Tinker Bell made a “watch this” motion. Then she strode up to the door and went to work.
Using her hip and shoulder, she gave the door a knock here and a tug there. Then she tightened the hinges with a deft twist.
She opened the door with a flourish. “Ta-da!”
Lizzy’s mouth fell open in astonishment. “You’re quite the little tinker, aren’t you?”
Tinker Bell pointed to her nose and gestured toward herself, inviting Lizzy to guess her name.
“What? Is that your name? Tinker?”
Tinker Bell nodded, then reached into the house and tapped the little bell hanging next to the door.
“Uh … bell. Oh! Your name is Bell?”
Tinker Bell continued the pantomime, coaching Lizzy along. She hammered and sawed and then rang the bell again.
“Tinker … Bell …”
Tinker Bell held out her hands and then slowly moved them together.
“Tinker Bell?” Lizzy guessed.
Tinker Bell flew into the air and struck a pose that clearly said, “That’s me!”
“Tinker Bell,” Lizzy breathed. “What a lovely name. Well, Tinker Bell, my name is Lizzy Griffiths.” The little girl’s voice was full of delight that she and Tinker Bell were now communicating.
At that moment, Lizzy and Tink both heard a footstep outside the door.
“Lizzy?” a voice called. It was the little girl’s father!
As the door opened, Lizzy motioned to Tinker Bell to hide behind one of her fairy figurines.
“Who are you talking to?” the father asked.
“Oh, um …” Lizzy quickly held up one of her drawings. “My fairy! I’m just pretending, Father.”
“That’s nice, dear. I brought you something I think you’ll really enjoy. These are some of my old field journals. I picked out the ones I thought would excite you the most.”
He dropped a big stack of journals on Lizzy’s table and selected one to show her. “This one on rocks and minerals is particularly interesting.”
Lizzy made a face that Tink could see but her father couldn’t. Finally she asked, “Is there a field journal about fairies?”
Dr. Griffiths laughed. “Of course not, Lizzy. Books like this are based on fact and scientific research.” He wandered over toward Lizzy’s collection of fairy figurines. Tinker Bell tried her best to stay still when he reached down and picked up the one right in front of her. “Which is quite the contrary of your little figurines and drawings, which—although lovely—are completely fictitious.”
Lizzy reached out to take the figurine from her father and tried not to look at Tinker Bell. “Oh, I’ll take that, Father.”
He handed her a large notebook. “Here is a blank field journal.” He smiled fondly. “You’re very talented, my darling. I’m sure you’ll be able to fill it with your own scientific research.”
Lizzy took the journal. “Yes, Father.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the loud sound of drip … drip … drip—coming from outside the bedroom.
Dr. Griffiths peered toward the hall, where the rain was leaking in. Shaking his head in frustration, he went into the hallway to collect his tools and buckets. “Now, if only those leaks were just pretend,” he joked.
As soon as he closed the door behind him, Lizzy called to Tinker Bell. “You can come out now.”
Tink pointed toward the window. “I really should be—”
Lizzy understood. “You want to go?”
Tinker Bell nodded and Lizzy sadly walked to the window and opened it. Tinker Bell noticed the pouring rain, and her shoulders slumped. Flying through that would be impossible. To go on foot would be too dangerous.
“What’s wrong?” Lizzy asked. “Can’t you fly in the rain?”
Tinker Bell shook her head.
“You can stay with me until the rain stops,” Lizzy said brightly. “Then you can teach me more about fairies.”
Tinker Bell cast her eye out the window. There was no way she could fly all the way back to camp in this storm. What would be the harm in spending a little more time with Lizzy? “Well,” Tinker Bell joked, “the only way I could get back to fairy camp now is if I had a boat.”
The fairy rescue party was fighting its way through turbulent waters as they floated within a wheel rut carved out in a dirt road.
Bobble was trying to be optimistic. “We’re almost there. Why, look, we’re picking up speed already.”
“Did you hear that?” Iridessa said happily. “We’re moving faster.”
Fawn, however, still looked dubious. Without a word, she climbed the mast so she could see what was up ahead.
