Enchanted

Tempest snuck out the back door of her house. She was going to follow her big sisters and find out where they always disappeared to every Friday afternoon.

She slipped down the rickety wooden staircase, the blue princess dress she was wearing softly trailed after her. She tried to stay in the shadows so Beatrice and Lily wouldn’t see her.

“Where are you going?” she had asked them earlier as they were preparing to leave.

“Nowhere that’s your business,” they had sneered back.

“Can’t I come? I promise I’ll be good,” Tempest said as she jumped up from her game of baby dolls.

Beatrice smiled at her with that patronizing older sister smile.

“Tempest, where we are going is a big girl secret,” she cooed.

“But I’m a big girl,” Tempest had protested, stomping her foot impatiently.

They gave her a sympathetic smile, but continued to put their shoes on and walk out the door without another word to her.

So she was forced to follow them. In her hurry to keep her sisters in sight, she forgot to put her shoes on, but she didn’t mind. She darted out the old gate that they had forgotten to shut on their way out of the back yard.

She had never been on the other side of that gate without one of her sisters or her mama or daddy. And without them holding her hand, she felt as little as an ant, but as free as one of the lighting bugs she had let go of just that morning.

Tempest looked around. To her left was a huge sea of wheat crops crashing together in the wind. To the right was the old creek her whole family swam in just the other day. In front of her was a dirt road that led to who knows where. Farther down that dusty road were Lily and Beatrice walking huddled together discussing something secretive.

Tempest ran towards the sea of wheat and pushed her way inside so that it would hide her if her sisters happened to look around.

She peeped her head out to see the direction they were headed just as the pesky wind started acting up. It blew wheat and dust all around her. Her princess dress flew up and hit her in the face.

Tempest heard the wheat begin to make that whooshing sound it always makes when the wind tries to blow it down. She always thought it was kind of like they were arguing with each other.

“Stop blowing!” the wheat whooshed. “I’ve got a lot of hungry people to feed this fall. I’ve got to stand strong!”

“No you don’t,” the wind blew back. “There is so much of you and I just want to blow down a little.”

No, let the wheat be, Tempest tried to yell at the wind, but he blew so hard that he forced her words back inside and threw dust in her eyes.

“Stinking wind,” she grumbled as the wind died down and she rubbed the dirt out of her eyes.

The wheat tickled her face softly as if to say thank you for saving her. Tempest suddenly remembered that she was supposed to be following her sisters.

She peeped her head out again; they were farther ahead than she had thought.

Hitching up the hem of her dusty royal gown, she took a deep breath and began to run. The wheat crashed by her as she tried to catch up.

She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. The wheat hit her in the face, but she didn’t even notice. She was set upon finding out where her sisters were headed.

The wheat started to thin, and Tempest began to slow down. She dropped to her belly in the green grass as the wheat completely disappeared.

The sun was set high in the sky. She was lying in a huge valley of tall grass. It was like she was a snake, slithering softly after her prey. Tempest began to slide on her belly making soft, ssss, noises.

As she peered around, looking for her prey, she noticed a large grove of trees off in the distance. Her prey seemed to be headed in that direction. Tempest began to slither faster. If she didn’t catch up to them, they’d disappear into the grove, and then she’d never find them.

The grove was coming closer and closer. Tempest stopped slithering, and slowly rose to all fours. She transformed into a cat. Not a lion or a tiger, but a fearless tomcat with pale brown fur, and speckles. Her fur would keep her hidden in the grove. She flew through the grass silently. Her long limbs stretching as far as possible again and again. Suddenly she stopped. Her cat ears had picked up voices. She was going to be discovered. She dropped to her side and curled up into a tiny ball. She hoped no one would pay attention to the ugly, ratty tomcat.

“Come on Lily, we are going to be late. We don’t have time to rest. The others will be angry if we aren’t there right on time,” a familiar voice urged. It was Beatrice.

A soft whooshing sound near Tempest signaled her sisters passing her. Tempest let out her breath. She had been running so fast she had accidentally outrun her prey!

She sat up, once again the little princess named Tempest. As she looked for her sisters, she noticed she was sitting right in front of the grove of trees. Her sisters were disappearing into the grove when she finally caught site of them.

Tempest stood up. Those trees looked awfully scary to her. She wondered what Beatrice and Lily could be doing in there? Tempest put her nose in the air defiantly, grabbed the hem of her dress, closed her eyes, and stumbled into the grove.

