The family crossed the yard, heading towards the horse shed. The boys kicked up leaves as they ran, their cheeks slightly pink from the crisp fall air.
“I don’t know how long we can be out here,” Dylan’s mommy said. “I’m expecting a very important phone call.”
Dylan ran ahead to the horse shed. He wanted to get there first so that he could be the first to pet Bailey, the big horse. He’d let his brother Brandon pet him second, but Dylan wanted to be first.
“Dylan, don’t run!” his mother called, “and be careful around the fence!” Dylan slowed down to a fast walk, but thought his mommy was a little silly for warning him about the fence again. They’d had the electric fence for over a year now and he’d never hurt himself on it.
Dylan’s mommy was walking behind the boys, carrying Delaney in her swing. Delaney, for once, was not crying. Dylan and Brandon hadn’t realized that getting a new baby sister meant that she would cry all the time. Dylan’s mom had told him that he should tell Delaney a story about the horses, about how to ride them and what they liked to do. But Dylan didn’t think Delaney would be too interested in the horses – she wasn’t interested in much besides her bottle.
“Can I hold my sister?” Brandon asked, running over to Delaney as Dylan’s mom set her down outside the door to the shed. “Wait until we’re back inside,” she replied. She turned the swing on and gave it a small push so it would rock back and forth.
“Mom, hurry up,” Dylan said, eager to get in the shed. He wanted to pull the door open himself but his mom was standing in the way and he couldn’t reach. He was very eager to see Bailey. Bailey was a beautiful, tall reddish brown quarter horse and Dylan loved petting him. His mom didn’t spend much time with the horses anymore since Delaney had been born, and Dylan missed petting and feeding them.
Just then, the phone rang. The house had a loud bell on the outside so you could hear the phone from anywhere in the yard. The ring was so loud Brandon seemed surprised and jumped a little, startled. “Oh shoot, there’s my call,” Dylan’s mom said, looking towards the house.
“Mom, get it later,” Dylan moaned. They were so close to seeing the horses! He didn’t want to wait anymore and knew he wasn’t allowed to go in the shed without her. “Please don’t answer the phone,” he begged.
His mom looked at the house, then at Dylan, Brandon, and Delaney, then back at the house. You could tell by the expression on her face that she was going to run back inside. She grabbed both of the boys and quickly said, “You guys stay right here. Do you understand? Stay right here and watch Delaney. I will be right back. I’m just going to pick-up the phone, then come back outside. Promise me you’ll be good.” She held the boys arms firmly, in a way that made them both say “I promise” quietly and stand really still. They watched her run towards the house, hurrying to get to the phone.
“Oh shoot,” Brandon said after she was gone, and kicked at the ground. “Now we have to wait to pet Jack and Bailey.” He made a sad pout and kicked at the dirt again, toeing a small rock with his gym shoe. Dylan looked at the door to the shed, wishing his mom had opened it just a little so he could have snuck inside. He looked beyond the shed to the large field where the horses were kept. He couldn’t see either of them, so he guessed they must be inside the shed. Knowing that made him feel a little bit sadder, since he couldn’t even see them until his mom came back.
Delaney made a small sound like a whimper, and shook her arms. She shook her arms a lot – Brandon said it made her look like she was waving. Dylan thought she looked more like she was hitting herself in the head. Dylan knew that if Delaney started crying then his mom would take them all back inside the house, and he’d never get to pet Bailey. So he gave Delaney’s swing a little push the way his mom did and said, “Hush, don’t cry.”
Delaney waved her arms some more, and scrunched up her face until her eyes her just little sad specks above her tiny cheeks. “Don’t cry Delaney,” Brandon said. He looked at Dylan. “What are we going to do?” he asked. “We’ll have to go inside if she starts crying!” The boys looked over to the house, where Dylan’s mom was opening the door and ducking inside. She didn’t hear Delaney’s whimpers.
Dylan remembered what his mom said about telling Delaney a story. “Let’s tell her a story about the horses,” he suggested. He pointed towards the horse shed and said “Look! Delaney look, look at the shed. That’s where Bailey and Jack live. They’re horses. And you can pet them.” He made his voice sound very excited, so Delaney would understand how much fun the horses were, and wouldn’t cry. Brandon joined in the story, “And we can’t touch the fence,” he added, “or else you’ll get an ouchie and maybe have to go to the hospital.”
