Farrah in Fairyland (3 page)

A Volare is
like a large butterfly. It is the size of a compact car with a
saddle strapped to its elongated back much like that of a horse.
Bella was a magnificent specimen. A subtle rainbow pattern
splattered like paint on the outside of her wings, enhanced by the
yellow of her scaly back. Her beautiful green and yellow, blue and
red wings fluttered as Farrah approached.

“Ciao bella.
How are you doing today?” asked Farrah, as she stroked Bella’s head
back and forth.

Bella responded
by whistling to Farrah in conversation. Farrah had learned at an
early age that Bella had the gift of speaking Volarish. It was
thought that only the special Volare were granted the ability to
speak the language. This was why Farrah regarded Bella as more than
just a mode of transportation, or even a pet. Bella was a friend to
Farrah and for a girl that grew up not having many friends she
truly cherished this relationship.

“Oh, I know,
Bella. I hate having leaving you in the Volareport all night long.
Maybe Mom will let you stay in my room tonight,” Farrah said in
response to the Bella’s whistling voice.

Farrah climbed
atop Bella’s back, first saying sorry to her for having to demean
her in such a way. Farrah always felt a little ashamed at having to
use Bella to fly. Oh, how Farrah wished that her lineage were
blessed with the ability to fly instead of the inclination to cook.
She always thought Superiora to be ungrateful for this remarkable
ability that they were born with.

Although
Ordinaria have wings, they are not fully developed. Farrah’s wings
in particular were peculiarly small for a fairy her age. They
protruded like two tiny twigs out of her shoulder blades. This was
of special interest to the other fairy boys and girls at school,
who often teased her about her pathetic looking wings. Samantha
Scarcity, Farrah’s nemesis, even resorted to calling Farrah an
ostrich. This was a severe profanity in Fairyland, for it was one
of the only flightless birds to exist on Earth.

Lovingly, Bella
lifted Farrah up off the ground and in a flash; they were in the
sky and on their way to Giuseppi’s house.

A few short
moments later, Bella took Farrah in for a landing at the Piscini
residence. Like all houses in Fairyland, the Piscini house was
circular in shape, and glistened like a crystal ball in the
sunlight. Giuseppi was sitting cross-legged on the grass at the
front of the house, pulling at some strands of orange grass. As
Farrah walked towards Giuseppi, she could tell that he was upset
about something.

“Giuseppi,
what’s the matter, buddy?”

“Have you
forgotten what tomorrow is?” Responded Giuseppi, his voice cracking
as choked up.

Caught up in
her own problems, Farrah had forgotten that Giuseppi too, was about
to enter a profession that he detested.

“Tomorrow, I
have to start my stupid job at the fishery. Can you imagine working
at a fishery, having to gut Wallo-Wallo fish all day long? Oh, and
as you know, they just happen to be one of the ugliest, smelliest
creatures in all of Fairyland. What girl is ever going to like me
now that I’m going to smell like rotten fish all day long?”

Farrah giggled
for a second as she clasped her hand over her mouth after seeing
Giuseppi’s reaction and she immediately felt sorry for him. After
all, Giuseppi was one of the only fairies in Fairyland to whom she
could relate. Much as Farrah was destined to bake, Giuseppi was
destined to gut fish. Something that he had not come to terms with
over the summer.

Giuseppi had
been Farrah’s best friend since the third grade. It was no secret
that, back at the Pixie Academy, the other students disliked
Farrah. Speaking simply, she was a little too perfect for the other
students at the Academy. She was always the smartest student, the
most athletic student, and the boys would tell you, the prettiest
student. Her despicable wings, which were much smaller than even
the average Ordinaria fairy, prevented the boys from asking Farrah
out on a date. No boy would dare invite Farrah over for dinner
looking like that.

Instead, the
fairy boys had resorted to name-calling. Fortunately, Farrah was
able to look past the taunting. She knew that she just had to
survive the Academy, and that was exactly what she did. She was
happy to have Giuseppi Piscini to lean on throughout her years at
the Academy. She never would have made it through without him and
he knew it.

