The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry

Ever since the gnomes arrived I have had one faerie after another stopping at the kitchen window hopping to catch a glimpse of them, or maybe hopping that I would open the door so that they could come in for a visit. I learned early on that when you let one faerie come in, a whole heard of faeries come in, then you have a situation that is hard to control!

The first problem we had to solve after the early arrival of the gnomes, Warren and Odette, was to find shelter for Warren’s pet wood frog. I was taken by surprise when the huge brown frog hopped out from underneath the bushes when it was called. (I can only assume the clicking noise that Warren made was a call).

Ferne came to the rescue when she tipped over a large pot that had  broken when the first freeze of the winter cracked it in half. Pip and Bella pulled it under a Laurel bush were the snow didn’t pile up, then pushed bunches of leaves over the top, making it more insulated. Warren braced a few twigs on either side and topped the whole thing with a piece of bark then declared the dwelling  fit for a frog!

“Warren, will he be ok in there?” We all watched as the frog happily buried himself inside his new home. “Aye lass, wood frogs be hibernate’n critters in the winter months,  they be produce’n an anti-freeze of sorts, then they freeze!” Arial and Sunny put a few more leaves over the front of the opening, then put their blessings on the new home by waving their wands high over their heads and making a shower of sparkles rain down on the pile of bark and leaves. (I don’t even want to know what a frozen frog looks like).

When we turned to go inside and join Odette, there was suddenly a flurry of wings, arms, and hands all around my head. Sunny and Arial, along with the other three tag-a-longs were frantically begging me to let them come inside and help the gnomes to settle in. They rationalized that since they had all been inside before, and had a extensive knowledge of the house, they would be in a perfect position to be of assistance. Bella and Pip thought that it would be a good idea if they showed Odette the orange tree. I looked at all the smiling expectant faces of my little faeries and gave into their request (there was much cheering and applause), but I told them that the orange tree would have to wait until later.

I had forgotten about the dogs. Let me see if I can give an accurate account of the scene that I walked in on. First, was the noise, three dogs, even if they are Chihuahuas can split your eardrums! Their high pitched frantic yelping drives any hope of being heard completely away. Odette was standing on the top of a bar stool waving a pencil and yelling, “begone with ye, sure an ye be the hounds from hell! Off with ya, shoo, shoo!” The bags she had been carrying were thrown quickly to one side and her neatly kept hair had pulled out of the bun that was tucked up under her cap and was sticking out in every direction. The cap had slipped down over one eye.

Bill was just standing over in one corner of the dinning room, well out of the way of the commotion with his hands to each side of his head, covering his ears…he was laughing like I had never seen him laugh before. Edie saw Warren come into view and instantly went for the other little intruder, but I was quicker. I grabed Warren by the collar and swung him up to the top of the stool and set him down with Odette.

“Your not helping!” I had to yell over the deafening roar of the dogs. We both quickly rounded up the offending noise (aka, the dogs) which wasn’t easy because they run in all directions, and hurried them off into the backroom where we could close the doors behind us. The sudden silence made me dizzy. When we got back to the dinning room, Warren had Odette settled down as well. “They’ll be need’n a wee bit of train’in, I dare say, they nearly nipped me bloomers off they did!”

When order had been restored and Odette had caught her breath, I looked around for Arial and the group. This would be a nice time for them to be helpful, you know, to be reassuring and let Odette know that things would be fine, but I didn’t see them anywhere. Great, now I have to see what those five are up to.

I found them upstairs sitting on a branch of the orange tree making little origami birds out of leaves. “Hey, I need you guys downstairs to help Warren and Odette find a comfy place to stay!” Ferne got one of those “I Know!” looks on her face and shot off toward the kitchen. When the rest of us caught up with her she was pulling on the cabinet door underneath the sink and Warren was helping to pull it open with a spoon. Odette was beaming…”sure an this will be a fine place!”…I had my doubts.

© Tami Ruesch, The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry, 2009.

It looks as if we are going to have another gray day. The storm that hit two days ago has yet to loose its icy grip. I scan the skies for any sign of blue and head into the kitchen to grab my morning coffee. Out in the garden, Sunny is dancing through the light snow that is falling, she comes up to the window, taps at it once, smiles, waves and is back to the snowflake dance. I think, this is a nice peaceful start to the day.

I shouldn’t be in such a hurry to make that kind of assumption. Having three Chihuahua’s and faeries (probably in the thousands now!) means that some conflict, at some time, is inevitable. It is usually when I let the dogs out back. (and sometimes if a couple get in the house like they did the other day).

Like now, all the dogs are taking their sweet time to do their duty (you know what I mean) and they are wading, and sniffing, and generally poking around the yard. I,on the other hand, am standing inside the back door, staying warm. I watch as seven faeries shoot through the opening in the ivy and quickly fly up into the Hawthorne tree coming to rest on a branch that is very heavy with wet snow. Faeries above, dogs below, this can’t be good!

All seven faeries start to jump up and down on the branch (it takes seven of them to even make it move). Below, the dogs are just minding their own business. I tried to get their attention, but they have a habit of not coming to me when I call, if they don’t want to. Well, Lucy and Merry had wandered off to the other side of the yard leaving Edie by herself, yes, you guessed it, right in the path a very wet plop of snow.

It was like watching a slow motion movie…faeries jumping, Edie sniffing, and a very large clump of snow falling! And, just like in the movies, right when the snow was three inches above Edie’s head, everything reverted back to regular speed. The problem was that I couldn’t get to her before the snow did.

Now, Edie was the runt of the litter and has had her share of frights in the short time she has been with us. She is very suspicious and scares easily. She is also very vocal in her disapproval. A split second later, the snow hit her square on the head sending sprays of water in every direction. Edie cowers, looks around and then lets out a scream that would wake the dead. And she doesn’t stop screaming, oh no, she streaks  across the yard like a furry shrieking comet,  screaming at the top of her lungs.

Of course, the other dogs don’t have a clue what she is on about, but they are used to Edie so they just try to ignore her. This is the sight: faeries up on the branch that is now devoid of snow, laughing and clapping and flipping their wings, Edie whipping around the yard yelping at the top of her lungs like she is going to die ( it reminds me of the story of chicken little running around yelling, “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!”), me, running around in my bathrobe trying to catch Edie and the other two dogs darting around, trying to stay out of the way thinking “whats happened?! what, what, what!

I can’t help wondering, not for the first time, what the neighbors would think if they could see this production. At this point, Arial, having heard all the commotion, sticks her heard through the ivy to see what in the name of Jupiter is going on over here? (her words, not mine). She assess the situation quickly and immediately rounds up her erring flock and scoots them back through the opening.

When the rowdy masses were gone she pulled out a little flute and played a few short, high notes. Ferne popped into the scene a moment later and the two faeries glided gently down on each side of the rampaging Edie, keeping up with every twist and turn the little dog was making. They started to sing a delicate  faerie song that, I have to admit, had an unusual calming effect on everyone within ear shot. With order restored, the two faeries flipped their wings, popped up to eyeball height, and smiled. Then they disappeared in a quick flash of pinkish light.

When we were all back inside and I had Edie snuggled in her warm blanket. I started thinking. I must get a message to my brother the pirate (no, not to get his gremlins!) There are other ways to get control over my faerie population. I love my faerie friends, they are just playful. I love my dogs, they just don’t understand the faeries, so, I will find out if there are any gnomes that would like to come and settle in my garden this spring. Those jolly little guys will bring harmony back to Kensington Mannor!

© Tami Ruesch, The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry, 2009.