Page 8 of Beau
Just as she was stepping out the door, she could hear the hum of wings.She didn’t know what sort of mess she was going to be coming back to, but at this point, she didn’t care.There were things that needed to be done, and she was sick of doing them.Thinking that she should have allowed them to do this at the very beginning, Danielle smiled when she thought of the look on Beau’s face when he returned home to find things different than when he left.
The first thing she was going to do was get herself something to eat.She’d had breakfast hours ago, and now she wanted something for lunch.Someplace that had cloth napkins instead of paper ones that were in a holder.She also wanted a coffee.Something that she didn’t need to read the directions on to make.Excitement ran over her skin as she made herself a mental note of what else she was going to get into today.
While waiting in line at the coffee truck that just happened to be in town, she thought of lunches that she’d been having with the other women of the leap.It had been fun, but she wanted to eat alone and enjoy herself by ordering what she wanted.She wouldn’t admit this to just anyone, but she was intimidated by the other women because they seemed to have their lives so put together.She was barely holding onto her own sanity most of the time, and she was afraid to show them the real her when they went out.Today was for her.
“I have a question for you.”She nearly screamed when someone spoke to her.“Are you all right?I didn’t mean to startle you.It’s Carrie.I’m Archie’s wife.”
“I was just getting out of the house for the day and was making plans to have lunch.”She said she’d love to join her.“All right, but I’m going to be myself today.I’m sick of trying to handle the house and my emotions.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.I’ll meet you at…where are we going?”She told her what she was doing right now.“Oh, I love their hot cocoa.I would love one if you don’t mind.I’m nearly there anyway.”
Danielle didn’t know if she was disappointed or not about the company, but she wasn’t going to change her mind now about her plans.Carrie would either like her or not.Today, she didn’t care one bit.Tomorrow was a different story, but since she’d left the house this morning, she was going to have a good day no matter whose feelings she had to hurt to have one.
Carrie met her at the tables as she had gotten her the hot cocoa along with her coffee.After getting it and taking a sip, she wasn’t sure that she liked it, but was going to drink the thing no matterwhat.She’d never been a big fan of coffee, and with all the things that were in this one, she was sure that she should have gotten one that was just plain instead of the one that she had.
“You said you were going to be yourself today.I wondered if you were playing along with us when we had lunch.Why are you holding back?”She told her.“I like you just fine, and I think that you’re funny when you let go.From now on, be yourself.I know that I’d think you were fitting in rather than not.”
“I don’t fit in with you guys.”She asked her why she’d think that.“I don’t have anything in common with you guys.You’re used to having money.I’m squeezing my money so tightly that it feels like it’s not going to work for me anymore.”She took another sip of the coffee and shoved it away.“That made more sense in my head than when I said it.I don’t know how to spend money on things.This coffee is a prime example.I got it because it was expensive.I hate it.I should have stuck with something that I like rather than bother with the amount of money it cost me.”
“Spending money is difficult for me as well.”She said that she didn’t act like it.“Oh, but I do.When I go out to lunch with the women, I check the prices first before I order.I don’t have to.Archie has assured me that we have plenty of money that we can be free with.I can’t get over that.”
“I’ve been making the faeries not help me with the projects around the house for fear of them wanting all my money.I don’t know how that would work as they’re just little people, but that’s my fear.And since Beau is taking care that they get paid, now I worry that he’ll be out of money too, and where will we be?How do they get paid anyway?”Carrie didn’t laugh at her but told her that she did know the answer to that one.And she told her.“I can’t believe that they like being paid by helping us.There has to be more to it than that.”
“Sugar cubes and juice.I usually lay out some fresh fruit for them, and they love to nibble on flowers.But they feel helpful when you have them working for you, and that’s all they live for is to serve.”She laughed a little.“They also like to find things that they can barter with, like soda caps and cork.I had a lot of those left over from a project that I’d done, and they used them for a lot of things.Seats in their homes, I believe.And they love scraps of material of all kinds.They sew it into curtains and things again for their homes.”
“I found some tiny safety pins in one of the drawers I was cleaning out, and one of them asked if they could have them.I had no idea what they’d use them for; they were still as big as they were, but I told them they could have them.I just remembered there were a lot of things like that.Things that they asked for, and I gave them to them.Is that all they want?”
“You have to make sure that they rest, too.Sometimes, if they have a large project to do, they’ll do it until they’re exhausted.I heard you have a lot of them at your home.”She told her there were a couple of thousand still working in the house and that many more were in the gardens.“You more than likely have the happiest of all the pips that are in our homes.They love to work in gardens too.And they’ll have your house in tip-top shape in no time.”
