by E. D. Baker
Cory told her a lower rate than she would anyone else. It didn’t make sense to help the family raise money, then take it all away. She thought about not taking anything, but they would probably consider it charity and she doubted they would accept it.
The children clustered around as Cory said good-bye to Gladys. “We want you to come back,” said Sarah Beth.
“And bring your woodchuck,” Heather told her. “I’ve never seen a pet woodchuck before.”
“I will,” said Cory. “As soon as your mother needs me again.”
“Finally, a babysitter that they actually like!” said Gladys.
That evening Cory flew to the Shady Nook, wearing her blue dress and the new pebble-gray shoes she’d bought on the way home from babysitting. She’d bought a fresh-cream-colored pair as well and had set it high on a shelf in her room where even the most determined woodchuck couldn’t reach.
When Cory stepped into the restaurant, Marjorie was already there, seated at a table by the window. Marjorie looked up and smiled as Cory took a seat across from her. “Oh, good. You’re here! Jack Horner came over and introduced himself when he heard that I was in your party, but he was called away. He said he’d be right back.”
“That’s fine. It gives us a chance to talk first,” said Cory. “How have you been? Are the spiders still as bad?”
“Worse!” said Marjorie. “Oh, it’s not like they try to bite me or anything, but they’re forever getting into things and stealing my possessions. Why, just this morning one stole my cereal bowl while I was still eating! They’re making it nearly impossible for me to get any work done. As soon as I set down an ink stick, they take it!”
Cory thanked the waiter as he filled her glass with water. “I probably should have asked before this, but what kind of work do you do?” she asked when they were alone again.
“I’m a writer,” said Marjorie. “I write big books with lots of pictures. You’ve seen some of them at my house.”
“You mean you wrote the books that you use to smash spiders?”
“I did,” Marjorie replied. “Although that wasn’t why I wrote them, but they do work very well, don’t you think? So tell me about yourself. What have you been up to since I saw you last?”
“I’ve been doing odd jobs like house-sitting, doing inventory, mowing lawns … Actually, things would be going pretty well if it weren’t for the Tooth Fairy Guild. They keep trying to sabotage my work. Today they made it rain while I was babysitting. Then they had worms come out all over the ground. You should have seen it. There were worms everywhere!”
“So … you had to stay inside?”
“Not at all! I had the children collect the worms in jars and sell them to fishermen. They made quite a bit of money.”
Marjorie clapped her hands and grinned. “What a good idea! I never would have thought of that!”
Cory glanced up when Jack Horner took one of the empty seats. “Very few fairies would have,” he said. “Most would have found it discouraging.”
“I got the idea from a former employer named Suzy,” Cory told them. “The TFG sent a huge swarm of crabs onto her property while I was there. Suzy filled a tub with the ones she caught so she could eat them later.”
“And why is the Tooth Fairy Guild doing this exactly?” Jack Horner asked.
“Because Cory quit being a tooth fairy,” said Marjorie. “Apparently, the guild doesn’t take rejection well.”
Cory wasn’t sure she wanted everyone to know what was happening between her and the guild. Telling her friend was one thing, but she regretted sharing the story with someone she barely knew. “Didn’t you say that you were going to invite a friend who had just moved back to town?” Cory asked Jack, hoping to change the subject.
“I did,” Jack told them as he turned to look around. “He should be here soon.”
“Where do bands set up when they play in the restaurant?” asked Cory.
“You can’t see it from here, but there’s a raised platform in the back of the room. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of space for your band.”
Marjorie set down her water glass. “Is Zephyr going to play in the Shady Nook? Oh, Cory! That’s wonderful!”
“I spoke with your bandleader, Olot, today,” Jack told Cory. “You’re scheduled for this coming Friday.”
“I can’t wait!” cried Marjorie.
“Wait for what? Me?” said a thin young man whose blond hair covered his eyes. He shook his head, flicking his hair back for a moment, revealing eyes of an intense blue.
