"I would never take advantage of Tink," I snapped back. "You don't think very highly of me, do you?"
"Don't take it personally. You're a teenage boy, I don't trust any of you."
"How old are you?" I asked. If he was older than me, it wasn't by much.
"Twenty-one. And-a-half," he added.
"I'm ready," Tink said from the other side of the door.
Jaxton turned his wand to the door and began chanting strange words, concentrating so hard, beads of sweat ran down his forehead. It seemed to take forever. Finally Tink spoke, or rather screamed. I reached for the door and Jaxton turned the wand on me.
"Zap me if you want, but I'm going in."
"Wait," he insisted. "Tinkle, are you alright?"
Tinkle? I'd forgotten she told me that is what her friends called her. I really needed to straighten her out about that.
"Yes. I just saw my reflection in the mirror. I'm huge!"
Both Jaxton and I let out a sigh of relief. The door opened, and there she stood: beautiful and tall.
She said, "You're so little," to me as I said, "You're so tall," to her. We both laughed.
She turned to Jaxton, pointed and laughed again.
"Okay. I'm out of here." He flew up in my face. "Remember the contract and what we talked about." He jabbed me in the nose with his wand before turning to Tink. "Be careful. I'll be back at Midnight, not a moment later."
"I will, Jaxton. Trust me."
"You I trust, the jury's still out on this one," he said, pointing to me with his chin.
"I trust him with my life." She smiled and dropped her head.
Now that she was normal size, normal for me anyway, I could make out her features more clearly. She had thick, long eyelashes that almost touched her eyebrows. Her cheeks had a soft pink glow and she had dimples when she smiled. Wow, she is so pretty.
"Everything seems so miniature, it's weird." She wandered around the house touching random things and smiling, before turning back to me.
"Sorry about Jaxton. He thinks he's my father sometimes." She shook her head disapprovingly.
Or he's in love with you. I didn't say it out loud, not wanting to plant any thoughts into her head.
"What are we going to do first?" I asked.
"Bowling," she smiled.
"It doesn't open for a couple of hours. Would you like to go over to Wal-Mart?"
"Yes!"
Yesterday, I arranged with dad to have the car. Tink and I had such limited time together I didn't want to waste it walking everywhere.
At the store, she bee-lined it straight to the back, heading for the shoe department. She tried on every high-heeled shoe they had. And she fell in love with each pair as I fell in love with her. How I was going to let her go I had no idea, but it was going to hurt, that much I knew.
She tried on a few shirts too, though not as many.
"Okay. I've learned something," she said as we left. "I loved the shoes, but I could never fly in them, and I liked the shirts, but my faery dresses are more comfortable."
"So you didn't have a good time?" I asked, feeling bad we'd wasted so much time in the store.
"No. I had a great time. I always wanted to try those things. Now I can cross them off my bucket list."
"One down." I said as she directed me to the park by the canal.
"I want to feed the ducks. I could never do it as a faery because they saw me as a bug and would chase me," she laughed. Her laugh sounded even prettier as a five-foot-six inch girl.
We stopped and bought some day-old bread before going to the park. Watching her feed the ducks had me in tears with laughter. Despite her new size, the ducks seemed to sense something because several chased after her, nipping at her heels as she giggled and ran away.
Next we rolled down the hill-something her wings kept her from doing before-then headed over to the bowling alley.
The rented shoe thing grossed her out. "You have to wear used shoes?" Even the attendant laughed at her expression of horror. I assured her most people felt the same way.
We walked over to pick out a ball. "I want that one," she said, pointing to a green glittery ball.
"It weights nineteen pounds. You'll need a lighter one."
"But I like how it sparkles." She picked it up and carried it with both hands to our lane. She rolled it down the lane one time before going back for a lighter ball.
"This one is way too boring," she said, setting down the gray ten pound ball. She reached for her sleeve, but not only did she not have a wand, she didn't have a sleeve.
She laughed. "Oops. I forgot."
