I’m half-convinced that not only are there Fairies at the University of Redlands, but that they’re actively trying to get me to join them. Observe the evidence:
Asher and I walk Brian to work most mornings. I was walking home a few weeks ago, and I passed a tree which had step stools of mushrooms leading up to its trunk. I thought it was funny, and it made me wonder what kind of nyad would willingly live on a college campus near Frat Row. The debaucherous type, I suppose.
I passed by the next day and the stepping stones were gone. Closed for business was Fairy Land, I guess.
But then the lilies started to appear in strange places, big pink clusters of them peeking out of the ivy, no visible leaves but just a stalk rising from the dirt. There is no rhyme or reason for their placement. We’ve seen feathers falling from the sky, and a secret mailbox ensconced in a bush by the alumni house. Half open, for temptation, of course.
This week I found a mushroom doorstop clinging to a tree, the joint where the roots meet making a perfect semblance of a door. It’s been tempting me every day since, and that one hasn’t closed for business yet (probably because it’s not in the path of the mowing gardeners).
All of this, of course, can’t be just coincidence.
My question is, though, what kind of Fairy thinks that a 36 year old lady with a baby would go rushing off to join them? What would I do with the baby? He’s formula fed, and I wouldn’t know how long until we could get back so I’d be loathe to go without some assurance that he’d be fed. I can picture myself loading up the stroller with eighteen canisters of formula, falling out on the sidewalk as I try and inconspicuously walk around campus to the tree.
Or worse… “Don’t worry,” the Fairies would say. “We’ll feed him.” but we ALL know what that means. I’d never be able to take him back to the mortal realm again.
I suppose I could leave the baby with Brian and go alone. But I’d be forlorn without that boy. And time passes differently in other realms. I’d never take the chance that I’d miss seeing Asher grow up.
So I’ve been viewing it all with quiet amusement before going home to get the baby a bottle and put dinner in the crock pot. Maybe do a few loads of laundry while I’m at it.
I’m writing a book about Fairies right now. Maybe they’re just telling me they approve of my next novel?
Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Casey E. Hamilton 