Fanny Nightsky and the Lost Tooth

Fanny Nightsky was at her last house of the night. She was tired and relieved to be finished. Landing on the edge of the sleeping child’s bed, she slipped beneath the pillow to collect the tooth.

It wasn’t there.

Instead, she found a note.

Dear Tooth Fairy, it read. I lost my tooth today. It was on the playground. I couldn’t find it in all the sand and stones. Please leave me a coin anyway. I promise I won’t lose my next one.

It was signed, From Sally.

“Well, Pixiesticks,” Fanny muttered, “I guess I’m not done with my night after all.”

She folded the note into a very small square and tucked it into her pocket. Then she slid the coin into place beneath the pillow.

All children received their coins, even if they lost their tooth.

But now Fanny had one more stop to make.

She needed to see Glimmer Brightwing.

Glimmer was in the middle of cataloging a set of molars when Fanny arrived, humming softly as she worked.

Shelves lined the walls, stacked high with glass jars. Each one bore a carefully written label:

**Fell Down Storm Drain**

**Swallowed by Dog**

**Dropped in School Lunchroom**

**Accidentally Vacuumed**

Glimmer caught Fanny staring at a jar that held a slightly… glistening tooth.

“That one took me three days to collect,” Glimmer said.

“Three days?” Fanny wrinkled her nose.

“Dogs are not cooperative,” Glimmer replied dryly.

Fanny moved down the shelf. “What about this one?”

She pointed to a jar labeled:

**Found Inside Mouse Hole**

Glimmer sighed. “That mouse did not want to give that tooth up. I had to bribe him with a piece of cheese.”

“What did a mouse want with a tooth?” Fanny asked.

“Popsicles, I don’t know,” Glimmer said with a shrug. “He was a screwy mouse.”

“There are a lot of strange ways children lose their teeth,” Fanny observed.

“This isn’t even half of it,” Glimmer said. “Once, a boy stuck his up his nose. And it got stuck.”

“Pixiesticks!”

“I’m assuming you’re here for a tooth?” Glimmer asked.

“Yes. A little girl named Sally. She lost it on the playground.”

“Playground, playground…” Glimmer began rummaging through the jars. “Let’s see. Here’s a Sally who lost her tooth at the beach. No? Another Sally who lost hers down the toilet. No…” She reached higher on the shelf. “Ah, here it is. Tooth lost on the playground. Little Sally Johnson.”

"That’s it!” Fanny said.

“This one was difficult to retrieve,” Glimmer replied. “I had to sift through several tons of sand, and I got it everywhere. I still have some in my shoes.”

“Has there ever been a tooth you couldn’t find?” Fanny asked.

Glimmer paused.

“A little boy lost his tooth while sailing with his parents. It fell straight into the ocean.” She folded her hands. “I managed to track it down to a shark that had swallowed it.”

Fanny’s eyes widened.

“Now listen,” Glimmer continued firmly. “I will wait three days for a tooth to pass through a dog. I will pull one out of a boy’s nose. I will even negotiate with rodents.”

She sniffed.

“But popsicles, that shark was enormous. And as far as I’m concerned, he can keep it.”

"That’s a wise decision,” Fanny said.

Her gaze drifted to a jar on the highest shelf.

**Unclaimed Teeth**

A heaviness settled in her chest.

She knew those teeth belonged to children who had decided they were too big for the Tooth Fairy. They hadn’t tucked them beneath their pillows. They hadn’t written notes. They hadn’t even checked in the morning.

“Every year there are more and more,” Glimmer said quietly.

Fanny stepped closer to the jar. Inside, the tiny teeth glimmered faintly, as if they were still hoping to be claimed.

“That’s the hardest part of my job,” Glimmer continued. “Lost teeth can be found. But forgotten ones…”

She didn’t finish the sentence.

"It’s hard when they stop believing,” Fanny said.

“Double hard,” Glimmer agreed with a deep sigh. “But there are still plenty of children who believe. And a lot of work to be done.”

Fanny said her goodbyes and flew toward the door. As she was leaving, another fairy hurried past her on the way in.

“I have a little boy who lost his tooth to a spider,” the fairy called to Glimmer. “Have you found it?”

Fanny paused midair.

“What would a spider want with a tooth?” she wondered aloud.

Then she shook her head and flew home.

When she finally slipped beneath her own soft blankets, she fell asleep almost instantly, dreaming of teeth, and all the strange, surprising places they sometimes ended up.

Fanny Nightsky and the Fairy Trap

 Fanny tapped her foot impatiently and stared through the bars of the small cage. Peanuts and popcorn, how could she be so careless as to get caught in fairy trap? Not that it was her fault. This was Wiz’s route. She could have warned her that the child in question had a… a bat for a pet. The creature was now staring at Fanny through the bars of the trap.