“Hey, guys!” Fawn shouted. “We’re heading right for a waterfall!”
Clank, now a bit seasick, called out instructions. “Loosen the ropes and … Urp!” He belched softly. “Turn the sail.”
Vidia and Rosetta both ran to the same rope. “I got it,” Vidia snapped.
“Hey!” Rosetta protested.
Meanwhile, Iridessa was working on another rope, muttering the instructions to herself. “Back and down around the loop and up and through.” The rope loosened. “I did it!” Iridessa cried happily. But before she even had a chance to smile, the rope slipped out of her hand and the sail went spinning out of control with Fawn still hanging on to it.
“Turn the boat!” Vidia yelled. “Turn the boat!” She ran to the back of the boat and grabbed the rudder away from Silvermist. “Here, let me. I can do it … I can …” Vidia gave the rudder a yank, and snap! It broke off in her hand.
“Guuuuuys!” Fawn shouted from the top of the sail. “We’re running out of river.”
Silvermist stepped heroically forward. “That’s all right,” she said in a dramatic tone. “Because all we need is a little! Rosetta, come grab my feet.” Silvermist moved quickly to the front of the boat, which began tipping over the falls. She fell forward just as Rosetta grabbed her ankles, keeping her from plunging in headfirst.
“Hang on,” Bobble moaned. “We’re going straight down.”
“Brace yourselves,” Rosetta said, tightening her grip on Silvermist’s ankles.
Vidia and the others grabbed the sides of the boat as it began plummeting downward.
Silvermist calmly closed her eyes and dangled her fingertips in the water. Using all her water-fairy magic and strength, she turned the waterfall into a bridge.
The fairies felt a surge beneath them as the boat rose. Amazing! Even Vidia felt a grudging admiration. She’d never had much use for other fairy talents before, but this was pretty impressive.
It was a wild ride. They all hunkered down as the boat careened across the water bridge like an out-of-control surfboard.
Vidia closed her eyes and felt herself tumble through the air before landing—splat!—in a big pile of weeds.
Smack!
Thud!
Bam!
She heard the others landing on the ground around her like wet fish.
Tinker Bell flew over to a beautiful Victorian dollhouse in the corner of Lizzy’s room.
“This is my dollhouse,” Lizzy explained. “Do you have a house, too?”
Tinker Bell nodded.
“Is it like this one?”
“Well …”
“What color is it? Is it far from here? Through the forest? Is it in Fairyland?” Lizzy finally took a breath. “Oh, tell me you live in Fairyland!”
Tinker Bell couldn’t help laughing. “Hold on! Hold on!” She flew to the shelf and picked up a jar of art supplies, bringing it back to the worktable. “Let’s do this right,” she said. She put down the art supplies and opened the blank field journal. She gestured toward the blank page.
Lizzy immediately understood what Tinker Bell was proposing. “Perfect!” She threw herself into a chair and picked up her very best pen. Working carefully, Lizzy wrote SCIENTIFIC FAIRY RESEARCH on the title page. “Okay. What’s your favorite color?” she asked Tinker Bell.
Tinker Bell pointed
to her green dress. Lizzy’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Green is my favorite color, too!” She began to write it down, then stopped. “Oh! I should start from the beginning. Where do fairies come from? I mean, where were you born?”
“Oh! Well. Hmmm. That one’s a little more complicated, because …” Tinker Bell began again. “So a baby, when it laughs for the first time …” Tinker Bell stopped. She was going to need props.
She flew over to the shelf and returned with a baby doll. She rocked it in her arms and looked lovingly down at it. Then she gently wiggled the baby doll in her arms and pretended to laugh.
“You were a funny-looking baby?” Lizzy guessed.
Tink’s huge smile turned to a frown. No. Think! Think! She told herself. What was another way to get at it? She held the baby doll out and prompted Lizzy to guess what she was trying to say.
“A baby,” Lizzy said.
Tink mimed laughing.
“Laughs,” Lizzy continued.
Tink held up one index finger.
“One,” Lizzy said.
Tinker Bell waved her hands and held up the index finger one more time.
“First?” Lizzy tried tentatively.
Tink nodded emphatically.