“Brandon!” Dylan said, “You don’t have to go to the hospital!”
Brandon replied, “You might have to if you touch the fence too long. My daddy said so.”
Delaney whimpered again. Her brothers thought she sounded a little louder now, and realized this was because the phone had stopped ringing in the background. Delaney sniffled and looked as thought she was about to wail. Dylan didn’t know what to do. He grabbed one of her little hands so she’d stop waving them around. “Delaney, please look at the shed,” he said.
As he said that, Dylan turned to look at the shed again, hoping that maybe one of the horses had come out. He glanced at the wall, and noticed something he did not remember seeing before. In the bottom corner of the wall was a small hole. A tiny stream of light seemed to be coming through the hole, catching the dust particles dancing in the wind.
For a moment, Dylan stared at the hole, wondering why he’d never known it was there. He was so entranced that he didn’t notice Delaney had stopped fussing. He looked at the dust, and thought the light was beginning to grow slightly brighter, and began to look a little orange like a sunset.
“Dylan – what’s that?” Brandon asked, pointing at the hole in the shed. “I think it’s getting bigger.”
The boys looked at each other. Dylan slowly let go of Delaney’s hand. Together, the two brothers walked towards the shed in order to get a better look at the light streaming through the opening.
As they approached, Dylan noticed that not only was the hole getting bigger and the light brighter, but the dust particles themselves seemed to be growing and moving around more quickly. Some of them appeared to be buzzing around the light, instead of just softly floating. The brothers knelt down and Dylan stared at one of the particles, trying to figure out what it was. It looked like something.
“It’s a - bee,” he said. But that didn’t seem quite right.
“It’s a leaf,” Brandon replied. He had a point – the particle looked like a small fall colored leaf, swirling about. But even that wasn’t quite right either.
“It’s a . . .” Dylan concentrated, trying to guess exactly what the thing was. “It’s a . . .person,” he said.
By now the shape was about as large as one of the boy’s hands. It did look like a small person, wearing clothes that looked like a leaf. It was impossible to say if the person was a boy or a girl – it had short hair and shiny dark eyes. It also might have had wings – tiny ones, the color of a spider web.
“It’s a fairy,” Brandon said. Dylan knew he was absolutely right; they were looking at a fairy.
The fairy buzzed around, circling the bright orange light. It seemed unaware the boys were watching it, and seemed to be looking for something. It paused in mid-flight, and seemed to bounce slightly as though it was bobbing on water. Dylan felt like he should say something, but couldn’t think of the right words. He had seen strange creatures before, but never anything like this, certainly not in the middle of the day. Just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, Dylan rubbed his eyes. People in movies rubbed their eyes all the time, usually whenever they saw something they couldn’t believe. But after he was done rubbing his eyes the fairy was still there, bobbing up and down like a hummingbird. Dylan wondered if the fairy knew he and Brandon were there, since it didn’t seem too interested in them. In fact, the fairy appeared to be looking for something; its eyes darted around the yard.
The fairy’s crabapple-sized head slowly turned, and Dylan could tell it was now staring right at Delaney’s swing. It flew over to the swing, and disappeared from sight.
“It’s going to Delaney!” Brandon said, jumping to his feet. “Dylan, come on!”
The boys ran over to their sister, and found the fairy hovering just above Delaney’s chin. It was staring very intently, almost as if it was trying to figure out what she was. The boys couldn’t be sure, but the fairy might have been tapping its tiny little foot against the air. Delaney was focused on the fairy, her round blue eyes opened wide, as though the sight fascinated her.
“What do you want, fairy?” Dylan asked. He felt like maybe he should swat at the fairy, to get it to fly away from his sister. But he also didn’t want to be rude.
The fairy didn’t respond.
“That’s our sister Delaney,” Brandon said. “You better not make her cry.”
The fairy fluttered closer to the baby girl, and came to rest right on top of the side of her swing. Delaney watched the fairy, and smiled a little. The fairy smiled back. Delaney laughed. The fairy laughed too, a laugh that sounded like wood breaking in a fire.
“Ooooh, she looks like fun,” a voice said from behind the boys.
