Ludovica sighed. Then she answered Alpin’s
question resignedly.
“Our homes come with all the territory you want
to put between yours and your neighbors’. You only have to wish for it and your
garden will expand. But remember, the more space round your house, the further
you’ll be from everyone else. If you want more rooms than we can give you, you’ll
have to add them yourself. That depends on how hard you are willing to work.”
“A miserable hut with six bedrooms is all I’ll get?
Neither you nor your shells have the least idea what I like.”
“Oh, we do. Which is why we will offer you a choice between two options.You
can have a standard house or a monument like this one.”
Ludovica pointed at a table with a model on it that was the spitting
image of the Palace and Monastery of El Escorial.
“Wow, Alpin!” cried Fiona. “You should be
really pleased!”
“Say thank you!” whispered Branna.
“Now you’re talking!” nodded Alpin. “We can
begin to do business.”
“On the outside, the house is like the famous
monument, which is made of granite too. But the inside has been redesigned to
please a kid like you. It has luxuries like audiovisual rooms, swimming pools,
games rooms, and two discos. The kitchen occupies all of the basement so you
can store your suffering magic fridge comfortably. Instead of sheep you get
vending machines and two mountain bikes instead of horses.”
“What’s my address?”
“There’s the catch,” said Earl. “I mean,
the reason for having to make a choice between the two options. You see, the
granite we take from our quarry is self-replacing. But only in small
quantities. We take a little every day and it forms right back during the
night. But if we take too much, it doesn’t have time to do that. So we could
end up without material for kids that haven’t been born yet.”
“So what? They should have been born earlier,”
said Alpin.
“Maybe, but that doesn’t depend on them, so
it’s up to us to be careful how much we use every day. The granite for your
palace is not from our quarry. We had to buy it at a great price and a great
distance from here. This granite gets homesick for the human world, which is
where it’s from. It doesn’t like to be here in our island and always finds its
way back outside. So you’ll have to find a place to put your home out there in
the human world or it might place itself somewhere inconvenient.”
“You’re saying his house could squash anything
it lands on out there?” said Michael aghast.
“Yes, but it won’t do much harm if he takes it
somewhere like the Sahara desert. He doesn’t have to decide where just now. We
will give him this model and he can put it somewhere in his parents’ garden.
When he is ready to live on his own he can take it somewhere convenient and
make it expand to its real size there. For the timebeing, he can enjoy using it
by shrinking himself. We fairies all know how to do that. He does too, doesn’t
he?”
“You mean we’ll have to live with the threat of
an expanding house in our neighborhood? How will we be able to sleep knowing he might
suddenly decide to expand it and we might end up squashed any night?”
“Oh, sleeping is no problem. This thing is
designed to only expand by day. Needs solar energy to do it, you know.”
“Great! So we´ll only have to watch him from
sunrise to sunset! What have we done to deserve this?”
“Nothing bad.You’ve decided to look after this
child, that’s all. Accepted him as he is. Well, that’s what you’ll have to do
while he’s on your hands. You have the word, lad. You must choose one of the
two homes you’ve been offered. Which shall it be? In or out?”
“I think it’s perfectly clear. I have vision. I
choose the monument outside.”
The model of the monastery palace immediately
vanished before our eyes.
“Well, your house has just landed on your Mum’s
violet patch. I hope she won’t be too upset about that,” said Ludovica. “Kids,
here are the keys to your houses. Keep them carefully. They’re not easy to
replace.”
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