The winged pixie crawled out of the posy of tear-drenched Forget Me Nots and apple tree blossoms on Dan’s kitchen table and confronted the jilted lover.
“What were you thinking, Dan?”
Dan bolted to his feet. “What the hell?!”
Adelina’s diaphanous wings fluttered and she shot up to Dan’s face.
“Wrong mythology. I’m Adelina, a forest pixie not a fury from hell, though I might as well be cuz I’m mad as hell! Can’t a girl take a snooze in some flowers without getting plucked by a giant?!”
Dan flailed his arms to shoo away the green clad pixie pest. He tripped over a chair and Adelina alighted on his wrist laughing.
“I’m not going to hurt you. Lucky for you, I’m not a troll.”
“Are you Tinker Bell?” Dan blinked in disbelief.
“Are you Peter Pan?”
Dan sighed deeply to compose himself as Adelina pressed.
“And this ain’t Neverland. How are you going to get me home?”
Dan struggled to rise but his legs buckled.
“Here, let me help you,” Adelina smiled mischievously and tossed magic pixie dust in Dan’s face. Instantly, Dan’s legs flew up and whipped him around his Spartan studio apartment. The human struggled to fly level but crashed into a wall. Laughing hysterically, Adelina flew to her perch on Dan’s wrist.
“You deserved that for kidnapping me.”
“I didn’t kidnap you. I merely picked some flowers for my girlfriend, ex-girlfriend I guess. Hey, can you grant me a wish and make her love me again?”
“First, you mistake me for Tinker Bell and now Cupid,” Adelina angrily reached for pixie dust in her green leotards. Dan braced for more punishment, but Adelina softened.
“I think you’ve been punished enough,” the fairy divined Dan’s thoughts. “But, come on, Dan, Forget Me Nots? Do you know how they got their name? A medieval knight was walking along a riverbank with his lady when he reached down to pick her a posy of flowers, but his heavy armor caused him to lose his balance and he fell in the river. Before drowning he tossed his lady the flowers and begged her, ‘Forget Me Not’. Your gal has already forgotten you, Dan. But you got me, at least until you figure out how to get me back to the forest. I have a job to do.”
Dan shuddered. “My job is to wake up from this nightmare.” 1.
Pixie Pickings/Littman
Adelina ignored the jibe. “I take care of a wild apple tree, making sure she gets enough nourishment and protecting her from pests but then you come along and snip her blossoms to garnish your bouquet. Those blossoms attract bees to pollinate her to bear fruit that feeds the forest creatures. Cycle of life. You blew it, Dan.”
“Story of my life,” Dan sighed. “I got the Midas touch in reverse. You should leave me before I touch you.”
Adelina flitted up to Dan’s face and hovered before his rheumy eyes.
“There are worse fates,” she chuckled. “Maybe I’m lonely, too. But, again, I have a job, and now I must figure out how to get back to the forest and attract a bumblebee.”
Dan rubbed his swollen ankle. “I wish I could help, but my car’s shot and there’s no one I can call to help. I’m sorry, Adelina. Maybe if I was a bee I’d fly back with you. Of course, bumblebees aren’t supposed to be able to fly. Not built for flight.”
“But they believe, Dan,” Adelina cooed as she kissed Dan’s lips with her tiny wings and sprinkled him again with pixie dust.
Dan gawked in surprise and delight as Adelina transformed him into a huge bee. She waved her puny hand and a door blew open, then Adelina settled languidly on Dan’s back and guided him back to their fairy home.
THE END
2.
Bio:
Marc Littman’s fiction has been widely published in online magazines and anthologies from 50-Word Stories to The Saturday Evening Post. He also writes novels and plays.