Her first few throws went straight into the gutter. Her face looked cute even when disappointment etched her features. I gave her a few pointers about using the arrows on the lane as a guide and keeping her wrist straight and she did better.
"Look, I knocked over half the pins this time." She jumped up and down as if she'd gotten a strike.
During our second game, Elise Delyser showed up with her family and took the lane four down from us. Tink saw her first. "Hey, it's the girl from the yearbook."
I looked over as Elise came toward us. "Hi, Pete," she smiled. "You look great. I hardly recognized you. I'm guessing summer's been good to you."
"Yes, thanks. This is my friend Tink."
She and Tink nodded politely, each sizing up the other. Elise's dad called her back over so they could start their game. She smiled at me and left.
"I was right. She seems very nice."
I nodded and took my turn. I didn't want to talk about Elise or anyone else today. I only wanted to be with Tink. Thankfully, she dropped the subject.
After two games, we called it quits. "Okay, Tink, how did bowling rate?"
"I loved it, except for the rented shoes," she shuddered.
"I thought maybe we could go eat lunch at my house. Sound good? Then we'll drain the rest of that bucket list of yours."
"As a matter of fact, that's on my list. I want to make a meal without using magic," she said as we drove to my house.
I gathered all the ingredients for her and she made chicken salad sandwiches. They had a little too much mayo, but other than that they tasted pretty good.
"This is a lot of work for a five minute meal," she said as we started cleaning up. "I should have made peanut butter and jelly. They look a lot easier."
"They are. I picked chicken salad because I wanted to see you sweat for a change," I teased.
She grabbed a grape from a bowl my mom had set out that morning, and threw it at me. It only took two seconds before a full-fledged grape fight broke out, and thirty minutes to clean all the grapes up afterwards.
"Next, Ms. Tink?" I asked, tossing the last of the abused fruit in the trash.
She looked at me and scrunched her face while mumbling something.
"I didn't catch that."
She sighed. "I said I want to play a game of Laser Wars with you." Her face turned bright red.
I laughed. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, and stop laughing."
"Okay, but if we're going to play Laser Wars, we'll need Spongy Crèmes."
I grabbed a box and we raced up the stairs. She unwrapped a Spongy while I set the game up. Within seconds she ran out of my room and into the bathroom. I followed her down the hall and stood in front of the open door as she spit out the Spongy Crème into the toilet.
"Those are disgusting. I can't believe you eat them." She scooped a handful of water from the faucet and rinsed her mouth out.
"Spongy's are the food of the god's," I declared nobly.
"Sick, deranged god's maybe." We went back to my room and I beat her soundly at Laser Wars. I couldn't decide what was more enjoyable, watching her face as she tried to shoot Simon Crawford, or her screaming at the game when it didn't respond the way she thought it should.
"That was a letdown," she teased.
"How can I make it up to you?" I hoped she'd ask me to kiss her; surely kissing was on her bucket list. B
ut she didn't.
"Ride a bike. Do you have any?" she asked, her pretty green eyes wide with excitement.
"I believe my sister's old bike is in the shed, mine too probably. Let's go see."
Tink practically skipped to the back yard. I found the bikes and hosed the dust off them. Tink mastered the bike within minutes.
"I can't believe how fast you picked up on balancing," I said as we rounded the corner and pedaled to the bike path that ran along the Erie Canal.
"It's a lot like flying," she pointed out. I hadn't thought of that.
We rode along the path, racing the second half. My legs were stronger thanks to all the exercising she'd put me through the past months, but I let her win. Squealing with delight, she jumped off the bike, leaned it against a tree, and did a victory dance around it.
I stood and watched her celebrate. My heart about broke knowing that soon she'd be little again and gone. And I wouldn't even remember her.
She glanced over and stopped her party of one. Coming over next to me, she placed her hand on my cheek.
"What's wrong, Pete?"