Giuseppi was a
bit of an oddball himself. He was by far the shortest student at
the Pixie Academy, which earned him the nickname ‘Stumps.’ Although
Giuseppi hated the name, like Farrah, he also decided to ignore the
taunts. This was often a difficult feat considering that the name
‘Stumps’ could be heard up to 100 times in a single school day.

Luckily, Farrah
was able to look past Giuseppi’s shortcomings. Sure, he was a
little dim-witted, and socially awkward, and he was also the only
student at the school that was unable to use his Pixie dust for
even the simplest of tasks. That inability caused Giuseppi much
embarrassment.

Most fairy
children were born with the ability of Pixie dust manipulation. For
instance, Farrah was only 7 months old when she began to use her
Pixie Dust to complete household chores and other errands around
the house. Nevertheless, Farrah saw Giuseppi as a genuinely loyal
friend.

Giuseppi’s
loyalty was proven on the last day of their first year at the Pixie
Academy. Samantha Scarcity, the ringleader of the Super Superioras,
the so-called cool group at the Pixie Academy, had planned an
elaborate prank. She took 37 pink balloons to school. Using her
Pixie baton, a tool used only by Superiora fairies, she filled the
balloons with tomato soup. Samantha Scarcity had given everyone in
Professor DeCuliari’s Pixie Physics class a balloon to throw at
Farrah when the bell rang to signal the start of summer break.

Inadvertently,
Giuseppi had been given a balloon amidst the commotion when
Samantha was handing them out. When the bell rang, Farrah was
pelted with balloon after balloon. Samantha had even used her Pixie
dust to create one massive balloon that splattered like a tidal
wave in the cafeteria. Tomato soup covered Farrah’s entire
body.

One couldn’t
help noticing that Farrah was unbothered by the whole ordeal.
Instead, she just stood there taking the blows of the tomato soup
filled balloons. She opted to focus on Giuseppi, which put a smile
on her face. When it came time for Giuseppi to throw his balloon,
he decided instead to break it over his own head. He hoped this
would take some of the attention away from Farrah. She knew right
then and there that Giuseppi was a special person. The two fairies
had been best friends ever since.

Farrah leaned
in close to Giuseppi who remained seated in the grass. She gave a
playful punch to Giuseppi’s arm trying to get his mind off
things.

“Cheer up, big
guy. At least we have each other.”

Giuseppi gave
a little smile as he looked up and stared into Farrah’s angelic
violet eyes. He got the same queasy feeling that he always did when
he looked at Farrah. It was last summer when he realized that he
felt more than just friendship for Farrah. However, he dared not
say anything to her out of fear that she would no longer want to be
his friend.

“Thanks,
Farrah. You just promise me that no matter how busy we are, we will
still make time to go to Mount Michelutz. The fires on Earth will
eventually be extinguished and hopefully we will be able to get a
glimpse of the Great Wall of China like Ormono Orlogio said he did
last winter.”

“No problem,
Giuseppi, I promise,” responded Farrah as she smiled at her friend.
“Oh, I almost forgot!”

Farrah took
the crumpled up newspaper article that she had sneakily extracted
from the recycling bin where her dad had tossed it.

“I’ve decided
something.”

“
What?”
asked Giuseppi, feeling anxious as he got up to his feet.
Does she finally
want to be my girlfriend?

“I’ve decided
that I’m going to enter Fairyland’s talent competition.”

“Oh…I think
you have finally gone nuts, Farrah,” responded a disappointed
Giuseppi as he started to walk back and forth. His clubbed feet
protruded from his leather sandals as they grazed on the grass.

“I figure this
is the only way that I will ever be able to live my dream and
become Tooth Fairy.”

Farrah also
stood up. Her long blonde hair had blown into her face, which she
flipped back quickly. Her chin tilted upward toward the red sky, as
if posing for a portrait.

“But, Farrah,
even if they do let you into the talent contest, I don’t think that
performing the Giganto spell will be enough. How can you possibly
compete with the Superiora? After all, they have trained all their
lives in the Pixie Arts. They would absolutely maul you.”

Farrah
returned to looking at Giuseppi. Although she did not appreciate
the negative tone in his voice, in the back of her mind, she knew
that it would take a miracle to win the contest. Last year, the
winner was Cecilia Fairchild. She was able to balance two evergreen
trees in each hand, the whole time standing on a dancing Tiger
Rhino with fireworks coming out of its mouth.

