Like me, Melissa was born under a
mulberry tree. But unlike mine, which was a firmly standing ghost tree, this tree, a fairy tree, was almost lying totally on the ground. It was
weighed down with beehives, and when months passed and no possible parents dared to approach it and never got to see
Melisa and ask her if she wanted to be their daughter, the bees accepted her as
one of their own breed.
The day Candle disappeared, Pearl
wandered a little in the Gentlerains’ garden looking for her child.This garden
has the particularity that it grows larger and larger as you walk in it, and
never seems to end. There are four landmarks, one in each of the four
directions, situated at what look like the ends of the garden, and everything
beyond these signs is always larger than your capacity to walk all over it. When
the sun was ready to set, Pearl spotted a shimmering golden head that could
have been Candle’s. Pearl approached it and saw this was another little girl,
one that was not her own.
Melissa was bushed from having gathered
nectar all day. And she had gone to bed early, retiring to her mulberry tree,
and was wrapt there in deep slumber with her head on a hive for a pillow and a
blanket of braided green leaves for cover. Pearl could not continue to roam
about the garden without someone noticing something had gone wrong. Her
grandmother would miss her and give the alarm if she didn’t return to the
kitchen to help prepare dinner.
“Someone has taken my child,” Pearl thought. “It is not unfair for me to take this one.”
There wasn`t a bee in sight to claim
Melissa. And the child was so fast asleep that she never even stirred when
Pearl carried her away from her arboreal bed.
Fortunately for Pearl, Melissa had lost the gift of speech all fay
children are born with because she hadn’t said a word in the two years that had
passed since she was born, so she could not say she wasn’t Candle. All she
could do was buzz. Pearl was also fortunate in that Melissa proved to be
docile. The child’s disposition was sweet, because honey was what she lived on
and she didn’t kick or scream or try to flee from the kitchen she woke up in.
She was a little green-skinned, like I was when little, we both having been born under a
tree and having munched on its leaves
and the grass below it, I only the one single day before acquiring my parents and Melissa always.
But Pearl hastily fed her a creamy soup made with cornflour and yellow peppers
and washed her with lemon juice and Meli acquired a yellowish tinge that made
her look waxier, like Candle. I think the child may also have eaten bee’s wax
at times, and that may have helped, for she easily made a convincing yellow
fairy.
“What is the matter with your child?”
asked Granny Milksops. “Why are you fussing so much over her?”
“The naughty thing wandered into a copper
mine and the dwarfs there offered her green chocolates. And this has turned her green
like the dwarfs. Do you mind if she spends the night here with you? Fi will say
I don’t know how to take care of her if he sees she has turned a yellowish green
and I have to tell him about the dwarfs.”
“That man actually speaks?” sniffed
Granny Milksops. “I’ve never heard him say anything. But of course Candle can
stay with me.”
The reason why Uncle Fi never spoke
before Granny Milksops is obvious to anyone who has heard how he is unable to
speak without peppering what he says with uncivil words. This makes him always
look angry, even when he is pleased pink, and it is no wonder he didn’t want
the old lady to see that.
“Oh, well. We´ll see what she looks like
tomorrow. The dwarfs must have frightened Candy because she’s quite speechless.
Don’t let that surprise you, Gran.”
“That child is actually quiet?” asked
Granny, now concerned. “Well, so she is. I’ve never seen her silent. What did
the copper miners give you, child?”
But Melissa only smiled.
And again fortunately for Pearl, Granny
Milksops had never paid any attention to what Candle had to say, for the noise Candy’s
jabbering made had made her great granny´s head ache, distracting her from her
chores. So now Granny didn’t care a fig that Melissa was so quiet.
“Cute buzz and lovely smile,” was all
Granny said, thinking Melissa’s soft buzzing was an improvement on Candle´s
prattling.
Pearl would usually set dinner for the
Gentlerains on a buffet table and they would serve themselves and Uncle Gen
would help Granny Milksops clear up after, so, most nights, Pearl could return
home early. From the night of Melissa’s capture onward, Pearl would leave the
child with Milksops, telling everyone that her granny had grown very fond of
the child and loved to have her always near. Candy’s older brothers and sisters
had never paid much attention to the youngest of the brood and though they did
perceive something strange, Pearl worked hard on making Melissa look more and
more like Candle, and aside from Meli’s silence and occasional buzzing, it was
only the lack of the gift of shaking
gold that had made Pearl fear one child could not be made to pass for the
other. After all, if your mum says you
are you, who is anyone else to say nay to that?
Thus Melissa had lived discreetly in the
Gentlerain kitchen under Granny Milksops' distracted supervision while Candle
enjoyed her stay in Hawaii. And now…now Melissa wanted ME for a parent.
“MUUUUUM!!!!!” I
yelled for help for all I was worth the
second I heard the little girl say what she wanted. But it was Dad who popped out
of nowhere and at once.
“Hush, Arley!” he whispered. “Don’t wake
your mum! I’ll fix this!”
I am fortunate in that there is no baby who
isn’t fascinated with my parents. Well, there was Epon, but he was crazy. And
there was Valentine, who was made to order and made to order kids can be weird
because they aren’t volunteers and haven’t just popped out of nowhere wanting to be one
of us. Val was born to love only Ibys, but even so, she did finally accept to
be part of our family and says she is fond of us.
“I’m a very funny man,” Dad was telling
Melissa. “You’ll laugh your head off with me, honey. And you can be Arley’s
sister. That’s more fun than being his kid and having him need to scold you. I
never scold my kids. But that’s because I am such fun they all agree my ideas
are the best. They want to be like me and there's everything right with that.”
Dad began making faces and I was afraid
he would muck things up, but he didn’t. Melissa found him hilarious. He shrank himself to the size of a Ken doll and she began to chase him all over the
place, both playing catch and whooping madly and laughing delightedly.
I was about to breathe with relief when
Alpin approached me with grave forebodings.
“Arley, you have to be careful,” Alpin
forewarned me. “Fatherhood is stalking you. First Feeseepkee and now Melissa.
You are lucky these have both been diverted and have found other dads. But there is
likely to be a third time and you might not be so lucky as to find a substitute.”
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