Another Original Fairytale by Vikki Anderson
Things hadn’t seemed right for some time, she thought as she sat on a wooden swing in their beautiful garden. “What is the matter?” she whispered in a controlled, yet totally confused voice. “I just don’t understand.” Tears filled her eyes as she continued to move back and forth through the air with no effort on her part. Her mind wandered.
It was only a few short months ago that everything was so happy. Her husband, Joe and she had saved money for such a long time to have enough for a down payment on their dream house. They now had it and this dream was slowly turning into a nightmare.
At first, Joe was a good husband. He would let Stacia do whatever she wanted. She also had a good paying job, so neither of them worried about finances or of renovating their new home.
Stacia decided that the yard needed more color – more flowers! She went to the local nursery and picked out Japanese maple trees, manicured pom pom evergreens, dogwoods, cherry trees and anything she could think of to make their happy home a “happier” place, if that was at all possible.
Joe and Stacia worked in their yard on weekends and after work until it was too dark to see. They got such pleasure from working with Mother Earth who rewarded them with a lovely thick green carpet of grass, free of weeds or damaging bugs. They planted a variety of perennial bulbs. Joe wanted to throw the bulbs in a bucket and just pick out whichever one came out in a random order. Stacia had just read a wonderful article on “Fairies, Feng Shui and Flowers” by Jackie Levin, a well known Feng Shui expert, and wanted to plant the flowers in the bagua for maximum well being and happiness. Their yard and home were truly a safe haven from all outsiders or intruders. Nothing could ever hurt them here, they always thought.
They were trying to have children. Stacia never had an easy time of it, but with prayer and a belief that all things happen for a reason, they were contented in the fact that if it was meant to happen, it would.
Joe was happy to find a bargain, but he was always a very generous man. He then found a shrub at the local nursery that he truly loved. It was summer so the price of shrubs was cut in half. That made him happier.
In the far corner of the yard was a wild spot, as they called it, for no matter how much care was given to that area, it would return to a mildly wild field or meadow like state. The wild flowers had not been planted but they displayed such lovely colors and variety that they didn’t have the heart to pull out one of them!
In the middle of it all, there seemed to be a small mound of dirt with a worn tiny path around it. It was so unusual, yet at the same time it was so beautiful, calming and mysterious. Joe wondered if an animal had made that mound its home.
He dug a large hole in the center of the mound until it was deep enough to house all the roots of his new shrub. He called Stacia to see his new addition to their yard – it was his added touch to their hard work in planting this masterpiece.
“It just doesn’t seem right there,” she said to herself, although she smiled at Joe and said, “It’s great. I love it!”
“It’s perfect,” he replied and walked towards the house. The conversation was apparently over. She followed him into the house and continued to prepare dinner.
Back in the yard, the lonely shrub was witness to several earth fairies shouting furiously at one another. Gnome One yelled, “How can he plant this tree in a gnome’s home without asking our permission? We didn’t even get the chance to move!”
“It’s a shrub,” the small one replied.
“Now we’ll have to homestead another part of this meadow!” Gnome One continued in an annoyed manner.
“The small gnome answered, “It’s a yard.”
“What?”
“This place is called a yard. It is their property. We are the ones who are in the wrong.”
Gnome One was so angry that he couldn’t even speak any more as he paced back and forth in the grass wearing another circular path with his elf-like shoes. “All the gold he has will not suit him any longer. He will become mean and greedy from this day forward.”
“Greedy is it?” said another Gnome who had just decided to join in on the conversation. “Okay then, let’s cast our spells and plant the seeds of greed in his mind.” Gnome Two did just that; he concentrated and said some unfamiliar words with some very strange gestures and at once, the spell had been cast.
That night was a restless one for Stacia. She kept hearing small voices mumbling but thought for sure that it was her imagination since Joe was fast asleep. She eventually got so tired of straining to hear clearly that she dozed off to sleep as well.
The next weeks after the shrub planting were very bizarre at best. Joe complained about everything. The house wasn’t clean enough — even though he had fired the cleaning lady a few weeks prior. The yard was a mess – he didn’t like the flowers anymore. Stacia was in tears for days at a time. He rarely saw her cry because he all at once became a workaholic as well. They didn’t see each other much anymore. It was like living with a roommate with no shared responsibilities or goals.
“We’re spending too much on this house. I think we should sell it and bank the profit. I don’t want to retire to be a pauper.”
“Retire? Joe you’re going to be 30 years old. This is our first house and we’re not selling it. What has gotten into you? Our yard is so beautiful; the yard we both loved — all these renovations and landscaping — we put our souls into this place. What is going on? What has changed?”
“With me? You’re the spendthrift. Buying plants and things for the house all of the time. You don’t think about the future. Whatever you want you just buy it. Well, I won’t be responsible for your whims. Whatever you buy is your responsibility.”