Fanny shuddered, remembering how the thing had dove at her as she flew across the room towards the sleeping girl. She’d never made it to the girl’s pillow to collect the tooth. And she’d lost the coin as well. She’d tried throwing it at the bat, but instead of hitting the intended target, the coin had landed somewhere on the ground. She hadn’t even come close to hitting the bat, who kept after her until she decided to dive low and hide under the bed. She hadn’t even noticed the cage, which was cleverly hidden beneath a blanket, until she’d flown into it.

Well, Fanny supposed as she glared at the bat, I guess it’s safer in here than it is out there. But I can’t stay here forever. I need to get out before the child wakes up.

She studied the trap. The door had shut behind her when she’d flown in, but the bars were made out of sticks and string. It shouldn’t be too difficult to get out. She sat down, folding her legs under her. It might take some time for the bat to leave, but this was the last child on her list, she had time to wait. Certainly it would give up after a while and look for an insect to eat.

“Fairies are not bugs,” she admonished the bat. “It’s not nice to chase them.”

“It’s not nice to chase bugs either, but that doesn’t stop Grizelda.”

Fanny jumped, startled to hear a voice near her ear. She looked up and shrieked, before realizing it was just a fly hanging from the top of the fairy trap. She could be forgiven for being startled though. The fly had two heads.

“I’m sorry,” one head said.

Then the other head spoke, “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Pixiesticks! You have two heads.”

“Two heads are better than one,” the fly said, both heads speaking in unison.

“I’m Zig…”

“And I’m Zag.” Zag looked closely at Fanny. “You’re not Hildy’s usual tooth fairy.”

“No, I’m not. This was supposed to be my day off, but Wiz bent a wing and couldn’t fly.”

“She didn’t tell you about Grizelda?” Zig asked.

“Grizelda?”

“The bat,” Zag said. “She likes to chase you."

“But she’s cross eyed,” Zig said, interrupting Zag. “She only has a 50/50 chance of catching you.”

“Fifty, fifty?” Fanny was confused.

“Because she sees double,” Zag explained.

“And if she does catch you,” Zig said, “she usually lets you go.”

 “After that it’s easy.” Zag said.

“Why is that?” Fanny wondered.

“Because it’s your turn to tag her.” Zig said.

“Tag?” Fanny shouted. “That crazy bat was just trying to play tag?”

“Wiz really should have told you,” Zig said.

“She probably forgot,” Zag said. “She’s always been a bit flighty.”

“Well not anymore,” Zig said. “she bent her wing. No more flying.”

“So sad,” Zag said. “It’s going to be hard to train a new fairy.”

Fanny’s face turned red, realizing they thought she was an F.I.T. “This is not my first day,” she huffed, “and Wiz will be back on the job as soon as her wing mends.”

“Well that’s good to know,” Zig said.

“But we weren’t talking about you,” Zag clarified.

“You’ve gotten caught in Hildy’s trap,” Zig said.

“No one ever gets out of Hildy’s traps,” Zag sighed.

“Well cotton candy, it can’t be that hard,” Fanny scoffed. “It’s made of sticks and strings.”

She pulled on one of the strings to show how easy it would be to pull lose. Instead the sticks grew closer together and the string knotted tight.

“Peanuts and popcorn, what kind of fairy trap is this?”

“One made by Hildy,” Zig said.

“She’s a witch,” Zag said.

“Tut, tut,” Zig said. “She’s not a witch.”

“So right,” Zag said. “Witches have warts.”

 Then together they announced, “Hildy is a sorceress.”

“You two… um, you are the strangest fly I have ever met,” Fanny said.

“No, no,” Zig said, “two is correct.”

“Two minds, one body,” Zag said.

“The results of Hildy’s mis-magic.” Zig said.

“Do you remember what she was trying to do?” Zag asked.

“Stop us from arguing all the time,” Zig said.

“Look,” Fanny said, “Grizelda has left. I need to get out of here so I can find the silver dollar, swap it for Hildy’s tooth and then get out of here.”

“You can’t open the cage,” Zag said.

“It’s impervious to fairy magic.” Zig said.

“Well who can open it?” Fanny asked.

“Hildy,” Zag said, “and…”

“And…”Zig said.

“And who?” Fanny asked, trying not to yell.

Zig and Zag looked at each other and then answered, “Anyone but a fairy.”

Fanny turned red. “Can you open it?”

“Of course,” they both said.

“Then by all that is sweet and yummy, open it!”

“Do you think we should?” Zag asked?

“Hildy’s been trying to catch a fairy for a long time,” Zig said.

“No, she’s been trying to catch her fairy,” Zag said.

“And I am not her fairy,” Fanny said, rattling the trap. Above her she heard the bed creak and the little girl make sleepy sounds.

“Zigzag, quit your buzzing,” the little witch mumbled and then began to make soft snoring sounds.

“Pixiesticks, please let me out.”

