Arkansas Writer's Conference Honorable Mention
Adina flitted among the flowers as quickly
as her little fairy wings would carry her. Menacing dark clouds rumbled
overhead. “I hope I can make it to that cave before the rain starts. I hate
getting wet.” She waved her hand to initiate a magical boost to speed her to
the sanctuary. The wind picked up and the first fat drops fell just as she
reached the opening. Adina snapped her fingers and fairy lights danced around
the cave. She backed deeper in to avoid the rain blowing through the entrance.
“Hello.” A soft voice beckoned.
Adina snapped around to come face to face
with a strange little creature with long ears and twitching whiskers. It was a
dirty brown color and moved silently a few steps back. “Are you a dust bunny?”
Adina’s eyes widened in recognition of the rare magical creature. “I’ve never
met one of your kind before. What are you doing here? How did you even get
here?”
The bunny moved forward again. “Hello. My
name is Rupert. And yes, I am a dust bunny. I’m not really sure how I got here.
I was taking some sun in the window and it was quite windy. I
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was blown out into the
street and then into a basement through a grate. There was a man sitting at a
desk…and then I was here.”
“I’m Adina.” She reached out to touch the
creature. “Sorry.” Adina drew her hand back, embarrassed. “It’s just that I’ve
heard of dust bunnies, but just in stories.” She brushed her hands together,
then wiped them discreetly on her dress. “What are you?”
“Well Adina, dust bunnies are magical
creatures from the Common World. There was a time when we flourished there. We
lived under the beds of humans to keep the monsters away. Our numbers dwindled
and we began to disappear when people began cleaning under their beds
regularly. That, of course, allowed monsters into their world.”
“Stupid humans.” The fairy rolled her
eyes.
“I was fortunate that the humans in my
house stored things under the bed. I had a safe place behind a box marked ‘craft
supplies’ and a box marked ‘fat clothes’. They never vacuumed that far back.”
A violent crack of lightening followed
immediately by a boom of thunder caused them both to jump and move
instinctively farther into the cave. Adina noticed a passageway towards the
back. “Have you been back there? I wonder how far it goes.”
“I came from back there but it’s too dark
to see anything. I felt my way through the dark until I saw the light from the
opening. But I was afraid to go outside. I knew it was going to rain and as you
might imagine, water and dust bunnies are not a good combination.”
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Adina flicked a finger and the fairy
lights swirled and floated through the passageway, illuminating a path. “I
don’t like getting wet either. The storm isn’t letting up any time soon. Let’s see what’s back here.” Rupert hopped
soundlessly by her side.
Just a short distance down, the passage
opened to another cave. Adina’s lights swirled around the ceiling of the
smaller room. In the center sat a strange device, a curious metal box with five
toggle switches and a big red button in the center. “Did you see this when you
were back here?”
“As I said, it was completely dark. I can’t
make light. I think this is where I was earlier but I don’t recognize that
machine.” Rupert sniffed suspiciously at the box.
Adina flipped a couple of the switches.
Nothing happened. “What do you think it does?”
Rupert eyed her nervously. “I don’t know,
but maybe don’t go flipping switches on a machine you know nothing about.”
“I don’t think it does anything.” Adina
flipped another toggle and pushed the red button.
Suddenly, they were standing behind a
snowbank. The air was biting cold. They heard loud pops followed by explosions.
Adina blinked at the brightness of the sun gleaming on the snow. She fluttered
up to the top of the snowbank to see a mighty battle. There were armored
vehicles and huge mechanical beasts lumbering across a frozen plain. Fantastic
contraptions flew through the air shooting fire. When one crashed nearby, the
impact sent a wave of snow in their direction. Adina dropped behind the snowbank.
Rupert hopped behind Adina just in time. A
splash of wet slushy snow smacked her in the face, running down her front and
landing with a sploosh, right on top of her shoes. She turned to
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glare at the mostly dry
dust bunny. Rupert took one timid step back to avoid the slush dripping off her
pointed nose. Adina pushed her sodden hair behind a pointed ear. “I think we
should leave now.” The bunny just blinked. “Push the button again!” She yelled.
