Farrah in Fairyland (17 page)

“Miss
Fancycracker, you are making a mockery of our contest. I beg of you
to please take your seat so that we can announce our winner.”

“Here, here!”
hollered another fairy in the crowd.

Farrah became
red with rage. She remembered all of the rejection that she had
experienced over the years. She was sick and tired of being treated
like an inferior fairy and she was about to put a stop to all of
it. Although it was against her plan, at that moment, she clutched
the Star of Fantaseea. She was about to reveal it to the crowd when
the Queen got up to her feet and spoke.

“My King, what
would be the harm in allowing Miss Fancycracker to perform her act?
It isn’t dangerous, is it, my child?”

“Umh, not for
you, or anyone else in this crowd. I will be the sole fairy whose
life is in danger.” Farrah gave a little bow to the Queen as a sign
of respect.

“I will not
stand here and allow this to happen!” shouted the King and he
banged his cipher against the ground in protest.

“Oh hush up,
Cormie,” snapped the Queen, which made the King blush, as he always
did when called that name.

“Fine, but if
she dies, it’s on your head,” interjected the King, as he sat back
down on his throne with his arms crossed.

“You may
proceed, Miss Fancycracker,” said the Queen before she returned to
her seat beside the King.

“Thank you my
Queen.”

Farrah looked
out at the silent crowd. All eyes were staring at her as if she was
some sort of creature from another planet.

Farrah looked
like a raccoon in headlights. With her nerves getting the better of
her, it took her a while to get her act going. This caused a few of
the fairies in the Superiora section to grow restless.

“Get on with
it, little Ordinaria!” shouted a female fairy from the crowd.

A few
Superiora actually got up and left, uninterested in what Farrah was
about to do. Farrah had pictured this moment over and over.
Although confident, the realization that this was her one and only
shot to prove her worth was beginning to weigh on her.

As she
looked blankly at the audience, one face was a sense of comfort to
Farrah. It was that of Giuseppi. Although he stared straight ahead,
trying to hide from his mother that he was attempting to get
Farrah’s attention, eventually was successful. He mouthed the
words
I
believe in you,
to
Farrah. This gave Farrah the boost of confidence that she needed.
She mouthed the words
Thank You
to her friend before she leaned into the Speaking horn.
Farrah spoke confidently.

“Thank you,
fairies of Fairyland. I am sorry to keep you waiting. You see, the
act I am about to perform is the most challenging of all the acts
that you have seen tonight. The reason is simple. I will attempt
for you the primary skills of three different fairy disciplines.
The first is the mystical elegance of a Fairy Princess. The second,
will be the ingenuitive voyager that is a Tooth Fairy, and lastly,
the fearless courage of a Fairy Godmother.”

The sceptical
crowd grumbled as Farrah stepped away form the podium. Just as
Farrah was about to begin her act, the King stood up once
again.

“That’s a
pretty lofty act, Miss Fancycracker – you do realize that the only
fairy that would be able perform these skills would be a Tuttatti
Fairy?”

The crowd
began to stir once again. A few fairies in the Superiora section
laughed out loud, not attempting to disguise their doubt. Farrah
however, stood tall. She was bothered by neither the laughter nor
the King’s comment.

“Yes, my King,
I do realize that my act is of the loftiest proportions. But I
promise you that I am up to the challenge.”

“Okay then,
off you go,” the King responded with sceptical reluctance as he
took his seat once again.

Farrah walked
slowly, but calmly to the centre of the stage. The first skill that
she would perform was one that drew on the mystical elegance of a
Fairy Princess. With the gold Pixy dust rubbed between her fingers,
she stared up and flung it into the sky. The crowd waited, but
nothing happened. A few more fairies left the auditorium and more
began to heckle.

“You’re
wasting our time, little fairy!”

The
nervousness overwhelmed Farrah as beads of sweat poured down the
sides of her face. She felt helpless and somewhat crushed when she
heard another voice from the crowd.

“You can do
it, Farrah!”

