Farrah in Fairyland (26 page)

With the stash
of teeth in her purse, Farrah headed to the Queen’s Castle. It was
customary for a Tooth Fairy to return the loot directly to the
Royal Castle for safekeeping in the basement of the complex. A
bulletproof chamber, blocked by a 12-inch wall of iron is where the
teeth were held. That is, until the teeth are transported to the
refineries where they are processed into Pixie Dust.

Having walked
through the forest and into the building to the left of the main
lobby, Farrah took a moment to inspect her surroundings. The hall
of this building was much less spectacular than the one she had
been in just a few hours earlier. It was a deliberate attempt to
make it unspectacular, to ward off any looters. Farrah walked
cautiously through the darkened hall that was inadequately lit by a
single candle directly in front of her. She spotted a spiral
staircase on an angle to where she was walking and shuffled toward
its direction to get a better look.

The staircase
was very weathered. Many of the planks were curled upwards and the
rickety railing was spattered with gaping holes. Taking a deep
breath, Farrah grasped the railing and descended slowly to the
bottom of the stairs. Luckily, she made it down with ease.
Unexpectedly, when she landed on the basement ground, two Securo
Fairies, that had been standing guard at the bottom of the stairs
charged her.

“Who goes
there?” shouted the larger fairy, with one hand deep into his bag
of Pixie Dust. It was the deepest sounding voice that Farrah had
ever heard. She responded, trying to sound as calm as possible.

“I’m Farrah
Fancycracker.”

“What are you
doing down here?”

“I’m returning
my loot.”

“Your loot,”
said the other Securo Fairy, with a half chuckle.

“Yes, my loot,
I’m a Tooth Fairy.”

“A Tooth
Fairy,” laughed the Securo Fairies loudly. But it was not a laugh
that was indicative of something humorous. It was more a laugh that
one gives when insulted by something that another person has
said.

Abruptly, the
Securo Fairies stopped laughing. One grabbed Farrah by the collar
of her top and spoke closely to her face.

“Listen, young
Ordinaria, if you know what’s best for you, you will turn around
and use those pathetic little wings to go back to wherever it is
you came from. We have no time for playing games.”

Unknowingly,
the Queen had walked down the stairs. She had seen the whole thing,
and she was none too pleased.

“Unhand her
immediately,” she ordered.

The Securo
Fairy did not hesitate to follow the Queen’s instructions and
backed away from Farrah.

“How dare you
treat my star Tuttatti Fairy like that?”

“Sorry, my
Queen, we didn’t know,” pleaded one of the Securo Fairies, both of
them lowering their bodies to the ground to bow in forgiveness to
their Queen.

The Queen
walked up to Farrah and stroked her long blonde hair, the way a
loving mother would in a reassuring way.

“I am so
sorry, my dear – are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m
alright,” responded Farrah as she straighten her top. A button had
popped off and she was revealing a little more than she wanted.

“Well…tell me,
my fairy, how did you do tonight?”

“Oh not bad, I
guess. I completed 12 missions in all.”

“Not bad, for
a first night,” responded the Queen, trying hard to suppress her
disappointment, having thought that a Tuttatti Fairy would have
challenged for the record.

“Tomorrow
night, I’m sure you’ll complete two dozen.”

The Queen
ruffled Farrah’s hair one last time, turned, and then headed back
up the stairs. Farrah placed the teeth on the ground in front of
the two Securo Fairies who still had their bodies pasted to the
floor. She turned, her hand gripping the top of her blouse keeping
it closed, before she quickly ran up the stairs.

Farrah had
stayed up all night thinking about her missions. She looked up at
the ceiling where the bubble chandelier hung. She went over all the
mistakes she had made during the visit to Bruce’s home. Although
she felt inadequate, she was thankful that the other missions were
completed much more successfully. That made her feel a little
better about herself, although none of the human children even so
much as faked that they believed in Fairyland.

The expression
on the Queen’s face when she found out that she had only completed
12 missions was tattooed on Farrah’s brain. Although the Queen had
tried hard to remain courteous, her reaction was unmistakeably one
of disappointment. Farrah knew that a better performance was needed
from her tomorrow.