Rupert scurried to the machine,
dramatically slamming a paw on the red button. He and Adina both braced in
anticipation of returning to the cave. Nothing happened. Rupert’s eyes widened.
He pushed again and again to no avail. “Nothing’s happening. And I don’t know
if you’ve noticed but the sounds of the battle are getting closer.”
Adina winced as another explosion shook
the ground. “You must not be doing it right.” She fumed. “I’m wet and cold and
I want out of here! I hate getting wet!” Adina flipped two of the toggles
before trying the red button again.
A hot dry wind blew sand in her face. Adina
squeezed water out of her dress, turning her back to the wind. Looking around
she realized that there was nothing but sand in every direction.
“Help!” Rupert cried out. He gripped the
machine as the desert wind threatened to tear him apart or carry him away. “I
can’t hold on much longer.”
“I’m coming.” The wind battered Adina’s
wings, rendering them useless. She ran toward the machine.
Rupert struggled to maintain his hold. The
wind buffeted him. His little paws slipped, and scrambling for a grip, he
flipped a toggle switch just as the wind snatched him away. Adina missed
Rupert’s outstretched paw but hit the red button on the machine.
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Her bottom bounced off the spongy ground.
Rupert landed in a poof of dust nearby. Adina looked up to see colorful birds
flitting from branch to branch in tall pink trees. “That’s new.” She blinked.
“Or maybe I hit my head.”
“Nope. They’re pink. The grass is pink and
the sky is soft orange, like a cantaloupe.” Rupert stood on his hind legs,
swiveling his head back and forth. “So many colors!” He hopped excitedly in a
circle. “Trees with pink leaves and trees with leaves of aquamarine! Some of
the trunks are bright green and some a deep purple. I’ve never imagined flowers
with bright blue stems and petals of lavender.” The grubby brown bunny sighed
deeply. “I’m a reflection of my environment. I spend most of my time in the
dimly lit dinginess under the bed. This must be heaven!” He bounced on his hind
legs kicking into the air, landing with a thump. He hopped once and bounded
away, scampering around the trees and sniffing the flowers.
“Crazy rabbit.” Adina scowled. She sat
still but the ground moved beneath her. “This place is weird. But you are
right. It’s colorful. I know a few fairies who’d love it.” She rocked to and
fro with the rolling ground. “It feels like I’m on a boat…made of carpet, with
freaky pink grass on it.” Adina scanned the area. “Hey Rupert. Are you
listening?”
The dust bunny popped out of a pink bush
with blue and purple flowers. “I heard you. I noticed. The ground is bouncy.”
He hopped toward the fairy. “Why are you smiling? You think this place is
weird.”
“It got a little better. I think it’s just
weird enough.” Adina’s smile broadened. “Dust bunnies are a reflection of their
environment, huh?” She raised her eyebrows at him.
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“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Rupert glanced down at his feet. They were pink. He looked over his shoulder
and saw bits of color from the flowers he’d run through. His cotton tail was
bright blue. Pulling down a long ear he saw smudges of purple and green. He
laughed, and laughed, and laughed, rolling in the pink grass. Adina couldn’t
help but giggle at the colorful bunny.
While he frolicked, Adina inspected the
machine. “This contraption works a bit like a portal; except we don’t walk
through. It sends us instantaneously. It seems that the toggles determine
location and as we have experienced, the red button sends us there.”
She found walking on the spongey landscape
difficult and decided to fly as her friend hopped from flower to flower. The
panorama below her was a spectacle of color. “You have to see this,” she called
to Rupert. Adina fluttered down to her new friend. He appeared to be roughly
half her size. “I think I can carry you.” When she took him in her arms she was
amazed at how little he weighed. “You’re light as a feather.”
“Dust bunnies don’t typically weigh much.”
Rupert gripped around her neck. She flew high into the trees. “It’s beautiful,
Adina. Thank you.”
Adina smiled. “It is amazing. I would love
to see more of this place.”
“What are those?” Rupert pointed to large
bubble-like fruit hanging in some of the trees.
