Wolf Dreams

“Please, please Mom, can’t we make it today? I really want to and you said we could make one this weekend! It quit raining…Please?”  Jenny tried hard not to whine, but the weekend was almost over and Mom didn’t look like she was going to be done with her project anytime soon. Jenny was getting desperate.

“All right. Did you clean out that old goldfish bowl yet? It needs to be ready,” said Mom.

“Yes! I did that yesterday!” Jenny ran to get the trowel and a little basket.

A little bit later they were combing the river banks, looking for just the right plants to put in the terrarium. A small cushion of soft green moss, some beautiful little ferns that looked like little fans, and some tiny ground plants called partridge berry all went into the basket, along with some of the dirt they grew in. A few more tiny ferns, and another cushion of moss and the basket was full. Mom and Jenny took their finds back to the house.

Carefully, Jenny arranged the moss on the bottom of the goldfish bowl, and then tucked the ferns in here and there. The partridge berry was added, and then the whole thing was watered thoroughly. Mom went and got a rubber band, and Jenny put a piece of plastic wrap tight over the top and used the rubber band to hold it in place. Then she put the bowl in the sunshine on the dining room table and waited for the magic.

Like most plant magic (unless your name is Jack and you plant magic beans) it took a while to happen. But slowly, each day, the little world inside the goldfish bowl changed and grew. It went from a collection of plants placed here and there to a tiny fairy garden. The plastic wrap kept the moisture in, and the sunshine coming in the window made it “rain” inside the bowl when it got warm, from the condensation. The little ferns settled in and grew and the partridge berry rambled around, making a little archway on one sided of the garden, against the glass. The moss was the smooth green fairy grass. Jenny would sit with her chin on the table and stare into the little fairy world for minutes on end- a long time for a busy, lively little girl. She told herself stories about the fairies that lived in there and kept the little garden growing well.

“Please, please Mom, can’t we do it today? I really want to and you said we could do it soon! There’s no one home today, and it would be perfect…Please?” Anastasia tried hard not to whine, but Mom kept putting things off.

“All right. It looks like they’ve gone out for the day, with the school bag and everything. Let’s go.” Mom led the way through the hole in the screen and a few minutes later she and Anastasia were standing on the dining room table looking into the little terrarium. It was the perfect size for a pair of fairies no bigger than small clothes moths.

“It’s perfect!” Anastasia breathed, admiring the little archway.

“It is a nice one,” Mom agreed. “Let’s go.”  She flitted to the top of the bowl, and very carefully cut a small slit in the plastic wrap. Anastasia followed her and they both squeezed inside. It was warm and wet inside, but that didn’t bother the fairies at all. They landed gently on the mossy ground. They wandered around, enjoying the tiny garden which was just their size, and then sat down under a fern to eat their lunch. Anastasia fell asleep and Mom almost did, it was so warm and peaceful inside.

A little while later, Mom squeezed out of the slit again and was sitting on top of the plastic wrap, looking around the big room, “Come on, we need to go now. We can come back another day,” she said. Then the front door banged. “They’re not supposed to be home yet!” Mom panicked. “You don’t have enough time to get out! Hide, quickly!”

Anastasia buried herself in the deepest part of the little garden and blended into the green, which is how fairies they keep from being seen. She was just in time, too, because Jenny came into the dining room and dropped into one of the chairs. She put her head down on the table and stared into the terrarium. Her face was very red and she looked miserable.

Her mom came into the room, and said, “I’ll get you something for your fever. Do you want something to eat before you go to bed? I’ll get you some soup and crackers.” She smoothed back Jenny’s hair and left the room. Jenny continued to stare listlessly into the terrarium.

Anastasia’s fairy mom had flitted to a plant hanging in the window and perched there, worriedly watching the scene below. Anastasia kept herself well hidden.

Jenny’s mom brought her juice and medicine, and then soup and crackers and more juice. Jenny ate a little and then dropped her spoon in the bowl with a little clink. “Mom, I want to go lie down now,” she said.

Mom answered, “All right.” She looked at the little fairy garden that Jenny loved so much. “Do you want to take your little garden with you?”

Jenny nodded, almost smiling, and they took the bowl with them into her bedroom.

Anastasia’s mom was frantic. Anastasia was still in the garden, and now the garden was gone.

She couldn’t fly around to find it until no one was around, and Jenny’s mom was going to be home for the rest of the day. She settled in for a long wait.

Meanwhile, Jenny was settled in her bed, with the bowl on her bedside table where she could gaze into it whenever she wanted. Mom turned on some quiet music and left Jenny in the darkened room so she could rest. Jenny was too achy from her fever to fall right asleep, so she just stared into her fairy garden while she lay there.

Since the room was dark and quiet, and Jenny was quiet, Anastasia thought she was safe. She came out from her hiding place and peeked around. Jenny’s head was a little lower than the bottom of the bowl, so Anastasia did not see here. Anastasia was a little bit stiff from hiding so long, so she stretched and fluttered her wings a little. Now, she was quite tiny, but still, the stretching and fluttering of wings was something Jenny could see. At first she thought a little clothes moth had found its way into her terrarium. However, clothes moths are not usually green, nor do they stand and do stretches.

Jenny blinked her eyes. She thought perhaps she was dreaming, but the little person with wings- the fairy- was still there. She sat up a little bit to get a better look.

Anastasia froze. She saw Jenny looking at her and she didn’t know what to do. Her mom was nowhere around and a human was looking at her.

“Wow,” breathed Jenny quietly. “I have a real fairy in my fairy garden.” She moved closer. Anastasia was still too frightened to move. Jenny put her face up to the glass and said, “Hello. My name is Jenny. I made this fairy garden. Who are you?”

