“Quickfoot!” Snowpepper shrieked, throwing her arms around the small man with the fluffy white hair. “You look so different! What happened? Where’s your fur?” She plucked at his rusty black suit jacket. “If I didn’t know who you were, I wouldn’t have recognized you!”

“Dear faerie, it’s so lovely to see you,” Father James said happily, patting her hand. “As to what happened to me, this is the way I look on this side of things. Haven’t you noticed that you, too, are different here? Where are your wings, faerie?”

Snowpepper’s eyes widened and she craned her neck, trying to see behind her. “They’re gone! I don’t have wings here! Oh. That’s right.” Her face clouded. “Sylvie told me this would happen. I won’t be able to fly here, will I?”

Before he could answer, she grinned mercurially and hopped up and down, letting her arms flap like wings. “Oh, I don’t mind. Just walking feels like flying, here! Sylvie didn’t tell me it was going to be so much fun!”

Father James turned apologetically toward the quiet woman who had entered the Home with Snowpepper. He smiled. “Dear lady, please, do excuse the young one. She’s excitable. My name is Father James, and you are…?”

Adele had watched this exchange with quiet bemusement. It appeared that her Sylvie had been up to more than she knew.

“Eh?” she said. “Er, yes. My name is Adele, Father. I’m Sylvie’s mother.”

The little man looked startled. “Oh, but that’s wonderful! Isn’t it wonderful, Snow—that is, Sylvie? Your dear mother is here!”

“Yes! My Mommie came to visit me!” Snowpepper plopped herself onto the couch next to Adele and wrapped her arms tightly around her. Adele smiled nervously. Fortunately the little priest, if that’s what he was, seemed eccentric enough himself, with his talk of faeries and wings. She hoped Sylvie’s odd behavior wouldn’t bother him.

“Have you come to take your daughter away from us, dear Mrs….?”

“Please, Father, call me Adele.” Adele glanced at Sylvie. “I don’t know yet what our plans are, to tell you the truth,” she admitted. “Home hasn’t been a good place for my daughter lately. And before I decide anything, I would like to talk to my son. Carl. He’s also here in the city.”

Carl. The name tolled in Sylvie’s deep brain, where she floated in blissful dreams. She rose to consciousness, uplifted by the echo of the sound of her mother’s voice speaking her brother’s name. Bobbing to the surface of her mind, she felt herself merging seamlessly with Snowpepper, who snuggled in to her mother’s side watching Father James with shining eyes.

“Hey…" Sylvie said, hardly able to contain her excitement. “Mom, did you say Carl? Do you know where he is?”

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 22nd, 2006 at 11:26 pm and is filed under general. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.