Exactly how long was it Sarah?” asked Tom “Hours and Hours” she said. “Oh great.” I said. Finally hours later we got to land and went straight to sleep on the nice soft dirt. We lived like we had in the clearing before the pirates came. Then one day Greg said, “Home.” “You know what I said we should be trying to find our way home.” So we set off into the woods but after a few hours we were hopelessly lost. Suddenly Sarah shouted, “A LIGHT!” We headed toward it! It was a house. Tom knocked. A fairy boy who looked about my age opened the door. He had these cute blue eyes and wonderful blond hair. For a second I was overcome staring into his face. But then I pushed the others behind me and asked. “Are your parents home?” “I live alone.” He said. I was alarmed. Had he just said he lived alone with no one to watch him? “I am an orphan,” he explained. “When my parents were killed no one cared about me so I stayed here living alone.” “Oh.” I said, “Well we’re lost and we were wondering if you knew the way to. Mayor Clearing.” “Sure, but it’s so late! Why don’t you stay here for the night?” he asked. So we did. When I woke up the next morning I felt a blast of cold air. I looked out the window, then got dressed and walked to the kitchen. The boy was already there. “Well I guess we won’t be going to day. We’re snowed in. Sorry…what is your name? I didn’t quite catch it yesterday.” “Joseph” he said “Joseph King.” I stared at him and it was at that moment I realized I was in love. We were snowed in for a week and as we were my love grew. Then the snow stopped and we had to leave. “No” I said. “We should stay here and rest more. The little ones aren’t fully recovered.” I didn’t want to leave I wanted to stay. Forever maybe. “No, you better leave now.” Joseph said, “It’s a long way to Mayor Clearing and your parents must be worried. Just follow the path. It’s just right of here.” For the first time since the day we’d run off I thought of my parents, and joyful Krissie, playful George, and little David. I hoped they were all right for I realized I missed them terribly. What if they had gotten captured or worse eaten by giants?!?! With those thoughts I quickly consented to leave and we were off.

Part 5: Fairies of the Woodland- Walking and Talking

We found the path Joseph had mentioned and continued on our way. We walked all day. Then went into the woods to sleep the night. When we got up we tried to find the path but it was nowhere to be found!!! “Where’s the path?” asked Missy “Where IS the path?” “I don’t know.” I answered truthfully. “Wait there’s the stream we were by when the pirates took us!!! I’m sure it has the same clear water not even blue! We can build a raft and get back there at least! So we spent the next few days there building a raft, and headed down the river. “This IS relaxing.” Said Tom “Just laying on the river no troubles at all.” “Troubles!!!” screamed Greg “No, no troubles Greg.” Said Tom “TROUBLES!!!!!!” Greg yelled and cried. (It was a mixture) I turned around to comfort him. I gasped. We were about to go down a waterfall steeper than Splash Mountain in the Mayor Clearing amusement park! “Turn Around.” I managed to whisper. Tom, Leah, Ron, and Kate turned around as I closed my eyes as we went down the waterfall. “AIR!” I thought “I NEED AIR” I swam my way to the top and took a deep breath. But I was again pulled under. “AIR! AIR!” and that was the last thing I remembered. “Dana. Dana wake up.” I opened my eyes I was looking into the face of Tom. “Oh thank goodness!” Leah said Suddenly I remembered what had happened. “Is everyone OK?” I asked franticly. “What happened???” “Everyone’s OK.” Tom said soothingly “I guess I was the only one who could swim in the rapids. I got the babies first. Then Greg. Then Sari. Then Leah. By the time I got to you and Missy you were both unconscious!” He shuddered at the memory. “But Missy woke up hours ago so now everyone’s fine.” He instructed us to keep lying down and by the next day THAT was fine. The problem was we all got colds. But since Missy and I were still a little weak we got humongous fevers! An “I don’t feel so good.” By Missy was what triggered Tom to feel everyone’s heads pronounce me