Zig and Zag flew down and looked at the latch on the cage. They fluttered their wings and pushed up on the lock. The door swung open and Fanny flew out.

“Thank you, Zig, thank you Zag!”

Fanny felt a whoosh of air and ducked, narrowly being tagged by Grizelda.

“I don’t have time for games, you silly bat.” She flew into the air, scanning the room for the coin. She knew the general direction it had landed, but if it rolled, it could be anywhere. There! She saw something shiny on the ground by the dresser.

“Watch out for Warty,” Zig called after her as she flew off.

“Warty? Who’s Warty?”

Fanny didn’t hear Zag’s answer. Grizelda was flying straight for her and she dodged to the side to avoid her long wings.  She then dove straight down, arms stretched out to retrieve the coin. She was almost there when a long red tongue flipped its way towards her. Fanny squealed and summersaulted backwards.

“Peanuts and popcorn!” She hovered in the air, watching the tongue retreat into the mouth of a giant, wart covered bullfrog. “Ooooh, so that’s warty.”

The toad was sitting next to the dollar. There was no way Fanny could retrieve it and avoid him. She was trying to figure out what to do when she felt something brush against her. Grizelda! She’d forgotten all about that crazy bat. Grizelda began chirping wildly and flew off in the opposite direction.

“You’ve been tagged,” Zig said.

“It’s now you’re turn,” Zag said.

“I don’t want to play tag,” Fanny complained. “I want to collect Hildy’s tooth and go home. Peanuts, how does Wiz do this route? Every house I’ve been in tonight has been wacky.”

“Wiz plays tag,” Zig said.

“Yes,” Zag agreed.

“She’d fly around the room once,” Zig sighed, “let Grizelda tag her…”

“Trade the coin for the tooth and tag Grizelda on the way out,” Zag finished.

“And Warty?” Fanny asked?

Well, he likes to play tag too,” Zig said.

Fanny looked towards the corner of the room where Grizelda was hovering. Then she looked where Warty was sitting. The toad seemed to be grinning at her, daring her to come for the coin. And then she got an idea.

Fanny flew straight for Grizelda. The bat dodged her, but Fanny was prepared, coming up behind her and chasing the bat in the direction of Warty. The toads tongue shot out, heading straight for the bat. Grizelda backed up, but not fast enough, and Warty’s tongue moved, blocking her path.

While the toad was distracted, Fanny dove down, reaching for the coin. She had just plucked it from the ground when she heard Grizelda’s excited chitter. The bat had been tagged and was now coming for Fanny. The tooth fairy rose into the air and pretended to run, but was just slow enough for the bat to catch. She heard Zig and Zag cheering. Now it was her turn.

She flew to the bed. Hildy was beginning to stir. She sat up and looked around, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. The game was waking her up!

Zig and Zag flew in front of Hildy’s face. She waved them away. “Zigzag, what are you doing?”

“Tag,” Zig said.

“You’re it,” Zag said.

While she was distracted by the fly, Fanny slipped under the pillow. She picked up the tooth and stuck it into her tooth pouch. Then she put the silver dollar in its place. She peaked out from under the pillow to make sure the coast was clear.

“Zigzag, it’s the middle of the night,” Hildy complained.

Fanny flew out from under the pillow and straight for the window. Behind her she heard Hildy. “Look Zigzag! The tooth fairy was here! I wonder if my trap worked.”

Fanny paused by the window to look back. Hildy was bent over, looking under the bed.

“Oh, it’s empty.” Hildy sighed and pulled the trap from under the bed. “It looks like it caught something though.” She wiped her fingers inside and then looked at her finger. Something shimmered on the end. “Fairy dust! It did work, but she got away.”

Hildy looked up at Zig and Zag and grinned. “But I bet I can make some powerful magic with the dust. Maybe even give you three heads.”

Fanny chuckled as Zig and Zag began begging her to try something else.

“A toad with two tongues,” Zig said.

“Maybe a bat with four wings,” Zag said.

Speaking of bats… Fanny saw Grizelda watching her. She flew over to the bat and tagged her on the wing.

“Your turn now,” Fanny said and then flew for the window and under the sill.

Hildy looked up from the fairy dust. Grizelda was flapping against the window pane, trying to get out. She frowned. “What is that crazy bat up to now?”

When Fanny arrived back to the Fairy Kingdom, she went and found Wiz.

“Oh there you are, Fanny,” Wiz said. “I forgot to tell you about Hildy’s house. Did everything go ok?”

“Everything went just fine,” Fanny said. “but I hope your wing gets better fast. Your route is just a little bit batty.”

A Sticky Situation

 It was raining cats and dogs. That’s what Whiz had said before Fanny left, but Fanny didn’t see any cats and dogs falling from the sky. What she saw was water, and lots of it. Peanuts and popcorn! She didn’t like rain. It made flying difficult.  And as much rain was coming down, it made seeing impossible. Which is why she was huddled under the windowsill at the wrong address. Fanny was lost.

