244. Generoso and Dadivosa

244. Generoso and Dadivosa

I knew what I had to do was go speak with the Peach Boys, but I felt as curious as a cat.

“Uncle Gen,” I said, “may I go with you? I’m not fishing for a gift, I –“

“I’ve sparked your curiosity, haven’t I?” he smiled. “Of course. Your granduncle Generoso and grandaunt Dadivosa will be delighted to receive you.”

“Why haven’t I met them already?” asked Candle. “I’ve been to quite a few parties.”

“They never go anywhere much anymore,”said Uncle Gen, “unless they have to do so to help someone. Fine, now, we´ll have to leave the island, so take good hold of Sparky, Candy. He mustn’t fall into the sea or another dimension. Maybe I should hold you both.”

“His name is Spikey. Sparky is what I call my dog Crispin.”

“I see,” said Uncle Gen. “Sorry. I didn’t know you called Crispin Sparky. Why isn’t Crispin with you? He  can come too.”

Candle put her fingers in her mouth and gave a weak whistle. A little brown corgi  immediately appeared before us.

“We’re going places, Sparky,” said Candle. “I don’t know if you should come too, but this man says you may. He seems to know who you are.”

Crispin wagged his tale half-heartedly. He nodded at Uncle Gen.  He didn’t look like he trusted Candle much. And he was definitely not liked by Spikey, who scowled at him.

After too much arguing about who had to hold tight onto whose hand, we got on the move, I carrying Crispin in my arms though he has wings, so he wouldn’t get tuckered out.  Animals don’t have leashes in the fairy world, and only pretend to have them to avoid trouble when they and their fairy people walk among mortals. I was alllowed to carry the corgi because Candle finally agreed to take fast hold of both Spikey’s hands.

“You’re a silly man,” she said to Uncle Gen. “There is no need for me to be doing this, I’ve taken my son to Hawaii and back without holding even his pinky toe.”

“He probably really wanted to get to Hawaii,” said Uncle Gen. 

He didn’t add that Spikey wasn’t looking too enthusiastic about visitng Mr. And Mrs. Generous despite the possibility of receiving  gifts and it goes without saying that I found Crispin infinitely more tame than Spikey.

But we finally got to fly off and cross the sea and land where I least expected to. Mr. and Mrs. Generous were the Dullahan’s neighbours.

“I always wondered who that house belonged to,” I said. “They are nice people. When they are outside, they always greet me good morning and good evening and so and they sometimes ask if all is going well with me and if I need anything. They’re awfully pleasant, the couple that lives there.”

I didn`t say so, but these folks were so pleasant  that this made them look a little weird. I suppose that was why I had never gone beyond hi and had never introduced myself or properly met them. Then there was also the fact that Aislene was paranoid about all her neighbours, though she did say these ones were the only ones that had never complained about Alpin, even when he ate all the fruit in their garden. 

“That is their house?” said Candle. “They could have been more generous with the paint.”

The house did look like it needed more lime  green and lavender paint than it had received. It was very clean, but looked rather run down. For instance, this large, fine house didn’t have  panes on all it´s many windows.

“Somebody probably needed the glass and they gave it away,” said Uncle Gen. “This house has a lot of rooms, because the owners want to have room for everyone who wants to stay here.”

“I’ve never seen a crowd here,” I said.

“Most people avoid the Generous Couple,” explained Uncle Gen. “They are found to be too nice by people who aren’t too nice themselves and feel there has to be a catch to their friendliness, but there isn’t. Their way of doing things gets on some people´s nerves. They make us feel inadequate.” 

“And these are your godparents? Why don’t they live in Apple Island? They are good people.”

“They had a wonderful ideal home there, but they gave it away,” said Uncle Gen. “It got trasnsported to the mortal world. Ludovica lost her temper with them and said she and Earl were not going to make another house for Generoso and Dadivosa because they would be sure to give this second house away too. Mabel and I have asked them to move to our house many times, though everybody warns us we would somehow lose our home too because of them, but they are very considerate and won’t  move from here, where they have been living prudently isolated for centuries now.”

