CHAPTER NINETEEN
HOPE AND UNDERSTANDING
Chester looked down at his fairy godparent, Isaac, who was at this moment disguised as a brown Labrador.
"You don't think it's silly what I'm planning to do?," asked Chester.
"Not at all son," said camouflaged fairy, "in fact, I think it's very nice, and approriate. I think Tootie will feel the same way."
Chester nodded while silently thinking,
"I hope Tootie understands."
The Buxaplentys looked at the officers with just a little hope in their eyes.
"So," said Mrs. Buxaplenty, "what's this "lead" exactly?"
"It's an annonymous tip saying they actually saw Remy yesterday alive," said the older officer, Frank, "near the area of Dimmsdale Flats. What adds weight to this is that person saw Remy with another boy who disappeared some time back."
In the Johnson's house, Timmy and A.J. were watching T.V. while waiting for Trixie to come over. Suddenly there was a news break and Chet Ubetcha was on.
"We interrupt this program with some breaking news. The police may have found a lead in the case of Remy Buxaplenty's disappearance. An eyewitness claims to have seen the missing twelve year old in the area of the old Dimmsdale Flats settlement. We will continue to update as more information comes."
Timmy smiled at A.J, who wore a rather neutral expression.
"Jorgen must have found Remy," said Timmy, "that means he's okay."
"Yes," said A.J. rather coolly.
Timmy immediatedly picked up on this as did his fairy godmother who happened to be disguised as his watch.
"A.J.," said Timmy, "isn't this good news?"
"It is for his family," said A.J., "and I'm glad he's alive and okay, but Timmy the reason I'm not exactly jumping for joy is because I really don't trust Remy, still."
"He wound up doing the right thing, though A.J.," said Timmy, "he did help me escape from Anti-Cosmo."
"Yes he did do the right thing eventually," said A.J., "and I'm glad that he did, but he also : 1. tried to take your fairies away in the fairy competition simply because he was jealous, 2. came back under the false pretense that he was your friend but he was still trying to take away your godparents. 3. Tricked us into going to a military academy simply so he could destroy Cosmo and Wanda and finally, he nearly killed you at the campground in Goldenmill, and he was going to do the same thing if Anti-Cosmo hadn't turned on him."
Timmy was silent. A.J. did have a point, but Timmy, being Timmy, was willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt.
"I just believe that people should get another chance," said Timmy.
"I know Timmy," said the young genius, "and that's an admirable trait, but it's also a trait that's gotten you into trouble."
"How do you mean?," said Timmy, although the buck toothed boy already suspected what A.J. was going to say.
"Well," said A.J., "this is not meant to put you down, Timmy, but when you first met the Anti-Fairies, you released them because you honestly thought you could reason with them. You were thinking with your heart and not your mind, buddy. I mean when something has the prefix "Anti" attached to it's name, you could be sure it's up to no good."
Timmy looked down and said,
"Maybe but is it so wrong to want to see the good in people?"
"No," said A.J., "and that is a very admirable trait, but the problem is it can be taken advantage of. You have to have some kind of balance."
Timmy nodded and then said, in an epiphany of insight,
"Well, maybe that's why you and Chester and also The Chosen Ones along with me. To provide some type of balance. Both of you can kind of compliment my best traits or try to control my worst ones."
"That's very perceptive, buddy," said A.J.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang and they heard Helen Johnson go to the door. That was when they heard her say,
"Timmy, the Tangs are here to see you."
Chester and Tootie were walking towards to the Dimmsdale Cemetary along with their fairy godparents; Isaac was still disguised as a dog, Binky as a cat. Both Chester and Tootie were holding hands. They entered in through the gates when Chester stopped. Tootie looked at him curiously.
"Is something wrong, Chester?,"said Tootie.
"No," said Chester, "but you're sure you don't think I'm being silly or dumb."
"Of course not," said Tootie, "in fact, this is something you need to do."
A.J., and Timmy went into the living room. Sure enough, the Tangs were there. Jeff and Rebecca looked at him and smiled somwhat. Trixie smiled just a little more.
"Hello, Timmy," said Jeff, "it's good to see you. I know you've been through a lot the past couple of days."
Timmy nodded with melacholy expression on his face. That's when Rebecca decided to change the subject, and said,
"Helen, I've been meaning to talk to you and Jeff about the plans for the church social."
"Certainly," said Helen, picking up on the hint, "Timmy, you and Trixie can stay in the living room and talk for a little bit."
A.J., also, picked up on the hint and said,
"Well, I've to run a diagnostic on my computer."