“Pixesticks, I wish all this rain would stop.” Fanny stomped her foot for emphasis, but that only resulted in her splashing water up into her face.

“That didn’t seem to help.”

Fanny wiped the water out of her eyes and looked around to see who had spoken. There was a spider in the corner of the window. She was watching Fanny with amusement.

“No, it didn’t,” Fanny agreed. “I want to go home, but I have one more house on my list tonight… and I can’t find it because of all this rain.”

“It will eventually stop,” the spider said. “In the meantime, why don’t you come join me in my web.”

Fanny looked suspiciously at the spider. “I’m a fairy, not a fly…”

“I’m not going to eat you,” the spider chuckled. “It’s dryer in this corner than it is on the ledge… no puddles.”

“Well, my wings do need to dry some…” Fanny flapped her wings and flew up towards the spider’s web, landing just on the edge.

“Be careful,” the spider warned, “my webbing is a bit sticky. It’s easy to get stuck.”

“Cotton candy, it is sticky,” Fanny said, checking to make sure she could lift her feet, “but I’ve seen worse. Spec got stuck in Taffy once and it took five of us to pull him out.”

“My name is Bridgette,” the spider said.

“Fanny Nightsky.” Fanny put out her hand to shake one of the spiders many legs but lost her balance and fell face first into the web. “Pixisticks!”

“Are you stuck?” Bridgette asked, when Fanny continued to lay there with her face in the web.

“I think so,” came the muffled reply.

“Oh dear.” Bridgette tried to pull Fanny out of the web, but she couldn’t budge her. More and more of the sticky thread began to cover Fanny. “Oh dear, oh dear.”

“Peanuts! Fanny, how did you get so tangled.”

Fanny wished she could fall through the web and disappear when she heard Spec’s voice.

 “I didn’t do it on purpose, Spec.”

“I’m sure you didn’t,” Whiz said, landing on the edge of the web and surveying the situation. “Zip, Spec, if the two of you each take hold of one of her arms, and Vera and I each take a leg, I think we can pull her out. Be careful not to tear a wing.”

There was a murmur of agreement and Fanny realized that there must be several more fairies. She had an audience. “This… is embarrassing,” Fanny sighed.

She felt a gentle tugging and then she began to rise out of the web. Then her arm slipped and half her body landed back in the sticky substance.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” said Bridgette.

“I’m sorry,” Zip said. “The rain… my hands are slippery.”

“No problem,” Fanny said. Fanny had trained Zip and she knew he could be a bit clumsy, but sweet. They’d had some close calls when he’d been her Fairy In Training.

“Ok, let’s try this again,” Whiz said. “This time Fanny, flap your wings and see if that helps. On three… one… two… three…”

Fanny flapped her wings and then felt herself rising again. Before long she was standing back on the window ledge.

“Thank you,” Fanny looked around at all the fairies that were there. Her face flushed red, there were so many. “But how did you all know I needed help?”

“Zip called us,” Whiz said.

“This house is one of mine,” her former F.I.T. said. “It’s a good thing it was raining, I was running behind. If I’d been here earlier, I never would have seen you tangled in the web.”

“If it wasn’t for the rain,” Fanny said, “I wouldn’t have gotten lost and I wouldn’t have been here… oh, Bridgette, I ruined your web.”

“No worries,” the spider said. “I can fix it… and I’m glad it rained because I got to meet you, Fanny. Promise me you’ll come back and visit some time.”

“I will,” Fanny said, “but maybe next time we can meet on the window ledge and not in your web.”

“It’s a deal.”

“The rain is letting up now,” Whiz said, “and it looks like morning is just around the corner…”

“Pixisticks, I’ve got to go,” Fanny said. “I have to get to the last house on my list, or there’s going to be a little boy that is going to be disappointed when he wakes up.”

Fanny flew off then and made it to the house just in time. She put the coin under the boy’s pillow, put the tooth in her bag and then hurried to make it back to Fairy Land before the sun rose. 

The Tooth Adventures of Fanny Nightsky

  

Fanny couldn’t believe her luck, as she struggled beneath the heavy pillow, pushing her way back from the grasping hand that had almost wrapped itself around her tiny body. The hand patted the mattress, moving back and forth until it found its prize, a shinny, silver dollar! Clutching its reward, the hand retreated and Fanny could hear the boy’s voice as he leaped from his bed.

“Mom! MOM! The tooth fairy came! Look what she left me!”

Fanny breathed a sigh of relief, sinking back into the fluffy pillow. What, in the name of cotton candy, was this kid doing awake anyway? As if she didn’t know. Slipping out from under the pillow, Fanny headed to the window, looking for her trainee. She had an earful she had to say to him, leaving her stranded in the danger zone, while he flew away to safety.

