By five minutes to ten, we’re ready. The furniture has been moved. Paige is in her rags costume and holds a broom, ready to sweep the fireplace. Sunny has found a couple of flashlights to use as spotlights.
And Katarina sits on the couch and shakes her head a lot.
Ten o’clock rolls by.
And then 10:15.
And then 10:30. Where is he?
Around 10:45, Paige gets a text: Won’t be home for a couple more hours. Call Mrs. Folz and ask her to come over. She angrily throws her phone against the wall.
I don’t waste even a second being mad at him. I just say, “Paige, I need to borrow your bike.”
When Katarina and I reach the hospital where Paige’s father works, it’s after eleven. I tell Katarina, “I’m going to make him come home if I have to drag him out by his toes.”
“How many times do I have to say it? You don’t have any magic left!”
“Not everything in this world depends on magic.”
“That’s why so many things in this world don’t work.”
I go in through the sliding glass doors. Katarina zips in after me just as the doors close, narrowly avoiding getting squished flat.
I walk up to the security guard at the front desk. “I need to see one of the doctors. It’s urgent.”
The guard looks like he’s heard this a thousand times before. He drones, “For a medical emergency, go outside and to the left, to the emergency room. Otherwise, please call back tomorrow for an appointment.”
“No, it’s gotta be tonight!”
“The emergency room is outside and to the left.”
“Dr. Harrington’s not in the emergency room. He’s doing paperwork.”
The guard gets a funny look. Is it fear? “No one bothers Dr. Harrington. No one.”
“But I have to see him!”
“The last person who bothered him got fired. That’s why I have this job. Go home.”
“But—”
“Go home!”
He turns back to playing solitaire on his computer. What am I going to do? I can’t even get past the security guard!
Suddenly, there’s a loud little voice: “The jack of hearts on the queen of clubs.”
“Thanks,” the guard says, only half paying attention.
“You’re welcome,” Katarina coos.
The guard looks up and sees her perched on the top of his monitor, flapping her sparkly wings. He looks over at me, panic in his eyes. “Do you see that?”
I instantly understand what Katarina’s doing and play along. “See what?” I ask, in my most innocent voice.
He points a shaking finger at Katarina. “That.”
I say, “I don’t see a thing.”
Katarina waves her arms, crosses her eyes, and shouts, “Boo!”
The guard scrambles out of his chair and backs away. She flies into the air and zooms straight at his face with a bloodcurdling scream. As he runs toward the sliding doors, I can’t resist calling after him: “The emergency room is outside and to the left!”
“Thank you, Katarina,” I say after he’s gone.
“No chitchat! Where’s his office?”
We check the directory and take the elevator up to room number 302. There’s a nameplate on the frosted-glass door: DR. STEPHEN HARRINGTON—DIRECTOR OF INTERNAL MEDICINE. Knocking, I say, “Dr. Harrington?”
There’s no answer, but through the frosted glass I can see that the lights are on. I knock a little louder. “Dr. Harrington? I need to talk to you!”
There’s a gruff voice from inside. “GO AWAY!”
I can see why the guard is so scared of him. But I knock some more and keep calling, “Dr. Harrington! Dr. Harrington!”
“I said, GO AWAY!” The voice is even gruffer and scarier than before.
Katarina flies into my jacket pocket. “I took care of the security guard. You take care of this one.” Then she zips the pocket shut.
I knock and knock and knock. Finally, the door bursts open, and Dr. Harrington comes out, his face red and furious-looking. “I hope you don’t like your job, because—” Then he looks down and sees that it’s me. Or at least, he sees that it’s a twelve-year-old girl and not the nurse he was expecting, because I don’t think he has a clue who I am.
I know I’ve only got a second or two before he slams the door in my face, so I just say, “You’re a bad father.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Paige wanted one thing from you: to see her in the play. And you missed it.” I start pulling him by the hand. “But it’s not too late. We’re ready to put on the whole play for you at your house. You just have to come with me.”