“When a baby laughs for the first time, that’s when a fairy is born?” Lizzy ventured.
Tinker Bell nodded again and smiled happily. Wow! This little girl was smart.
“Incredible,” Lizzy said softly.
“Lizzy, that’s only the beginning.” Tinker Bell picked up scissors and a piece of green construction paper. There was so much to tell. So much for Lizzy to learn.
The next two hours went speeding by for both Lizzy and Tinker Bell. The scientific fairy research project forced both of them to be imaginative and creative.
Tinker Bell cut out grass from the green paper and raised it from behind the table to show that it was growing. Lizzy understood and wrote, “Helps the grass grow,” beside her entry on garden fairies.
Tinker Bell pretended to take a toothpick out of a teddy bear’s paw, and Lizzy wrote, “Animal fairies help injured animals.” Then, with Tinker Bell’s help, she drew a picture of Fawn.
Tink showed Lizzy what fairies ate by making a “yummy yummy” face at a berry and a peanut, and a “yucky yucky” face at a gnat. Lizzy smiled and wrote, “Not carnivores.”
Lizzy sketched a picture of Tinker Bell riding a unicorn, but Tinker Bell shook her head. Tinker Bell realized she was a little like Dr. Griffiths. No point in stuffing the child’s head with fictitious nonsense. Lizzy needed to fill her field guide with the facts and nothing but the facts.
Tinker Bell guided Lizzy’s crayon so that Silvermist’s dress—but not her skin—was blue. She drew the stars on a blackboard and taught Lizzy how to spot the Second Star to the Right. She taught Lizzy about fairies’ natural enemies by making a shadow picture of a hawk.
Last but not least, she lay on the page while Lizzy traced around her and labeled the drawing ACTUAL SIZE.
Tink was very pleased with the drawing. It only needed one small touch to finish it off. She took two little pieces of cotton balls and glued them to the tips of her shoes in the drawing.
When the field journal was almost finished, Tinker Bell turned it back to the page on animal fairies. She quickly added a paintbrush in the hand of one of the animal fairies depicted on the page. And then Tink sketched the outline of a butterfly with no markings. The butterfly hovered like a blank canvas waiting to be painted.
“I knew it!” Lizzy cried. “I knew it. I knew it! I knew it!” She was so excited to discover that her theory about butterflies was correct that she bounced up and down in her chair, making a tremendous happy racket.
“I told Father that fairies painted butterfly wings, but he didn’t believe me! Well, I’ll bet he believes me now that it’s official scientific research!”
Lizzy flipped through the journal they had created. “I can’t believe how many different types of fairies there are!”
Tinker Bell fluttered over the journal and admired each page. All of Tinker Bell’s friends were there. Fawn. Silvermist. Iridessa. Rosetta. And Terence.
Sadness welled up in Tink’s heart. Lizzy seemed to sense it. “Who are they?” she asked softly. Tink pantomimed holding something close to her heart. “They’re your friends? I bet they miss you.” Tinker Bell knew Lizzy was right. She just hoped she could see her friends again soon.
“Who’s alive?” Silvermist asked. All around them, the boat lay in pieces.
“Not me,” Iridessa groaned.
Clank sat up and took his own pulse. “I am.”
Fawn stared at her foot, which was bent completely backward. “Argh!” she groaned. She touched it again, trying to twist it into the right position.
“Argh!” Rosetta echoed, lifting her head and glowering at Fawn.
Fawn let go of the foot, realizing it was Rosetta’s and not hers. “Sorry.”
The group slowly pulled themselves together, standing up and brushing debris and mud from their clothes. They shook their heads and stared at what was left of their boat.
“Looks like we’re walking from here,” Vidia said.
“But walking where?” asked Fawn.
“We could be anywhere,” Iridessa pointed out.
The fairies looked around. They were in some kind of valley, with grass towering over them on all sides.
Bobble grabbed a leaf and held it over his head like an umbrella. “Everything looks the same from down here.”
Clank was equally flummoxed. “And there’s no way of knowing which way to go.” He picked something up off the ground and sheltered himself with it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t much larger in diameter than his own head.
