Chapter 19

Well, today was the day the twins turn 12 and before Mary even woke up, the family ditched her and Omi and took a birthday vacation with the whole family instead of those 2. The excuse was to save money but EVERYONE instead of the parents knew that was bullshit. But there was another reason though. Mary just wanted to stay home after going through school, and ballet, and now since she's turning 12 she has to prepare herself for puberty. So Mary and Omi have the house for themselves. Around 8, Mary finally woke up and walked downstairs still in her pajamas with her robe on and holding her Baby-Bop doll. She walked into the kitchen and saw Omi was up. "Morning Omi. Don't you ever sleep in?" she asked.

Omi turned her head away from the stove and saw Mary. "I used too but trust me, I wake up early so I won't wake up hot. It's not fun." She replied.

Mary sat down on the kitchen island as Omi turned around and got the birthday French toast out. "Despite that our family ditching us, I'm glad we got the house for ourselves. Wasn't in the mood for traveling anyway." She said.

Omi nodded in agreement as the 2 ate their breakfast. "Same. Being in the car going who knows where will not be pleasant."

Mary nodded in agreement. "Is Aunt Dorothy coming by?"

Omi shook her head. "No. She can't make the trip today. BUT there is some good news. She and I are going to the Swan Lake ballet to see you dance."

Mary smiled with excitement. "But how will Aunt Dorothy still hitch a ride with Aunt Beavis Uncle Butt-head?"

Omi smacked and flicked her fore-head. "Watch it!"

Mary rubbed her fore-head. "What? It's not December yet I can still have a bit of time of smack-talking until then."

Omi rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Well the 'plan' will be that, she will take an Uber here to get the theater. Once the show is done, she will walk to a certain distance and will find a way to get your relatives to pick her up at the location."

Mary asked, "Do you think it can work?"

Omi asked, "Have you met your Aunt?" Mary laughed a bit.

After a while, the doorbell rang and Omi opened the door and at the door was a big package box. Omi brought it in and looked at the tag. "What is it Omi?" asked Mary.

Omi said, "It's birthday presents for you."

Mary walked in and looked at the present and opened the box. There were 13 of them total: one big box and 12 little ones. "Who are they from?" Mary looked at the packages to see if there was a return address.

Omi looked for one too. "Doesn't say. Do you think they're from Abby's family?"

Then Mary remember. "It might be. After the funeral, they did say they'll send some final gifts as a good-bye. These must be them." Omi was a little confused. Their packages already came. It was more knitting/sewing/crocheting stuff and knowing Mary she went through them already. "Can I open them Omi? Please?" she asked.

Omi was nervous at first but said, "Alright. But I'm staying in the room with you. I want to make notes to make thank you cards to them."

Mary nodded. "OK." They took them to the living room and started to open the big box first. It was a glass case with a garden like background as it slowly transition through the seasons. "A display case?" she asked herself out loud.

Omi said, "Let's open the small ones and see." One by one Mary and Omi opened the 12 small boxes and inside were fairy ballerina figurines in different dance poses. "I had a feeling."

Mary asked, "What is it Omi?"

Omi said, "These fairies represent the flowers of the seasons of all 12 months." She said.

Mary picked up three of them. "Wow." She looked at the rose, the daisy, and the tulip fairies. "They're almost life-like." Then she asked as she looked at the other ones. "What flowers are they? I recognize rose, daisy, and tulips but not the others."

Omi opened the display case and gently took the fairies. "Let's fix them up from summer to winter" One by one, she picked them up and put them in the slots. "Daisy, poppies, and bellflowers for summer. Then rose, chrysanthemums, and sunflowers for fall. Next is calendula, witch-hazel, and camellia for winter. And finally, magnolias, tulips, and azaleas for spring." Once the figurines were in place, she put the case in place and locked it. "There we go. 12 flower ballerina fairies for my ballerina's 12 birthday."

Mary smiled as she looked at the fairies. "Is it ok if I give them names?"

Omi nodded. "Sure thing. What would you name them? Something Greek?"