Dr. Harrington takes his hand back. “Little girl, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I don’t have time for this.”
“You have to make time! I’m talking about Paige, your daughter, the one who’s been trying and trying for months just to get you to notice her.”
In a quiet voice that’s somehow even scarier than the loud one, he says, “Go away.” And then he steps back into his office and closes the door in my face.
I call, “She’s already lost her mother! And now she’s lost you, too! It’s not right!”
But there’s not a word from inside.
A couple of minutes before midnight, I head up the stairs to Paige’s front door. Katarina is so depressed that she won’t even come out of my pocket.
Ten days ago, I was walking up these same stairs with takeout, and the only thing I was worried about was my ugly lime-green T-shirt. The world was so uncomplicated then. I think about how envious I was of Paige, with her perfect looks and her perfect life. Really, I was the one with the perfect life, if only I’d known it. I’d give anything to have it back.
I open the front door, and it’s Crazytown inside. Paige holds the diamond dress over her head, trying to keep it away from the clutching fingers of the ugly stepsisters. They’re yelling at the top of their lungs: “Give me the dress!” “I want it!” “No, I want it!”
On the other side of the room, the stepmother has her bony hands around the prince’s neck as she shouts: “I don’t care which of my daughters you marry! But you’re going to marry one of them!”
All he manages to say is a strangled “Nevvverrrrr!!!!”
A chair is shoved under the closed bathroom door, and Sunny yells from inside, “Let me out! Let me out!”
I don’t know who to help first, so for a moment, I just watch. In the middle of struggling with the stepsisters, Paige sees me and asks, “Is he coming?”
“No,” I say.
With that one awful little word, the fight goes out of Paige, and she lets the diamond dress drop. Each stepsister grabs a sleeve, and they yank it between them, screeching like cats. (Which is odd, because they’re mice.) The sisters finally tear the dress in two with a harsh ripping sound that sends a shudder down my spine. Diamonds fly all over the room—so beautiful, but so worthless.
There’s another sound that I can’t quite place. Like a heartbeat…or a distant clock chiming. Katarina pokes her head out of my pocket and wails: “Oh noooooooo!!!! It’s midnight! Six thousand, three hundred and twelve girls, and it’s all come down to this!”
There’s quiet in the room as everyone listens to the clock chime on and on. At the final stroke, there are tiny fizzling sounds like sparklers burning out. The diamonds from the dress vanish into dust.
The stepmother and stepsisters become mice again. And the prince, making one last kissy-face, is transformed back into plain old Seymour the squirrel.
All the animals look around with dazed, blinking eyes. Then their eyes focus on me, and they hate me again. Seymour jumps up on the mantel and chatters angrily.
“What’s happening?” Sunny shouts from the bathroom. When I let her out, she looks at the angry animals and instantly understands. Without another word, she gathers up the mice and puts them in the bathtub.
She comes back into the living room and tries to shoo Seymour
out the window nearest to the mantel. “Go home to your tree!” she says. He hops onto the windowsill, but then sits glaring at me.
I say, “Let him stay. This is what the rest of my life is going to be like, so I’d better get used to it.”
We all slump on the couch. Katarina, too sad to fly, crawls out of my pocket and walks away.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“Laundry room. There’s a dryer with my name on it.” And she trudges out of sight.
I feel terrible, because I’ve made things worse. Before, Paige could tell herself that her father would be there for her if he knew it was important. Now, she doesn’t even have that. “I’m so sorry, Paige,” I say.
She looks miserable. “It’s not your fault that my dad doesn’t love me. It’s mine.”
Seemingly out of nowhere, there’s a man’s voice: “Don’t ever say that!”
Paige’s father stands in the doorway. She leaps to her feet and runs over to him. “Dad! You’re home!”
He hugs her tightly but a little awkwardly, like he’s gotten out of practice.
“I’m so happy you’re home,” Paige says.
He looks down and tells her, “I should have been here sooner.”
