No matter how low I felt, Pipaluk’s kids could always make me smile. And I had them all night tonight while he and Emma were out for a date night and a belated Valentine’s Day celebration.
“I wanna watch Snow White! I wanna watch Snow White!”
Sue was the most loveable six-year-old brat ever. Even now, with her jumping on the bed and repeating her chant far past the level of annoyance, I still adored her. Shining pink eyes, long brown curls bouncing with each illicit jump—so cute.
“No jumping on the bed, Sue,” I reminded her, trying to hide my smile. “And you know you’re not allowed to watch TV this late. How about a bedtime story instead?”
“Then read Snow White!” she exclaimed, landing on her hands and knees on the bed.
“I have the Grimm brothers’ stories,” her brother volunteered. As usual, he was the calm to his younger sister’s storm, sitting quietly on his bed with his head bent over his sketchpad. He looked up briefly and pointed his pencil at the bookshelf, and then he was back at it, his blue hair falling across his face as he drew.
“No! That one isn’t right,” Sue declared. She was sitting cross-legged now, and she crossed her arms over her chest, sticking her chin out stubbornly. “There’s no true love’s kiss at all.”
“Well, that’s the original story,” I told her as I went to the bookshelf. “Disney changed it for the movie. They changed all of those old fairy tales for the movies, but the original stories are—what’s this book?”
There was no title on the plain brown leather spine, and when I pulled the unfamiliar book free from its neighbors, there was no title or author on the cover, either. A thud on the floor followed by heavy breathing over my shoulder told me Sue had jumped off of the bed to look at it.
“I haven’t seen that one before.” She took it from me and opened it, flipping through the pages with lips twisted and brows furrowed in concentration. “It won’t be any good. There are no pictures,” she finally declared, slamming the book shut and handing it back to me.
“I can draw while Lily reads,” Bobby interjected.
“Did your mother buy you a new book?” I asked, opening the book and repeating Sue’s examination with an adult eye.
“Maybe.”
Bobby’s non-committal answer didn’t help. At first glance, the book looked like a typical children’s fairy tale, except it lacked a title, author, publisher, or any other identifying information. There was something else about it that bothered me, though. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.
But maybe I was just suspicious because of the bizarre events of the day.
Emma bought new books for the kids all the time, and we lived at the North Pole. There were plenty of aspiring children’s book authors among Santa’s elves. One of her friends probably wrote it.
“Let’s read this one,” I decided, scooting around to face the room. “Sue, you can sit on my lap, and Bobby can draw the pictures.”
That pacified Sue. She happily leaped into my lap, landing with an impact that made me wince. I didn’t have to look at Bobby to know he was fine with the arrangement.
“‘Once upon a time—’”
“At least it starts right,” Sue interrupted.
“Shh!”
“Don’t tell me to shh!” she fired back at Bobby.
“You both know the rules. No interruptions while I read, or it’s straight to bed with no story.”
Immediate silence.
“Thank you. Ready? Okay, now…”
Once upon a time, there lived a fairy godmother who had no godchild. Now, this is not unusual, because as you all know, fairies live much longer than people. But it had been a very long time since this fairy godmother had a new godchild, and that could only mean one thing. The next child would be special.
Sure enough, one day, a special baby was born, one who came with a blessing and a curse. The fairy godmother knew the blessing, of course. She had to carry it from the angel who spoke it to the baby’s cradle. Her new goddaughter would have great power that could change the world for the better. But she did not know the curse, and the imp who brought it from the demon who unspoke it would not tell her. It was an unspeakable curse, after all.
This was very distressing for the fairy godmother. She did not know how to protect her precious goddaughter from the curse, and so she could only watch over her as she grew, helping her when she needed help, granting her an occasional wish now and then, as fairy godmothers do.
But as the years passed, she realized something strange was happening. The imp from below, an imp she had never seen before and never expected to see again, appeared whenever she descended to our world to take care of her goddaughter. He did not try to harm her goddaughter, nor did he try to hinder her work. He simply came and watched.
For an odd thing had happened the day the child was born. The fairy godmother could not have known, but the imp had fallen in love with her.
“Wait a minute.”
I stopped and raised an eyebrow at Sue.
“Sorry, but why aren’t there any names? I don’t like that. There should be names.”
She had a point.
“Well, maybe we can make up names,” I suggested. “The fairy godmother seems to be the main character, so let’s start with her. What would you like to call her?”
Bobby mumbled something, and I glanced over at him, still immersed in his sketching. From this angle, I could see he’d already covered most of the page, and I was more than a little curious to see what he’d come up with from the story so far.
“What was that, Bobby?” I prompted him.
“Wendy,” he repeated without lifting his head. “Her name is Wendy.”
I tilted my head to the side, considering. It didn’t sound like he was making a suggestion. It sounded like he was stating a fact.
“Wendy,” Sue echoed him. “I like that. Keep reading, Lily!”
“Okay, Wendy.” I shook my head and tore my gaze from Bobby to look at Sue. “I’ll try to remember to use that name whenever I see ‘the fairy godmother,’ but no promises.”
“I’ll remind you,” Sue said authoritatively.
She was such a little brat. It was really a good thing she was so cute. I smiled and shook my head, and then I set my focus on the story.
One cold winter’s night, after Wendy had finished—
I stared at the page. There it was. ‘Wendy.’ Printed right on the page, as if it had always been there. And it was on the previous page, too, going all the way back to the beginning. ‘Once upon a time, there lived a fairy godmother who had no godchild. Her name was Wendy.’
“Lily,” Sue urged me.
I shook my head again. We lived at the North Pole, and my entire job was collaborating with an author to enchant his books. This was just like that. Normal, everyday magic.
Magic I couldn’t feel.
“Sorry,” I said, interrupting my own thoughts before they could spiral further. “Now, where was I?”
One cold winter’s night, after Wendy had finished helping her goddaughter’s latest mistake, she could stand it no longer. She turned to face the imp and asked him, “What are you doing here? You have already conveyed the demon’s curse. What more do you want?”
Now, this imp was rather frightening to see. Imps are shapeshifters, of course, and this one’s chosen form was of an old, weathered skull filled with purple and pink fire. I am quite sure seeing him would give almost anyone nightmares. Wendy was not afraid of him, though. She stood tall in front of him, waiting for him to answer, and he finally spoke for the first time.
“I cannot see you unless you are with her.”
“Why would you want to see me?” Wendy asked, surprised.
“Because I love you.”
Sue squealed.
“Shh!” Bobby warned her.
“They’re gonna kiss. I know it!”
“Maybe, but we’ll never know if you keep interrupting,” I chided her gently.
“Sorry. I won’t interrupt again. I promise.”
Yeah, right.
“You love me? How can you love me? We never met until the day we delivered the blessing and the curse.”
“Have you not heard of love at first sight?”
Sue squealed again. This time, Bobby’s hiss silenced her, although she was still squirming delightedly in my lap. I couldn’t blame her. This was an odd fairy tale, but no little girl could resist love at first sight. I pretended not to notice the interruption and kept going.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyn7dndhdqx
然後按「加至主畫面」