“I told Honey when I left to finish the house.I hope that I didn’t give him too much to do.”She told her that since there are so many of them, they’d divide up the rooms between them and do them like that.“I just wanted it finished so that I can get on with my life.I think that Beau has been waiting for me to get sick of cleaning before he said anything to me about the faeries just getting it done.I can’t believe I’ve spent this much time on the house and getting it ready when I could have been enjoying life instead.”
“It sounds to me like you really need to get your life together, Danielle.And having the faeries do the house is the best idea that you’ve come up with.”She said now she was having second thoughts.“I understand that.Let’s go have some lunch somewhere so that you can forget you even have a house for a little while.”
“I’d like that.”As they made their way to the little diner that served the best burgers in town, she knew that she was going to feel guilty for a long time after giving the faeries such a large job to do.“I just hope they don’t overdo it.They’ve been so kind to me so far.”
~*~
Beau hated to go home tonight.He’d had such a long day that he just wanted to go home and relax for a little while.But until they got the house situated, there was no way that he was going to be able to sit on the new couch they had and put his feet up.The house needed to be finished soon, or he was going to suggest that the faeries do it all and upset Danielle.
He believed that she had the right idea about the faeries overdoing it with the house.But they were sad too that she was holding them back from getting it finished to please her.And they wanted her to be happy in the worst sort of way.Honey had spoken to him just this morning about the house being unfinished.
“She doesn’t want to overwhelm you.”He said that they were very underwhelmed right now.“I understand, but she has it in her head that the lot of you will hate her if she just tells you to finish the rooms.Danielle doesn’t want any of you hurt or overworked by doing everything that you can to the house.”
“She doesn’t understand about the magic either.Not even her own.”He’d noticed that as well over the past week.She was using her magic to bring her things, and she’d not noticed it as yet.He pointed it out to her, and she said that she just hadn’t looked for whatever it was very well and found it.“She believes that we’re just too small to handle any of the big jobs.That’s why she is still thinking that the furnace will need to be replaced by someone her size.Also, did you know that she checks on us daily?To make sure that we’re taking a break.It’s difficult to do anything with her forever making us stop to rest every little bit.”
Beau had laughed, but Honey hadn’t thought it was funny.“I’m sorry.You do know that she means well, don’t you?She just loves having you all around her.You might want to know that she thinks that you’re not being paid.And that she believes that you will wish human money to work for her.I believe that is the biggest reason for the house not being done the way you can make it finished up.”
“She has given us so much in the form of payment now.Did I tell you that she gave us some clips from the office?And some safety pens that we’re using for all kinds of things.I believe, too, that she is saving things for us in the little jar she has on her desk.I found a stone in the collection that I’m using for my wall in my house.There are many things that she is leaving us to find, too.”Beau thought that she didn’t understand that was what she was doing, as it was just a habit for her to keep small things from the sweeper and being sucked up into it.“While in the kitchen, she gave us all the plastic wrapping that was around the fridge to take home.There was so much of it that we all got some of it if we wanted it.Do you believe that she thinks that’s not payment enough?”
“I do believe that.She thinks of it as trash and not something that you might find useful.I’ll have to explain that to her.What kinds of things did you use the stuff she leaves you around for?I’ll tell her that when I speak to her tonight.”He gave him a list of things that she’d left out for them and what they’d used them for.“This will be very helpful.Anything else?”
“The plastic had been a huge help in putting windows around our little dwellings.Also, it had made a protection from rain too for our roofs when it rained last evening.Why, just the other day, I used some of it to make a shiny ball for my children to play with.It’s most useful to us.And the foam that was placed on the handles, I don’t know what it’s called, was perfect for making mattresses for our beds too.”Honey was excited about the things that she’d given them.“I wish you would tell her how much she’s paid us already.And the blooms that you put out and the sugar cubes have gone a long way in keeping our energy up and us working.I love the pits of chocolate you have given us as well.”
“It’s my pleasure.”He had smiled at the little man and was glad that he’d come to him about the issue.Now here he was going home and would have to break the news to her that she was holding back the faeries from working by keeping them away from their need to be helpful.
Honey met him at the door before he was even inside the house.He thought for sure that something had gone wrong and that he was warning him about it.Or that Danielle had been hurt and was now bleeding all over the floor.He wondered if there was a fire raging on and that—
“There is nothing wrong.”He let out a breath that he’d been unknowingly holding.“You lookso upset that I wonder now if you’ve any idea what has happened today.”
