.....Silently fluttering through the night, Linta flew with her sisters, Algia and Jams to their first assignment of the long night. The three fairies slipped into the eaves of the house, and down between the walls, through the cobwebs and dust, and then out through the electrical socket. Linta paused to dust herself off first before getting started, while her sisters went busily to work. In the bedroom, where they found themselves, there was a little boy of about 8 years of age, sleeping in his bed. Algia approached the little boys bed from the base board, slipping up behind the headboard and quickly hopping down to the pillow. The boy was sleeping on his back, mouth gaping slightly and snoring very softly. Algia stepped up to his chin, reached into her sack and brought out a blue pot with a black lid. She unscrewed the lid and dipped her hand into the pot, then spread the yellow salve onto a tooth. She quickly checked the boys other teeth, decided they weren't quite ready for her, put her salve away and fluttered over to the wall outlet and waited for her sisters to finish their assignments. Linta and Jams flew up from beneath the bed and crawled up under the bed-covers, where they separated, Jams towards the foot of the bed and Linta to the boys midsection. Linta positioned herself, straddling the belly button, took out her bucket and A FAIRY TALE sprinkled a generous amount of lint into the folds, packing it in with her tiny foot.
In the meantime Jams had reached the boys feet. She crawled from toe to toe, packing toe jams between each and every toe. Just then, a great rumbling, ripping sound rent the night. A horrible stench filled the air beneath the blankets of the bed. Jams and Linta exclaimed,"Phew!", and raced out of the bed. They flew quickly over to Algia, who was doubled over in laughter. "Oh, I don't believe it! Now that was perfect timing!", Algia laughed sarcastically. She then fell onto the carpeting, rolling around laughing histerically. Jams and Linta glared at their sister, then Linta was the first to start chuckling. Soon, all three were hugging each other (mainly holding each other up from collapsing with laughter.) Finally, they got themselves back under semi-control and flew on to their next assignment.
Early the next morning, Linta and the rest of the night shift tiredly dragged into the fairy strong hold. They watched as the next shift bounced out the door, buoyed up by the weekly pep rally. Linta shook her long blonde hair out of its braid and stepped into the shower, washing away the evenings filth. Algia, a petite redhead, was in the shower stall next to her. On the other side, standing tall and athletically built, Jams combed out her short black hair. She commented to the other two fairies, "You know, the entire western world must've eaten beans last night." "Yeah," Algia piped in, "you could run the Indy 500 on all of the gas goin' on last night!" They all laughed, recalling the previous nights' adventures. Linta sat quietly, putting her slippers on. She stood up and stretched, then walked to the office to write her daily log. She heard laughter from the office next door and glanced inside. This was the Tooth Fairys' office. On the next level was the Fairy Godmothers suite of offices and her assistants. Linta thought to herself that she was going to move up and out of Bodily Functions fairydom section and into the Good Deeds section. "No more lateral moves for me." Linta thought to herself. "It's up and on up to the Ultimate Goal of the Fairies." The Ultimate Goal of fairies is to finally reach the stardust and moon beam stage, where the lucky fairy becomes faerie stardust and moonbeams; laughing and dancing and bringing joy and delight, peace and harmony, love and laughter through stardust, moonbeams or for the lucky few, sunbeams. Sunbeams, lancing through the clouds onto childrens faces, warming and loving. This is what Linta dreamed of attaining someday.
Linta was readying herself for her yearly evaluation, going over her notes and rehearsing what she should say to anything negative that her boss, Enamella the Tooth Fairy, may come up with to deny her badly needed raise and or promotion. Linta brushed her gown of mint green silk, straightened her wings and walked down the hall and into Enamellas' office. She gave the secretary her name and waited while the old and cranky secretary checked her appointment book, then told Linta to "wait until I check if she's ready for you." She pressed a button on the phone and spoke for a moment, then hung up the phone and waved Linta into the next office,"Go ahead, her highness is waiting for you." Linta looked at her strangely then shook her head. She paused when she stepped inside because, surprisingly the Fairy Godmother was waiting inside with Enamella. The Fairy Godmother stood in front of the window, so Linta could not see her face or read any expressions that may give here a hint as to what was going on. Enamella waved her over to the desk and invited her to sit down.
Enamella shuffled some papers and cleared her throat, but before she could say anything the Fairy Godmother said, "Linta, I've been watching you and going over your records. Despite a few rough spots here and there, I am prepared to offer you a position as one of my lower assistants. What do you think? Will you accept the position?" Linta sat speechless for a moment, then said, "I would be deeply honored, my Lady."
TIME PASSES.....LINTA, NOW KNOWN AS GLINDELFERN, A WOOD FAIRY....
Perusing the latest email, "Downsizing again? At this rate I'll be back to Belly Button Lint in no time, and probably doing Toenail Jams and Insomnia all at the same time." "No wonder they have such good attendence at the Stress Management meetings. We're being stretched pretty thin now!" "Oh, I know," Flower Bud replied, "I'm supervising the bees, and flowers now. It used to be one fairy per department. This is too much for one fairy to handle!" Glindelfern nodded her agreement and looked at her friend Flower Bud. Now she was being stretched too thin, so thin that she was opaque. Her job of supervising the trees, mosses and ferns wasn't quite as stressful as Flower Buds'. Those bees could get pretty rowdy sometimes and a little stubborn. But Glindelfern noticed that her own personal colors weren't as bright as before. She was getting dull and hazey. "Let's go to the apple orchard tonight, and hunt up some of the guys. Dance and have fun, maybe with Apple Jack? Drink a little dandelion wine?", Glindelfern asked Flower Bud, coaxingly. Flower smiled and her colors brightened, "Ok! I haven't seen Apple Jack in a long, long time. Maybe Moss will be there.", she looked sidelong at Glindelfern and grinned slyly. Glindelfern blushed and looked down at her hands. "I heard he's named River now." She looked up at the stars and sighed.
ONE YEAR LATER.......GLINDELFERN, NOW KNOWN AS LAUREL.....
Laurel frowned down at the accounting program on her computer. "I just cannot get the hang of these things." Heather (formerly known as Flower Bud) replied, "Well, they make them pretty simple now, but I will do the accounting if you don't mind. After that fiasco a few months ago I do want you to take a few computer courses." Laurel had pushed the wrong button after trying to enter the office supplies into the program, and lost the whole thing. Luckily, Heather had everything on back-up discs. Ever since they had formed their own business, Good Fairies, Inc., they were discovering more things about themselves and each other. They had only been in business, officially, for 9 months. But business was booming. Every mother wanted a good fairy for her daughter. Inquiries were coming in all the time. Laurel handled the Public Relations end of the business and her husband, River (who had decided to keep his name) and his business partner, Heathers' husband Jack, handled the customer investigations. They all had to be very discreet with their customers. Good Fairies, Inc. had to be selective with their customers and their husbands business, Hunter Investigators, complimented that end very nicely. Heather handled the accounts and recruiting fairy employees. They were happy, satisfied and after a few months of struggle, were well rested. Laurel looked over at her friend and business partner, Heather, across their desks and smiled. She was happy. And their colors were very, very bright!
THE END