The Fairy Under My Bed
My encounters with Tinkerbell over the last few years and the feelings she reignited inside of me, led me to research and study of the Fairy. The more I learned the more fascinated I became. My mind always tries to make sense of things. It can construct a whole backstory for the guy cutting dangerously through heavy traffic or the girl walking alone through a convention in a shimmering Cinderella gown. I like to organize things into boxes in a way that makes sense to me. My attempts to do this with the Fairy are always frustrated. Generally, the only consistent thing about them is their general inconsistency.
A few months ago, I awoke suddenly to a face right in front of my face at the side of my bed. It went “boggie-boo!” or something like that and smiled at me with unnaturally big eyes and a mouth full of tiny teeth, then was gone. Needless to say, I was a bit startled, but my poor wife is all too used to the jumping and fighting I do in my sleep. A few days later, when my wife was complaining of bruises of unknown origin she had found on herself, I blamed it on the fairy under the bed as a joke. Someone did not think it was funny.
As I was preparing to enter the shower, I was confronted by that same face that had recently frighted me, this time attached to a little well-dressed man, only a couple feet tall. He was very sore with me, and chose to reveal himself at a time I would feel particularly vulnerable and awkward. He wanted me to tell my wife that he would never pinch her and it was very rude of me to insinuate he did. He had no problem, however, throwing a certain pixie, who wanders in and out of the room, under the bus. He demanded an immediate apology from me for besmirching his good name and gossiping, which I promptly gave with much embarrassment.
He introduced himself as Thomas of Underbed. He explained that he had lived under my bed all my life, watching under me and fending off countless giant spiders and assorted boggies while I slept (though he admitted to taking breaks and the occasional long lunch, which is his due). Thomas told me he twisted my sheets during the night and turned my sock around on my foot on a regular basis, to assure me he was there and that I had caught a glimpse of him in my childhood, when he was in the form of a giant rabbit.
He talks to me now, from time to time, and has introduced me to other fairies who always seem to be nearby. Unfortunately, they all seem to think the shower is a conference room. Fairies are everywhere!