Dylan and Brandon spun around. Standing in front of the horse shed, illuminated by the glowing orange light, was a small boy standing about as high as Brandon’s knee. Although it was warm outside, he wore furry little boots and a long coat. Dylan recognized the boy instantly. “Furfoot!” he exclaimed.
“Who’s Furfoot?” Brandon asked.
“He lives in the woods near Papa’s,” Dylan explained.
Furfoot walked closer to the brothers. “Not really,” he replied. “I live where ever I want to live. Today I was following the Fall Fairies and wondered what this one was looking at.”
Furfoot scurried over to Delaney’s swing, and climbed up one of the bars to look at the baby girl. He said some words to the fairy in a language Dylan and Brandon didn’t understand.
“You shouldn’t be so close to Delaney, you might scare her,” Dylan said.
“She doesn’t seem scared, does she?” Furfoot asked. “I think she likes me. Maybe she’d like to live in the woods with us. I want someone to play with.”
Dylan didn’t like the sound of that. As much as Delaney cried, he didn’t want her to go and live in the woods. “She’s too little to play,” Brandon said.
“She’s as big as I am,” Furfoot replied. “And it doesn’t matter how big you are in the forest. I bet the sprite king could turn her into a fairy. Then she could fly. What do you think?” Furfoot asked the fairy. The fairy responded with some sounds like crackling and a low purr.
“She can’t go in the woods,” Dylan said, “She’s my sister.”
Furfoot and the fairy were chattering back and forth, not paying any attention to the brothers. Delaney waved her arms at the fairy. She gurgled slightly, making what her mom called a ‘happy noise.’ It sounded similar to the noises Furfoot and the fairy were making, and Dylan felt for a moment like his sister was talking to them. He was upset that he couldn’t understand.
“She says she wants to come with us,” Furfoot announced. He raised his arm to grab Delaney by the hand.
“No she didn’t!” Dylan yelled. He didn’t like Furfoot pretending to understand his sister.
“Don’t touch my sister!” Brandon huffed, kicking a rock at Furfoot. “Or my dad will get mad!”
Furfoot looked at Brandon, crossly. He picked up the rock Brandon kicked as if he was going to throw it. But at that moment, Delaney shrieked, startling everyone. Furfoot dropped the rock. Dylan looked at his sister and saw that the fairy was now pulling on her ear, as if it was trying to lift her by it. He was pulling very hard, and Delaney was crying.
“Stop it!” Dylan said, reaching out to swat the fairy away.
“Let’s take her to the sprite king,” Furfoot said. “She’ll make a great new friend.”
Furfoot grabbed Delaney by her foot and started pulling on it. Delaney kicked her little baby legs, continuing to cry. Dylan tried to push Furfoot away, but realized he couldn’t swat the fairy and handle Furfoot at the same time. He turned to Brandon to ask for help.
“It’s not going to work!” Brandon yelled. He sounded very grown-up, like his dad sometimes sounded when he was angry and trying to explain something to the boys. Brandon was staring at Furfoot and the fairy, and had an expression on his face as if they were both doing something incredibly silly. Furfoot, the fairy, and Dylan all stopped what they were doing, waiting to hear what Brandon would say next.
As Delaney quieted her crying, Brandon again said, “It’s not going to work. She’s too heavy for you to carry. Only grown-ups can carry her.”
“We can carry her,” Furfoot protested. “She’s very small.”
“No, you can’t” Brandon said again. “Right Dylan?”
“Right,” Dylan agreed.
Furfoot stuck out his tongue.
“Be nice,” Brandon said, “And maybe Dylan and I will help you.”
“Brandon!” Dylan said. He couldn’t believe his brother was going to give Delaney to Furfoot and the fairy.
But Brandon continued. “Dylan and I will help you carry Delaney, but first you have to pass a test.”
“What test?” Furfoot asked. The fairy chattered something the boys couldn’t understand.
Brandon looked thoughtful. He pressed his lips as if he was trying to make a difficult decision. “Actually,” he said, “I don’t think you could win the test even if I did tell you.”
Furfoot looked eager. “I could pass the test,” he said quickly.
“I don’t know,” Brandon said. He looked over at his brother. “What do you think, Dylan?” he asked.
Dylan didn’t know what Brandon was talking about, but decided to pretend that he did. At least Furfoot wasn’t pulling on Delaney any more. “I don’t know,” Dylan agreed, “it’s a pretty hard test.”