I don't know what came over me. I don't know if it was the hot sun, or seeing her delight at winning the bike race, or the fact that my heart ached, but I kissed her. It felt awkward and clumsy, and it was the greatest moment of my life, despite our bumping noses.
"How did you know that kissing you was on my bucket list?" she said softly when I pulled away.
"I hoped, I guess." And I kissed her again. This kiss was much better. I held her close, and buried my hands in her soft auburn hair.
She sighed. "How am I going to survive without you, Pete?" Her soft hand caressed my cheek. "Did you know I should have been done with my assignment a month ago?" I shook my head. "I told them you were a slow learner so they'd let me keep coming." She blushed. "Are you mad?"
"Nothing that another kiss wouldn't fix," I teased.
This kiss was even better than the last one. Practice does make perfect.
"So I'm guessing that the assignment will end soon?"
"Tomorrow will be my last day, and I had to beg for that."
Even though I'd felt the end rapidly approaching, I still had a hard time with the news.
"Let's not think about it, Pete. Let's enjoy this last little bit." She stretched up and kissed me again. When it ended, way too soon in my opinion, we rode the bikes back to the house and put them away.
"My parents are home. Do you want to go somewhere else?"
"No. Meeting the family of one of my assignments is on my list. I never get to meet them. I see them all the time, but they never speak to me or me to them, of course. "
"We'll need to come up with a cover story. I don't think 'Hey mom and dad. Meet my faery’ will go over very well."
She giggled. "How about telling them I'm here visiting a friend for the summer and this is my last day before I go home? I don't really want to lie to them."
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. I didn't want to think about midnight.
We walked in the house and both my parents stopped dead and turned to stare at us. Smooth, parents, real smooth.
"Mom, dad, I'd like you to meet my friend Tink. Tink these are my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pancerella."
My mother rushed poor Tink and practically tackled her in a hug. "Hello, Tink, and please, call us Peter and Connie. It's so nice to meet you. Won't you come in?" Not waiting for an answer, my mom escorted her to the living room couch. They sat and mom began with the questions. Tink was on her game. She answered each one as vaguely as possible without lying. Quite impressive to watch, really.
"So you are going home tomorrow, then?" I think mom was as sad as I was. "Well, in this day and age, what's a little distance between friends? You can Facebook each other, and maybe we'll upgrade our computer so we can have Skype. Wouldn't that be nice, Pete?"
"That would be awesome, mom." I wonder if faeries use Skype?
Mom talked Tink's ear off during dinner too. She spilled all the family secrets, actually they were my secrets, much to my chagrin.
"Pete wet the bed till he was six, he has a small bladder."
". . . He snorted milk all over the poor waitress. She started crying."
". . . We found Pete in the neighbor's pool, completely naked."
". . . She punched Pete square in the nose and broke it, but to be fair, she was a big four-year-old."
". . . And then Pete threw-up on his teacher."
" . . . Pete's swim trunks dropped to his ankles right there on the beach in the middle of July. Remember that, Pete?"
"Yes, mom. It happened last summer, of course I remember it. Can we stop with the true confessions now?"
"Sorry, dear. I didn't mean to embarrass you." Thankfully my grandmother called and needed mom's help with her medicine bottles. She left as dad began cleaning.
Tink jumped and started clearing off the table. "No. This is your last night here. Go enjoy each other," dad said, scooting us out of the kitchen.
I took Tink by the hand and we walked outside onto the patio. The night was clear and balmy. We looked at the hundreds of stars twinkling in the heavens.
"Just think, all this started with a wish," Tink said softly.
Her words sparked a brilliant idea in my head. "Which one is the wishing star?"
"I can't tell you."
"Tink, I'll make a wish and then you can come back."
"It doesn’t work that way. Besides, you'd probably get a different faery anyway." She looped her hand through mine and brought it to her lips.
"What if I wish for you, then they'd have to grant it, right?" She shook her head, drowning my hope.
"Tink, I love you. I don't want to live without you." I wrapped my arms around her and tugged her close.