Slowly Tempest opened her eyes. She had to blink a couple of times before they finally grew accustomed to the dim lighting. Everything in the grove felt unfamiliar. The canopy of branches overhead blocked the warm summer sun. It felt cool in the grove, even cold. The air smelled like dewy flowers and mud. Tempest stood still, listening for any sounds of life. It was completely silent. There were no birds chattering, no rustling of hidden creatures, no pesky wind. Just silence. She must have stumbled into a different world when she had stumbled into the grove.

Slowly she stepped forward, careful not to step on any twigs, so she wouldn’t make a sound. She didn’t know what types of creature lived in this foreign land. Tempest went to all fours again, transforming back into the tomcat. He was faster than the little princess; he could outrun a terrifying, princess-eating monster.

As she stalked through the branches, she sniffed at the air, sniffing for any sign of Lily and Beatrice. She thought she smelled something. She breathed in deeply. She had caught the scent of Beatrice’s lilac perfume. The tomcat picked up speed, staying hidden behind the big trunks of the trees. Finally she caught sight of them. They were crawling through a small makeshift tunnel of branches a couple of feet away. They were whispering something to one another. Tempest tuned her cat ears and listened hard.

“OUCH! Beatrice you just hit me in the face with that branch,” Lily complained. Tempest stifled a giggle.

“Shush Lily, we are almost there. It looks like we are the last ones too,” Beatrice sighed.

They disappeared. Tempest strolled over to the tunnel and crawled through, stopping just at the other side’s entrance. Her cat eyes adjusted promptly to the darkness.

The tunnel led to a little opening among the trees. The trees formed a complete circle, but were only the walls. Their branches were the roof and let in just the right amount of sunlight to make the place magical. Flowers of every kind filled the ground. Lily, Beatrice, and about six other girls were sitting among the flowers in a circle. In the middle of that circle was one lone tree.

The tree was very sad looking; it almost looked as if it didn’t belong there. Its trunk was no thicker than a couple of broomsticks tied together. Its branches were too bare for a tree in the middle of summer, and it was only as tall as Beatrice when she stood up straight. Tempest felt like crying for that small, ugly tree.

The little girls around the tree began to pick flowers and tie them together into one long rope. Tempest licked her lips. She thought it looked like a candy necklace, every color you could think of and delicious.

When the rope got as long as twice the tree was tall, Beatrice stood up.

“In order to appease the Fairies, we have come to meet once again to restore life in this lifeless tree,” she announced in a faux English accent. “Everyone rise.”

As Tempest watched in the shadows of the tunnel, every girl slowly rose to their feet and grabbed a part of the flower rope. Beatrice held the beginning of the rope, and Lily held the end.

As if propelled by some unseen force, Beatrice began to walk around the tree and all the girls followed. They wrapped the tree with the beautiful flower rope, from the bottom of the trunk to the top of the branches, when finished they all sat back down, closed their eyes, and joined hands.

Before Tempest’s very eyes, the tree began to change. It grew taller and its trunk began to grow wider. Everything about it transformed. Its branches burst into bloom, with the most beautiful flowers--they were a pale, almost white, pink, with a center that looked like a diamond in the middle of a ring. The flower rope began to meld into the tree, so that it looked like some masterful artist had carved it there. The tree became breathtaking.

The little girls all stood up, with hands joined, and circled the tree three times. It was over.

Tempest didn’t know what to do. She was stunned. Could this have really happened? She shook her furry head and looked again. The tree was still there, just as exquisite.

“The Fairies are very happy. Our work is done for today. Next Friday we will meet the same time, same place. The Fairies will bring us something different to make beautiful next week. Head home now,” Beatrice commanded.

Tempest quickly scurried out of the tunnel and into the thicket before any of the girls could see her.

One by one they filed out, solemn, but with a look of joy in their eyes. They walked silently out of the grove and continued on their separate ways.

Tempest sat back on her haunches and transformed into the little princess again. She hesitantly began to make her way back into the tunnel, fearing that the tree would be gone.

As she crawled out of the tunnel, there was the tree in all its glory. She stood up and reverently approached the tree. Laying her little hands over the flower carving, she began to laugh. She was amazed that she could touch the magical tree. Slowly she circled the tree, like she saw the little girls do. Then she began to twirl and dance around it, as if she was a little ballerina in her music box. Faster and faster she twirled, until she became so dizzy she fell over into the fragrant bed of flowers, laughing all along.

She looked up into the roof of branches overhead, and became still and silent. Falling from the roof like light dust were millions and millions of little fairies to retrieve the beautiful tree.

Tempest was in complete awe! Her world was enchanted.