Turning in the
direction of the voice, Farrah was surprised to see that it was
Giuseppi who had gotten up to his feet. Although his mother
attempted to pull him back down, he brushed her off. Giuseppi now
stood tall in support of his friend. Farrah shot her best friend a
thankful smile before she took out another pinch of Pixie dust.

Farrah flung
the dust into the air for a second time. This time, the sound of
trumpets was heard. At first, they sounded far off in the distance,
but in no time the entire crowd heard the elegant sounds of the
horns. They were playing the anthem of Fairyland to which the crowd
arose to honour their precious home.

Once the
trumpets stopped, about half the crowd cheered while the other half
seemed unimpressed. Farrah raised a finger to signal to the
audience that she was not done. With her neck still vertical, she
looked at the clouds overhead. There was one cloud in particular
that Farrah had focussed her attention on. It didn’t take long for
the crowd’s gaze to also fall upon the cloud.

At first, it
looked like a normal cloud. Like a puff of breath, the pillow
shaped mass drifted slowly. Unlike the other clouds however, that
drifted to the west, this one drifted inward. It continued to drift
closer and closer until it hung a mere 10 feet above the crowd. A
rumble of thunder signalled a prelude to rain. It was not rain that
pelted the crowd however. Tiny hail-like balls began to fall in
bunches from the cloud, forcing a few Superiora to pull out there
umbrellas once again. Others took cover underneath the cloudy
benches. Suddenly, a young Ordinaria shouted out.

“They’re
diamonds!”

Sure enough,
not rain, but tiny diamonds fell from the cloud. Realizing this,
many fairies dropped to their hands and knees and scooped up as
many of the diamonds as they could. When the rain of diamonds
finally stopped, many members of the crowd had stuffed their
pockets with the precious gems. A much louder roar of applause
followed this.

Farrah bowed,
but then raised her finger to indicate that she was not done. The
crowd looked once again to the cloud, but it had already split
apart. Slowly, as if the thread of the cloud had come undone, a
slit formed in the middle. Far up into the darkened sky, sparkling
clusters appeared. It was the night stars and they too were
moving.

After a
few seconds, it became clear that the stars were spelling out
something. When they stopped moving, the crowd erupted into another
thunderous cheer. The words
Fairyland Rocks
shone brightly in the sky.

It was as if a
deep pride had been ignited. A few of the young fairies, including
those in the Superiora section, began to jump up and down with
excitement. Even the Queen was impressed. She had aborted her usual
prim and proper way of clapping for a much heartier applause.

After an
appreciative bow to the crowd, Farrah sat cross-legged in the
middle of the stage. Her expression was business-like as she waited
for the crowd to quiet down. For the next part of the act, she
would display the skills of a voyaging Tooth Fairy.

Farrah pointed
to a young Forrest Fairy who sat in his chair smiling at
Farrah.

“Young fairy,
if you could go any place on earth right now, where would you
go?”

“Who me?”
responded the fairy as he pointed to himself and asked for
clarification, which prompted some laughter from the crowd.

“Yes, my dear
- you.”

The fairy took
several moments before he responded. When he finally did, his voice
sounded timid and shy. He stood up cautiously to respond.

“Well, I guess
I have always wanted to go to New York City.”

“New York City
eh, excellent choice.”

Farrah stood
up, and without warning, she jumped up and hard onto the floor. She
went right through the floor and disappeared before the eyes of the
audience. Not knowing what they had just witnessed, the crowd
started to stir. The King was about to get up from his throne when
Farrah returned with a smoking crack to the stage. However, it was
not Farrah that erupted up out of the floor. Instead, it was an
immense, steel object. As it stabbed through the floor, the
audience knew instantly what it was. It was the torch from the
Stature of Liberty.

The audience
roared as Farrah set the torch carefully at centre stage. She took
the opportunity to savour the moment before she called on another
volunteer. Practically every fairy child in the crowd, both
Superiora and Ordinaria alike, had raised their hand.

Farrah chose a
young fairy girl no more than four or five years old. She was
sitting in the Ordinaria section with her two brothers. When she
spoke, she had an unusually deep voice.

“I want you to
go to Italy.”

