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Hooked
When I moved to the Ozarks, I never imagined that the magical land would have magical inhabitants. Nor would I ever have guessed that one of the creatures, right out of myths and fairy tales, would befriend me – and annoy me!
“Stop that, you nuisance! Get your pointy, little finger away from there!”
“Emma, I can’t help myself! I’m going in!”
That brat of a wood sprite was sticking his finger where it didn’t belong, as usual. I tossed the spreader into the bowl.
“Stavin, do you have any idea how exasperating you are?”
“Who me?” he said, with a wink, around a mouthful of frosting.
“Who else?”
“Pfaack!” He spat frosting onto the half-iced cake. “What did you do to the topping? It’s usually so delicious!”
I scooped his spat-out frosting off the yellow cake and dumped it onto his tiny head before he could get away. His indignant yelp pleased me. I danced in a circle, brandishing the spreader. “Ha! I’m getting quicker! I’ll catch you yet!”
Stavin pouted. “Yeah, because that stuff will kill me and I won’t be able to get away.”
“Oh, it’s just lemon. Besides, how could it kill you? As you love reminding me, you’re immortal.”
My little friend opened his mouth to retort. Pale yellow confection oozed off his dirt brown hair and down his pointy, green nose to land on his protruding chin. I did my very best not to giggle or even look the slightest bit amused, but only a sheer act of will kept me from howling with laughter. Finally, his mustered dignity melted under the sweet insult and my enforced composure dissolved into a fit of giggles.
“AAAACK!” he exclaimed, swiping the loathsome icing away. “Much you know, you stupid mortal!” He pulled himself up to his full six inch height and vanished into other realms with his signature move – a dramatic flourish of his dandelion cape, ending in a
"poof" and a cloud of dandelion fluff.
Perhaps I had won the game, well, almost won it, but payback would come when it was least expected or wanted. I had learned that such is the way of sprites. Now, Stavin was off somewhere sulking over his near defeat, but soon he would be scheming. Then he would do something to make my life much more interesting than it needed to be.
I heard Jeremy’s car pull up just as I finished setting the table for dinner. We had been dating for almost a year. Despite his flaws, he has a good heart and a great sense of humor. Perhaps, at last, I had found a decent man I could live with “until death do us part.” If he could deal with my peculiarities, that is.
Finding someone who can accept that you see creatures most people believe don’t exist isn’t exactly easy. The main question in my mind was whether to let him know I can see and communicate with spirits and other “invisible” and “mythical” beings. I sighed, assuming I would be alone forever if I revealed that choice bit of information.
I opened the door and stepped onto the porch. Jeremy stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “You’d better throw me a rag,” he said with a smile.
“A rag? For what?”
“I was buildin’ a deck all day.”
Obviously, I was being dense. I raised an eyebrow. “And …?”
“Well, I stink worse than road kill! You may not let me in the house.”
“Oh, get in here!”
“OK, if you’re sure.” He came up the wooden stairs.
“I’ll kiss you, stinky or not.”
My companion had the good grace to wash and put on one of the shirts he keeps here. He came out of the bathroom wearing a quizzical expression.
“Jeremy, what’s the strange look about?”
“Uh, does the soap move around often?”
“Move around?” Oh no, I thought, I’m doomed. “Only on Sundays.”
“This is Wednesday.”
“Only on Sundays and Wednesdays then.” I hugged him and gave him a pat on the rear. Stavin had been busy. “Hungry?”
“Starving.”
“Me too.” I served pork roast, potatoes and broccoli for dinner. We ate in relative silence for a while, as we took the edge off our hunger.
Jeremy kept looking over my right shoulder.
“Darling, is something bothering you?” I asked.
“Bothering me? Not exactly ….” He now stared over my left shoulder.
I turned to see Stavin, leaning languidly against a stalk of my aloe vera plant. The little sprite smiled impishly and waved. I turned back to Jeremy. His mouth gaped.
My startled companion looked away, blinked, and looked back. Then, to my astonishment, he tentatively waved back at Stavin.
Jeremy and I queried in unison, “You see him?”
After a stunned silence, man and sprite introduced themselves. I filled a small dish with morsels of pork and potatoes, and set it near the miscreant sprite. “I know you hate broccoli,” I said.
