Wood Sprites(29)
“That’s different; that’s saving a life.”
“We’re sending you to school with kids your age so you can learn this, and it’s been five years and you haven’t learned it. You need people. Yes, it would be great and wonderful if all the people in your life were like Aunt Kitty.” They had always called Mom’s best friend “Aunt” even though she wasn’t related by blood; she’d been informally “adopted” by their grandmother when the two friends were in high school. “Those are rare and wonderful treasures when you find them, but you need all the people.”
“Are you saying we should suck up to Elle?” Jillian asked because she knew the answer would be “no.”
“Obviously you haven’t learned the difference between ‘sucking up’ and ‘taking advantage of your opportunities.’ It’s time you learn. You’re going.”
“Mom!” Jillian and Louise both cried.
“Let me make myself clear.” She raised her right hand up, meaning that she would not tolerate them trying to weasel out. “You are going. You will be nice. You will do your best to have fun. You will be polite to Mrs. Pondwater and Elle. You will do nothing to submarine the party. You will use this opportunity to be friends not with Elle but with Elle’s friends, because one of them might be a girl you’ve discounted and held at arm’s length merely because Elle claimed her first. The only way you will ever find a friend like Aunt Kitty is to open yourself up to friendship. You will never find other people to love while sitting in your bedroom, talking only to each other.”
She finished giving a slow benediction with her upraised hand by pointing to each of them. “Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes,” they both whispered.
She sighed and lowered her hand. “You need to learn how to play the game of diplomacy. Right now you’re just fighting for a play. In the future, it could be for getting a job you love or a raise you deserve, or to win support for a law that will save people’s life, or—or I don’t know. You two have the power to change the world. You’re letting shallow, self-serving people like the Pondwaters win because they understand the game and you don’t.”
* * *
That Saturday they went into Manhattan to find a present for Elle. They stopped first at FAO Schwarz and wandered through the vast toy store, trying to find something that Elle might want and didn’t already have, and that they could afford.
“This is hopeless,” Jillian kept muttering darkly. “She probably has everything in this store.”
“Live and learn,” their mother said. “The trick to giving a woman a gift is to give her something beautiful that she didn’t think to buy for herself. Flowers and jewelry are often a good fallback. Here.” She stopped in front of a display case of snow globes. “Maybe one of these.”
“They’re pretty,” Louise admitted.
“Here’s one with Princess Ariel.” Jillian pointed to it.
They gazed at the pink globe with Ariel as a human peering upwards. There seemed to be something vaguely wrong about it.
“It’s like she’s trapped,” Louise said.
“Maybe not that one,” their mother said. “Maybe a mermaid Ariel.” Their mother pointed to an Ariel with big rounded head and huge eyes done by a popular statue-maker.
“That’s a little creepy,” Louise said.
Jillian caught Louise’s hand and pointed silently at a snow globe on a nearby shelf. It was of Pittsburgh deep in the forest of Elfhome. It wasn’t accurate—a lot more of the city was shifted than the small wedge of downtown that they showed. The reason for the inconsistency became apparent when Jillian carefully flipped the globe upside down and righted it. The forest became Earth suburbs surrounding downtown Pittsburgh. Another flip and the city was once again surrounded by forest.
“Oh, that is so cool,” Louise whispered.
Unfortunately, their mother noticed their fascination. “You like that one?”
“Elle would hate it,” Jillian said quickly. It would be horrible to have to hand it over to Elle.
Their mother laughed. “I meant for you two.”
“Us?” Louise cried with surprise.
“We didn’t get you anything you wanted for your birthday. This could be a late birthday present. Do you want it?”
“Yes!” they both cried.
Their mother signaled over a clerk. “We’ll be taking two domes. This one here is the first. We think the other one should have a mermaid in it. Can you point out all the ones you have?”
Within a few minutes, a dozen globes were gathered together for them to choose from. One had a stunning crystal mermaid with a delicate silver tail with coral filaments waving in the invisible currents and detailed fish swimming around her.