“I’d like to introduce you young ladies to my friend, Tom Tom,” said Jack Horner. “He’s been away from town for a few years and just returned last week.”
Tom Tom, thought Cory. Where have I heard that name before? “Oh!” she said as she remembered suddenly. “You’re Gladys’s son! The one who stole a pig!” As soon as she’d said it, Cory wished she hadn’t. Jack Horner glanced at her in surprise while Marjorie’s eyes went wide. Tom Tom’s reaction was the strongest; his face turned red and he glared at her, saying, “Where did you hear that?”
“From your mother,” said Cory. “I babysat your brothers and sisters today.”
“That figures!” he said with a forced laugh, making an obvious effort to control his temper. “My mother gets everything wrong.”
“You mean you weren’t in jail for stealing a pig?” asked Marjorie.
“Not at all. I was in prison for kidnapping a talking pig. I thought I was stealing a normal pig until he started screaming and carrying on. I did it on a dare when I was in Junior Fey School. I’ve spent the last five years in prison, which turned out to be a lot like school. I earned a degree in roadside maintenance, and another in library science.”
“That means he worked on the road crew and in the prison library,” said Jack.
Tom Tom nodded. “Yes, but they taught us how to do it the correct way and we really did earn certificates. I was lucky. I found a job when I got out and I really like the work, although it wasn’t the kind of work I’d planned to do. To get the best jobs, you need to train for them in Junior Fey School, do an apprenticeship, and stick with it for the rest of your life. Look at Jack here. He always knew he wanted to be a chef and own a restaurant.”
“That’s true,” said Jack. “When I was a little boy, I wanted to make the best pastries in the world. I studied to be a chef in school, did an apprenticeship with the Sprats, and opened Perfect Pastry a year later. Two years after that I opened the Shady Nook.”
“What about you, Marjorie?” asked Tom Tom.
“I always wanted to write books. I studied writing in school, worked with Mother Goose for my apprenticeship, then started writing my own books.”
“See what I mean!” said Tom Tom. “And you, Cory?”
“I was in the pre–tooth fairy program in school and did my apprenticeship with them when I got out.”
“So you’re a tooth fairy now?” asked Tom Tom.
“I was … until I quit. Now I’m trying to decide what it is I really want to do.”
“Why would you quit a great career like that?” asked Tom Tom. “The big guilds have the best jobs.”
“I quit because it wasn’t right for me,” Cory said. “I hated it and couldn’t see myself doing it for the rest of my life. I want to help people, but I didn’t feel as if I was really helping anyone. I think you should enjoy what you do. Look at Jack and Marjorie. They both love what they’re doing.”
“We’re talking about you, not them,” said Tom Tom. “You quit when it got too hard! I don’t have any sympathy for someone who throws away a good job when some people have a hard time finding any job at all.”
“But if it isn’t right for you …”
“Yeah, yeah. I hear you. So, Marjorie, what kind of books do you write?”
Cory sat back in her seat, stunned. Not only was Tom Tom exceedingly rude, she was afraid he might be right.
Chapter 13
Cory was in a bad mood the next
morning, which got even worse when she received a message from Marjorie before breakfast.
Cory,
Thank you for helping me meet Jack Horner, but he really isn’t for me. I didn’t like the way he sat by while his friend was rude to you. And then all he and Tom Tom did was talk about “the good old days.” I was never so bored. Please find me someone else if you can.
Your friend,
Marjorie
“She was bored!” Cory muttered. “I wish I could say the same.” Instead she had been angry at Tom Tom for being rude, at Jack for bringing him along, and at herself for wondering if Tom Tom was right, at least in some small part. After sitting there getting madder the more she thought about it, she had finally made her excuses and left. Marjorie had ignored her unspoken invitation to leave with her, so Cory had assumed that her friend was having a good time. Maybe it hadn’t been so good after all. And now Marjorie wanted to meet someone else.
