Tinker Bell flew up near Lizzy’s face as she alighted on the ground.
“My friends showed me how.”
One by one, all of the fairies emerged from the pockets and folds of Lizzy’s rain slicker. After their long ride under cover, they were dry enough to fly again.
“I don’t understand,” Dr. Griffiths said plaintively.
“You don’t have to understand,” Lizzy told him kindly. “You just have to believe.”
Slowly, so as not to frighten him, the fairies flew closer to Dr. Griffiths, circling him and illuminating him with the glow of pixie dust.
“I do believe,” he said softly. “I do believe.”
Dr. Griffiths opened his arms, inviting Lizzy to rush into them for a big hug. “Oh, Lizzy, I’m so sorry. So very sorry. I’ll never doubt you again.”
After a few moments, he let her go and held up the jar. He began to open it, then held it out to Lizzy. “Will you do the honors?”
Lizzy eagerly accepted the jar and opened the top. Vidia flew out at once and immediately found herself engulfed in a group fairy hug.
“Vidia!” Tinker Bell exclaimed happily.
The fairies celebrated by frolicking in a circle around Dr. Griffiths and Lizzy, turning their little orbit bright with joy.
Then the fairies began sprinkling the humans with clouds of sparkling, twinkling fairy dust.
“Whoaaaa! Whoaaa!” Dr. Griffiths cried in alarm and wonder as he and Lizzy began to rise into the air. “Whoooaaaa! Careful!”
“Lift your arms!” Lizzy instructed. “And kick your feet!”
Dr. Griffiths slowly raised his arms and hesitantly kicked his feet.
Lizzy shouted encouragement. “You’re doing it, Father! You’re doing it!”
Dr. Griffiths’s face broke into a broad grin. “Why, I think I’m getting the hang of it. Yes. Why, I’m flying!” he shouted, his voice full of joy. This was amazing!
Soon he and Lizzy were swooping and capering through the sky over London.
Tinker Bell sat cross-legged on the edge of a red-andwhite-checkered cloth. Not far away sat Dr. Griffiths and Lizzy.
“Hey, Tink.” Vidia flew down and sat beside her. “So, you ever been to one of these before?”
“Yeah,” Tinker Bell answered. “Once. It’s pretty fun.”
“What are you supposed to do?” Vidia asked.
“Oh, it’s easy,” Tinker Bell explained. “You just pick this up.” She picked up a tiny teacup and motioned to Vidia to do the same. Vidia picked up another cup and looked again at Tinker Bell for instruction.
“You hold it out …”
“Got it.”
“Now, just raise your pinky, like this.” Tinker Bell extended her pinky finger, and Vidia did the same.
“Then you say”—Tinker Bell mimicked Lizzy’s prim tea party voice—“Excuse me, Miss. May I have a spot of tea?”
Lizzy stood by, ready with the pot. When she saw Tinker Bell’s raised cup, she knelt down and poured a tiny splash of tea. “Why, certainly, Miss Bell. A nice fresh cup.”
Vidia held out her cup of tea and repeated the words in the same funny, prim tone. “Excuse me, Miss. May I have a spot of tea?”
“But of course you may have one, too. This is a tea party, after all.”
Dr. Griffiths held out his cup. “How about a cup for me, Miss Griffiths?”
Tinker Bell was very proud of Dr. Griffiths. He’d come a long way in a short time. Not only did he believe in fairies now, he also believed in playing, spending time with Lizzy, and dressing up for tea parties. He wore a spotless white suit in honor of the occasion. And he hadn’t said one word about work.
Lizzy poured tea for her father. “Why, of course, Doctor. It’s my pleasure, I’m sure.” Then she reached for the sugar. “Would you like one lump or two?”
“Make mine three,” Dr. Griffiths said with a laugh.
Cheese the mouse came forward, pulling a cart full of sugar cubes. Blaze the firefly swooped in to do the honors. He scooped up a cube and dropped it into Dr. Griffiths’s cup.
Everyone had been invited to the tea party, and Lizzy and her father had provided wonderful refreshments—bowls of strawberries, plates full of cakes, and teeny-tiny fairy-sized sandwiches.
Tinker Bell and Vidia both took a sip of their tea and watched Lizzy and her father giggle together.
“Beautiful sight, isn’t it?” Vidia said.
“Nothing more beautiful in the whole wide world,” Tinker Bell agreed.
She thought, but didn’t say, that if anyone had told her a week ago that she and Vidia would be the best of friends, or even that Vidia would take an interest in someone else, she wouldn’t have believed it. Maybe summer had a magic all its own.
Suddenly, they heard a noise. A loud whistle. Louder than any whistle Tink had ever heard.
Tinker Bell’s head snapped around. She’d heard about something called a railway train, but she’d never seen one.
“Don’t even think about it,” Vidia said without looking up from her tea.
Tinker Bell smiled and settled back down. Vidia was right—she’d done enough exploring for one trip. Besides, she didn’t want to miss the story Dr. Griffiths was reading aloud from the fairy book.
Fairies settled on his shoulder and his shoes. They perched on the teapot and on Lizzy’s head—all of them drawn to the happy scene and the power of a good fairy story.
“‘There are fairies to be found all over the world,’” Dr. Griffiths read. “‘Fairies who have very special talents. Fairies living in trees and in the woods. There are water fairies and garden fairies and light fairies. The animal fairies help all the woodland creatures. The river fairies teach the fish to swim. The flower fairies help the flowers to bloom, and the rainbow fairies bring color to the world.’”
Tink felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned and felt a rush of happiness. It was Terence. He quietly sat down beside her. “Well, Tink,” he said. “You found something to fix after all.”
Tinker Bell grinned, and so did Terence. “Yeah!” she said happily. “I guess I did.”
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Junior Novel Page 6