Giving up on
her attempt to sleep, Farrah began to brainstorm ways to improve
her Tooth Fairy skills. Getting an idea, she jumped from the bed to
the floor. That made a louder noise than she anticipated. Farrah
waited a few seconds to see if her parents had awoken, but she was
safe. She grabbed her purse from a large, cushy stool that sat at
the foot of her bed. She took out the scroll and rolled it out onto
the floor.

There must be
something in here that will make me a faster, more efficient Tooth
Fairy.

Farrah looked
over the entire map five times. Unfortunately, many of the hints
were not at all useful. There was an entire section on flying tips
for Tooth Fairies. Those included a tip for better balance by
tilting both wings downward and taking longer strokes instead of
quick repeated flaps to conserve energy. This tip was followed by
another one instructing Tooth Fairies not to fly during a
thunderstorm, as this will result in water wings.

What a useless tip.
Farrah Thought to herself.
Everyone knows that wet wings will become
dangerously heavy if drenched by rain
.

Feeling tired
and frustrated, Farrah’s eyes started to blur. Packing it in for
the night, Farrah decided to get some sleep. She was about to put
the scroll away when she spotted a tiny line of writing at the
bottom left corner of the scroll. Farrah had to squint her eyes to
make out the writing.

BMXBZT
Sfnfncfs uif ujnf apoft

Always
remember the time zones

“Eureka! I can
get started early in the morning and go on all night,” thought
Farrah.

“When it is
12:00 in the morning in Canada, in China it is 12:00 at night. And
in Australia they are almost a full day ahead of many other
countries. I’m sure to complete way more than 12 missions, maybe
30, or, 40, or 50 or more is possible.”

Realizing that
it was only a few short hours until sunrise, Farrah jumped back on
the bed and got some much needed shut eye.

The next
morning, Farrah quickly got dressed and grabbed an apple from out
of the refrigerator. She was about to head out the front door when
her father called out to her.

“Farrah, going
so soon?”

“Oh, yeah,
sorry, Dad, I wanted to get an early start on things. I thought you
and Mom would still be sleeping.”

“I know that
you have a big, important job to do, Farrah, and I want you to know
that both your mother and I are very proud of you. It just
surprises me that you haven’t asked me about my first day on the
job as a Tinker Fairy? You know that they have me working at the
Pine Dust Mill. So far we…”

“
I’m
sorry, Dad, I
do
want to hear
all about your day, but I really have to get going.”

Farrah was out
the door quickly and didn’t see the disappointment on her father’s
face.

“Was that
Farrah that left?” asked Crystaline as she joined her husband in
the kitchen, pixying some eggs onto a plate in front of him.

“Yeah, it
was.”

“She’s off
early, eh? I just hope that she stays safe. You know how Farrah
gets when she’s wide-eyed,” said Crystaline as she poured some
coffee into a cup, using a touch of baker’s dust to warm it to the
perfect temperature. She added a teaspoon of olive oil into it for
flavour and took a seat next to her husband at the kitchen
table.

Farrah wasted
no time at all getting started. She decided that a good place to
begin would be atop Mount Michelutz. She figured this would make it
easier for Bella to track down the location, once the Veddo
revealed the coordinates.

The aggressive
sun beat down on Farrah’s face as she stood with the Veddo in her
left hand. It was so hot that her eyebrows felt like they were
smouldering. At that moment however, Farrah’s entire face could
have been on fire and it would not have mattered. She was focused
and determined to have a better day.

With the Veddo
in front of her face, it didn’t take long for an image to appear.
It was the Great Wall of China, and specifically, the section that
stretched across Beijing. Farrah was pleased to get that mission.
She knew that it wouldn’t be too difficult to spot the Great Wall
from overhead. Farrah waited for the street name and address,
before she gave Bella the signal to take off.

Bella flew
ever so gracefully. It was noticeable to Farrah that she was flying
even faster than usual. Farrah suspected that she knew of her
desire to make better time and gave her a grateful pat on the
cheek.