and Missy had giant fevers and tell us to “lie down immediately.” Tom was sort of being the doctor. After a few days we got REALLY feverish! I remember feeling confused and stuck between the real world and a weird world I knew nothing about. Tom said I was delirious. “We need a doctor,” he said “Hmm. If Sari could save us from a pirate ship don’t you think Sarah, Leah, Greg, Ron, and Kate can get a doctor? Huh Dana?” “George stop playing tricks on Leah!” I shrieked in my delirious state. Then suddenly for a moment I got my sane mind back. “Go with them.” I croaked “Rapids. Nothing to do here.” “Oh Dana! Dana!” Tom said, “GO!” I said, “OK, OK I’m going!” he said. And he took the raft which he had prepared and loaded the little ones on it. He also took some food. “We probably will be able to stop in the woods each night to get food.” He said, “This is for an emergency.” And they set off. They floated down the river and everything was fine. After a few days a town was spotted. They went in and asked a nice-looking man fairy, “Where’s the doctor?” “You kids alone” he asked, “ As a matter of fact, yes!” said Leah. Doesn’t she know don’t talk to strangers? The stranger said, “Come with me.” But to the doctor they did not go. They were taken into a tree into a house into a closet and the door was locked behind them with the stranger laughing cruelly outside it. What a prediument we were in then! Two sick. And let’s see Tom, Leah, Greg, Sari, Kate and Ron. That’s six kidnapped. I didn’t know where Krissie, Dave, and George were but I was sure they hadn’t been captured by pirates and verlas (and one thrown overboard) saved by floras (and Sari), lost, snowed in, lost again, and caught in rapids and were now very sick. (I didn’t know those six were kidnapped at the time. Actually I didn’t know anything I was delirious!) “ Where are we?” Leah said, “We’re in a closet!” said Sari. “And if you hadn’t told him we were alone we’d have a doctor by now.” “Oh.” They waited there for an hour or two. Then THE STRANGER peeked in. “OK you can come out now! Why the long faces. It was only a joke! The doctor’s office is right next store.” “A carbon copy of George” muttered Leah “For your information we have two sisters who are in the woods I have no idea where, have goodness knows how high fevers, and are delirious!” shouted Tom before rushing out. Luckily the doctor was wonderful and before a week had passed Missy and me were fine again! He gave us map with directions back to our clearing as we headed back the direction he’d said. I thought and I calculated. 1 week in the woods goodness knows where. 4 weeks on the pirate ship. 1 week at Josephs and a week in the “Forest Hospital”. Plus who knows how much time traveling. We’d been gone almost two months! We walked and flew for days. Finally we saw Elf Clearing. I’d been there before with papa and Mama to buy things. The clearing had been taken over by elves and regained by fairies. Hardly anyone lived there though it was mostly a store town. But that wasn’t the point the point was that it was only a mile or two from Mayor Clearing!!!! “We’re almost there.” I told the others. The next day Missy spotted our house. We were home!!!! But as the others rejoiced I wasn’t completely happy. What about Mama and Papa and Krissie and George and little Dave? Missy noticed the troubled look I had on my face. “Let’s go find Mama.” She said. We flew to our house in our tree. There was Mama and at the table sat Papa and Krissie George and Dave. “Oh Mama.” I said I was so happy to be back I thought I’d cry from the happiness of it all. “Mama!” She looked up. “Can it be? Dana, and Tom, Missy, and Leah, Greg and Kate and Ron. No, it must be just a mirage. They are gone. Never to return.” “It is us Mama!” said Missy “Wait till we tell you all that’s happened! We got captured by pirates. And almost thrown overboard.” “Don’t forget the verlas an the floras.” Said sari “The verlas captured me.” “Well maybe if you hadn’t been so stupid as to not know they were pirate’s wifes!” said Tom “Tom!” I said but I was glad there was happy teasing going on. I was glad everyone was safe and sound. I was glad we were home. Like my story or not? E-mail me!