A Fairy Tale

Over the years I’ve posted many fairy tales, or fairy tale like stories here. Most have a weird, funny, or violent twist in them. This one was inspired from a prompt going out to a group of my writing fiends. This one was written in about 15 minutes. Later this week I will be posting a wonderful fairy tale from my friend, the extraordinary writer Brian Callahan.

A Fairy Tale

In a comfortable somewhat large house in the woods lived a princess. Her name was Gloria. She lived with her wolfhound Penelope, and her hound dog Elvis. Other than her dogs she lived alone.

It wasn’t as if she had been cursed to live without a prince of her own. On the contrary, she was one of five princesses, from a royal brood of nine children. Five girls and four boys. She was the youngest.

Her eldest brother Charming suffered from Prosopagnosia; a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces. He famously married a woman who couldn’t keep her shoes on, and apparently couldn’t keep her other clothes on either (that part isn’t in the public story everyone knows) and they were living happily ever after in their own weird way. One day Charming would be King. Good for him.

Gloria’s four sisters were all married off to spectacular matches. Two married princes, one married a count, and one married an Elf king. Her three other brothers had done equally well. One married a princess. One married the beautiful woman who could speak 14 languages and understand the songs of whales. The other other brother married a Duke named Edward who went by Eddie. Some people were scandalized by the marriage to Eddie, but Gloria was happy for them. She was the one who’d introduced the happy couple. In Gloria’s opinion everyone deserved their own happiness, and not something chosen for them for political reasons.

A handsome and accomplished husband with an excellent pedigree had been chosen for Gloria for political reasons, but she declined the offer and moved out of the family castle and into her own place in the woods. There she wrote a wildly successful series of romance novels, and twice a week she went into the city to teach graduate courses in Natural Sciences at the university.

One Friday night after gin and tonics on her back deck Gloria thought some company would be nice so she swiped right on the profile of a cute man named Jeremy.

Two hours later he was at her front door. He looked much better than his picture, and he smelled nice.

As they relaxed later in her big bed, she asked him, “so tell me about yourself Jeremy,”

“I’m an urban planner. Right now I’m redesigning the new moat system, and trying to get plumbing into every house in the Kingdom.”

“Sounds interesting,” said Gloria. “What about your family?”

“I’m not royalty. My Aunt was your sister-in-law’s fairy godmother. I can do a little magic, but nothing much. You know, just some levitation stuff. It comes in handy when I have to move heavy things. Everyone wants me to help them move.”

They talked and laughed for a bit more, then Gloria got up to get a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. As she got out of bed Jeremy noticed her back.

There were two side by side verticle scars, ever so faint, but he could see them.

“You have scars on your back,” he said.

She stopped. “Just an accident when I was a kid. Fell off a horse. It’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

“It isn’t nothing,” he said. “Look at my back.” He got up and walked over to her and turned around. “I have the same scars. You know it isn’t from falling off of a horse.”

“We can’t talk about this.”

“Why not? I’m tired of being teated like… like there was something wrong with me.”

“They could have just killed us and said we were stillborn.”

“Gloria.”

“Jeremy.”

“We’re fairies. They took your wings. They took my wings too,” he said, and stepped closer to her.

She crossed her arms across her chest. “I can’t do anything about it. Oh God, I’ve never met someone else like me. Not like this. Not close up. I never thought…”

“You’ve have casual sex with another fairy? It isn’t so casual anymore, is it?”

“No.”

“I feel so comfortable with you. It isn’t just a line Gloria.”

“I know, I feel the connection too. Does it hurt? You know, your scars?”

“It used to when I hit puberty. I’d work out with weights, and it would kill my shoulders and back. I got used to it. I ate the pain.”

“Same here.”

“Can you do this?” Jeremy held his hand in the air and wiggled his fingers. Blue and yellow bits of light sparked in the air.

Gloria did the same, but her sparks were purple and pink. “Fairy dust,” she said.

Then they both laughed. This was the first time they didn’t have to hide their secret.

“I guess this means you’ll have to see me again,” said Jeremy.

“I guess it does,” said Gloria, as she wrapped he arms around him and kissed him.

And yes, they did live happily ever after.