Goldenrod was planning to be nice to be, after all, and I had judged her a bit too harshly. Sure, I still despised her- but she didn’t do anything to be. I felt guilty for thinking that she would have- that had been my mistake, and my mistake alone.
Tiptoeing downstairs, hoping to fry up some bacon to surprise my family, and appease my Mom (who was still pretty ticked off). I stumbled past the pristine, white and turquoise living room, decorated with Magic Paintings all over, supposed to bring the house luck. Every step I made seemed to make the noise of one thousand elephants, no matter how quietly I slid over the wooden floor. It was five in the morning, how could I possibly explain why I was up, if my parents came, yawning down the stairs, to see me?
I opted to crawl into the kitchen, and I did, on my hands and knees, trying to avoid scuffing the shining wooden floor.
I did this, like Human Armies of old used to do, and I finally made it into the kitchen, to see a delicious sigh, fit for the eyes of Kings and Queens, no less. It was fit for a Prince in there!
It was fit for a Prince to give out punishment, in there.
It was horrible.
Flour was scattered around the floor, lining the cabinets. The sink was overflowing with water. The turkey I was going to baste tomorrow was out, and it was dressed in a hat and my skirt. Pistachio shells lined the place like a carpet, crunching under my feet. Cupcake wrappers sat, torn up, like confetti, and it was everywhere. All the fruits had bites taken out of them, and the green, leafy vegetables had been unceremoniously tossed into the garbage bin. Crackers had been smashed up, and they had been taped to the ceiling fan, which was on. Crumbs blew all over me, into my mouth, and into my hair. The refrigerator was open, letting all of the cold air out, giving me a set of fresh goosebumps. The food had to have gone bad, if it had been left out like this the entire night, because there were dairy products in there!
I groaned as I saw the fine twinkle of Fairy Dust on the counters.
“Goldenrod! Goldenrod ? What did you do ?”
Goldenrod came walking out of the cabinet, as nonchalantly as she pleased.
“Why aren’t you flying?” I asked.
“Oh, my wing got a rip during the party last night. No big deal, it’ll be fine!”
If what she was saying was the truth, we were both doomed. Mom was going to be so livid when she woke up. There had been a party last night, and no one had even heard it! This fairy was supposed to be my responsibility, and she had to go and trash my kitchen. Of course. I didn’t feel any sympathy for her wing, not when it had all been her fault!
“What happened?”
“You sound like my mother. Stop it.”
“Come on, just tell me!”
“So, I was just going downstairs for a midnight snack, when I realized that the other fairies where having their Ceremony Day Party. But they had run out of food, and I told them they could nosh here. It just seemed like the right thing to do!”
“Then, what happened? And why is the Turkey wearing my clothing?” I demanded.
“We’ll get to that-“
“I loved that skirt, too much for it to be stuffed onto an uncooked bird! It had chiffon in it!”
“Get over it. Anyways, they came over, and they were ravenous. They started to eat everything, and I couldn’t stop them! And if you can’t stop them, join them, right?”
“No!”
“So, if you would stop inturrupting me , I would explain that we were all quite hungry. So, just know that your food went to a good cause-“
“So, a fairy rave party is a good cause, now?”
“See, you’re getting it! So, we decided to dress the Turkey, and we were wondering where to get cute clothes. And I suggested getting them from you, because your clothes are so cute! It’s a compliment, Livi! We saw that skirt, and everyone knew you had some great fashion sense. So, we modeled it on a Turkey! Great way to subtly showcase how great you are, am I right?”
She was such a suck up- but with the damage right in front of me, I wasn’t about to fall for that. She had crossed the line, and I would have to go to school with the shame of having a terrible fairy.
I gave her the death stare, but she kept on blabbering on, hardly even noticing that I wanted to send her away in a package with no return address.
“It’s my skirt. And you used it for a game at a rave. Do you actually think that’s normal?”
I threw my hands up in the air. This was entirely hopeless. She didn’t care at all what my family would think- even though we fed and housed her, when we didn’t even want her!
“Well, it wasn’t a rave, for one thing, it was a celebration . And yes, of course it’s normal to dress a Turkey in your clothes! Don’t you Humans do that?”
“No! No one does that! How am I supposed to punish you?”
“I think I’m already punished, I feel so bloated after eating all of your halved peaches-“
“ You stole all of my halved peaches? What’s wrong with you? Those are my favourites! That’s it, Goldenrod. Clean up everything, and when I say everything, I mean it. And no, you can’t invite any friends over to help you clean this up. Never again am I leaving my door unlocked,” I vowed.
Since I had given up sweets because of her , my favourite food had been those succulent, fuzzy peaches, which were sweet in their own respect, if not the saccharine candy that I craved so desperately. I loved them, and they were expensive in stores. I always tried to save them- now, they were all gone, in one day. And I could be sure that Mon wouldn’t let me buy any more for years, after this mess.
She was going to pay for that.
I pulled an old, dirty broom from the corner, and shoved it at her, and she only just managed to hold it up. Struggling under its weight, I didn’t bother to try and help her.
“Sweep this.”
“The broom is too large!”
“I don’t care! Sweep the floor, you have about an hour and a half. But I can’t wait around down here. Unlike some people, I have to go to school!”
I knew that my voice was too loud, and my tone was too gruff. She began to make a horrible screaming noise, prompting my parents to wake up.
“No, what did you do ?” I griped.
Mom came down the stairs, with Dad, in his fluffy green bathrobe, not far behind. Both had dark circles under their eyes, and their slippers had been thrown on their feet haphazardly. Mom was stomping a little bit, exhausted without her morning cups of coffee, and on the whole, they didn’t look pleased to be woken up.
“Whuss goin’ on?” Dad asked.
“ Nothing ,” I lied, trying to keep them away from the kitchen.
“Livi, tell the truth. What’s in the kitchen?” Mom muttered.
I sighed, resolving to get this over with the best I possibly could. I was waving goodbye to peaches, and anything good.
“Well...look and see,” I said dramatically.
Leading them into the kitchen, I knew that it looked like a classic food fight had taken place in there. I knew that they would be angry that the food was out, and the refrigerator was open, letting all the heat out.
In other words, I was about to get so grounded, that I might as well just stay in my room with a pile of magazines and books for all my life.
“Wow, Livi. I- I can’t believe you did this, look at the kitchen!” Mom stammered.
I slumped into the kitchen, prepared to survey the damage once more. But as I took a step in, I realized that the crackers were gone. The pistachios had been taken off of the floor. Fhw fridge was closed up and sealed, and all was well. She couldn’t believe that it was so shiny inside- every surface was a mirror, that reflected her face, and no speck of dust was left behind. How had Goldenrod done this, all alone?
Mom wrapped me into an embrace.
“You’re the best, Plum! I can’t believe you cleaned the whole kitchen! Have a great day at school!”
And my parents left the room, leaving me to question Goldenrod.
“How did you do that so quickly?”
“Well, some of my friends may or may not have still been having a party when you walked in this morning. One of them is a Cleaning Fairy, and I figured I could do you a favor, too.”
“But what about the skirt?”
“Erm- about that... I may have burned in the bathroom. I was cold, it was actually ugly- one thing led to another. It’s still going.”
“What? After all of that, you decided to burn my skirt? “
And the fire alarm started to blare.
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