Fairies visit Rosa one night

“Fairies visited my bedroom last night,” said Rosa proudly as she stood next to Mrs Benjamin’s desk in her classroom listening happily to the sounds of astonishment from her classmates.

Mrs Benjamin sat at her desk and smiled knowing that what Rosa had just pronounced was in all probability another one of her fantasies. That didn’t mean Mrs Benjamin didn’t enjoy them, she was in fact in awe of Rosa’s ability to fantasize, and then more importantly put that fantasy into words. She thought it to be a rare talent. Mrs Benjamin was the last person to dissuade Rosa. In fact, she encouraged her to write her fantasies down and then read them to the class on Mondays when each student was asked to stand and tell the class what they did on the weekends. In most cases, none of the students could match the stories Rosa came up with.

Mrs Benjamin knew that later she would call Sybil and ask her the truth. But before then, she and the class, who thoroughly enjoyed Rosa’s stories, sat in silence waiting for her to begin. She smiled at Mrs Benjamin and Mrs Benjamin in turn asked Rosa to begin. Rosa cleared her throat, as she always did rather dramatically, took a deep breath and began.

“I went to bed at 8 o’clock as I always do and because it was a very warm night, my mummy and daddy when they came into my bedroom to say goodnight and listen to my prayer with God, they opened the window in my room. I could immediately hear the ocean waves, even though our newer and bigger nest is further away from the beach than it used to be. I could feel a beautiful breeze blowing in and I knew it was going to be a special night.” Here Rosa stopped and took a minute to look around the room to make sure none of her classmates had fallen asleep and were still listening to her story. They were. They always did. Rosa was a master storyteller. She continued.

“Once I had said my prayers asking God to take care of all my friends and family, my mummy and daddy gave me kisses goodnight and then left after turning out my light. I lay in bed with my barbie doll Brenda laying next to me on my pillow, and I closed my eyes. I lay there for a few minutes listening to the waves in the distance and also to my cat Melody meowing under the nest. She usually does that when she’s hungry. After a few minutes, I fell asleep. Then a little later, I don’t know how long, I heard someone call my name. At first I thought it was Melody and then I thought it was my parents, but the more I listened the more I realised it was different. I then opened my eyes and when I did, I saw that my room was filled with fairies.” The class gasped. Mrs Benjamin smiled wider and Rosa continued. “Yes, my whole room had little twinkling lights in it. The whole ceiling was covered with those lights and I just lay there looking at the wonderful scene. It was then I knew that my prayers of earlier had been answered, because I also asked God to visit me because I had something important to discuss with him. But I guess he was busy, so he sent the fairies.”

“Did they talk to you?” interrupted one of Rosa’s classmates who was immediately quietened by everyone else. They all were, including Mrs Benjamin, enthralled with the story.

“No, they did not talk to me,” answered Rosa a little annoyed at having been interrupted and then she began again. “I didn’t know what to do. So I jumped out of bed and went into my parents’ room and told them about that. My daddy got out of bed even though he was sleeping, but my mummy was reading a book, so he came with me into my room. But guess what? All the fairies had disappeared. I guess I shouldn’t have got my daddy. But anyway, that’s my story,” and with that, Rosa sat down after graciously accepting a round of applause, with questions like, “I hope they come back and talk to you this time,” and finally, Mrs Benjamin told everyone to sit back down and class began.

Later that afternoon, after school was over, Mrs Benjamin as she had done on several occasions, phoned Sybil and related to her Rosa’s story. Sybil was amused.

“She certainly has an incredibly creative mind,” offered Sybil, “but the truth unfortunately isn’t so dramatic. Yes, Rosa did come into our bedroom and George did go into hers to see if there really were fairies all over the ceiling as Rosa said, but there weren’t. Instead, he found two fireflies near an open window. I guess from two fireflies, Rosa managed to spin a story that she had been visited by hundreds of fairies.”

Mrs Benjamin laughed as she usually did when she was told the truth, but she never told Rosa that, and neither did her mother. They both agreed that Rosa had a very creative mind and that she should be encouraged to write more often, with Sybil believing that maybe one day when her young daughter had grown up, she would have become a famous author.

“I’ll do my best to encourage her,” replied Mrs Benjamin and Sybil agreed that the family would do the same. And with that they rang off until the next time, which they both believed would be the following week.

Later that night, when the nest was quiet and Rosa was asleep in her bed, Sybil related to George her conversation with Mrs Benjamin from earlier in the day. George smiled as he always did when someone said something nice about the members of his family but Rosa in particular, who though he never let on was his favourite.

He loved her carefree manner and her ability to turn things around so they suited her. “Yes,” he replied to Sybil as he closed his book by Zig Zieler on marketing, “yes, our little daughter has an incredible ability to spin stories from nothing, fireflies into fairies. That’s cute, goodnight.”