“It’s all right,” Paige says.
“No, it’s not all right.” His eyes are shiny with tears. “After your mother died, I thought work would save me.… I’m so sorry.”
She looks up at him a little uncertainly.
“But I’m here now,” he says. “I don’t want to be a bad father anymore.”
“You’re not a bad father!”
“I’m a horrible father! But I promise to do better. Mom’s gone, but we’re still a family, aren’t we?”
She hugs him close, happy tears running down her face. And even with the tears, this looks like the face of a girl whose dream has come true.
Then Paige’s father says, “I’m told you’re putting on a play for me tonight. I want to hear you sing.”
Oh, drat! Why couldn’t he have come ten minutes ago, when Paige sounded amazing? This is going to ruin everything. I’m not saying he’ll stop loving her when he hears her sing. But her voice, as Katarina keeps pointing out, stinks!
So I tell Dr. Harrington, “The cast had to go home. We can’t do the play. Too bad! And it’s getting really late.” I stretch my arms out wide and pretend to yawn. “Wow, I’m tired.”
I elbow Sunny, and she stretches and yawns, too. “Bedtime for us! Come on, Paige!”
Dr. Harrington says, “Just one song. Please, Paige. For me?”
Double drat. Paige can’t say no to this. He said, Please.
So Paige opens her mouth and sings, “I lost my shoe and you….”
She sounds every bit as awful as I remember, maybe even worse. Katarina flies out of the laundry room and hovers next to me with her fingers in her ears.
Paige sings, “I can’t believe it’s true. I don’t know what to do. I’m feeling so very bluuuuuuuuuuue.”
The musical torture finally ends, and there’s a long pause as Paige’s father looks at her. My guess is that he’s just decided to put her up for adoption and rent her room to some other kid. I’m the worst fairy godmother ever.
But then he smiles. He tells Paige, “You sing just like your mother. I always loved the way she sang.” He hugs her like he’s never going to let her go.
Sunny blurts out, “But she sounds terrible!”
Katarina nods in agreement and flits out of sight.
“Not to me.” Dr. Harrington beams.
There’s a clattering from the windowsill. It’s Seymour again, staring right at me. Oh, geez. He’s got an acorn in his paws. Let me guess—he’s gonna throw it at me. But he keeps looking at me and holding out the acorn like it’s a…like it’s a…
Like it’s a present?
I hesitantly walk over to the window, and he holds up the acorn as high as he can. I take it from him, and he nods and chatters and nuzzles against me.
Dr. Harrington says, “I’ve never seen a squirrel do that before!”
This is weird. Because Seymour seems to like me again. But that can’t be right, can it? I say, “Excuse me. I have to use the bathroom.”
As I walk away, Dr. Harrington says to Paige, “Sing me another song from the play!”
Sunny says, a little too loudly, “I have to go to the bathroom, too!” and runs after me.
We reach the bathroom and shut the door behind us. Katarina is already perched on the edge of the bathtub, where the mice are. “Grab one.”
I hesitantly reach down and pick up a mouse. Instead of scratching and squirming like before, it snuggles in my hand.
I excitedly pick up the other mice, and they blink at me happily with their round pink eyes. They don’t hate me! In fact, they like me!
Sunny asks, “What happened? It’s past midnight! I’m confused!”
Katarina looks every bit as confused as Sunny does. Then she looks out the bathroom window and sees the big, round, full moon. She smiles with sudden understanding and turns back to me and Sunny with an “I’ve known it all along” look.
She says, “I’ve successfully made dreams come true for six thousand, three hundred and twelve girls. And I’ve always done it before midnight on the night of the full moon. That’s because I’m so organized and talented. What you girls forget is that on the last day it’s not the midnight, it’s the full moon that counts. Deep down, Paige’s dream wasn’t to be Cinderella in the play, it was for her father to notice her again. And I accomplished that! I now have an unbroken record of six thousand, three hundred and thirteen girls!” Then she stops herself and tells me, “No, we accomplished it. Credit where credit is due.” She says, “Sunny, you helped, too. But your hair is terrible!”
