Well, I don't have time to update The Way Forward for a week or so until break probably. I've got AP and SAT and any other alphabet soup test thrown at me. This one's for my readers. Have a look into my life and see springtime through the eyes of the goblins.
It started as a normal Saturday morning. I was getting ready to go out with my boyfriend since we've been distant due to busy schedules. I was curling my hair when I heard a poof and saw a puff of smoke slowly make its way out of the shower curtains. Curiosity got the better of me and I uncurled my hair prematurely from the curling iron so that I wouldn't burn it off and I slowly slunk over to the bathtub. I steeled my nerves and jerked back the shower curtain to find my favorite neighborhood goblin, Boggy.
"Hello, Boggy, what can I do to help you?" I asked him as I went back to curling my hair.
"OOOH hot stick make hair go springy!" Boggy observed from my sink.
"Yes. It's almost as springy as the air outside," I commented. Boggy gave me a funny look and cocked his head in confusion at this statement.
"Well, after I finish getting ready I'll show you what I mean," I explained, "It's springtime outside. The snow's melted and the crocuses are starting to sprout up from the ground."
"What's a crocus?"
"It's a flower. It's purple and it only blooms in the spring," I droned on. Whenever I saw a crocus I got a strange flashback to my fifth grade voice lessons where I learned the song "It Might As Well Be Spring." So I started humming it when I realized I still had no idea what prompted the visit from by little goblin friend.
"So, Boggy, what brought you here to my humble abode?" I asked again as I finished my hair and started my make up. Boggy got strangely silent so I finished applying my eyeliner and turned to Boggy as I put my make up away. Tears were welling up in his eyes and I started to worry.
"Boggy, you can tell me anything. What's wrong?" I asked as I got down on my knees so I'd be at goblin level.
"KRISTIN IS DYING," Boggy wailed. My mind went blank. Christian couldn't die. Surely he couldn't. I'd have to kill him myself, and Lord knows I'd never do that. As much as he annoys me, I have a soft spot for the irkingly arrogant fae. Even though I knew this information, my heart still stopped and my palms started to sweat.
"It's okay, Boggy, we'll go and see him and he'll be fine," I said calmly as much for his benefit as for mine. I canceled my date with my boyfriend claiming that I was coming down with the flu and mom had me on strict bed rest and Boggy transported me somewhere in a forest.
The forest was lush and green with flowers growing in every color of the rainbow. I could hear a creek in the distance and started walking towards it. Eventually we found ourselves in a clearing. There was a creek or maybe a river, I was never good at identifying bodies of water, flowing at the base of a rock wall with caves along it in various places. There was a clothesline connecting a tree outside the clearing to a blue two story cottage in the clearing. Clothes were hanging on the clothesline. Clothes that I recognized. And then I heard it.
"Ah- Ah- AH-CHOOO!" Boggy shuddered and made what looked like an attempt at the sign of the cross. We would definitely be fixing that later, although I don't know who taught him that because I certainly didn't. Then it came again.
"Ah-Ah-AH-CHOOOOO!" The offending noise seemed to resonate from inside the house. As if finding a Victorian house in a clearing in the woods wasn't weird enough, the house seemed to be sneezing as well.
"Well, Boggy, if they sneeze again we'll have to go investigate. I'm almost positive that no one's said 'Bless you' to them yet," I reasoned.
"NOOOOO! Sneezing house ate Christian and killed him. It'll kill you too!"Boggy pleaded. I suddenly realized that showing him the movie "Monster House" last weekend was not the best idea ever.
"Ah-Ah-AH-CHOOOO!" I think I had a grasp on the situation now.
"Come on, Boggy, let's go give Christian a tissue. Springtime is killer on allergies," I said and started walking towards the house.
"No. Boggy done enough. Boggy bring Queen to Kristin. Kristin is saved! Boggy go tell King you is here. King misses Abby. Hasn't seen her since shnow day," Boggy said as he trotted off.
"Tell his Majesty that I'll grace him with my presence soon enough," I retorted. I really should have visited sooner. Now that Christian's sick I can't leave him to go off and annoy Jareth like I normally would. I do miss reading in his library, I sighed.
"Oh well, here goes nothing," I said as I walked up to the door and opened it. I heard sniffling coming from upstairs followed by an occasional cough and a ground-rocking sneeze. I climbed the stairs and turned the corner to see a large set of double doors. I slowly opened the doors and peaked through. There, in a cocoon of blankets sat a red-nosed Christian.
"You know, you won't turn into a butterfly regardless of the amount of blankets you have yourself wrapped up in. I would know. I tried when I was five," I joked as I stepped into the room.
"Oh boy. Das dif di wasn't already feeling bad. Dyou had to come," he said.
"Well, someone had to view this momentous occasion of you not being able to speak as usual. Is your nose stuffy?" I asked.
"Yes, I've tried everything. Tea, soup, nothing works."
"Nothing, nothing tra-la-la-la? I may have a few tricks," and with that I became Christian's new nurse. I set up an oil burner and burned some mint and eucalyptus to open his nose. I also set up a humidifier next to him. Within half an hour he could breathe without sounding like a demented Elmer Fudd.
"So, why are you here? I thought we'd never see you again after you wrote that paper," Christian said to me.
"Boggy said you died. So I came to see whether or not it was true. I didn't want to be forced to face the embarrassment of sending out invitations to a party if you were still alive. That would be awkward," I said with a wink.
"Why are you helping me then, if you wish I was dead?"
"Christian, you should know better than anyone that I don't want you dead. Quite the opposite. You amuse me. We banter and it doesn't get boring, and you're not afraid to trade jabs with me because I'm a woman. Not to mention you actually care," I responded.
"Well, thank you. Will you read to me? Something from your world. I'm running out of books to satisfy me here," he asked.
So I did. I read him Doon until he fell asleep. Then I pulled the blankets up around him and sat back down on the nearby sofa to rest. I hadn't even noticed that I fell asleep until I woke up the next morning to a healthy Christian poking my face.
"So you're better I see," I replied groggily. Christian handed me a bottle and when I looked at it I read "Claritin-D. For allergies." The only thing was, instead of "Claritin-D," someone had scratched it out and had written "Christian-D." I laughed so hard I almost cried.
Dear readers,
Words cannot describe how sorry I am for being MIA for so long. I hope to update sooner, but with theatre the way it is and exams coming up I don't know when I'll get the chance to. Thank you so much for being patient with me and following myself and my stories. I should bake you all cookies sometime.
With love,
Abby