“Tell me what the test is,” Furfoot demanded.
Brandon pointed at the fence. “You have to climb to the top of that fence,” he said. He folded his arms across his chest. “If you think you can.”
Furfoot looked at the fence. “I can do that,” he said. “That’s not hard. I climb trees in the forest all the time. I can climb higher than you.”
“Maybe,” Brandon said. “But I bet you can’t climb that fence.”
Dylan couldn’t believe it. Brandon had actually tricked Furfoot! The small creature strode over to the fence. The fairy flew over near him, cackling away like dried fall leaves.
“And if you don’t climb the fence,” Brandon said, watching as Furfoot reached out to touch the fabric . . .
. . . “You have to go back home.” Dylan finished, smiling at his brother.
“Right,” Brandon nodded.
Furfoot dropped his hand, and gave the brothers a haughty look. “I’ll climb it in one jump!” he boasted. Then, he crouched down, and leapt on to the top of the fence. He paused for a moment, then, fell to the ground, shouting and wildly waving his legs.
“Ow ow ow!”
“You lose, Furfoot!” Dylan said. “You have to go home now.”
Furfoot rubbed the bottoms of his feet. His boots were singed, like paper in a fire. “I did not,” he replied. “I climbed the fence.”
“But you fell off,” Brandon pointed out.
The fairy made angry sounds, shaking its tiny fist in the air. It flew over to Delaney and grabbed her ear and gave a harsh tug. Delaney howled.
“What is going on out here?” Dylan’s mom shouted, storming out of the house, the phone in her hand. “Why is your sister crying?” She started running across the yard. The boys saw her say something into the phone, then drop it on the ground.
Furfoot and the fairy froze. Furfoot looked at Dylan’s mom like she was a ghost. His eyes grew very wide, and his mouth fell open. The fairy let go of Delaney’s ear, and its wings stopped beating. For a couple seconds, they stared at Dylan’s mom as she ran towards them, as though they were unable to move.
Then, the fairy zipped towards the shed door, and disappeared in a small puff of orange light.
Furfoot scrambled after the fairy, and in a split second he too was gone.
Moments later, Dylan’s mom reached the boys and grabbed both of them by the elbow. “Tell me why Delaney was crying like that,” she demanded. “You’ve been alone with her for less than 30 seconds, what could possibly have happened?”
The boys looked at her, wondering what to say. Brandon looked tongue-tied, and Dylan could not think of anything believable to reply.
Delaney whimpered. Her mom turned to her and picked her up out of her swing. She promptly quietly down.
“I asked you boys a question: why was Delaney crying so much?”
Dylan turned and looked towards the shed door. The opening was completely gone now. Dylan didn’t think his mom would ever believe what had happened. He looked back to her.
“I wasn’t bothering her, mom.” Dylan said softly.
“I wasn’t either,” Brandon added.
She looked at both of them. “Is this true?” she asked.
The boys nodded their heads.
She sighed. Delaney waved her arms, and breathed like she was falling asleep.
“Look, boys, I don’t know what was going on here. I asked you to watch your sister while I ran to the phone, and I heard her crying like someone was pinching her. All I did was pick up the phone, then turn around and come back outside. And you tell me neither of you were bothering her.” She looked sternly at the boys, who wondered how they could explain what had occurred. It felt as though she had been gone longer than that, but then again, Brandon thought, maybe time moved differently when fairies were involved.
Dylan’s mom shook her head. “But,” she continued, “You both say you weren’t bothering her, so I believe you. Who knows, sometimes strange things happen during the fall. So, if neither of you was bothering Delaney, that means you were both being good. And, in that case,” she paused, with a small smile in her eye, “Well, then, I guess we should go see the horses.”
Both boys grinned from ear to ear. Dylan ran to the shed.
“I get to pet Bailey first!” he called. As they pushed open the shed door, he looked over towards the fence. There, on the ground, he spotted a series of tiny footprints. He looked up at his mom, but she was too busy to notice. So he quickly ran inside, and waited for Bailey to come over to the rail. As the tall horse approached, the brothers reached out their hands to pet him.
The End
started: August 27, 2004
ended: October 7, 2004
-copyright acr