My mum, Titania, sleeps a lot. She does this because the more a fairy sleeps the younger and more beautiful she or he looks when she or he awakes. She had been sleeping all the while Puck had been on strike. When she woke and heard what had been going on while she slept, she called for Darcy so he would tell her firsthand all about this fuss.
She was delighted to hear how Darcy had refused Oberon’s offers and kept asking him to repeat the story in greater and greater detail. She also asked him if he would like her to buy him the Knight Rider or reserve James Bond’s car to be while it was still on the drawing board. Darcy said he had everything he needed. So Mum promised to give him anything he asked for when he should want it. You would think that was not a good promise since Darcy can have anything he asks for anytime from anybody. But it meant something to Darcy, who says he appreciates it when he doesn’t have to do what he calls twisting arms.
The person who did want something he normally wouldn’t have been able to afford was Michael’s brother Kevin, the silly-looking but sinister court jester.
When my mother went back to sleep, Kevin approached Darcy and whispered that James Bond’s car was parked outside the palace.
It seemed Oberon had no use for it now that Darcy was not going to work for him. It was taking up a lot of space in the stables and making the horses there very nervous. The royal grooms were upset and wanted it out of there. To show he was not resentful, Oberon wanted Darcy to have it anyway and take it home with him as soon as possible.
Darcy asked Kevin to thank Oberon but said he really didn’t want the car and wasn’t going to take it. Kevin said Oberon would not like to hear that and asked Darcy to accept the gift so as not to offend Oberon further. Darcy needn’t keep the car. He, Kevin, would be delighted to take it off Darcy’s hands if he really didn’t want it and would be so kind as to pass it on to him. That should get it out of everyone’s way.
Darcy agreed, saying this was probably the best solution. But a little later I heard Kevin tell his brother Michael how he had intrigued to gain possession of this car from the very start.
“I was the one who suggested to Oberon he should try to bribe Darcy with Jamie Bond’s car. I knew Darcy would never be bribed and the car would eventually be mine. Come June, when I go on holiday among the mortals, as I always do, I will attract a lot of pretty mortal lasses with this car. And drive them wild!”
Michael said this didn’t surprise him. It was just like the sort of person his brother was. A born troublemaker, if ever one there was. But Kevin didn’t care. He breezed off in his new car singing a song about how it was folly to take life seriously.
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