#4

You can't see them.

I shouldn't be seeing them.

I always loved my outdoorsy kid with the wild imagination. For as long as I can remember she had been seeing another world in our backyard. Every time her father would get ready to mow the lawn she insisted on running outside first yelling, "He's getting ready to mow! He's getting ready to mow!", as if she were warning the village.

Today she scraped her knee while she was playing outside and while I was out tending to her, she was telling me all about her fantasy friends. "Oh, mommy I really wish you could see them too". "That would be wonderful, honey but -", I answered absentmindedly and got distracted as the sun suddenly got brighter for a moment. I looked up trying to judge if the day were going to get any hotter, but nothing seemed to have changed. I looked back at my daughter, who seemed to have even forgotten she had fallen and told her to go play I'd call her in for lunch soon.

As I was getting up I saw them. Moving at he base of the tree we had been sitting next to were these creatures. I sat back down and stared. What could they be, were they dangerous? They weren't animals, they had tools and clothes, and definitely some magic. How is he moving that huge eggplant? Hey, that's from my garden! I thought I had a rabbit problem. Julie did say the fairies liked them. Oh-no! These can't be the fairies she had been talking about all these years. Fairies are beautiful diaphanous creatures, these are not beautiful. They might be cute in they way that small things are cute, but these are homely, earthy creatures. They don't even have wings. They look like they probably live underground.

"Mommy!" Julie's voice calls to me but I can't look away from what I am watching. Her hand is on my shoulder, "can you really see them now mommy?" "See what honey?", I answer vaguely although I know what she is referring to. She turns her head and says something to herself. When she looks back at me she gives me a big hug and runs back to play again.

I don't know if I am losing my mind or if my daughter has just given me some magical gift so I can see into her world. But I know I am sitting right here until something makes sense.