“Oh there you are Fanny. That was a close one, wasn’t it?”

Closing her eyes, Fanny counted to ten, and then turned towards the pile of toys the voice had come from. “It was only close Zip, because you woke the child up.”

“It wasn’t my fault Fanny! He had a fairy trap set up!”

Fanny prayed for patience, then continued her lecture. “They all have fairy traps. Every child wants to catch the tooth fairy. That’s no excuse for clumsiness!”

“I’m sorry Fanny,” Zip said, hanging his head. “I’ll do better at the next house.”

Fanny sighed. That was the same thing he had said at the last house, and the house before that, and the house before that. He’d been saying it all night long, with no hope in sight of it ever being true. Why did she have to be the one to get Zip as her Fairy In Training? He was the clumsiest F.I.T in the history of F.I.T’s. Even worse than Wiz and she had been pretty bad.

Fanny heard the sound of the boy’s feet heading back to his room. Judging by how fast they were moving, he must have realized he hadn’t checked his trap and was hurrying to see if he’d caught a fairy. Grabbing Zip’s arm, Fanny slipped under the crack in the window, pulling him behind.

“Try to keep up Zip,” Fanny said, her wings moving faster than usual. “We are way behind schedule; we have to step it up if we are going to finish by morning.”

The next house had a cat. Fanny told Zip not to land anywhere the cat could reach him. Granted, cats could jump, but they couldn’t fly. Fanny didn’t see any way that Zip could mess that up. Unfortunately for Zip, he couldn’t see any way not to mess it up. Fanny had just finished placing the silver dollar under Rylie’s pillow and had retrieved the tooth, when she heard Zip’s cries for help.

Peanuts and popcorn, he was annoying! Crawling out from under the pillow, Fanny looked around. Zip was nowhere to be seen and neither was the cat. She had told that bumbler to stay behind her. It should have been a simple job. They had flown into the room, staying close to the ceiling. That high up, the cat might never even see them. They had landed on the light shade, hanging in the middle of the room. Fanny surveyed the bed and the cat was still sleeping. From there it should have been as simple as snowflakes. All Zip had to do was follow her down to the bed and under the pillow. What could have gone wrong?

“FANNY, HELP!”

Zip’s voice was coming from under the bed. Cautiously, Fanny climbed towards the floor, hanging onto the bedspread as she stuck her head under the frame to take a look at the situation.

PIXISTICKS! The cat had Zip cornered between the wall and the leg of the bed! Fanny shook her head. Only Zip could turn a simple tooth exchange into a cat-astrophy. She chuckled at her joke, then realized there was no one there to share it with. She could rescue Zip, and then tell it to him, but considering he was the butt of the joke, he probably wouldn’t laugh.

Fanny looked at her tooth watch. Time was running out and she still had two more kids to go. She could leave him. He was safe, as long as he stayed behind the leg post. The cat would give up eventually and she’d get done a lot faster without Zip tagging along. Sighing, Fanny dismissed that idea. He was still her F.I.T and no matter what, she was responsible for him. What if her Training Fairy had given up on her? Fanny’s face turned red as she remembered some of the bumblers she had made.

Fanny let go of the bedspread and flew up to the ceiling. She looked around the room for anything she could use to distract the cat. Gerbils! Not real ones, but toy gerbils that ran around the room, bumping into things and making chirpy, gerbely noises. It was risky and might wake up the girl, but Fanny didn’t see any other way.

Flying down to the floor, Fanny landed on the back of one of the toys, looking for a way to turn it on. A quick examination revealed a pressure button on its back. Fanny pressed down with both hands, putting all her strength into it. The toy came to life, chattering loudly and knocking Fanny off its back as it began to move across the floor. Fanny flew back to the light shade and waited for the cat to come investigate.

It didn’t take long. The gerbil toy was making all kinds of noise, beeping and whistling and making all kinds of whirring sounds. Cotton Candy! That thing was going to wake the whole house!

Keeping her eye on the bed, Fanny saw the cat’s nose peep into view as he inspected the new threat to his girl’s safety. Flying straight down towards the corner of the bed, Fanny dove under, hoping Zip was already on his way out. He wasn’t. Zip was still behind the leg of the bed, his eyes closed tightly. He hadn’t even realized the cat was gone. Well he wouldn’t be gone much longer if they didn’t hurry. Looking over her shoulder, Fanny saw that the cat had already lost interest in the toy and had turned back towards them.

Fanny grabbed hold of Zip, who screamed in terror, before realizing it was Fanny and not the cat, pulling him out from his hiding spot. Holding tight, she pulled him towards the edge of the bed, flying as fast as her wings would flutter. The cat poised, ready to pounce. Just as he leaped towards them, Fanny and Zip cleared the bed and flew straight for the light. Landing on the shade, Fanny turned towards Zip, ready to give him a tongue lashing, but seeing the fear in his eyes, she paused. Had it really been that long since she’d been an F.I.T, that she’d forgotten how scary it could be learning something new?

