and now, the conclusion

Previously, on Nerissa's Life:

I went over to the armoire again, and leaned up against the wall behind it.  Closing one eye, I attempted to peer between the chunky piece of furniture and the wall.  Oops!  Wrong eye.  Hehehe...  My bad.  But never one to give up, I closed the other eye and took another peek.  What I saw made me stagger backwards in shock.  Turning around, my mouth hanging open, I said to my brother, "Rushy, you're not gonna believe what's goin' on back there.  MOUSES!"


"Let ME see," and Rushy barged forward, pushing me aside.

I held him back by his tail.  "It's probably better that I just tell you.  Back there, in the wee little space between the armoire and the wall, is my ball of yarn and all that fur you were tellin' me about from your bein' combed last night, and..."

"Well how did my fur get back there?  Who put it back there?  Did YOU put my fur back there, Seville?"

"NO.  Why would I do that?  And why would I put my ball of yarn back there?  I was lookin' for that, too, you know.  But hang on, there's more."

Rushy waited with bated breath.  Scratch that.  Rushy waited with bated, fishy-smelling breath.  Prior to comin' into the family room, he had obviously been into the tuna.  MOUSES!

"There are a couple of garden fairies back there, too, Rushton," I explained.  "That's right, two garden fairies sitting there, doin' some kind of needlework or somethin' like that."

Rushton looked confused which, to be honest, is not an unusual look for him.  "Let me see," and he pushed me aside again, this time making his way over to the armoire.  He reached his right paw into the space behind the piece of furniture and the wall, and when he withdrew it, dangling from one claw was one of the fairies.

"Put me down!  PUT ME DOWN!" she squealed with the squeaky voice of a mouse.  "You put me down right this minute."

I peered at the fairy as she angrily danced in midair.  "What were doing back there?" I asked her.

"Preparing for winter," she said.  "What did you think we were doing?  And are you --"  she was looking at Rushton, now -- "going to let go of my wings?  You'll damage them, you big long-haired brute."

"Sorry," Rushton murmured, sounding a little ashamed.  He set the fairy down on the floor.  "But why did you steal Seville's ball of yarn, and the peep's laundry, and why-oh-WHY did you steal all of my fur?"

"It's not like you were using it," the fairy grumbled.  "We only took what your human combed out of your coat."

I held a paw up before Rushton started to protest about his wanting to keep that lump of fur I knew full well the peep planned to throw out.

"But why?" I asked the fairy again.  "WHY are you back there with our stuff?  And why did you cut all those holes out of the peep's top?"

"We needed bed sheets," was her reply.

Rushton and I looked at one another, dumbfounded.

"Bed sheets?" I asked.

"Yes, bed sheets.  And blankets, too.  That's why we needed your ball of yarn.  My sister and I have blankets to knit.  And as for your loose fur," and she looked pointedly at my brother, "it makes for quite good insulation."

I shook my head to clear it.  "What?  Why?  I don't understand."

"Of course you don't," snapped the fairy.  "You cats and your humans NEVER understand.  You meddle in the affairs of others, never thinking about the damage you're doing."

"But I..."

"Don't interrupt," the fairy scolded me.  "We fairies were perfectly happy living in nooks and hollows in old trees in forests and gardens, moving underground when winter approached.  But humans couldn't allow that.  OH NO, humans had to go around putting out fairy houses and building entire fairy villages all over the forest floor, luring us into them with the promise of pretty surroundings, and..."

"But I..."

"I said, DON'T interrupt," and she scolded me again.  "NOW, there are fairies living in gardens all over the place, in houses with absolutely no protection against the cold.  Those houses the humans built for us are made out of ceramic, for goodness sake.  Do you have any idea how cold ceramic gets in the dead of a Canadian winter?"

I opened my mouth to answer, thought better of it, and closed it again.

"If my sister and I don't get these bed sheets and blankets made in the next couple weeks, we'll freeze our little wings off out there."

The fairy paused, and I waited for her to continue.  When she didn't, I spoke up.

"Well... Well what if you were to just move back into your little underground hollows and stuff for the winter?"

"AND GIVE UP OUR LUXURY MULTI-BEDROOM FAIRY HOUSES WITH THEIR WHITE PICKET FENCES, GARDEN POOLS AND SWINGS?" she hollered.

I looked over at my brother, Rushton, who was furiously diggin' at his long fur, yankin' clumps out here and there; pretty much everywhere.  "You had better get that ball of forest green yarn out of the peep's knitting bag," he told me.  "The one you thought I might like.  Go get it and paw it over to her, pronto."

As I passed Rushy on my way over to the knitting bag, he hissed in my ear, "The only way to get rid of fairies is to give them what they want.  I'll give her more loose fur, you give her another ball of yarn, and later on, we'll find some more of the peep's cotton laundry."

Of course, my brother was right.  If there's one thing I know, it's that the best way of gettin' rid of unwanted fairies is by meeting their demands.

MOUSES!

read me a story

"Read me a story, Peepers.  Please?  I'm havin' a hard time fallin' asleep, but I just KNOW I could fall asleep, lickety-split, if you were to read me a good story.  Doesn't matter which one.  Maybe a fairy tale or somethin'?  PLEASE?"