Bella took
cover behind a section of the Great Wall. Farrah dismounted and
walked to the back of the oddly shaped home. Part of the roof had
been damaged; a gaping hole was covered by a large blue tarp. It
was reminiscent of a sailboat with the tarp fluttering in the
wind.

Farrah waited
for the clouds to pass over the moon. She marked her X with the
Molar Dust, and in no time she appeared in the closet of her
subject.

It was the
home of an eight-year old girl named Keilani. Both of her parents
had passed away in a tragic car accident three years ago and she
lived with her grandparents. Knowing the tragic story, Farrah
thought that she would be extra generous with her offering, even if
it meant another scolding from Picolotto.

Farrah pushed
the closet door open and walked slowly to the bed where Keilani was
sleeping. She flapped her wings to make her body a little more
weightless and sat on the edge of Keilani’s bed.

She was a
beautiful girl, with dark brown eyes and dark black hair. Her
cheeks were peppered with freckles and her nose had a tiny dimple,
which was visible even in the darkened room. Farrah took out more
than a hundred dollars in Yen.

She attempted
to slip the money under Keilani’s pillow after having reached for
the tooth. Inadvertently, Farrah brushed Keilani’s arm with her
hand. It startled Keilani, who sat up in her bed. Farrah could see
that she was about to scream, so she covered her mouth to suppress
the yell.

“It’s okay,
it’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Farrah waited
a moment before she removed her hand from Keilani’s mouth. When she
did, it wasn’t a yell that came out of her mouth, but instead,
words from a language that Farrah had never heard before.

“
你们在这做什么”
Responded Keilani in a loud nervous voice, as she brought
the covers up to her mouth for protection.

“What – sorry
I don’t understand,” said Farrah, as she leaned in closer to
Keilani to hear a little better.

“
你们在这做什么
,”
repeated Keilani, this time a little louder.

“I’m sorry, I
don’t speak Mandarin. Do you speak English?” asked Farrah, feeling
nervous as she bit the nail on her thumb.

“
你聋
.
我说 你们在这做什么
.”

Farrah
shook her head back and forth, perplexed by what Keilani was
saying. Her frustration was momentarily halted when she heard a
buzzing noise that came from her purse. As she suspected, the Veddo
was bouncing around. Farrah picked up the Veddo and in the glass
reflection, was her usual friend.

“Farrah, what
are you doing?” asked Picolotto, sounding quite stern.

“Well, I’m
trying to have a conversation over here, but as you can see she
doesn’t speak English,” responded Farrah, as she stopped talking to
let Picolotto hear for himself - the same phrase that Keilani had
been repeating over and over.

“Farrah, you
disappoint me once again. Did you not read the section on
communication with humans on the map?”

“I’m sorry, I
didn’t have time to read every last bit of writing on that thing.
With all the time it takes me to translate your Bellasimitiran
alphabet, it would take me weeks,” responded Farrah, sounding very
agitated as she scrunched up her face in disapproval.

“Well, Farrah,
if you had read the map, you would have seen instructions for a
simple spell to communicate with humans. All you have to do is
sprinkle some molar dust in your right ear. That will allow you to
decipher the language that the human is speaking. Then put a little
on the tip of your tongue and it will allow you to speak to them in
their language.”

“Oh, um, well,
now you tell me. But why didn’t I have to do this on my first
mission?”

“Well, since
it was your rookie mission, I thought I’d help you out a bit. When
you weren’t looking, I sprinkled some dust into your ear and onto
your tongue when you yawned. I promise you though; this will be the
last bit of help that you’ll be getting from me.”

Putting the
Veddo down carefully on Keilani’s bed, Farrah took out some molar
dust and sprinkled it into her ear as suggested by Picolotto.
Instantly, Farrah could make out what Keilani was saying.

“What are you
doing in here?”

“I’m a Tooth
Fairy,” replied Farrah, but Keilani’s reaction signalled that she
didn’t understand what she was saying.

Remembering,
Farrah sprinkled a tiny bit of molar dust into her mouth. It
immediately did the trick. She was able to communicate with the
young girl.