Sunny looks hurt and hides her bangs with her hands.
Katarina says, “Lacey? I want my wand back.”
Wow, she doesn’t waste any time. I pull the little wand out of my pocket and give it to her.
She taps the wand cautiously. “Since the assignment is over, the wand should have re-bonded to me.”
Katarina squeezes her eyes shut and clutches the wand close to her with both hands. I know exactly what she’s thinking: Oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please.
Katarina finally raises the wand over her head and says, “Bangs horrific, turn terrific!” And with a single stroke of the wand, Sunny’s butchered hair grows out luxuriantly.
Katarina happily kisses the wand and shouts, “Katarina Sycorax is back in business!”
Sunny runs her hands through her long, beautiful hair. “Thank you so much!”
“You’re very welcome. I don’t know what idiot let you get your bangs cut like that.”
“But the hair will only last till midnight, right?” I say.
“Yes, but by then I’ll be gone and won’t have to look at her anymore.”
Sunny thinks about it and says, “Well, better than nothing!” She’s definitely a glass-is-half-full kind of girl.
After all the excitement, I think Paige, Sunny, and I will never get to sleep, but we conk out the second our heads hit the pillows (sleeping bags, actually, but we’re so tired they feel like pillows to us).
In the morning, I wake up and smell smoke! I reach over and shake Sunny and Paige awake, shouting, “The house is on fire!”
But we find out it’s not a fire—it’s Paige’s father, cooking pancakes for us in the kitchen. And even though they’re burned on the outside and raw in the middle, we tell him they’re great.
And we’re not even lying. They’re great because Paige’s dad is here, and he’s making them. He burned them with love. And love is all you need.
Well, love and a lot of syrup.
I look at Paige’s happy face, and I’m proud to have been a fairy godmother, even if it was only for a couple of weeks.
Speaking of fairy godmothers…where’s Katarina?
Hurrying back into Paige’s bedroom, I call, “Kat
arina? Katarina?” She’s not there. Then I notice a tiny note pinned to my sleeping bag. I must have missed it when I thought the house was on fire.
I pick up the note and read:
Off to my new assignment! No more glitter traps, okay! Katarina.
Wow. Not very sentimental, is she?
I walk home, feeling a little sad. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m going to miss Katarina. On the bright side, the pigeons aren’t pooping on my head.
When I go by Barnaby’s fence, there’s a loud ROWF! ROWF! ROWF! The old basset hound comes barreling down off the porch, and instead of stopping at the fence he leaps right over it and knocks me down. Geez! Does he still hate me?
No. He looooooooooooves me. He wags his tail and covers my entire face with doggy drool. I laugh and try to push him away, saying, “Barnaby! Stop!” But he’s not going anywhere.
“Do you need some help?” a voice says.
Oh no.
Oh no!
OH NO!
It’s Scott Dearden, who somehow rode up on his bike without my seeing him. And I’m lying on the sidewalk covered in dog spit! I wish I still had the magic wand, so I could make myself disappear.
As Scott takes Barnaby by the collar and puts him in the yard, I stumble to my feet and try to wipe myself off.
Scott turns back to me with this strange, almost nervous expression on his face. I must look really scary. I mean, really scary.
He stammers, “There’s a home game at the high school next Friday. Do you want to go with me?”
Inside my head, I’m happy-shrieking louder than Ann Estey and Madison put together. But I manage to say, “Okay.”
Scott smiles. “Great! See you Friday!” He gets back on his bike and pedals away.
When he disappears around the corner, I lie back down on the sidewalk until the shrieking in my head goes away.
It takes a long, long time.
The first thing I see when I get home is Julius napping on the window seat. He wakes up and meows at me. I give him a hug so big that it’s almost the Heimlich maneuver for cats, but he doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he purrs louder than I’ve ever heard him purr.
The Glitter Trap Page 13