katesmash

Hafwen and her Human

Sophie wasn't like most kids. Instead of playing with dolls and coloring, Sophie could be found in the back yard scribbling in the loose dirt with a stick. Instead of making hand puppets, Sophie would be outside in her yard playing with the earth worms that lived in her mother's peony garden. When most children stayed inside and watched television when it rained, Sophie ran out to the tree house her father helped her build and listened as the water droplets bounced of the metal roof of her refuge.

Perhaps this is what allowed Sophie to see what others did not see. Where most kids saw boredom, Sophie saw endless possibilities to let her mind wander. It was during one of these days, that Sophie saw me.

It was a lazy summer day and Sophie was lying down in her yard looking up at the sky. She saw clouds shaped like cats, spiders, eagles, and imagined them sitting at a small round table drinking tea.

"Those human kids are so impossible!" the cat exclaimed.
"Well, what do you expect, Ms. Kitten? All they do is sit and watch TV," replied Mr. Squirrel.
At this Madam Eagle spoke up, "All except that Sophie girl. She's so strange."
Lady Spider looked up and set down her tea cup. She smiled brightly, "I like Sophie. She doesn't try to kill me when she spots me."

Sophie was giggling at the fact that the cloud animals didn't know she was eavesdropping. She was even more happy that Lady Spider spoke of her so highly. It made her proud.
Just as she went quiet to listen to the rest of the conversation, I darted across the sky as I headed home, my hands full with new dishes to put in my cabinets. I would have thought nothing of what was going on until a scream startled me into dropping all my new bowls.
The scream had come from a little girl with black curls and shiny green eyes. Her nose was turned up in such a way that it looked as if a pixie had kicked it. I sighed angrily and settled down in the grass next to the brat and began to pick up my dishes, inspecting each one for cracks.

The little girl watched me as if I were an animal in a zoo. "Do you mind?" I yelled at her. "Can you please stop staring at me like you are? It's making me uncomfortable."
No response came from the little girl, just her continuing stare. I sighed again and continued inspecting my wares. Just as I had gathered everything back up and carefully balanced them in my arms, the little girl finally spoke, "What are you doing?"
It was a question. I hated questions. It meant I had to answer. "I was picking up my bowls that you so rudely made me drop when you screamed like that."
The girl ignored my anger, "Bowls? But they're just acorn tops."
"Acorn tops to you, you giant, but not to me. They're perfect bowls."
"I paint acorns," the little girl declared proudly. "Bowls, I mean," she said correcting herself, "would you like to see?
I paused. "No thank you," I responded and got ready for flight.
"I can make you forks and spoons. Even butter knives!" She exclaimed.
"What's a fork and spoon?"
"They help you eat food without getting messy. Plus its polite and my mom always says that manners are very important," Sophie stated. "Come on, I'll show you."

Sophie watched as the little faerie flitted about her room, pulling at things, pushing things, inspecting odds and ends. It was so excited that it forgot about the painted acorn caps. Instead, it played with hat pins, hairbrushes, scarves, marbles, and crayons. Always asking with excitement, "What's this!?" Sophie followed the faerie explaining what each thing was for. The two were having so much fun until the faerie flew right into the mirror and fell down to the ground, landing on Sophie's toy monster.
Immediately, she rushed to the faeries side. "Are you okay?"
I looked up at the girl and biting back tears, I managed to nod. "Yes, I'm okay. That hurt," I responded as I rubbed the pain out of my head. "What was that?"
"That's a mirror. You can see yourself in it," the girl answered. The little girl grabbed a smaller mirror and pulled it down in front of me. I looked in and screamed. My face was completely red! And I had a giant knot on my forehead!
"My HEAD!" I shouted as I began to cry, bursting into tears.
"It's okay, its okay. Hold on," the little girl said as she ran out of sight. When she returned she was holding something in her hand. "My mom always said that if kisses don't fix bumps and bruises, then a band aid will do just fine" she said as she sat down on the floor Indian style and began to open the band aid package.
I looked up at her, my hand covering the ugly bump on my head, "You do know that's too big for me."
The little girl giggled, "Of course I do." I watched as she tore the spongy part of the band aid and cut it into small pieces. Taking one that seemed to be just right, she handed it to me. "Hold that on your bump," she demanded. I did as she said and watched her look around for something.
"What are you looking for?" I snapped as the girl had been searching for quite a few minutes.
"This," she replied holding up something I did not recognize.
"This is thread. I'm going to wrap it around your head to hold that bandage on. Sorry it's blue. It's the only color I have," she said as she began to wrap the thread around my head.
"Don't do it too tight," I said as I waited very patiently.
Once I was all patched up, the little girl smiled. "There," she said as she held up the mirror once more. At least the ugly bump was hidden and the thread wasn't too tight.
"Thank you," I replied.
"You're welcome, faerie," she answered.
"I have a name you know."
"What is it?"
"Hafwen."
"Hafwen? That's a weird name."
"Well what's your name then?"
"Sophie."
"Sophie? And mine is weird?" I looked at her curiously.
"Well, I guess not," she replied smiling.