"I feel the same. It's like my heart is going to burst."
"I'd give anything to be with you. I'd give up all my tomorrows for just one more day with you like this." I kissed her forehead. "Can you take me with you to your world?"
"No. Even if I could you'd still be five-ten and I'd still be five-and-a-half inches."
"Can you stay here, stay a human?" I looked at her. Her face went white. "Never mind. How selfish of me to ask you to give up magic and your world. At least we'll have these memories, right?" She didn't answer. Then I remembered. "Oh yeah, you will, I won't."
Tink slipped her hands into my hair and pulled me into a kiss. The best one yet. I wrapped my arms around her waist and tugged her closer.
Everything went just fine until my father began clearing his throat. Tink and I stepped apart.
Dad smile apologetically. "Sorry. I have some strawberry short-cake for dessert. Would you two care to join me?"
"No, thanks," we both said. He nodded and went back inside.
"Did we get everything on your list done?" I asked, trying to forget we only had an hour left.
"Almost."
"What's still left? We have some time. If we hurry maybe we can get it done."
"Not unless you can make it snow in July," she answered.
"I'll bet you can't do that even with your wand." I brushed a stray piece of hair from her cheek.
"Nope. I can't."
"Did you want to build a snowman?"
"No. I wanted to go skiing. And I wanted to make snow angels."
"Oh, the wings would get in the way," I said, as a thought came. "I can’t do anything about the skiing, but I have an idea I think will work with the snow angel." I took her hand. We quietly walked over to the next door neighbor's backyard and went straight to their sandbox in the corner.
"I know it's not snow," I said.
"It's perfect. I can make angels and not have to get cold." We both knelt outside the box and smoothed out the sand. Tink climbed in and lay in the sand, swooshing her arms and legs. When she finished, I took her by the hands and pulled her up so it wouldn't mess up the angel. We stood at the foot of the box and looked down at her creation.
It looked perfec
t, just like her. We kissed a few more times before walking slowly, arm in arm, back to my house.
"Twenty minutes." I tried to pull her closer, but she shook her head.
"Wait. There is a way," she said soberly. "I'd have to give up being a faery, but at least I wouldn't have to give up you, because truthfully, I don't think I can do that."
"No. Being a faery is what you are, Tink. I can't ask that of you."
"You're not asking. I'm offering." Excitement filled her voice. "I'd need a place to stay, at least for a while."
"My grandma's. She lives around the corner, and her health has been poor lately. My mother said yesterday she's going to try and find a live-in aid for her. And my mom adores you, I'm pretty sure the job is yours if you want it."
"That would work. I'd be close to you and we could spend all our free time together." She smiled broadly. "Yes. This will work. Then we won't have to be apart, and you could keep all the memories."
"Are you sure? Think about it, Tink, how many times today did you forget you couldn't do magic and tried to reach for your wand?"
"I'll get used to it. Pete, I want nothing, and I mean nothing more than to spend the rest of my days with you. I love you."
I scooped her up and we spun in a circle, both of us laughing.
"Call Jaxton. Let's get this started."
"No. I don't want him to know. I'll go back as planned tonight and I'll file a petition tomorrow. I should have the court's okay by five p.m.”
"What if they say no?" Fear gripped my gut.
"They won't. I'll have to listen to their lectures and they'll have me sign a bunch of forms, but the faery's wish is usually granted in cases like this."
A small twinkle told me we were no longer alone. "Hi, Jaxton."
"Hello. Did you enjoy your Dag som en människa."
"Yes," she smiled. "This has been the best day of my life."
"Good. Here are your things." He handed her a tiny bag. "I'll send you to the boy's room so you can prepare." He waved his wand and Tink disappeared.
"She looks well. I'm assuming you followed the contract."
"To the letter," I assured him.
"Ready," she said out the window. He waved his wand and said more words I didn't understand. After a few minutes, Tink flew out the window and landed on my shoulder.