“Have I ever asked you to pay my bills?”
“I should’ve never let you talk me into buying this dump.”
“Talk you into our dream house? Please, Joe, don’t spoil this for us. I love this house. I thought you did too.”
“It’s just a hole we’re sinking money and our lives into and we can’t afford to live here any more!”
Fighting was the normal daily activity at the Stevens household. Name-calling started by his calling her extravagant and she would retort with his being cheap. It wasn’t going anywhere.
Stacia, being a very spiritual and enlightened soul, sought many kinds of help from the universe. She prayed for guidance, went to hypnotherapy sessions for relaxation and visited her astrologer and tarot reader for assurances that things would work out all right. Occasionally, her guidance and answers would make her feel a little better about the situation, but Joe would get her depressed with the reality of his pettiness and verbal abuse.
She was sitting on her swing in the garden by the new shrub. She was crying into the flower garden as Joe worked. He worked longer and longer and she was getting very lonely. “Please help me,” she said out loud, “I didn’t do anything wrong. Why am I being punished like this? I love Joe so much. Why is he treating me this way?”
Three very small, fourth dimensional beings heard her pleas of help. Gnome One took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
“I suppose it’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair?” asked the small gnome.
“It wasn’t her fault about the shrub. She seems to be the one who is suffering the most from the spell.”
Stacia continued, “Please dear God, I need your help. I don’t know what to do. Please help me.”
“It was really his doing. He didn’t even ask us if it were all right to plant this tree in the middle of our house.”
“Shrub.”
Gnome One and Two just sat on a small pebble and kicked the dirt beneath their feet. Smaller pebbles flew in several directions simultaneously. “I suppose the tree is a nice addition to the wood — and if you say shrub, you won’t get any supper tonight!”
Gnome Two replied, “It is lovely, isn’t it? It will bring more trees, uh, shrub fairies into our corner of the yard. Haven’t seen the pretty lass laugh for weeks now. It isn’t her fault, you know.”
All three gnomes looked at each other and decided to remove the cast from Joe because of Stacia’s loneliness and sadness.
Then a mysterious thing happened while the gnomes were removing their belongings from beneath the shrub. The lower tree branches were moving and all of a sudden a light went off in her brain. “Oh no. We’re disturbed a fairy mound. Dear sweet gnomes, I am so sorry for this outrage. We didn’t realize what we had done. Please forgive us. What was he thinking?
In a moment, Stacia had run back to the house with a shovel in his hands. “I will remove this bush from your home and I will promise to replant as many wild flowers as I can. I was planning to put a small pond where fish and frogs and hopefully all sorts of birds and wildlife will be attracted to this spot. May I move this tree?”
“No, my dear,” she heard in a clear voice. She was surprised at the response. She looked around until her eyes briefly focused on three little fairy lights hiding underneath the shrub’s branches.
“Your husband did not honor us or our home — but you do. We will stay with this tree and make it grow tall and straight,” he quickly glanced at the small gnome as if to threaten him not to correct his terminology for the shrub. “It is a good addition to our home. If you keep your word about the pond, fish and frogs, all the birds, squirrels and chipmunks will be a part of this sanctuary. I will even ask a few ducks to make their home here, if you would like that.”
“Did you make my husband Joe act in this bizarre way?
“I’m afraid we did,” said Gnome Two. “I made him feel greed since I thought he was greedy in acquiring our home without cause or regret and I also figured he would then spend no more money on greenery to plant.”
“Will he be all right now?”
“Certainly. I apologize for our actions. We didn’t consider you in this, my dear.”
“Thank you and I too apologize for the way we have disrespected you and your home.”
“Happy Birthday, my dear. May your life be one filled with much happiness and success.”
She took a deep breath and noticed Joe pulling into the driveway. Stacia looked at the gnomes for a minute.
“Go to him. All will be well.”
When she got into the house, Joe was filling up vases with water for the dozens of flowers he had bought her for her birthday.
“Joe?”
“I bought these for your birthday. I hope you like them.”
“They’re beautiful.”
“I am so sorry, Hon. I don’t know why I was nasty to you or telling you that I hated this house. I love it and I love you so much. The finances — there is nothing wrong with them. We are doing fine. Can you ever forgive me?”
“We all do, dear.”
“We?”
She smiled and shook her head. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I do have something else to tell you though.”
He looked concerned.
“No, its happy news…we’re having twins!”
He picked her up and swung her around and was so happy. They kissed and hugged and he took her out to the most expensive restaurant in town for her birthday for after all, she did give him a 30th birthday present a few months early.
The gnomes looked at each other and smiled approvingly. They returned to their home; later the small gnomes were hanging out their fourth dimensional laundry on the third dimensional tree branch….uh, shrub branch and thought that this will probably work out very nicely.
The other gnomes went back under the “shrub” into their fairy mound and rested until they were needed to care for the flowers and grasses again.