Anastasia finally found her wings and started fluttering frantically. She could not find the slit her mother had cut in the plastic wrap on top, though, and soon fell back to the mossy ground, exhausted, with all the drops of water that had been clinging to the top raining down on her. She was crying.

Jenny couldn’t hear her, of course, because the glass was in the way and a tiny fairy’s voice is very tiny indeed, but she could see that Anastasia was very upset. She reached over and carefully took the plastic wrap off the top of the bowl. “There, you can get out now. I won’t hurt you.” Jenny couldn’t stand to see anyone scared and unhappy.

It took a minute or two for Anastasia to see that the top was open, but as soon as she did, she darted up and out. She quickly found a hiding place in the spider plant hanging in the window.

As soon as Jenny saw the fairy fly out, she put the top back on the bowl, finding the tiny slit cut in the plastic as she did so. Then she said, “I promise I won’t hurt you. Won’t you come down and talk to me? Do you like my fairy garden?”

Anastasia did not answer, of course. She was shaking as she hid in the spider plant.

“If you decide you want to talk, I’ll be here,” Jenny said, and closed her eyes. She fell asleep a few minutes later.

Anastasia watched as Jenny fell asleep and then fluttered quickly around the room, looking for a way out. There was none. She was too big to fit through the keyhole, and the space under the door was too small because of a carpet in Jenny’s room. She flew back over to the spider plant and sat there, disgusted, to wait for the door to open so she could get out.

When the door did open, and Jenny’s mom came in to check on her, Anastasia did not dare move. Jenny opened her eyes and said, “I found a fairy in my garden, Mom.”

Mom said, “That’s just the fever. Now close your eyes and go back to sleep.”

The plant was on the far side of the room from the door and if she moved, Jenny’s mother would be sure to see her. Anastasia knew her mom would be frantic by now, and so she decided to do something very risky. She decided to ask Jenny for help.

Fairies do not like to let humans know they exist. It can be very dangerous for them, because humans might decide to capture them. But Jenny had let Anastasia loose when she found her trapped in the bowl. Anastasia decided that Jenny might be trustworthy.

She sat on the edge of the bedside table, and waited, dangling her feet over the edge.

Eventually, she got tired of waiting, and fluttered over and tickled Jenny on the cheek. Jenny twitched, but didn’t wake up. She grabbed a strand of Jenny’s hair and tickled her under the nose. Jenny grumbled and opened her eyes. Anastasia flew back up to her spot on the bedside table.

Jenny saw the movement and her eyes widened. “Oh!” she said quietly, “You’re back!”

Anastasia made her voice as big as she could, using a little bit of magic.

“I’m Anastasia,” she introduced herself. “Yes, I’m a fairy.” Then she giggled. “And I really like your fairy garden, but I didn’t mean to get stuck in there. And now I’m stuck in here and my mom will be worried about me,” she said.

“I always knew there were fairies even if Mom says there aren’t. My grandmother used to see fairies playing outside her window.  I always hoped I would see one someday!”  She paused. “I can open the door for you, but I wish you’d stay for a while. I’m home sick from school and I’m lonely. I could use some company,” Jenny pleaded.

“I can’t go out where your mom will see me anyway. We’ll have to wait until she’s doing outside or something,” said Anastasia. “I can stay for a few minutes.”

Little girls are little girls, whether they are fairies or humans, and the time passed quickly. After a while, though, Jenny started to feel bad again, and lay back down on her bed. Then Anastasia had an idea. She said, “Why don’t you go tell your mom you feel worse, and I’ll ride out under your hair? When your mom goes to get your medicine, I’ll fly out to the plant in the dining room. I’ll bet that’s where my mom is hiding!”

Jenny agreed, and they did just that. Anastasia hid under her hair, which tickled quite a bit until she remembered to keep her wings still, and then flew safely away while they knew Jenny’s mom was busy. Jenny returned to her room alone. She hadn’t quite closed the door, though, and when her mother was outside checking the mail, she felt a tickle on her cheek again.

This time there were two fairies on her bedside table. They both smiled at her. Anastasia introduced Jenny to her mother.

“Thank you for helping Anastasia. You are a good friend to the fairies!” she said.  Then she added, “If you will cut a small hole in your screen, we will come and visit you often. We do that, when we find a trustworthy human- like you.” She smiled.

Jenny was delighted. She found some scissors in her desk and cut a very small slit in her screen, right down at the bottom where no one would notice. The two fairies left through the hole, with the promise that they would return.

And so they did. They came and brought their friends, too. They kept Jenny company while she was sick, and afterwards. They found that Jenny’s room was a fine place to wait out a thunderstorm or a bad windstorm. Jenny put several more plants in her room so they would have good places to hide, if they needed it.

A few weeks later, Jenny found a really huge old goldfish bowl out in the garage, and cleaned it out. She begged her mother until Mom finally took her out to the river again, and once more they scoured the banks for moss and ferns and partridge berry plants. This time Jenny took the bowl to her room and set it up in there with the door closed.

“Don’t you want some help?” asked Mom.

“No, I’m having fun myself,” answered Jenny. She giggled. She had all the help she needed fluttering around giving her advice. The finished fairy garden sat on a table in Jenny’s room. She added some other things, like pretty stones for a tiny path, colorful marbles, and small shells. She even found some tiny gardening tools from a doll house to put in there.

Her mom was looking at it one day soon after. “You really did a great job with this terrarium, Jenny. It looks like real fairies could live in it.”

Jenny just giggled. 
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