Cory sighed. She’d thought she’d seen them in a vision, but apparently her visions weren’t any better now than they had been when she was younger.
Ping! Another message appeared in the basket.
“Who could it be this time?” she murmured.
I am writing in response to your ad. I need help canning beans today. My address is 47 Winding Way.
Stella Nimble
Cory had no idea where Winding Way was located, so she found the basket where her uncle kept his maps and shuffled through them until she found one of the area. It took her a while to find Winding Way, a twisty, turny road a good distance outside of town. After studying the map, Cory decided that it was going to take her at least two hours to get to Stella’s home—an hour to get ready and an hour to fly there.
She sent a message to the woman.
I’ll be there in two hours.
Corialis Feathering
To her surprise, Noodles was more cooperative than usual and she was able to leave earlier than she’d expected. With the map’s directions in mind, Cory flew above the trees, following some easily seen roads. She was partway there when the sky grew dark and it began to rain.
Raindrops that she’d barely notice when human size felt like someone was hitting her with baseballs when she was the size of a flower fairy. Larger raindrops hurt even more. When the first drops fell, Cory darted into the shelter of a maple tree, hiding under one of the leaves. The rain lasted only a few minutes before it stopped and she was able to get on her way again. Three miles down the road, the wind picked up suddenly, blowing her half a mile off course before she was able to take refuge in a flowerpot lying on its side in someone’s yard. The wind died down as soon as it could no longer blow her around. Cory started to fly again, but the rain began only a few minutes later.
This time Cory landed, turned back into her human size, and reached into her pocket. She took out her pedal-bus token and rubbed it until it glowed. The bus arrived a few minutes later. When Cory climbed on, everyone was complaining about the sudden rain shower. The rain stayed with them as they pedaled through the countryside. They stopped twice to pick up more passengers. Two fairies got on near a field of sunflowers, already talking about the sudden rainstorm that had started as the bus pulled up. When a gnome who got on near his hollow tree said the same thing, Cory began to wonder if the rain was following her. She was tempted to tell the other passengers what she suspected, but her stop was next and she got off, certain they would figure it out if the rain stayed with her.
The rain grew harder and the wind picked up as Cory headed to Stella Nimble’s house. With her head down, Cory plodded through the driving rain, trying to stay on the path to the front steps. She was an hour and twelve minutes late when she finally reached 47 Winding Way.
Cory knocked on the door, feeling as wet as if she’d just taken a bath with her clothes on. A woman with graying hair and a sweet smile opened the door and gasped when she saw her.
“I’m Cory Feathering,” Cory said, shivering. “I’ve come to help with the beans.”
“Oh, you poor dear!” said the woman. “You’re all wet. Come in and we’ll get you dried off. I’m Stella, by the way. You need something to wear while your clothes dry. Go in the bathing room and I’ll get you a towel. … Here you go. Get out of those wet things and I’ll be right back.”
Cory had just dried her hair and face with the towel when Stella was back with a soft white shirt and some faded blue pants. “These belonged to my son when he was young. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you used them. He was such a nice boy. Come join me in the kitchen when you’re ready. It’s just down the hall.”
Cory was relieved to get out of the wet clothes and into warm dry ones. Both the shirt and pants were too big, however, so she rolled the shirtsleeves and pant legs up and hoped the pants wouldn’t fall down when she walked.
Following the sound of a chopping knife, Cory found Stella in the kitchen, standing at an old wooden table piled high with green beans at least three feet long and as big around as her wrist. Cory had never seen such huge beans before and was staring at them when Stella noticed her.
“There you are!” said Stella. “Here, take this knife. We have to cut these up so they’ll fit in the jars.” She pointed at the end of the table where rows of ordinary glass jars waited to be filled. “I was thinking about that rain,” Stella continued. “It was very odd. It started just before you got here and ended as soon as you stepped inside the house.”