Vidia stared at Clank, unable to believe what she was seeing. She pointed at his makeshift rain hat. “Clank! Where did you find that?” she demanded.
“Here on the ground. Is it yours?” He held it out to her, but Vidia walked past him with her eyes glued to the ground.
The makeshift rain hat was a button! And Vidia was looking for more of them. There they were! There … there … and there.
Vidia turned to the others, her face triumphant. “I know where we are!” She lowered her head and beckoned to the rest of the fairies to follow. She hoped she was going the right way and not betraying their trust—the way she’d betrayed Tinker Bell.
“Tinker Bell, this is so fascinating.” Tinker Bell and Lizzy were hard at work, putting the finishing touches on Lizzy’s fairy field journal.
Tink handed Lizzy the scissors. “Thank you,” Lizzy said as she began cutting out more fairies while Tinker Bell used a crayon to draw a snowflake.
Lizzy brushed a bit of paste on a page, placed a cutout fairy over it, and pressed. “Well, I think we’ve covered everything. I hope Father’s impressed.”
She held up the journal and admired it. “Types of fairies. Their talents. And now, for the finale.” Lizzy opened a page, and up popped a three-dimensional display of Pixie Hollow. “It worked!” she said happily.
Tinker Bell floated around the journal, applauding.
“Oh, Tinker Bell. I can’t wait to show Father.”
Tinker Bell gestured to Lizzy and pointed toward the door. “Then go now!”
Lizzy smiled brightly. “It’s time. Let me just do one more thing.” She picked up a crayon and wrote in big, neat letters on the front of the journal: ELIZABETH GRIFFITHS AND … Lizzy handed the crayon to Tinker Bell.
Touched and happy, Tinker Bell took the crayon and wrote her name on the cover, too. TINKER BELL.
Tinker Bell was proud of the book they had created. It had been fun, but she still missed her friends.
Lizzy saw the expression on Tink’s face and knew what she should do. She walked over to the window. “It looks like the rain has let up some,” she said. “You might be able to make it home to your friends now.”
In her heart, Lizzy wanted Tinker Bell to stay, but she also understood how imp
ortant the other fairies were to Tink. Lizzy wanted to help out her new friend.
It was still drizzling, so Lizzy handed Tinker Bell one of the paper hats they had made. “Maybe this could help you.” Tinker Bell looked at the hat and smiled. She flew over to the table, where she picked up a paintbrush and brought it back to Lizzy. Always the inventive tinker fairy, Tink poked the paintbrush through the paper hat, making a fairy-sized umbrella.
Lizzy was sad to see Tink go. “Take care of yourself,” she said, sniffling to hold back her tears. “I’ll never forget you, Tinker Bell.”
Tink headed out the window, but she turned back for a last look just as Lizzy was picking up the fairy journal to take it to her father. “I’ll never forget you, Lizzy,” Tinker Bell said softly.
The rain had let up a bit, but everything was still wet. In the distance, Tink could see the oak tree where the fairy camp was. She knew it was time to leave.
Tinker Bell’s heart sank as she realized that on her very first day, she had gotten herself captured, and had probably caused a lot of worry back at fairy camp.
She flew down from the window, keeping a sharp eye out for the cat. When she flew past Dr. Griffiths’s study, she paused to look in, hoping to see father and daughter united over Lizzy’s project.
But as she hovered, she heard voices through the partly opened window.
“Father, look!”
“Not just now, Lizzy.”
Tinker Bell fluttered to the window to investigate. It was quite a scene. The ceiling was leaking in several places, and strewn around the room were buckets, pots, and pans to catch the water. Dr. Griffiths was busy trying to stop one of the leaks in the ceiling.
Lizzy held out her journal. “I made it especially for you, Father. It’s just like your field journal. It’s filled with lots of facts.”
Dr. Griffiths climbed up on his desk and mopped at the wet ceiling with a cloth. He was clearly flustered and frustrated.
“Yes, yes, Lizzy. That sounds wonderful. But I’m in the middle of a potential catastrophe here. I can’t look at it now.”
“But, Father. It’s a field journal, and I—”
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Junior Novel Page 3