Mary thought about it as she looked at the fairies. "No. Based on their flower dresses. They're so pretty." Then she asked, "Where will we put them?"

Omi saw a note and read it. "Oh, these are for the garden outside. They're actually lawn ornaments."

Mary said, "And I know the perfect spot. Will you help me?"

Omi nodded as she put the note in her pocket. "Oh course." They gently picked up the completed box and slowly walked outside. Once in the back-yard, not too far from the tree that Mary was on where she meet Thunderbird, there was a little garden that Mary was tending since Abby's funeral and so far, despite how small it is, it's almost like going into a fairyland mixed with Moors from Maleficent as well as the Secret Garden from the book and the movies of the same name. Not only does Mary have craft hands but also green thumbs.

Both walked into the small garden and placed the case on the phony tree stump-like chair that Mary put there is she wanted to sit and read for a while outside. "Right here. It's perfect for them to be here Omi. Now they can help me take care of my flowers." Omi smiled and kissed her head. "Is there anything on the note about how to take care of them?"

Omi looked at the note and smiled. "There's something. It says here, we open the side opening of the case so the fairies will fly all around the garden at night. The hatch will close be the next morning."

Mary jumped up and down. "Cool! I can't wait to do that tonight."

Omi chucked and rubbed her head as Mary walked into her garden. Omi looked at the note and though she didn't say, the handwriting on the note wasn't one she recognized. Not only that, but there was different symbols on the paper. An hourglass, a shamrock, a snowflake, a tooth, an egg, an orange leaf, a green butterfly, a heart, a candy cane, a holly leaf, a pair of dice, and gold sand in a swirl formation. 'So you're really watching over her Alexander.' She thought.

That night, Mary snuck down that night to the garden, walked up the fairy case and opened the side hatch like the note said. As she turned around, she heard giggling and whipped her head back to the case. Their fairies were still there but something was different about them. They were in different poses. She looked closely at one of them and one of them winked at her. Mary smiled knowing they were from the holiday cyprids and had magic. "Take care of my garden girls." She whispered. Then she walked back inside.

After she left, little magical dust of different colors left the statues and went out of the opening. Once in the air, the dust started to form into the fairies from the statues leaving the figurines behind. Rose was the first to speak. "Oh, it's so glad to be out and about from those boxes." Said Rosie.

Daisy said, "I'm so glad her grandmother didn't throw us away. I was not looking forward be in their trashcans."

Tulip said, "I'm just glad Mary found out we were magic and didn't make a scene about it. Thunderbird and Mothman are right. She has her grandfather's third eye alright."

Then one of the other fairies started to talk. The first was Calendula. "Well now that we can use these figurine bodies," She pointed to the statues with her thumb. "to get from Mother Nature's garden to here, we don't have to worry about being stiff as a board for 12 hours."

Sunflower then asked, "Do you think she'll tell her family about us?"

Bellflower said, "I hope not. It's not in the note but if Mary spill the beans about that, we have to go back where we came from and we can't tend her garden."

Witch-hazel said, "That's the sucky part for us. I hate secrets."

Magnolia said, "Not only that, her 12th Christmas is coming up and judging from what they told us, it's not going to be an easy year."

Chrysanthemums asked, "Is there a way we can do more than tend to her garden, like talk to her or something?"

Poppy said, "We can't. We can change the poses on our statue bodies but we can't talk to her."

Azalea said, "All we can do is be there for her and her family…if they let us. The only one besides Mary that believes in us is Omi and Max. But I can even tell they're slowly starting to stop."

Camellia said, "I have a feeling this Christmas is going to be one of the worst. Which means…" the other fairies were silent. "Well if we can only save one, I vote for Mary. Who's with me?" The others agreed.

Rosie said, "Now that is done, lets tend to her garden." All the fairies looked at the garden and the backyard itself. "We got a lot of work to do girls for this transition month before winter. And we have until this Christmas when we only do this is shifts and to see if anyone besides Mary is worthy of us. If not, then back to Mother Nature's garden we go. This whole thing is temporary anyway, whatever that means." And so the fairies got to work.