ALL IS WELL IN THE FAIRY KINGDOM!

With the Fairy King leading the way, Hansel and Gretel journeyed through the forest toward their home.  The fairy sisters (who were quite taken with Hansel) flew about his shoulders, chattering happily while Gretel ate a cranberry-orange muffin she had hidden in her apron.   The King was feeling strong and purposeful, feelings he had not experienced for some years.  Suddenly, the King cried out, "Hansel, Gretel, there is your home!

Jo

Joyfully, the brother and sister ran toward the house.

"And there is Father!" said Hansel.

"He has been waiting for you all this time," said the wise King.

The fairy twins watched the happy reunion.  Then the mother of the children appeared and tried to smile, but she could not.

Once inside their simple home the mother spoke bitterly to the Fairy King.  "How shall I feed these children?  Their father and I are starving.  We have no food to give them!"

The King spoke in a low voice to the children's mother.  "I am the King of the Forest Fairies.  I shall send food to you every week; you shall not starve.  And if you ever send your children into the forest again where they would surely die, I shall return.  You do not want that!"

The mother began to cry, "No, I shall never....Thank you for bringing them home!  I shall never forgive myself." And she ran to her children and embraced them.
                                    *  *  *  *  *  *  *

As the fairies approached their home they could see their mother perched high in a tree so she could see them coming.  When she glimpsed them, the Queen smiled and flew to her family.

"All is well, my love," said the King clasping her in his arms.

"Oh, well, that is wonderful, my darling," said the Queen, dimpling.  "I have set out a simple supper beneath the trees, but I have forgotten the wine.  Could you fetch it?"

"Of course, Sweetheart," said the King and kissed her.

The twins were saucer-eyed and speechless.  What had come over their father?  They had not seen him like this.

"I slipped a......tonic of sorts into your father's raspberry wine at lunch......to give him more.....energy.  And it seems to have worked," said Mother, smiling to herself.

Father appeared at the door holding a jug of raspberry wine and smiling broadly.  "I feel rather tired and I think I shall go to bed early tonight. Will you join me, my love?"

"Why, yes, my darling," said she and ran to join him.

"But the sun has barely set!" said Arabella.

"And you haven't eaten your dinner!" cried Annalisa.

"Why don't you girls fix yourselves a plate and go down to our garden and eat there," said Father, firmly shutting the huge oak door.

"Father doesn't seem tired, does he?" said Annalisa, piling food on her plate.

"No, not at all," said Arabella.  "Oh, listen, Mother is laughing; Father must have told a joke.  I never knew he was funny."  And they strolled down the path to their garden which would be magical in the moonlight.

TRAPPED IN THE HOUSE OF CANDY!

THE FAIRY KING

Evilyn laughed merrily as she studied young Hansel and Gretel and then turned her gaze to her sniveling great nieces who had tried to work their pitiful spells and failed miserably to free the children or themselves.  Princesses of the Enchanted Forest indeed--they were pathetic!  She would eat them all, but first she must fatten up the human children who were skin and bones.

"Hansel, Gretel, have another pancake my dears.  Here are some with plump, juicy blueberries.  Delicious!"

"Don't eat anything!  She only wants to fatten you up," cried
Arabella, who was feeling quite ill just thinking about their fate.

"I shall not eat another thing!" said Hansel bravely.

"Speak for yourself, Brother.  I am still quite hungry," said Gretel, helping herself to several pancakes.  "And pass the maple syrup, please."

Instantly, Annalisa was by her side trying to grab the plate from greedy Gretel.  "You can't eat!  Do you WANT to be eaten by this evil, horrid witch?"  Gretel bit the fairy's hand and Annalisa screamed.  "What is wrong with you?  We are trying to come to your rescue, you wicked little girl!"

"And doing a very poor job of it, I must say," said the Fairy King who had suddenly appeared in the middle of the room.

"Papa, Papa!" said the twins and immediately flew to his side.

"Well," said Evilyn, drawing herself up to her full height, "I suppose you are the unfortunate man who married my headstrong niece.  How regretful you must be."

"On the contrary, Evilyn, she has made me extraordinarily happy.  My queen is brilliant and beautiful and she gave me my two lovely daughters, Arabella and Annalisa.  Sadly, we all must say goodbye to your abundant hospitality.  I shall take these children home and then my daughters and I shall fly home to have a delicious dinner with the Queen.