Without
hesitation, Farrah was off, but this time she grabbed the torch and
dragged it into the ground. She thought it prudent to return it
before a riot broke out in the streets of New York City.

Hovering over
Italy, Farrah could see Mount Vesuvius. The tourists below looked
like tiny beetles as Farrah flew over the coliseum. Although there
was a plethora of Italian relics that could be brought back to the
stadium, there was only one item that was dear to Farrah’s heart.
It was the statue, the David. This was the same David who defeated
the menacing giant, Goliath. Kind of fitting considering that at
times, Farrah often felt that she too had to face mountainous
obstacles.

Growing
up, Farrah’s father had always told her stories about the
magnificently detailed nude sculpture by Michelangelo. It is
considered to be one of the most incredible pieces of art in human
history - because of its fine detail. Farrah’s dad had always hoped
to visit
Palazzo Vecchio
in Florence Italy where The David is on display.

As the pale
statue rose up through the ground a number of fairies got up to
their feet to get a better look.

“What a
strange looking creature,” shouted a fairy from the Mezmo
section.

Farrah stood
beside the statute with many of the young fairy boys and girls
having jumped onto the stage to get a closer look. As the onlookers
hovered in a circle around Farrah and the statue, Farrah poked her
head around to get a look at her parents. No longer embarrassed,
Farrah could see that her father had tears of joy in his eyes. He
also had a large smile on his face and he couldn’t stop clapping.
Couraggio gave his daughter a wink. At that moment, Farrah felt
like a million bucks. Relishing the sounds from the spectators for
a little while longer, Farrah returned her focus back to her
act.

Farrah called
for the little girl to enter the stage, which she did willingly.
The girl took a moment to pat the statue on his behind, raising
some laugher from the crowd. Farrah asked the girl to sit by her
side on the stage and to pick the next volunteer. Not wasting any
time at all, the young fairy pointed to Giuseppi. His mouth had not
closed in awe at the sight of the statue. Surprised, Farrah looked
at the young fairy.

“How did
you…?”

“I thought you
should give your best friend a shot.”

Farrah patted
the young fairy on the back and thanked her. Giuseppi felt honoured
to have been chosen as he stood up. Instead of making a request,
Giuseppi responded sheepishly.

“Farrah, I
think you know the place on earth that I would choose.”

Farrah nodded,
but this time, Farrah didn’t disappear into the ground. She went
out into the crowd to where Giuseppi was standing. She grabbed his
hand, and guided him onto the stage. Together, they dragged The
David into the ground and out of sight.

Giuseppi
was taken aback as he helped Farrah set the David back at
the
Accademia di Belle Arti
in Florence. He used this moment to speak to his
friend.

“Farrah, how
are you able to do all of this?” He asked, with one eye on his
friend and another on Michelangelo’s unfinished sculpture of Saint
Matthew.

“I’m not
really sure, Giuseppi. All I know is that the Star of Fantaseea is
more powerful than I ever could have ever imagined. It seems to
know my thoughts and guides my actions. Basically, I think of
something, and it helps me accomplish it.”

“That’s
incredible, Farrah,” responded Giuseppi as he made his way over to
a statue created by Botticelli. He shook his head as the one
wondrous statue now lay in ruins on the ground, having been
vandalized.

“What a shame
to destroy something so remarkable. And for what? To fulfil the
taste of rage?”

“I know,
Giuseppi, it is absolutely horrible what humans are doing down
here, thankfully they decided to preserve the remaining artworks,”
added Farrah as she repositioned the statue back upon its
pedestal.

“We’ll have to
leave now if we are going to make it to Egypt.”

Farrah tapped
her foot on the ground as if to indicate that it was the spot where
they would teleport.

Standing
face-to-face, Farrah grabbed a hold of Giuseppi’s hands and
together they sunk through the marble floor of the vacant museum.
While in flight Farrah thought it would be a nice touch to have
Giuseppi pick the antiquity to bring back. Giuseppi, however, was
captivated by Farrah’s beauty. He leaned in closer, his eyes
focused on her flowing hair that swirled in the wind.