“I’m sorry Fanny,” Zip said. “I fell off the bed. I’ll do better at the next house.”

“I’m sure you will,” Fanny said, “and if not, then the house after that. It will get easier. Just please Zip, try not to get cornered by anymore cats. Peanuts and popcorn, I don’t think my heart can take another cat-astrophy!”

Zip chuckled, relieved that Fanny didn’t seem angry. “I don’t think mine can either,” he said.

“Let’s get out of here,” Fanny said, flying towards the window, while making sure she stayed out of the cat’s reach. “Someone is coming.”

The two fairies slipped under the window just as Rylie’s step-dad entered the room. He looked around; sure he had heard a noise in there. Max was on the windowsill, looking outside. He meowed, looking at Jeff, then back towards the window.

“It must have been the cat,” he muttered. As he turned to leave the room he stepped on one of Rylie’s toys, nearly falling as he did. Beep beep. What was this thing doing, running around?

“Jeff?” Rylie asked, sitting up and looking at her step-dad, confused.

“Go back to sleep Rylie,” Jeff said, picking the toy up and turning it off.

Rylie lay back down and slipped her hand under the pillow. Her fingers touched something hard and cold. Pulling it out, she looked at the round object in her hand, a silver dollar.

“Look Jeff! The tooth fairy was here!”

Outside, Fanny Nightsky and Zip Moonfall hurried onto the next house. It had been an eventful night. Thank Sweetness it was nearly over.

Sandbox Adventure

 

In my backyard,

a box full of sand,

magical wonders,

an enchanted land.

A child’s imagination

carries me away

across the wide sea

where I sail and play.

Protecting a castle

from dragons and more,

sea creatures that slither

and monsters that roar.

They attack from the air,

the ground, and the sea,

but I battle bravely

until they all flee.

My castle protected,

I return to my shore,

then sail once again

to adventures galore.

To an island of danger,

a perilous sight,

with treasure to find

and pirates to fight.

Another adventure

in my box of sand,

magically enchanted,

wondrous and grand.

The Fairy Garden Adventure

Olivia the Bold, Winston the Brave, and Nathan the Fearless were going on an adventure.

“Where should we start?” Olivia asked her brothers.

“How about the Fairy Garden?” Nathan suggested.

“I bet there’s an ogre in there,” Winston said, “holding a fairy princess captive.”

“Oh no!” Olivia exclaimed. “We have to rescue her!”

Inside the Fairy Garden, the fairies were listening.

“You hear that?” Jenna asked Mary. “The children want an adventure. Whose turn is it to be the princess?”

“I think it’s Bridgette’s turn,” said Mae. “And Tristan can be the ogre.”

“Why do I have to be the ogre?” Tristan grumbled. “Why can’t I be the prince?”

“Because you’re the ogre and I’m the prince,” Mae said.

“You can’t be the prince. You’re a girl,” Tristan objected.

“I can too. Olivia said girls can be whatever they want to be, and I want to be the prince.”

“Fine,” Bridgette said. “Be the prince. Now here they come. Everyone, in your places!”

The fairies hurried to hide as the children, now shrunk down to fairy size, made their way into the Fairy Garden.

“Help! Help!” Gale called. “A terrible ogre has taken Princess Bridgette to his cave and is holding her for… for…”

“For a ransom?” Olivia the Bold suggested.

“Yes!” Gale said. “A ransom of… of…”

“Cookies and mints,” Tristan whispered loudly from behind a flower. Then he let out a mighty ogre roar. At least, he hoped it sounded mighty and not like the squeak of a squirrel, as he feared.

“Fee, fi, fo, fum! I want cookies and mints!” he bellowed in his most fearsome voice.

“What do you think?” Winston the Brave asked.

“I want cookies too,” Nate the Fearless said. “Do you think Mom will give us some?”

“Not now,” Winston said. “We have to rescue the princess first.”

The three adventurers entered the garden.

Olivia tread lightly across the colored glass stones, careful not to disturb a single sparkling pebble. Winston drew his sword and used it to part the tall daisies, their white petals brushing against his shoulders. Nathan leapt over the narrow stream and turned back, whispering loudly, “This way!”

The garden seemed deeper than usual. The air shimmered. Somewhere ahead, something growled.

“Do you think that’s the ogre?” Olivia asked, her voice trembling just a little.

“It could be a lion,” Nathan said.

“Lions don’t live in Fairy Gardens,” Winston replied.

“How do you know?” Nathan argued. “They could.”

“It’s an ogre,” Olivia said firmly, pointing ahead. “Because there he is.”

Sure enough, Tristan stood before them, puffing out his cheeks and stretching his arms wide, trying to make himself look twice his size.