What the house was rife with was flowers, both wild and cultivated. Actually, even the wild flowers looked cultivated and cared for. And up on the roof, next to a gabled attic, right over nine windows, only three with glass panes, was a balcony of sorts with a wrought iron railing and a wrought iron arch all twined with clinging deep red-pink  vine roses.  On both sides of the house and behind too there grew tall, leafy apple trees, the ones up front with a few red apples.

We knocked on the very large front door, a double door, like those seen mostly in theatres or churches and other public buildings. A thin lady who was almost as transparent as some ghosts opened the door. Yes, I had seen her before. I think she must have once been a blue fairy, or perhaps a lavender one, but her colour had probably worn out. Or can one give one’s colour away? I wondered.  

“Surprise!” said Uncle Gen.

“Oh, my! Genny!” she cried out, “Come down, Gen. Genny is here!”

And Generoso came down at his wife Dadivosa’s bidding to receive his godson Gentlerain.  I recognized the plump, curly-bearded, smiling  little man who made do with glasses held together with black masking tape the minute I saw him.  

It was noon, so they invited us to lunch. The trouble – they did not say it was trouble – was that there was nothing much to eat. I discreetly found a way to ask Uncle Gen why he didn’t make food appear and he whispered if I wanted to insult our hosts.

At first it seemed there were at least a few apples we could eat, the ones on the trees. But it turned out these were wax apples. The couple had allowed someone to pick and take away all the real ones, even those that were still green. But these people organized charity bazaars just before the Christmas season and one thing they hadn’t been able to sell off at the past one was a bunch of wax apples.

“Cranberry Toyfox donated a very pretty basket with these apples that are now up there. A lady from Mauve Moor bought the basket but didn’t care for the apples. She said wax fruit spooked her out. So when our apples got harvested just the day before yesterday, we decided to hang these up there while we wait for the next crop of apples to show up. These trees are not like those at the island. They don’t substitute fruit immediately. They take their time. It’s not too long that they take though. We´ll have some for summer and not have to wait till fall. Now, if you look closely, there are still two green apples that were overlooked and left behind high up there. I will bring them down and we can have them for lunch. They’re not ripe, I fear, but we do have a bag of salt, and salted, raw tastes better.”

“What is Uncle Gen  up to?” I thought. He was up the tree the next minute. “I’ll bring them down, Aunt Dadi,” he said. He later told me he knew Uncle Generous had lent his wings to someone who just didn’t find the right moment to return them, and that is why he went for the apples himself. The next thing I noticed was that when Spikey flew up the tree after Uncle Gen, Aunt Dadivosa noticed he didn’t have shoes on. And then Uncle Gen noticed she had noticed because she couldn’t refrain from giving the prickly kid’s little feet nervous, jittery glances.

“It’s alright,  Aunt Dadi,” said Gen. “I’ll give him mine.”

“Oh! That…that is  kind of you, Gen. The ground here isn’t like in Apple Island. Kids can get worms in their tummies if they go about barefoot. And my Japanese slippers are mortal made. I suppose your sandals will shrink to size.”

“Of course,” said Uncle Gen. His stylish sandals flew off his feet and began to glow and sparkle and shrink and look bright new and then they clutched Spikey’s feet, lifting him up in the air a little as they fitted themselves on him. A perfect fit!

“You’ll know what to do about worms if you get them, won’t you, dear?” said Dadivosa, now worried about Uncle Gen. “I don’t think Gen has an extra pair, but we have a medicine that expels them. It tastes like cherries.”

“Not to worry, Auntie. I won’t step on the ground.”

And Uncle Gen floated a little above the ground for the rest of the while we were there.

“Have we got any bones?” Grandaunt Dadi next said to Granduncle Generoso.

“We put the last faux ham one in water for a soup,” answered her husband.

“Oh. What can we give the doggie?”

“Do you eat buried bones?” Uncle Generoso asked Crispin. “We have a neighour whose dog buries some in our garden. We´ll make it up to that dog somehow later.” 

And he showed Crispin the bush where the neighbour’s dog did just that. And Crispin began to dig and was content with a bone he found. Being a polite dog, he carried this bone in his mouth and didn’t chew on it until we were all ready to…eat?

We went to the kitchen and sat at a rickety table in there. Mrs. Generous cut the two unripe apples in six perfectly identical pieces each. She gave the very thin cores to Spikey and Candy, and they also gotl  two of the twelve pieces each.  

