THE FOREST FAIRIES AND A FREEZING LITTLE GIRL

A little girl selling matches

The fairy sisters floated down until they were hovering near the little girl sitting in the snow with her doll.  The child had no coat and was huddled in a corner, lighting matches to keep warm.  In the golden light of the match were wondrous visions seen by the little girl and the fairies.

"I fear she will freeze to death in the snow," said Annalisa.  "She is not dressed warmly and she's barefoot!"

"WE are not dressed warmly either and I would give anything to be home sitting by the fire," said Arabella, mournfully.  "Lapland? What were thinking?"

"Come, Arabella, let us help this freezing child tonight and worry about Gerda in Lapland tomorrow."  The fairies flew down and stood in front of the shivering child whose eyes lit up when she saw them for she thought the fairy sisters were another beautiful vision.  Then her match flickered out and the tiny girls were still there!

"Are you real?" said the child, a bit fearfully.  "You are very small."

"Of course, we are real.  I am Annalisa and this is my twin sister, Arabella.
We are fairies who possess magic powers and we want to help you.  Stand up; we want to see how big a coat to make."

The little girl had never met any fairies, but they seemed kind so she stood and faced them, clutching her worn doll.

"Why are you out in the snow without your coat and shoes?" asked Arabella.  "Won't   your parents be worried?"                       
                        

The little girl talks to the fairies

"I have no parents; they died long ago.  And my dear grandmother died last year.  I loved her so much!  She made this little doll for me.  I only have my grandfather now and he hardly talks to me since Grandma left us.  It is so cold in the little room where we live.  And I am always so hungry!  And no one buys my matches. . ."  She began to cry.

"Oh, do not cry little match girl!  We will help you tonight.  We promise!" cried Annalisa.  "What is your name?"

"Annie," said the child, softly.  "My name is Annie."

WANTING TO GET OUT

Life at home was hard my senior year.  Family life had been difficult for years and now I desperately wanted to escape, but I couldn't think of a way out.  I stayed busy at school with friends, football games, acting in plays and going to the theatre.  But no matter how busy I tried to be I always had to go home eventually to chaos and conflict.  My brothers were affected, but they were too young to realize that we lived in a war zone created by our disappointed parents.  There was no money for college or for anything else it seemed.  Some of my friends had married, but since I didn't have a boyfriend marriage didn't seem a possibility.

But then a opportunity for escape appeared.  I had played my first lead that year in a play called Nine Girls.  Our drama teacher and director, Paul McClure (whom I idolized) told me a lady from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia was visiting high schools all over Florida looking for possible drama majors.  I had never heard of Wesleyan, but what did that matter?
This wonderful lady was handing out scholarships!  Mr. McClure suggested that I prepare a brief audition piece so I chose a scene from Our Town. Emily and George grow up together, fall in love and marry, but soon after they are married Emily dies.  She is given a chance to revisit any day of her short life and she chooses her twelfth birthday.  The scene is heartbreaking.  Emily realizes how fleeting life is, how quickly precious moments fly by and we hardly notice.



I somehow understood how Emily felt and I put my intense longing into the scene.  On that empty stage I was Emily for a few brief moments. Afterwards, the lady from Wesleyan came to me and took my hand.  "We want you at Wesleyan, Linda."  There were tears in her eyes.  And just like that my life changed as I stood there in the dim auditorium.  I couldn't speak.  Mr. McClure came to my rescue and began talking to that wonderful lady.  Together, they made plans for me, but I couldn't understand what they said.  I just stood there, overcome and not knowing what to do next.

THE FOREST FAIRIES WREAK HAVOC IN LAPLAND

The fairies make their plans outside their bedroom window.

That night after a very lovely Christmas of presents and merrymaking, Annalisa and Arabella decided to begin searching for poor frozen Gerda in distant Lapland.  They must take the poor girl to the ice castle of the Snow Queen (still another nasty cousin of their mother's) to rescue her friend Kay.  The twins waited until their parents fell asleep which was not long as Papa had made very merry with raspberry wine and Mama was exhausted from cooking the huge holiday dinner. She could have created a wonderful meal with her magic, but their mother always felt nothing could compare with her own cooking and Papa agreed.

Now the Snow Queen's palace was far, far away, but this did not worry the young Forest Fairies as they had secretly consulted their mother's Book of Spells and created a potion to transport themselves immediately to Lapland.  Annalisa and Arabella had only to drink the potion, open the front door and there would be Lapland in all its icy glory.  Except that is not what happened.  The girls found themselves floating over a large city that looked nothing like Lapland, but it WAS cold.

The Fairies float over what is not Lapland

"I don't think this is Lapland," said Arabella, which Annalisa felt was stunningly obvious.

"And we have forgotten our winter coats and we shall surely freeze.  Mama's Book of Spells is safe at home and I only recall a few spells.  And by tomorrow we will be very hungry."

"There is a little girl down there selling matches in the snow.  Maybe we could ask her for help," said Arabella.  "Of course, she doesn't have a coat either and she's shivering."

"She needs OUR help.  Surely we can remember enough magic to create three coats!" cried Annalisa.  "Let's float down."

A MOONLIGHT SWIM

Just before our senior year began my friend Bette came home from a summer trip.  Her mother gave her a Welcome Home party at her luxury home and invited several friends and me.  I was thrilled to be included and invited a young man for whom I had not well hidden romantic feelings.  He did not share them. I believe he thought I was a nice kid.  One day while riding the city bus I glimpsed him mowing his lawn....shirtless.  My heart began to flutter in my still boyish chest.  So I had high hopes for the evening.

Bette arrived after her long trip (probably longing for a bath and bed) and found lots of eager friends parading around in bathing suits.  The moonlit evening was warm and lovely and we were all having a fine time swimming and eating and downing multiple Coca-Colas.  Since almost fifty-five years have passed since that golden night, my memories have all blurred together. But I do recall laughter and a certain amount of kissing, most of it involving my date who bestowed his favors on several of us girls.  The reasons for these kisses have disappeared in the mists of time, but he seemed quite cheerful afterwards.

At last we gathered together in lawn chairs and talked.  It occurred to me that our last year together in high school would start in a few days.  I was wise enough to know that those days would race by and soon be over, leaving us to scatter far and wide.  The magic of this summer evening would live only in our memories.  For a few bittersweet moments I felt a pang in my heart.  We had all spent our youth together and I didn't want this time to end.  But of course it did.

However, on the way home there was a brief interlude of more kissing which made me think that the future might indeed have something to offer.

NOTE:  Contrary to what I feared, we did not entirely lose touch.  Although Bette is gone (I still miss her sometimes) I am still in contact with many friends from that evening, including my young man.  Sometimes when I feel a bit down, I call up that ancient memory of him shirtless in the hot Florida sun and I perk right up.