Seville curled up on the couch, and Peep #1 brought out The Big Book of Fairy Tales, a book containing many of Seville's favourite stories.  "Once upon a time," Peep #1 began.

Seville closed his eyes, and listened.

Once upon a time, a very useless nip grower, and her handsome marmalade cat, along with his four fur-sibs, lived in a tiny cottage at the edge of a terribly dark and scary forest...

"Mason!  MASON!  You'll NEVER guess what I just read.  It was on the front PAGE of the PAPER, and everythin'.  Apparently, the Weasel Syndicate has set up shop in the woods behind our house.  Right out there.  Behind OUR HOUSE.  Can you believe it?  MOUSES!"

Mason rolled her eyes.  "Oh for goodness sake, Seville.  You can't believe everything you read.  Haven't you ever heard of fake news?"

Seville scowled at his sister.  "It's not fake news, Sis.  It's real news.  Printed right there on the cover of somethin' called a tabloid, which is a paper tablet, I do believe.  MOUSES!"

Mason rolled her eyes again.  "Like I said, it's FAKE NEWS, Seville.  You really are the most gullible cat ever, aren't you?"

"I am not.  I'll prove it to you, too.  Prove that it's real, that is," and Seville stomped a paw.  "Tonight, when the peep is fast asleep, I'm gonna sneak out of the house and find those weasels, if it's the last thing I do."

"And it likely will be the last thing you do, if you go wandering around in the woods late at night.  You know perfectly well, Peep #1 doesn't allow us cats out after dark."

"Yeah, well what the peep doesn't know won't hurt her, will it?"

"The question is, will it hurt YOU."  Mason eyed her brother.  "I'll make you a deal.  We'll go in search of those supposed weasels, together, but if we don't - AND WE WON'T - find them within an hour, we'll come home straight away."

Seville considered the offer for a moment before breaking into a large smile.  "DEAL!" and he high-pawed his sister.  "We'll find those weasels before you know it, Sis, 'cause I KNOW they're out there.  Fake news...  Ha!  What WILL you come up with next?  MOUSES!"

Late that night, as the clock struck midnight, Mason and Seville quietly crept through the house, readying themselves for their journey.  Seville opened the back door and together, the two cats stepped out into the darkness.

They approached the edge of the terribly dark and scary forest, and Mason said nervously, "I don't think this is such a good idea after all, Seville."

Seville looked up at the night sky.  "It's a full moon tonight," he remarked.  "There's lots of moonlight, Mason.  It's practically like the middle of the day!  We're gonna be fine."

Entering the forest, Mason and Seville followed a well-trodden path.  Although they had travelled along this particular path many times, even Seville had to admit it looked a lot different at night.  There were shadows where shadows had never before been, and unfamiliar noises such as the hooting of owls could be heard.  He couldn't help but shudder.

After walking for ten minutes or so, the cats came to a fork in the path.  Seville sat back on his haunches and thought.  "Now which way do you suppose we should go?" he asked aloud.

"I think," Mason began, "we should turn right around, and head back home.  Sivvers, Weasel Syndicate or not, we're going to get ourselves lost out here.  If we're not lost already, that is."

"Got that covered!" and Seville pumped the air with a paw.  "I left us a trail to follow home."

Mason looked puzzled.

"Mason, while you've been unnecessarily fretting over our gettin' lost, I, Seville the Cat, have been doin' somethin' to prevent it.  I've been leavin' a trail for us to follow.  One that will take us right back home, when the time comes.  See this bag of treats?" and he held up a now half-empty bag of his favourite temptations.  "You probably thought I was munchin' on these while we've been walkin', but you'd be wrong about that.  Why, I haven't munched on a single one!  No sirree.  Instead, I've been droppin' a treat or two, every few feet, as we've been walkin' along."

Mason's jaw dropped and she looked truly amazed.  For even though Seville's incredible intelligence and foresight were obvious to practically EVERYONE ON THE PLANET, until now, this fact had escaped her.  "Well I'll be..."

Seville smiled, smugly.  "Check it out, Sis.  Come on, I'll show you," and he led Mason back along the path a few paces, pointing out dropped treats here and there, along the way.  "See?  This trail of treats will lead us straight home when the time comes."

Together they turned a corner, but stopped suddenly when they ran smack dab into one of their two long-haired marmie freak brothers.

"Anderson!" Seville cried.  "What the mouses are you doin' out here?"

"Ummph..." Andy mumbled, his mouth full.  Swallowing hard, he began again.  "What are YOU doing out here?" he asked.  "Peep #1 says we cats aren't allowed outside after dark, and we're especially not supposed to be wandering about in this terribly dark and scary forest."


"Since when did you start doin' what the peep says?" Seville asked.

"About half an hour ago, I think.  I wanted to see what you and Mason were up to.  I wanted to see what kind of trouble you were getting into, so that I could tell on you."

Seville peered at his brother.  "And by the way, what were you eatin', before?" he asked.  "Peep #1 also says, we shouldn't just put any ol' thing we find, into our mouths, and..."

Seville stopped mid-sentence as the truth dawned on him.  "ANDY!  WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY TRAIL OF TREATS?"

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Be sure to return Wednesday to find out what happens next.