TP points his stick at the screen door. It opens wide. Accepting the universal sign for “Let’s Play,” the hound dog runs over the threshold, crosses the small porch, and jumps over the steps skipping them completely. Landing on the grass she takes off at full throttle. Veering to the right she runs across the gravel drive stopping under a tree in front of the house.
“Whoa...whoa…” the faerie calls hanging on to the ends of the hound’s ears. TP’s body is stretched out full length like a water skier who’s lost his skis. TP lets go when the hound comes to a sudden and abrupt halt. His furry guide lays down oblivious to her responsibilities.
TP studies her for a moment. He flutters down, picks up an ear and tugs. “Come on doggy, time to go.”
The dog ignores him. She closes her eyes, turns her face to the sun and opens her mouth, her tongue rolls out to rest across the edge of her open mouth.
TP flies around to her eye and knocks on her forehead. The eye opens. He points to himself. “TP great explorer. You, my lady, are my trusted guide.”
The bloodhound mix looks at the faerie. Her tongue reaches up, she wipes down the faerie with doggy slobbers in acknowledgment.
Retrieving a kerchief from his pocket the faerie wipes down his face. “Farms are messy.” He looks back into the eye. “Exploring is fun. Don’t you want to play?” He asks.
Something rustles in the bush behind them. The faerie hears a rush of paws on the ground and flies up across the grass, then along a porch, stopping at the opposite edge of it well out of the feline’s reach. He looks down at a white cat with black and brown spots. “No touchy touchy. Bad kitty.”
The cat studies the faerie. She sits down in front of him to patiently await her next opportunity. A second cat wanders into the yard. It stops to wash its back leg a few feet from the dog who rolls on to her stomach then takes off after it, chasing both cats away from TP and the house.
“Belle!”
TP hears someone calling.
“Belle.” A few seconds later the call is repeated. “Belle!”
The yard grows quiet.
The dog returns just as TP is settling himself on the header of the porch next to an abandoned nest to have a think. Faeries tend to act quickly, relying on instinct, thinking is unusual for them. Faeries must take great care when doing so.
The hound looks up at the faerie, she barks joyfully.
TP floats down and looks at his less than reliable guide. “Ready to go now?” He asks.
“Woof!”
TP looks at the dog’s smile, her lolling tongue and wagging tail. He hears an engine rumble, it grows louder then grows more quiet, three sets of hooves gallop nearby, a strange clackety clacking noise can be heard coming from further away. Somewhere in between is the sound of shots being fired. TP wonders if Tinkletoes followed Writer Lady out to the country and has gotten himself lost. The faerie closes his eyes and uses his energy to search for traces of Faerie hidden deep within the self-proclaimed mercenary’s bloodline but feels nothing.
The sound of the rumbling engine travels further away. The faerie hears a voice call out, “Wait. Wait. Stop!” Both TP and the dog look in the direction of the sound then look at each other.
“Belle? Belle!”
The yard falls silent.
“Where is that
dog when I need her? Belle come chase these cats out of the
orchard!”
“Belle.” TP says looking at the hound dog. “Is
that what they call you?”
“Woof.”
“It seems you are being paged good lady, called to the exact place TP wants to be.” The faerie takes a seat on the dog’s collar. Taking hold of the tips of her ears, TP calls, “To the orchard. Tallyho!”
“Woof!”
Belle takes off, turning right to circle back in the opposite direction. The dog runs straight into an empty field.
TP hangs on with both hands as his legs stretch out behind him. Belle’s shoulders rise and fall as the dog runs over the uneven ground bouncing the faerie up and down against her back.
“My…my...la-dy...slow...down.”
Belle keeps running. Eyes wide, tongue lolling. She smells something and slows down stopping to sniff the ground.
TP hangs on to one ear with both hands. He breathes a sigh of relief as he hangs over the ground watching the dog sniff.
Belle continues her trek moving at a slower pace, TP’s body bouncing against her, the dog increases speed when she catches a scent then stops to investigate the scent.
“TP said, ‘Orchard.’ This doesn’t look like an or-chard.” The faerie sings.
Belle runs into a stand of trees, startling a wild turkey. The bird takes off flying in a low crooked path as she barks after it.
“You did all that work to scare an ugly bird?” TP asks.
“Woof!”
“TP will send Belle an ogre to chase. Ogres are uglier but way more interesting.”
“Woof! Woof!”
Seeing an orchard was more of a challenge than the faerie anticipated. Using the ear as a safety rope, the faerie climbs the dog’s body and settles himself back on to her collar. Belle liked finding things, perhaps an orchard is too big. The faerie decided to simplify it. “Can you find Writer Lady?”
The dog did not answer, she just ran in the direction of the house with a winded faerie bouncing against her collar. Seeing Writer Lady’s car in the drive, TP let go, flying alongside the farm dog. Belle ran directly to Writer Lady without stopping who greets her, giving the dog a hug and a treat.
“Here she is. Good girl.”
Thunder rolls in the distance as the sky grows dark above.
“You’d better
get going. This storm is going to hit any minute.” Writer Lady's mother says.
Writer Lady nods.
TP flies into her bag as she unlocks the car.
TP is still dry when he and Writer Lady cross House’s threshold. Blowing rain has coated Writer Lady’s hair and clothes with water. She tiptoes through the kitchen only to be stopped in the living room.
Tinkletoes looks at Writer Lady as he pauses his game controller, “What’s going on? Is it rainin’ or something?”
“Why are you playing games in here? There’s a huge set up in Dobby’s room.”
“You weren’t here. We thought it would be fun to go old school.”
Writer Lady continues to her bedroom, tripping on a cord, she rights herself before she can fall. “How thoughtful of you.”
“Yep.”
Writer Lady enters the hallway off of the living room grumbling.
TP pops into the living room as she exits it.
Tinkletoes turns to TP, “So what’s out there? What did you see?”
“A house, trees, a yard. Animals. A dog named Belle.”
“Was there any funny stuff going on?”
TP looks at Tinkletoes and shakes his head.
“Were there any, you know, men?"
The faerie shakes his head.
Tinkletoes lowers his voice, "Monitor Man?"
Writer Lady’s voice calls from the other side of House. “Monitor Man is not here! Let that shit go!”
“How does she did she do that?”
“You have a really big mouth!”
“She just rolled her eyes didn’t she?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” House teases.
TP mutters, "Humans."
Dylan looks at TP, "Grown-ups are exhausting. Wanna play?"