Just then, Prince Mae the Mighty leapt from behind a rose bush, wooden sword raised high.

“Stand back!” she cried. “I will handle this beast!”

With a fierce shout, she charged at the ogre, waving her sword wildly.

Tristan shrieked and turned to run.

“You’re not supposed to run!” Mae yelled after him. “You’re a big, scary ogre. You’re supposed to stay and fight!”

“I don’t have a sword!” he shouted over his shoulder.

“Ogres don’t need swords. They have big, meaty hands!” Mae declared.

And then something terrible happened.

She slipped.

Her feet flew out from under her, and she landed squarely in a very squishy mud puddle.

Splat.

“Are you okay?” Olivia asked, hurrying forward to help her up.

“I’m fine,” Mae said, her cheeks turning pink beneath the streaks of mud. “Just embarrassed.”

“Don’t worry,” Winston said confidently. “We’ve got this.”

He and Nathan pointed toward a hollow in a wide old tree.

“I think the princess is in there,” Nathan whispered.

“But where did the ogre go?” Olivia asked, looking around.

From high in the branches above them, two tiny voices whispered.

“This way…”

“No, that way…”

Jenna and Mary peeked down from behind a curtain of leaves, trying very hard to look mysterious.

“The princess is closer than you think,” Jenna called in her most magical voice.

“But beware!” Mary added. “The ogre may return!”

Just then, a very ogre-like growl rumbled from inside the tree.

“Be careful,” Mae said, following the three children. “I mean, the three knights. He’s a hungry one.”

“I bet he’s not hungrier than me,” Nathan said, already wondering when they might get those cookies.

Inside the tree, the world opened up.

Up ahead, a waterfall spilled down the smooth wooden wall.

“A waterfall inside a tree,” Olivia marveled. “It must be magical.”

At the foot of the waterfall stood the ogre, arms crossed, guarding the misty pool below.

“The princess is mine,” he growled.

“No, she’s not,” said Prince Mae, lifting her muddy sword.

“I don’t belong to anyone,” said Princess Bridgette, who was sitting quite comfortably on a toadstool in the middle of a small stream.

The ogre hesitated.

“Well,” he corrected, “I will let her go for a ransom of three mint cookies.”

The three knights exchanged glances.

Then Olivia reached inside her bag and pulled out three mint cookies.

The ogre’s eyes widened.

“For me?” he asked.

“For the princess,” Olivia said wisely.

Princess Bridgette stepped off her toadstool and waded across the little stream.

“I believe,” she said, taking the cookies and handing one to the ogre, “that ransoms are better when they are shared.”

The ogre blinked.

“You mean… I still get one?”

“Of course,” Nathan said quickly. “We all should. Especially me,” he added.

“Hurrah!” Jenna cheered. “The princess has been rescued!”

“And the ogre has been fed!” Mary declared.

Everyone agreed that was even better.

The fairies gathered around the waterfall, and soon they were all eating mint cookies and drinking lemonade. Even Prince Mae the Mighty, still a little muddy, declared the adventure a great success.

“That was a fun adventure,” Olivia said happily. “What should we do tomorrow?”

High in the branches, the fairies began whispering again.

Dave

 DAVE

by Lisa McCourt Hollar

A monster moved into my room today. He wasn't big and hairy, like you see on TV In fact, he wasn't even very scary. What he was was 4-foot tall with curly red hair, and ears that stuck out about a mile. And though not scary, his teeth were sharp and I thought they might look more fearsome in the dark.

He was wearing jeans with rips in the seams, a Hawaiian shirt hung down to his knees. On his feet, which were really quite huge, he wore a pair of muddy tennis shoes.

I was lying on my bed, playing a video game, when he walked into my room and said, "Hi, my name is Dave. Do you mind if I move in?"

At first, I was surprised to see a monster walk into my room, but then I remembered something my mom had once said.

"Your room is a mess. If you don't get it clean, monsters are going to start moving in." I thought she was joking.

She wasn't.

"Where should I sleep?" Dave asked, as he tossed his things onto my bed.

"Umm," I said, not knowing what to say about a 4-foot monster moving into my room. So I just said, "I don't think my mom would want you living in my room."

"Oh, don't worry. Your room is such a mess, your mom will never know I'm here."

I looked around. Dave was right, it was a mess, just the way I liked it. Dave liked it too.

"Oh, I know!" Dave said, looking under the bed. "I'll sleep under here. All this dust will make a nice place to sleep."

Maybe this won't be too bad. All of my friends have brothers that act like monsters but I've got the real thing. How many kids can say that?

"You don't mind if I have some friends over every now and then?" Dave asked, opening my closet door.

"I guess not," I said, "as long as they're quiet."

"Don't worry." Dave said. "Your mom will never hear them. By the way, love what you've done with your closet. Didn't think you could pack so much stuff in there."

