Troll is lolling on the bedroom deck, stretched out in the sun with a mirror on his freckled chest. Like a molting elephant seal, some lower bits of him are motley, still healing from his poison oak, but he has an audition tomorrow and his face, he will tan.
Brynhildr lies next to him with the Sunday comics over hers. The telephone rings. If they lie perfectly still, one of the children might answer it.
No such luck. Troll glances over at his Valkyrie, and knows what must be done. Off he trundles down the stairs, taking his time.
“Well,” She shouts down, lifting a corner of the paper, “who was it and did you invite them for dinner?”
“Yes,” He confesses sheepishly, “But I couldn’t help it. It was Fairy and Elf.”
He is visibly having a brilliant idea. “We can ask them for a money spell! That’s the rule. If the faeries invite themselves for dinner, they must give you a free spell! It’s them what invited they for dinner.”
Troll was excited, and when excited, there are some trolls who have trouble speaking.
Brynhildr loves a good money spell, especially with this month’s mortgage looming. Troll grins as she blows him a languid kiss. She will have poor Bay serve lemon drops before dinner out on the terrace. Fairy loves her lemon drops.
She reminds the Troll the golden rules when dining with the Faerie World.
Don’t talk about servants, politics, religion, racial bias, or the children’s private school.
Use the finest china, your best silver and your newest serviettes.
Try to look like people of leisure.
It is almost sunset and Elf is lying on a toadstool in the meadow up on Tuna when Fairy finally finds him. She explains the predicament and although he is reluctant, if it is to help Carabosse, then one must go.
“They’ll want money spells,” says Elf, grumbling, ”They always do.”
“We can shower together in the waterfall,” Fairy proffers, as she snuggles up against his chest.
“To save time.”
April is the best month for gardening. A gloomy June day is comfortable too.
Notes for next spring’s garden:
Plant bare-root roses and bare-root fruit trees. They are so much cheaper than buying them by pot at the nurseries.
About Me
- cassandra wiseman
- Cassandra grew up both in Sausalito, California, and in the Australian Outback. She studied in England at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and graduated with honors from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA in Slavic Language and Literature. At Berkeley, she was awarded a Presidents Fellowship to translate and produce three Russian One Act plays. As Cassandra Webb, she had a successful acting career in Australia, starring in the British sci fi film Starship, and played the blind Kelly Burns on the television series Sons and Daughters. Her stage work includes Nora in the Australian National Premiere of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Australian National Tour of Columbia in the Rocky Horror Show and has portrayed several of Shakespeare's heroines, Hermia, Juliet, and Desdemona. She lives happily and haphazardly in the wild woods of Topanga Canyon and has three children. She has served on the board of several charities, focusing on feeding the hungry and providing free classes in the arts to children at risk. Apart from writing non-fiction articles for the Topanga Messenger, she has been published on freshyarn.com and elsewhere.
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