His Dogness

This column first appeared in the August 2013 issue of Forsyth Family magazine:

When Sparkle Girl was little, she would sometimes leave out food for the fairies, along with a note. She might put a fairy-size piece of cake on a dish, cut out a fairy-size piece of paper and write a note that, in really small letters, said, “Dear Fairies, Enjoy the cake.” Then she would sign it, “Your friend…”

As everyone knows, fairies are mostly out and about at night. So, just before she went to bed, she would set the dish outside the door to the kitchen. After Garnet and I thought it was safe, we would go out and bring in the cake and note. We would then put out a gift for Sparkle Girl from the fairies with a note that they had written. It, too, was really small. The gift might be a couple of tiny, gemlike stones.

As far as I know, the fairies never, ever failed to leave Sparkle Girl a note and gift the same night she put out her snack and note. The same cannot be said of the Tooth Fairy. Once, she failed to show up after Sparkle Girl put a tooth under her pillow. When Sparkle Girl found the tooth still there the next morning, we told her that the Tooth Fairy in charge of her route must have gone on vacation to the South of France or somewhere equally exotic and that there must have been some sort of snafu when it came to making sure that a substitute Tooth Fairy covered her route.

We told Sparkle Girl that, surely, everything would be sorted out by the following night. She put it under her pillow again that night, and I can assure you that the substitute Tooth Fairy did indeed arrive promptly.

With Sparkle Girl going into high school this August, it has been a while since there has been any call for the Tooth Fairy to visit. These days, Sparkle Girl babysits for two really sweet girls – one 6 and one 3 – who live across the street. After she comes home, Garnet and I enjoy hearing the reports she gives of their adventures.

The other day, during an afternoon together, Sparkle Girl told the girls about leaving something out for the fairies and helped them build little fairy-size houses. When she came home, Sparkle Girl, with a crispness that I hadn’t witnessed before, set about taking care of the details necessary for a visit from the fairies. She sent an email to their mother filling her in and started poking around our house for gifts for the fairies to leave. She and Garnet found some tiny, smooth white-pink stones that were just right.

Along the way, Sparkle Girl pulled out the cigar box where she keeps the treasures and notes that the fairies left her and sat on the couch and poked through it.

Sparkle Girl knew the girls’ regular bedtime, of course, and, after giving the girls time to fall to sleep, she and Garnet headed out into the darkness with the gifts from the fairies. Our dog, Faye, would have been delighted to go. Stealth is not her strength, though, so they asked her to stay home. Slinks the cat did accompany them.

The next morning, the girls and their mother made a special trip over to our house to show Sparkle Girl the treasures that the fairies left for them. I had the good fortune to be there. So I was able to see the expressions on their faces and listen as Sparkle Girl shared in their delight.

I felt as if the fairies had given me a gift, too.