“Thanks,” Stavin said. He whistled a high-pitched trill. Three, lovely, female sprites wearing frothy, flower-petal gowns appeared from wherever sprites go when they aren’t bothering me. The one in jonquil yellow winked at Jeremy and whispered into Stavin’s ear.
“Hello again, ladies,” Jeremy said.
“Do any of you like broccoli?” I asked.
“Not I,” one of them said. “I’m doing that low carb diet.”
I crossed my arms. “I find that very hard to believe.”
She tittered. “Just kidding. Broccoli, please.”
“You spend WAY too much time around humans,” I quipped.
“Do they eat here often?” Jeremy asked.
“Just Stavin,” I said. “I’ve never met the others.”
I put broccoli on the dish for the newcomers, who thanked me. Jeremy and I finished our dinner and talked about ordinary things. Stavin flitted over to the cake, obviously intending to help himself. I jumped up and caught him between my hands.
“Got you!” I cried triumphantly.
I set Stavin on the table, where he immediately crumpled in a heap. “You caught me!” he wailed pitifully.
I was mortified; I must have smashed a wing or something. “Stavin, did I hurt you?”
“No, but …. It’s over.” He sobbed into his leafy sleeve.
Jeremy watched in amused silence.
I realized my little friend was not content without a game. “Stavin, how about this? Since I won your game, I get to choose the next game, all right?”
The sprite stopped bawling, looked up with a beaming smile and blurted out, “Great! What game? What are your rules? When can we start?”
Before he could come up with any more questions, I put both hands in front of me to halt him.
“I don’t know yet, but there will be no game if you pester me!” I was glad I’d thought to add that provision. “We’ll leave you some cake without frosting. Later.”
Jeremy actually helped me clear the dishes and put away leftovers. Something was up. I wondered if he was working up the nerve to dump me.
“Emma, can we go for a walk? There’s something I want to talk to you about.” He looked into my eyes, but was jittery.
“Sure.” My stomach lurched. Was this the end? Maybe Jeremy just couldn’t deal with a woman who talked to, and even fed, wood sprites.
Stavin waved vigorously with both hands and caught my eye. He wore a secretive, gleeful look as he pointed at Jeremy’s shirt pocket and jumped up and down. The corner of a little, blue, velvet box stuck out of it.
I smiled, “Stavin, will you stay here, or do I have to glue you down with lemon frosting?”
“You won’t see or hear me at all,” he said. That probably meant he would be there spying.
Jeremy asked, “You ready, Emma?”
“Yes,” I answered quietly, “I am ready.”
We walked down Briarcliff Road, trotting down the steep hill that made up the last quarter mile. He was about to chase me onto the dock, but I stopped and pointed at the beautiful sky. We gazed at the spun cotton clouds that the setting sun streaked with lavender, orange, gold and pink. Table Rock Lake, calm and clear, reflected the colorful heavens.
“Perfect night for fishin’,” Jeremy announced.
I laughed. “Yes, if you have the right bait.”
He took me out on his boat and we went into open water where we could see lights reflecting in the sparkling water. The sky lost its enchanting colors before we left the dock, but nothing could take away from the evening’s charm. Not even Jeremy fishing.
Yes, my man put out a line. As long as he didn’t insist I put one out too, I didn’t care.
He sat staring into the water for several minutes until I, unable to stand the suspense any longer, urged him, “What did you want to talk to me about?”
He stammered for a minute until I said, “You’ve already caught me, and I don’t want to be thrown back in the water.”
With that, he blurted out, “Emma, marry me?”
Of course, I accepted.
We stayed out on the lake for an hour or so. When we went back to my little house in the woods, we discovered that the sprites had been busy. Flowering vines traced the railing and all the greenery sparkled with magic. Inside, we found the cake decorated with flower petals.
Stavin and the girls stood beside the cake, looking expectantly at us.
Keeping my expression bland, I said, “Thank you for the vines and sparkles.”
Stavin said nothing.
The sprite in pink asked, “Well?”
“She accepted,” Jeremy told them.
Stavin pointed to his pocket. The sprite in blue said, “You’re forgetting something.”
Jeremy clutched the box in his shirt pocket, looking embarrassed. “Forgot to bait the line,” he said, and put the ring on my finger.
I smiled and told him, “You caught me anyway.”
Garden Fairies
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