“Don’t discard the seeds. Seeds are good for children,” said Dadivosa tothe kids. “They will help tou grow tall as trees.”

Aside from a slice of each green apple, generously seasoned with salt, we all got one water cracker and a bowl of soup made with blades of grass instead of noodles.

“We´re lucky to have our own well,” said Aunt Dadi. “And the water from it is plentiful and sweet.”

For dessert, we shared a mini jar of honey, of the kind mortals give out at weddings for guests to take home. This one still had a tag with the names of the bride and groom on it, Paul and Grace. Us three each got a coffee spoon of it. The Generous couple passed, so our portion would be larger, I’m sure.  The coffee spoons, I must say, were very pretty, and possibly silver. I don’t know how they managed to last in that house. I say this because I was convinced everything there was in the house remained there because it was in some way unfit to be given away. The dishes were slightly cracked, the glasses scratched, the cutlery very clean but very old, the chairs and the table quite lame.

All the while I kept wondering how Uncle Generoso could have a belly. Was it the grass or had it swelled up from hunger or what? Worms from being barefoot?

“My feet hurt!” Spikey suddenly yelled.

“That’s impossible,” said Uncle Gentlerain, and I think he was holding back a smile. “Those are the best and most expensive sandals in the fairy world. One doesn’t even feel they are on. I work. And travel a lot because of it, so I need good shoes.”

“You use sandals when you are at work?” asked Candle.

“Sometimes,” answered Uncle Gen.

Spikey held his breath and became frightfully red in the face, his fists fiercely clenched.

“Don’t throw a tantrum now,” said Uncle Gen, too calmly. “You don’t know what you have there on your feet. Those sandals can take you anywhere you like in a flash.”

As soon as he had said that, Spikey, indeed in a flash, vanished from the table.

“Oh, my Og!” cried Candle. “Where is my baby?”

“Wherever he wants to be,” drawled Uncle Gen.

“What have you done to him?”

“I? Give him a magic gift. Didn’t he want some? And now he’s made use of it. He has gone to where he wants to be!”

“You can start looking for him right now! Bring out your crystal ball,” ordered Candle.

“It won’t work here!” lied Uncle Gen. “There’s no coverage.”

Given the circumstances, the lie was believeable.

“Where do you think he’s gone then?”

“Where would he want to be?”

“Back in Hawaii?” guessed Candy.

“Have you told him about the Finnish volcanoes?” asked Uncle Gen.

“No! Are there volcanoes in Finland?”

“The Etna, then? In Italy?”

“He wouldn’t go there without me.”

“Well, he’s gone somewhere without you, hasn’t he? Maybe east of Java?”

“You made him disappear!”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“To spite me!”

“No! Your child left without saying where to. Accept that. Now you are going to make me search for him all over the worlds. Why would I want a problem like that? I have enough of my own. And we can’t even wait for the next black night to consult the Murkee because he has nothing to do with this disappearance. Maybe we should start looking down under and work our way around the world. Maybe we can find your kid in less than eighty days. Are there active volcanoes in Australia, Candy?” said Uncle Gen.

And when he was about to take us to the MacDonald Islands, I felt sorry for Candy and said, “Ask Uncle Evenfall first. He travels the sky in his armchair every day. He sees everything. Well, when his eyes are open, at least. And you can ask his cat, who knows things.”

“No,” said Candy. “And I hate you both. I’m going by myself.”

Aunt Mabel popped up at that moment. She said hi to the astounded, speechless godparents and turned on Uncle Gen.

“Shame on you, Gen, the MacDonald Islands indeed! You are worse than your father, you beast of Lemnos! I know where that kid is,” she said to Candle. “He’s back home with the Pricklies of Prickly Field. You stay here, Gen, and explain this to your godparents, the best way you can. No, I didn’t have anything to do with the child’s disappearance, Candy. And neither has Gen, really. He’s left of his own volition. And I never leave home, but I will take you to his field myself,  so he can spit at both of us.”

Uncle Gen made signs to me so I would go with Mabel and Candle. I knew this was because Aunt Mabel has no sense of direction and is really bad at wayfinding. So I figured Spikey would finally get to spit at me too.