“Yeah, you are
probably right, Giuseppi. If the talent contest was tomorrow, I
would surely lose, but I have a whole month to prepare. I know that
with a little hard work, I can prove that I belong amongst the
‘elite’ fairies.”

Giuseppi
paused for a moment before he spoke. His facial expression became
serious as the nostrils of his pointed nose flared outward.

“Farrah, what
if you get hurt? Pixie magic is not something to take lightly. One
wrong move and you could wind up at Malato Hospital. Do you
remember what happened when I combined blue Pixie dust and yellow
Pixie dust together?”

“How can I
forget that? You were left with a bald head, yellow eyes and
swollen wings for over a month,” Farrah chuckled.

“Don’t worry
about me, Giuseppi. I’ve been practising.”

“Oh, you have?
For how long?” Asked Giuseppi, with his hand on his hips and his
face scrunched inward in disbelief.

Farrah did not
hesitate to respond, as she sat back on the grass with her knees
clutched up against her chest.

“Oh, I guess
it has been about five years now. Every day after school, I would
head over to the library. I would sneak into the Superiora section
and sign out books on Pixie Magic. After supper, I would practice
in the backyard what I learned.”

Giuseppi
joined his friend on the grass. He took a seat beside her as he
stared off into the distance at the moon, which emitted a bright
shade of green.

“But were you
successful with any of these other spells, Farrah?”

Farrah
hesitated. She remembered all of the mishaps over the years. There
were the blown up trees, the destruction of her mother’s scorpion
spice house, not to mention the dozens of scars and bruises that
Farrah had suffered.

“Yeah, I guess
you can say that I was somewhat successful.”

“Oh really?”
Responded Giuseppi sarcastically - his eyebrows tightened upward
above his eyes as he looked on.

“Can you pull
off anything other than the Giganto spell…like the Animale
spell?”

The Animale
spell was one of the most advanced spells that a fairy could
perform. The spell was the ability to summon any mystical creature
that lived in Fairyland. A good fairy was able to produce any
creature in under a minute.

Farrah took out
her tiny velvet pouch from her pocket. She untied the string and
dug her hand into it. She scooped a large handful of silver Pixie
dust. Giuseppi was mesmerized for a second, his eyes fixed on the
Pixie dust glittering in the moonlight.

“Where did you
get…?”

Before Giuseppi
could finish his sentence, Farrah blew the silver Pixie dust into
the atmosphere. At first, it carried in all directions. Then like a
gunshot, it all came together before speeding off like lightning
into the distance.

Giuseppi looked
at his wristwatch in anticipation. It had been over three minutes,
but he dared not criticize his friend, already having been
impressed by what she had done. Finally, about three and a half
minutes later, Giuseppi spotted a creature flying toward them at
eye level. He couldn’t make out exactly what it was until it landed
on his face. Realizing that it was a Honker Mosquito, Giuseppi
tried to plug his nose quickly, but it was too late. The Honker
flew right up his nose.

Giuseppi shot
up to his feet and started hopping up and down as he whacked the
back of his neck, trying to dislodge the Honker.

“Giuseppi, are
you alright?” yelled a worried Farrah, as she too whacked the back
of his head.

The two
repeated the whacking repeatedly, until finally, the Honker burst
out of Giuseppi’s left nostril and flew off and out of sight.

“I am so
sorry, Giuseppi. Can you ever forgive me?”

Giuseppi rubbed
his nose with one hand and the back of his neck with the other. His
voice sounded muffled as if a tissue was wedged inside.

“That is your
big spell, summoning a Honker? Honkers have plagued fairyland for
years. What a nuisance they have become constantly flying up
fairy’s noses. And what filthy little creatures they are. Who has
ever heard of an animal that feeds off boogers. Absolutely
disgusting!”

Giuseppi took
a few minutes to compose himself and then sat back down next to his
friend.

“What in all
of Fairyland would have possessed you to summon a Honker?”

Farrah wiped a
tear away from her pinkish check before she spoke.

“I wasn’t
trying to summon a Honker. I was trying to summon a Scorpotoe. I
know you have desired to see one all of your life. I wanted to pull
this spell off as a gift to you.”