“You stay here and I’ll see if I can pick
one.” Adina deposited him on a high branch. She flitted to the bubble-tree. She
reached for one but her wing tip made contact with a large bubble above her.
There was a gentle pop and Adina was drenched with water. The volume of fluid
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drove her downward. She
twitched water from her wings and caught enough air to flutter drunkenly to the
not-so-solid ground. Once again her dress was sodden and her hair soaked. “I’ve
seen enough of this place,” Adina declared. “I’m wet! Again! It’s time to go
home.”
“Oh can’t we stay a little longer?” Rupert
pleaded, bouncing on a branch high above her. He lost his footing as he hopped
along the limb and before Adina could react, came crashing to the ground in a
puff of colorful dust.
Adina fluttered to her flattened friend.
“Rupert!”
“Ouch.” Rupert shook himself back to his
regular shape. “I’m okay.”
“What? That fall should have broken every
bone in your body. How are you okay? Adina shook her head.
Rupert smiled. “Thanks for your concern
but dust bunnies don’t have bones. We are held together by magic. I’m literally
a ball of magic…and dust and stuff.”
Adina flipped a toggle on the curious box.
Rupert threw up a paw to stop her but she’d already pushed the red button.
Rupert fell across Adina’s lap. She sat on
the green grass in the shade of an oak tree. “This is the common world,”
Rupert’s nose twitched. “I guess I’m home.” He sighed. Adina fluttered her
wings but he made no effort to move from her lap.
“What is this place?” She asked, noting the
activity in the area.
“This is a park. Human children come here
to play.” Rupert nodded to the rampaging youngsters on the playground. While
they watched, a little girl approached.
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“Mama. Somebody left a fairy doll.” The
child squealed. “And the fairy’s got a bunny.” The girl’s keeper waved from a
bench nearby. “Your wings are pretty.” She reached for Adina.
“Thank you, but please keep your hands to
yourself.” Adina admonished the child.
“It
talks. It talks.” The girl bellowed. She grabbed the fairy and began squeezing
her. “Again, again. Say something else.” She pinched Adina’s foot and poked at
her belly.
“She thinks you’re a toy.” Rupert
whispered.
“Unhand me, brute!” Adina flicked her hand
and a few tiny sparks erupted. The surprised child loosened her grip so that
Adina could wrench free and flutter up into the safety of the tree.
Unfortunately, Rupert remained firmly in her grasp.
“Mama, mama. She flew up in the tree.” The
little girl yelled to the adult.
“Carol, if you’ve thrown another toy into
a tree, I’m not going to the trouble of getting a ladder and fishing it out for
you.” The woman yelled back, exasperated.
“I didn’t. She flew up there herself.” The
child dropped Rupert unceremoniously on the grass. She began jumping up and
down. “Get it! I want it!”
The adult human saw that the small one was
winding up for a full scale meltdown. “It’s time for us to go.” She began
gathering their belongings.
“I want that doll. She talks.” The tears
began, followed by shrieking sobs. “I want it!”
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While the little angel screamed and pulled
her own hair, Adina dropped down to where Rupert lay crumpled on the grass next
to the machine. “Now if I put these switches back the way they were the very
first time…” She flipped the toggles into place.
Adina paused. “Rupert, you do want to come
with me, right?”
The bunny brightened. “Oh, yes please!”
The red faced girl turned just in time to
see the fairy stick out her tongue and push the red button.
Adina gestured in the darkness and fairy
lights twinkled above them, illuminating the small cave. Rupert followed her up
the path to the opening. Bright sunlight poured through the entrance. “The
storm is over. I can fly you to the village.” Adina and Rupert stepped into the
sunlight.
“I think that apparatus is better left
alone.” The fairy raised her hands with a flourish. Rocks above the cave
tumbled over the entrance. “That should keep out any prying eyes.” She dusted
off her hands. “Have you given any thought to where you’d like to live?” Adina
questioned the bunny as they fluttered over the meadow. “If you really want to
live under the bed, I know a human and I’m certain he never cleans.”