With that, the humans left. However, Wanda suddenly appeared after everyone was gone. She looked at Trixie a second, her expression neutral. The pink haired fairy said,
"Hun, I need to talk to A.J. for a second. Would that be okay? Plus I know you two would like some time alone."
"Sure Wanda, and thanks," said Timmy.
With that Wanda poofed out of the room.
Trixie frowned.
"Wanda still doesn't like me, does she Timmy?," asked the Asian American.
"Actually," said Timmy, "she has warmed up to you some. I think you just need to give her time."
Chester and Tootie approached the grave of his mother. Isaac and Binky stayed back to give them some space, but stayed close enough in case either of their godchildren needed them.
Chester looked at the tombstone and said,
"Ma, this is Tootie. You may remember her from when you were stilll..." Chester put his head down and Tootie rubbed his shoulder encouragingly. The Blonde then, continued,
"When you were still with us. I just wanted you to...I don't know,uh...let you know I think I've found someone that makes me happy..Hopefully we will be as happy as you and Pop were..."
Chester's voice faltered and he looked down again. That's when Tootie took the lead.
"Mrs. McBadbat," said Tootie, "I just want you to know, I care about your son very much, and he's become someone you can be very proud of. I know I'm proud of him."
Chester smiled relieved, and said,
"Yeah, Ma, Tootie's a great girl."
Wanda poofed into the A.J.'s room. A.J. turned around a little surprised and said,
"Yes, Wanda, is something wrong?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing hun," replied the pink haired fairy, "your problem with Remy. There's something on your mind about what he did to Timmy; more than what you told him."
"Is it that obvious," said A.J.
"To me," said Wanda, "I've been known to be pretty perceptive."
A.J. smiled a bit. Then he turned serious and said,
"Yeah, Wanda, there's something else, and it goes back to that camping trip where Remy trip to kill him."
A.J. drew in a breath.
"Wanda," said the african-american boy, "remember when they pulled him out of that cellar and he was crying."
"Yes," said Wanda.
"Well," said A.J., "the reason he was crying was not from any physical pain. It was what Remy told him. Some horrible things. In fact, they were so horrible..."
"What?," said Wanda, concerned.
"When I got to that cellar, and found him, Wanda, Timmy had just given up. You know what he told me; to leave him there to die because he wasn't important enough to save. He wasn't just being dramatic either. I saw the look in his eyes, he meant it."
Wanda closed her eyes and a tear went down her cheek. Then A.J. continued,
"And the reason he said it was because Remy told him his parents wouldn't notice he was gone. He also told Timmy his mother wanted a girl so badly she couldn't stand to be around him."
"I had no idea,A.J.," said Wanda,"Timmy never said any of this to me."
"Well," said A.J., "Remy also tricked you and Cosmo into going into Fairy World, and I know Timmy wouldn't necessarily tell you."
"And that's why you don't trust Remy," said Wanda, "because of all of that."
"Yeah," said A.J. "perhaps I should give Remy the benefit of the doubt, like Timmy is, but...you weren't down there. Timmy had already been under stress from what happened during the Darkness incident. Wen I got to that cellar..." A.J. paused and then swallowed, and then contiued, "I've never seen Timmy like that. He had completely given up and he was in utter despair. So you can understand why I'm more than suspicious of Remy. I can't stand to see a good friend of mine go through so much pain."
Wanda thought for a second and then said,
"I can understand A.J. I care about Timmy as well. Maybe that's why I'm a little reluctant to trust Trixie. I mean she's hurt him so many times, and I'm scared that she's going to do it again. Not to mention the fact that it turns out she DID remember everything about the Darkness Incident, and yet she continuied to treat my godchild like garbage. I mean what I don't understand is if she did care about him why did she continue her horrendous treatment of him after everything that had happnened."
"Maybe because," said a voice behind them, "I didn't want to arouse suspcision and risk Timmy losing you and Cosmo as his godparents."
A.J. and Wanda turned around saw Trixie Tang standing in A.J.'s doorway.
Tootie and Chester walked away from the cemetary, holding hands, their expressions somewhat reflective.
"Thank you, Tootie," said Chester, "I'm glad you don't think that I was being silly."
"Not at all," said Tootie, "Just because someone is gone doesn't mean you stop caring about them. I know what it's like to lose someone. I think about Winston everyday."
Tootie then stopped and said,
"But in some ways this thing about Winston is harder. You know what happened to your mother, but I don't know what happened to my brother...I don't know if he's alive or dead...so I don't know whether to grieve or keep hoping..."
That was all Tootie could say,though, because she thing buried her head in Chester's chest and sobbed. Chester very gently put his arms around her to comfort her.
Okay, I hope this chapter is okay. The whole conversation concerning the cellar refers to my earlier story, A.J.'s Doubts.