Globusz^® Publishing 

ot for the first time that summer, Sarah wondered how long their holidays would last.When they left the city her father had presented her with a calendar and suggested she keeps count of the days they would be apart by marking them with a big black “X”.However she was ashamed to admit she had forgotten after only the third evening, and had now lost track of the week she was in.She did know they were in June, and that July and August still followed.So, Sarah thought, it was still a long time. It’s not that Sarah minded being in the countryside with her mom, Aunt Maude and her brother William.The house was too big with some shadowy corners, it was true, and the mahogany door was too heavy and Sarah did not like going through it.Still, she liked her room.She liked to hear birds in the morning, the rain at her window at night, and she especially liked the garden at the back.In fact, even now she stares at a ladybug that climbs up a fern, and thinks about whether or not she should try to touch it. Sarah knew she should feel lucky, but she was actually quite bored.At least in the city she had some friends.And at school she had something to do. Yesterday she had tried to play with her brother and their cousins (both boys), but they put mud on her dress.Anyway the boys were so loud and had pulled the purple ribbon out of her hair, and besides that, they smelled.So today, she kept to herself in the garden.

The ladybug was almost to the top of the fern stem now.Would it fly away?Sarah crouched down closer to the fern and watched.

Suddenly the air felt heavier and quietness grew, though she could still hear a bird chirping away but it sounded far off now.It felt like she was sinking into a very soft pillow.She felt safe, but curious too, so she did not close her eyes and did not go to sleep, but kept watching the ferns.

The ladybug had reached the top of the stem, and it appeared to nod to something behind it before it spread its wings and flew away. What Sarah then saw was a sight she did not forget, not even when she was old and couldn’t even see the words of the books she loved to read.Even when she was old, this image was clear in her mind, as if she had the eyes of a young child again.Sarah blinked and then rubbed her eyes, but the image before her remained. She saw a small man, smaller than her hands.And he was staring at her.

Sarah was a little frightened, though he was so small.He had the most delicate wings, she could see now, and his white robe shimmered softly in the light.“What are you?” Sarah asked in a hushed voice.The little man tilted his head to the side and appeared to be trying to hear her.“What are you?”Sarah said more loudly.The man came closer, walking along the grass though he had wings.She noticed his eyes, though small, were brilliant green, like emeralds.“Who are you?” She said aloud, with forced confidence, and then she giggled.The man stopped, and looked at Sarah’s face for a moment, then climbed on top of her shoe.

Suddenly Sarah clapped her hands and forgot any fear.“I know what you are!You’re a fairy!Because of the wings, that’s how I know. Can you speak?” Sarah asked, and lowered her hand.The fairy put one foot into her cupped palm and then pulled himself up into her hand by wrapping his tiny arms around her thumb.She felt the tiniest weight in her palm once he stood there.She slowly, slowly raised him to eye level, and it must be said that upon seeing such a large eye and massive mouth, he took a step back.But he was not scared, not really, because fairies have good intuition about people, and that’s why only very few people see them now, only the kindest people who understand about being small.Mostly children see them, and unfortunately, it must be said, lose the ability as they grow and the world turns their hearts harder, and they become big and powerful and forget all about being gentle.But Sarah was not one of these people, and never lost the art of seeing fairies. Shonim had never encountered a human before and therefore did not know their language or their ways.It didn’t occur to him that Sarah might not see him, and he was not afraid of her. In fact he was slightly fascinated by the blue as the sea of her eye. He had a strong desire to swing on the long vines of her hair, golden in the sun.He wondered if she would let him. The air felt heavy, like thick golden syrup poured over everything.

Sarah wondered if time had stopped, and asked the fairy. But he didn’t answer.

“Will I have to go in to dinner and then to bed?I don’t want to.I would rather stay here with you.”

The fairy, it seemed to Sarah, understood, because he nodded.Then he smiled and sat comfortably in her hand using her fingers as a backrest.It was then that she noticed he had a wand.

“Can you do magic?Let’s see!”

He saw her staring at the wand, so gave it a wave, and a stream of golden stars shot out the end in an arc like a rainbow.This left a mark on the inside of her wrist, a small golden star, though Sarah did not see it.This was the mark she would see the next day, at breakfast, and she would decide to keep it hidden like a secret so she wouldn’t be laughed at by the grown-ups.It was her first secret.

The fairy lounging in her hand, after the impressive display of sparks, looked over Sarah’s shoulder and quite suddenly and nimbly leapt off her hand and fluttered into the leaves.She could no longer see him and she cried: “Oh no!” just as her mother came to her.

“I have been calling and calling you, it’s time for dinner!” her mother said and then clucked her tongue as she noticed some mud on the hem of Sarah’s dress. “Oh Sarah, do try to be more careful.It’s not that I’m cross, you know.I remember what it was like to be little.But when you wear your best dress, you must remember not to kneel down in the grass and mud.”

But Sarah did not listen to her, and she could hear that the birds chirped much louder now, and everything was light again.She turned to her mother and said “Mother!I think I saw a fairy!” and the line from her mother’s forehead disappeared as she paused in surprise, and then laughed.Sarah giggled too, because her mother was light and golden when she laughed, which was not often.Then she took Sarah’s hand and they ran together up the vast lawn and through the big mahogany door.

Sarah had thought her mother was laughing in joy at the magic discovery of the fairy.But in fact she hadn’t believed Sarah, she didn’t believe her at all.Sarah did her best not to cry during dinner while her mother and brother teased her about the fairy, even though Aunt Maude shushed them and told them not to.But later that night she did cry softly on her pillow.Her mother came in and smoothed back her hair, kissed her forehead and lay with her, which made her feel better.Sarah began to wonder if she really had seen the little fairy.She cried even harder when she thought her little friend might not be real, and that she might never see him again.Finally, though her pillow was now damp, she fell asleep.

That night Sarah dreamed she was running with her mother in the golden evening light, and then about the fairy, and then about a great ring of fairies who were in fact holding council that night, a great ring of fairies all sitting on mushroom tops, and fireflies lighting the air around them like great flashing lanterns.But she did not remember the dreams– she did not remember at all, but slept quite soundly and peacefully and in the morning woke up smiling with the faintest melody still drifting in her ears.