Olive - The Chosen One (3 page)

CHAPTER 5

ACCEPTANCE

Olive was still being led around the dance floor by Figgy when she saw her father storm outside puffing on what looked like a cigarette!  Her father was an anti-smoker, he always had been and he would never change. 

       ‘What on earth was going on?’ she thought.

    Olive excused herself from Figgy and followed her father outside.

    ‘‘
Papi
what is wrong?’’ she said.

    ‘‘It’s Luna, all I have done for him and he decides to be gay!!!  What is the matter with him?  He fancies that boy fairy Dandy.  I can see it!  He is making a laughing stock of us all.  What will the olive field fairies say?  What will the fairy priest say?  And worst of all what will the Sky fairies say?  I have already enrolled him to start training as a doctor!  All he talks about is becoming an actor and now the last straw is this fairy boy!!!’’

    Olive swallowed hard and said ‘‘
papi
, you have to understand, we are all born a certain way.  I was born to be the chosen one, Willow the earth fairy and Luna is the moon fairy but he also was born to be gay!  His body does not match his soul
papi. 
God works in mysterious ways
papi
but, he loves us all.  We are all put on this earth to accept the challenges that come our way.  Luna has always been this way.  Surely you noticed
papi
? Surely?’’ 

  Cielo swallowed, hung his head down and said ‘‘yes, I did notice but, I thought I could change him.  I want to but, I am unable to accept this.  My boy should be a proper man.’’ 

  With this he stormed back into the party.

  Olive felt hot tears trickle down her face.

  ‘This is my day’ she thought.

  She knew in her heart that she would have to use her first wish as her family was very important to her and she did not want Luna to be an outcast and it was certainly looking that way.  She made her way into the woods and lit some candles away from everyone.  Oak stood nearby watching all hidden from view.  He saw that Olive was visibly upset.  He wanted to go and comfort her but, he just couldn’t!  He was afraid that she may reject him.  He felt that he couldn’t take a rejection from her as she was already in his heart and she always seemed so keen on Figgy.

1
st
Wish - The wish of Acceptance

Olive collected some olives that had fallen from the trees and laid them out in a circle. 

    She quietly said ‘‘calling Priscilla, calling Priscilla.  I am ready for my first wish to be granted.’’

      Within a flash of a fairy wing, Priscilla was there hovering above her head.  She looked splendid tonight, all dressed in shimmery gold.

      ‘‘Yes, my dear, are you ready for your first wish?’’

      Olive explained to Pricilla about Luna.  She said that she wanted her father to accept Luna for who he was.  Luna was one of the nicest, kindest people on earth.  Why shouldn’t he be who he was born to be?

    Priscilla said ‘‘your first wish is granted my dear, you have used it wisely as the wish of acceptance is a very special one and should be accepted by all.’’

    She waved her magic wand.  Yellow fairy dust blew to the ground and on the wings of a prayer she was gone.

    Olive made her way back into the party whilst Oak still looked on.  Love glowed from his eyes.  This fairy is not only beautiful but, she is also very wise.

    When she entered the fairy dance-hall, she couldn’t believe her eyes, everyone was up doing the Hokey Cokey!  Her father’s arms were linked with Luna and Dandy and her mother was making a spectacle of herself in the middle.  Willow was still with Birch and Acorn.  Willow smiled as Olive walked in.  She felt a huge fairy blush wash right through her body.

  ‘I am so lucky to have such an amazing family’ she thought to herself.

    The next morning Olive woke up all starry eyed and started to recall the events of the night before. 

  ‘Is it all true?’ she thought ‘or was I just dreaming?’ She met Luna as she slid down the banister of the stairs from her bedroom to the bottom of the tree.  There was a big smile across his face.

‘‘
Papi
said he will support me through acting school and that Dandy can come and visit whenever he wants.  He thinks of him as a son now!’’

    ‘
Mio Dio-
OMG!’ thought Olive ‘I just love these wishes!!!  Life is perfect!’

CHAPTER 6

THE SIT-IN - SAVE THE OLIVE TREES

It was only two weeks away until the olive tree sit-in.  Willow was all fired up!  She had been worrying about how she was going to sleep on the tree trunks once she was chained to them. 

    ‘What about cleaning her teeth, eating and not to mention going to the toilet?’ she thought. 

    But, hey I guess if you believe in a cause and want to fight for it, then you have to go all the way.  Olive loved her sister, she loved her heritage of the olive trees but, there was no way she was joining the sit-in.  She would sign the petition and support Willow all she could but, that was as far as she was prepared to go. 

    ‘However’ she thought to herself ‘I will offer to be Willow’s slave so as to speak!  Take her food, take her a bucket for washing and another bucket for the necessities of life, even sing to her to keep her spirits up if things got her down.’

    Fairies flew in from all over Italy when the time for the sit-in came.  Birch was there to offer Willow his full support, she was so glad because at least she would have someone to talk to when she was up in that tree.  Summer and Rainbow turned up with a few of their hippie friends saying ‘‘peace to the trees, save the olives for our pizzas!’’

    ‘There’s a thought’ thought Willow ‘after all what is a pizza without olives?’

    They all set up camp.  The hippies made a camp-fire and set up their tents.  They had these long pipe things which they were smoking from.  Johnnie seemed particularly keen on these.  Sunshine brought her tarot cards along with a crystal ball, she turned up wearing a pink sparkly head-dress with beading which kept dangling in her face.  She told everyone to call her Madame Sunshine and kept saying ‘‘peace to the trees.’’

  Even the birds stopped tweeting, they were so over-whelmed by the sudden hippy invasion.

    Willow settled herself into her chosen tree trunk with Birch on the trunk below.   They both thought it was a good idea to sleep in the chains so if they fell in the night, the chains would stop them from crashing to the ground.  Apparently the bull-dozers were due the very next morning.