"Do you actually think your magic is greater than mine?" said Evilyn, spitting out her words.

"Yes," said the King.  "I do."  He raised his hand carelessly and the house of candy collapsed around them and the iron bars disintegrated.  Even the monstrous oven had broken apart in a thousand pieces.  "You shall never roast the innocent again."

Evilyn began to sob as if her heart had broken as indeed it had.

"Come, Children, we must be off to Hansel and Gretel's house and it is a lovely day for a journey through our forest."  And the King strode into the woods with the children.

Arabella and Annalisa smiled in happy confusion.  What in the world had happened to Papa?  And had Mama noticed?

THE ENCHANTED FOREST

A HOUSE OF COLD AND FOG

All good things must come to an end and so did my freshman year at Wesleyan.  I packed up my clothes, caught the Trailways bus and rode home to Sarasota.  I had not been home since Christmas and I could sense added tension in the household.  Dad seemed always to be working, but not earning any money.  Mom mopped the terrazzo floors every day and drank beer.  Rick and Bill were teenagers and involved in their own activities.  And Jim looked like a little boy lost.  He was quiet and anxious, wandering around the house like a small ghost.  Every night he fell asleep on the couch while we watched television in the stifling heat of summer.  It finally penetrated my consciousness that the child not only did not have a bedroom of his own, he had no bed.  My other brothers still slept in the cheerless garage with the washer and the lawnmower.  Why had I never really seen this before?

I quickly found a job downtown at Maas Brothers, selling knick-knacks and "permanent" flowers (we were not allowed to say "artificial.")  Having very few customers, I wandered around dusting vases and greeting high school friends who invariably said, "You've gained weight!" in triumphant tones.  Since after "gaining weight" I still only hit the scale at 110
pounds, I did not feel I had to go on a diet just yet. On my days off I went to the beach, little  knowing I was sowing the seeds of skin cancer which was to begin blossoming some twenty years later.  During the airless nights I sat on the couch and watched one TV show after another.  Could one die of boredom?

I began to see that my family didn't know how  to be one.  My parents never wrote me at Wesleyan; it did not occur to them that they should.  No one asked me what college was like or what I was learning.  We seldom had family outings or went on vacation.  We never talked about anything important.  We seldom talked at all.  We were six people living in an airless house.  And my little brother didn't have a bed.  That summer I realized I would never live in that house again.  One by one my brothers would leave too and escape into the world.

RESCUE FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE

It was time for lunch and Annalisa and Arabella were nowhere to be seen which vexed their mother, the Queen.

"I told those girls to be home for lunch without fail, but are they here?  No.  And I made ambrosia--their favorite.  Should I delay our meal, my dear?

The King wasn't really listening as he was reading the latest edition of Faerie
Magazine and looking for anything referring to his august self, but there was nothing.  There never was.  Now he too was vexed.  "What's that, my love?"

Mother sighed.  "I said, dear husband, that the girls weren't here and asked you whether we should delay luncheon."

"Oh, surely not, my sweet," said Father, who was always fond of ambrosia and raspberry cordial which sat on the table looking glossy and delicious.  "If they are late for lunch, they must do without, that's what I say.  Do you mind if I keep reading, my dear?"

  At least you're not sleeping, muttered Mother as she began to serve.

"Good heavens!" exclaimed the King.  "There is something about our girls in Faerie Magazine.  It says they have been gallivanting around the countryside rescuing people!  Some girl with very long hair who was being kept a prisoner by that infernal cousin of yours--Repellante.  They even went to Lapland to rescue some boy named Kay.  HE was being kept prisoner by another wretched relative of yours--the Snow Queen.  Did you know about all this?"

The Queen of the Forest hardly knew what to say.  "Well, I
didn't  know about any of it until afterwards.  The girls apparently sneaked out of the house at night while we were sleeping and...well...they consulted my Book of Spells and...."

"Your Book of Spells?  Lapland, really?  And who names a boy Kay?  They may be in danger as we speak!"

Suddenly Mother remembered the
girls talking about a House of Candy
in the woods.  Oh, no!  Evilyn!

"I think they may have gone to rescue
some children being held in the woods
by my Aunt Evilyn!  In her house made of candy!"

Father stood up and said firmly, "I shall go at once.  Stay here!"

The Queen followed him outside to bid
him Farewell, but he was already gone.