Wake me up before you go go

There was absolutely no inspiring, appropriate, odd news this week. I was intrigued for a bit by the mysterious flash and boom over Virginia. But on Monday, they revealed it was a Russian space rocket.* And then on Tuesday, they said it was a meteor after all. I was kind of hoping Wednesday, there'd be further corrections along the lines of "scientists report the mysterious flash and boom was not, in fact, a meteor or a rocket, but..." and then say something absurd. In any case, my new rap name is "The Mysterious Flash and Boom."

And then, last night, just in the nick of time,** the Thursday News of the Absurd Will Someone Please Write This Book Inspirational Moment (TNoftheAWSPWTBIM) was saved: we got a message on the answering machine from one of Tink's friends.

"Hi, it's Belinda***," she said. "I am calling to ask if Tinkerbell could remember please to come to my house and gently wake me when she's on her way to fairyland tonight. I repeat, can Tinkerbell please come gently wake me so I can go to fairyland? Thank you."

I asked Tink, who answered. "It's because I turned her into a fairy and now I'm training her."

"Huh," I said, wondering how long it will be before I get a call from this kid's parents asking me why she sits outside the front door with a suitcase full of glitter every night.

And then I realized two things:

1. How is Tink convincing other kids she's a fairy and then dragging them into the fantasy with her any different than what I do as a writer?

2. This is a book, but it's not Tink's book; it's Belinda's. I want an early middle grade growing up story where the little girl meets a friend who convinces her they are both fairies. I want elaborate descriptions of fairyland and fun playing. I want other characters who may or may not be trolls and other fantastic creatures disguised as humans. And I want it totally ambiguous whether the fairy girl is really a fairy, really imaginative, or downright bonkers. The story is Belinda trying to figure it out and learning that, in many ways, it doesn't matter.

Who will write me this book?

And, to quote my favorite poet on the topic:

If you see a faery ring
In a field of grass,
Very lightly step around,
Tip-toe as you pass,
Last night faeries frolicked there
And they're sleeping somewhere near.
If you see a tiny faery,
Lying fast asleep
Shut your eyes
And run away,
Do not stay to peek!
Do not tell
Or you'll break a faery spell.

~ William Shakespeare ~


* This is a sign of the times, I think, that something in US air space can turn out to be "just" a Russian space rocket.
** What IS a nick of time? Anyone know the origin?
*** Not her real name.