    ‘‘Bet they won’t expect us to be here!’’ she giggled to herself.

    Sunshine said ‘‘who’s first for a reading from Madame Sunshine?’’

    Birch said ‘‘I will if someone can reach me!’’ Sunshine sent Olive with the tarot cards for him to shuffle.

    ‘‘Best if you fly Olive, fairies are not always the best climbers!’’

‘‘Ok’’ said Sunshine ‘‘now Birch shuffle the cards and give me ten in the order you take them.’’

  ‘Fine’ thought Birch not believing a word of any of it but, it will pass the time on this freezing night.  ‘Why can’t they do the bulldozing in the summer?’ he thought to himself.

    Olive returned with the cards and gave them to Madame Sunshine who carefully laid them out on the silk scarf she kept them in. 

  ‘‘Mmmmmm’’ she kept saying to herself ‘‘now let me see!’’ 

  ‘‘I see you have a strong heart’’ she said to Birch ‘‘strong for life and strong for love but, the cards say you keep your thoughts closed in, you are afraid of speaking out in case you get hurt. You have a great life ahead of you, full of laughter and love.  I can see two baby fairies in your future.  You will live in the fairy olive field that glistens with song and magic.’’

  ‘Jesus Christ’ thought Birch ‘I am not ready for fairy kids but, as for love now, that’s another story!’

    Willow smiled to herself as she saw Birch wince at the thought of fairy babies……

   ‘‘Ok’’ said Rainbow ‘‘I want a reading, it’s my turn.’’

   ‘‘Ok, come to Madame Sunshine’’ she said patting the blanket next to her so that Rainbow could sit down. 

  ‘‘Well the first thing I can tell you is that you have a
mamma
that really loves you.’’ 

  Rainbow smiled ‘‘yes mum but, what’s in the cards? What will I be?  Will I be rich?  Will I travel?’’

  Madame Sunshine said ‘‘you will be whoever you want to be and you will travel far and wide but, the richness will come from within……..’’

  ‘What does that mean?’ thought Rainbow ‘I want the euros!!!!!’

    Olive hugged Rainbow thinking ‘she is so very funny, I think that must be why she is my best friend.  I couldn’t be without Rainbow, she brings colour into everyone’s life all the time.’

    Then the singing started.

    ‘‘Ok, let’s practice for the morning.’’

    ‘‘We will not, we will not be moved’’ they sang at the top of their voices.

  No-one is tearing our olive trees down!  We want them preserved, they are our heritage.

  They moved onto singing ‘There’s a long road ahead’ ‘We will survive’ and ‘Ging-gang gooley.’

  Johnnie had brought along his Mandolin which was quite awesome and other fairy hippies were playing their bongos and harmonicas in the distance.  Night-time soon fell.  Before long it was 6.00am and the fairies could hear bull-dozers approaching in the distance. 

  ‘‘Quick everybody, wake up, the murderers are approaching!’’

    The gypsy fairies stood up first, all bronzed with bulging muscles and looking like they were ready for trouble.

  ‘‘You looking for trouble, you’ve come to the right place’’ they sang. 

  Another Elvis fan by the look of it, honestly they are everywhere!

    The fairy foreman came over holding a notice from the local fairy council in his hands which gave them the right to uproot the olive trees.  One of the gypsy fairies moved forward, snatched it out of his hand and tore it into small pieces.

  ‘‘That’s what we think to your piece of paper’’ he said ‘‘get off this land now, no olive tree will ever be uprooted from this land whilst we live and breathe.’’

  ‘That can be arranged!’ thought the foreman.

  ‘‘The bull-dozers are coming in and unless you want to be crushed and uprooted yourselves.  I suggest you move.’’

    All the fairies burst into chorus ‘‘we will not, we will not be moved.’’ 

  The hippie fairies held up their banners and began chanting ‘‘save the trees!  Peace and love to all!  Save the olives! Save the pizzas!  Save the olive oil!’’

  The bull-dozers started to move.  Willow started to quiver.  She didn’t want to die like this before her and Birch had a chance to talk, kiss and love each other.  Birch clung onto her hand ‘‘at least if we die, we will be together!’’ he hollered.

  Willow thought ‘that is just about the most romantic thing a fairy had ever said to her, well almost!’ 

  At that moment, Willow freed her chains.

  ‘‘I can’t go on’’ she exclaimed ‘‘I need to go to the toilet, I have a weak bladder!’’

  Birch was sort of pleased because it meant he could free himself and he didn’t fancy any nasty surprises coming from up above.

    Olive decided it was time to step forward and handed the foreman a petition signed with over 5000 fairy names on it asking the government to save the trees and to put a protection order on them.  The foreman was in no mood to please. 

  He snatched it out of Olive’s hand and said ‘‘I will be back!’’

    Olive felt disturbed, she knew these people in the council, they were not the most honest fairies!!  She knew she had to step in and use another of her wishes.

2
nd
Wish - The Protection order for Olive Trees all over Italy

    ‘‘Calling Priscilla, calling Priscilla’’ she shouted thinking ‘I have been here before.’

    Within a flap of a fairy wing, Priscilla appeared.

    ‘‘Yes, my fairy child’’ she said ‘‘are you ready to make your second wish?’’ 

    This time Olive laid some twigs around her and knelt down.

  She said to Priscilla ‘‘please grant me the preservation wish for our national treasure the olive trees.  I don’t want any more olive trees to ever be destroyed again.’’

  The fairy God-mother waved her magic wand, purple fairy dust landed all over the olive trees and Olive knew that they were safe forever.

    A big cheer went up in the olive field.  She knew her mother and father would be really proud of her as she had used two wishes and had used them both wisely.