Cory sighed. “It’s the Tooth Fairy Guild. I quit recently and they’re punishing me for leaving. This isn’t the first time they’ve used rain.”
“The big guilds are all connected and help each other out, not always in nice ways,” said Stella. “I know what it’s like to have a guild mad at you. I was born a flower fairy, as were my parents and their parents before them. My specialty was pansies and I was quite good at my job. Then I dared to fall in love with a human and married him without the guild’s permission. They punished me by taking away my fairy powers, wings and all, leaving me as helpless as a human. The guild used its connections to make sure that my husband couldn’t get a job, so we made do with what we could and were happy despite the Flower Fairy Guild’s best efforts to destroy our lives. We were even happier after our baby boy was born, but my husband died a few years later, leaving me to raise my son alone in this cottage.”
“Did the guild stop punishing you after your husband died?” asked Cory.
“Yes, but by then there wasn’t much more they could do to me. I was still happy; I had my wonderful son, who was a good boy and a track star in school, although a little strong willed. Then one day he traded our cow, Pansy, for some magic beans. I was so mad at him that I took the beans from him and threw them out the window,” Stella said, pointing at the window above the sink. The view was filled with a few big, green leaves.
“One of the beans grew into an enormous stalk that reached up into the clouds. The day my son climbed it, the sky was a beautiful blue. I remember because I couldn’t find him anywhere and I kept expecting to see him on the stalk. Anyway, that foolish boy climbed the stalk with nothing more than a flagon of water and a small ax tied to his waist. When he came back, he was loaded down with a giant’s gold. The giant was chasing him and would have caught him if Jack hadn’t taken his ax and chopped the stalk in half.”
“What happened then?” asked Cory.
“When the top half of the stalk fell, the giant fell with it. He hit the ground with so much force that he made a crater. The hole filled with water and is called Giant Lake now. It lies about a half mile west.”
“What happened to Jack?” Cory asked as she reached for another bean.
“He was happy and excited for the first few days, planning how he was going to spend all the gold, but then the giant’s wife and parents came after him.”
Cory shuddered, thinking of all the awful things a giant could do to a person.
“Fortunately, Jack left enough of the bean stalk that it still produces beans,” said Stella.
“I can them when they ripen. They’re delicious and I make good money selling them.”
Cory and Stella both looked up when there was a knock on the door leading outside. Before they could move to answer it, the door opened and a handsome young man with thick blond hair walked in.
“Hello, Mother!” he said, smiling at Stella. “I see you’re canning beans again.” He kissed Stella on the cheek, then glanced at Cory. “You have help today.”
“This is Cory,” Stella told him. “She’s a very good worker. We haven’t been at this long and we’ve done a lot already.”
Cory glanced at the table and was surprised by how much the pile of whole beans had dwindled while the pile of cut-up beans had grown.
“We were going to take a lunch break soon,” said Stella. “Why don’t you join us, Jack? I know how much you like beans.”
Jack snorted and Stella laughed while Cory glanced from one to the other. “My mother is joking,” Jack told her. “I’ve hated beans ever since I cut down the stalk. I will join you for lunch, though, Mother. In fact, I brought some with me and there’s enough to feed a small army.”
“He doesn’t visit as often as I’d like, but he brings food every time,” Stella told Cory. “As if I don’t have plenty already! He’s such a good boy.”
Cory helped Stella and Jack clear the table, then they all sat down to eat the food that Jack had brought in a big wicker basket. There were berry and nut butter sandwiches, fish and herb sandwiches, a delicious cheese with a yellow crust, fresh peaches, and a box of cookies with “Perfect Pastry” written on the outside.
“I just met Jack Horner,” Cory said, taking the box of cookies out of the basket. “It’s funny. That’s two Jacks in three days.”
“Names follow trends,” said Stella. “Some will be popular for a time, then others will take their place. The name Jack was popular when I had my baby. Mary was, too, back then.”