"Thanks," I said. "I try."

"I can tell. Good job! Well, I think I'm going to turn in. It's almost dark, and that's when all the fun begins." Dave said, as he slid back under my bed.

"What kind of fun?" I asked, wondering just what it was monsters did.

"Well, tonight it's a party. There will be music and dancing and we might even play a game of monster ball. Then, if we feel up to it, we may sneak into some little girls' room and squeak the door on her closet. That's always a riot."

I laughed, trying to imagine Dave seeming scary, even to a little girl. I don't know why mom thought having a monster move in would be such a bad thing. Dave's going to be a lot of fun.

A few seconds later, I smelled the smell. I leaned over the side of my bed, and looked under it. Dave had taken off his shoes.

"Umm, do you think you could do something about that smell?"

"Oh, I know." Dave said. "It's missing something, isn't it? My friend Sam offered to lend me some old socks he'd once used to catch a skunk."

"You mean, you want your feet to smell?"

"Well, of course! I'm a monster. Our smells are what make us special."

"Dave," I said, "my mom doesn't like smells. Not unless they're good smells."

"Then what's the problem?" Dave asked.

"Flowery smells, not skunk and feet smells."

"You don't say." Dave said. "Well, it takes all kinds. Now, if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna get some shut eye. It's gonna be dark soon, and as I mentioned, Sam's having a wing ding at his place tonight. Hear he's going to be serving stink worms. Delicious!"

"You don't understand." I said, "My mom will not want my room smelling like your feet. You're going to have to find someplace else to live."

Dave opened one eye and looked at me. "I don't think so. I like it here. Besides, I already told you, she'll never know I'm here. She'll blame the smell on something in your room."

"She'd be right." I growled.

"Ya, I guess she would," Dave snickered.

I stared at Dave a few more minutes. He'd closed his eye and was trying to go to sleep. He had no intention of leaving. I laid back on my bed and thought about what would happen when my mom got home and smelled Dave's feet. It wouldn't be a good thing. She'd come in here and start throwing things out, trying to get to the source of the smell. Then she'd find Dave. She'd scream. She might even cry. Things would get ugly. Real ugly. There was only one thing I could do.

I began gathering up all the clothes on my floor. I sorted them into two piles. Clean and dirty. I took the dirty clothes to the laundry room. Then I began folding the clean ones and putting them away in my drawers.

"What are you doing?" Dave asked, sleepily. He had one eye open again.

"Putting my clothes away." I said.

"Why would you want to do that?" Dave asked.

"Because I'm cleaning my room." I said.

Dave's other eye opened. "Why would you want to do that?" He asked, sounding alarmed.

"So you will leave."

"Now listen, don't be so hasty." Dave said. "I make a great room mate. You don't really want me to leave."

"Yes, I do." I said, picking my books up off the floor and putting them on the bookshelf. "If my mom comes home and finds you she might scream. She might even cry. Then she'll tell me that she'd warned me this would happen. Who knows, she might even ground me. So you see, you have to go."

"Think this through," Dave said, sliding out from under the bed, "If you clean your room, your mom is going to expect you to keep it clean all the time. ALL THE TIME! She'll start bringing her friends in here to show them your room. She'll brag to the neighborhood moms about how clean you keep your room. Then those moms will want to know why their kids can't keep their room as nice as yours, and make them start picking up their rooms. Your name will be the most hated name on the block. Do you really want that? DO YOU?"

I paused, book midway to the shelf. Dave had a point. This could turn into a lot of work. Then I caught a whiff of his feet again and placed the book on the shelf.

"I'll just have to take that chance." I said, as I began to pick up my video games.

When I was done, I opened my closet door. "Not the closet!" Dave despaired. "Leave the closet the way it is, and I can stay in there."

"Not a chance." I said.

Dave sighed. "You really know how to ruin a good thing. Well, you win. I'll pack my things and go. I can probably stay with Sam for a while."

"I'm sorry things didn't work out." I told Dave. "I think it would have been fun having you here, but with my mom and all ... well, I just don't think she would understand."

"No problem," Dave said, "but I'm gonna check back every now and then. Maybe someday, your room will be suitable for me again."

"Maybe," I shrugged, "but don't count on it. I don't think my mom will ever start to like the smell of skunk and feet."

"Go figure." Dave said, mystified.

Dave left and I finished cleaning my room. I even got the dust bunnies out from under my bed.

To get rid of Dave's foot odor, I sprayed some of my moms air freshener in my room. It smells like lilac mow. Dave would hate it. I know I do.

When my mom got home she screamed. Then she cried. She called all her friends and told them how clean my room was. Then she bragged to the neighbors about how clean my room was.

Later on that night my friend Tom called. He wanted to know if I could come and help him clean his room. His mom was complaining about a mysterious odor coming from under his bed