My Fairy Godmonster (12 page)

I sigh, wishing I could look half as good as
she does.

Suddenly, Godzilla jumps to the dresser and
snatches the NTMT chip in one paw.

“Give that back,” hollers Fairy
Godmonster.

Meowrrr!

Godzilla snatches the chip in her mouth and
scrambles across the dresser.

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

“Quick, grab her!” yells Faro.

My hands slip off Godzilla’s silky tail. I
end up with a handful of fur.

The cat leaps to the floor.

Fairy Godmonster lunges after her.

CHIRP!

Godzilla swallows the chip and
disappears.

Chapter 18: Speed Bumps

“NOOOOOO! My clothes, my food, my exercise
machines!”

“Your whip,” I whisper in shock.

Fairy Godmonster’s eyes turn pink. She throws
herself on the bed. “They’ll expel me from Fairy Court if they hear
about this.”

“WHAT HAPPENED TO GODZILLA!?”

“She’s in the NTMT chip.”

“THE CHIP IS IN GODZILLA AND SHE’S GONE!”

“Oh, chill. It’s really a matter of
semantics. The nanoparticles in the NTMT chip have transferring
intelligence. There are safeguards against sintering. I’m sure the
quantum confinement cell enclosed Godzilla inside.”

“Is that good?” My legs wobble. I collapse on
the edge of the bed.

“It’s only a matter of time. Godzilla won’t
be able to digest the NTMT chip. When she poops, she’ll
reappear.”

“How long will that take?” I ask.

“One to four days. Of course, the poop will
still be invisible, except for the microscopic luster,” she
adds.

My head spins. “Four days?”

She nods.

I’m dead meat.

A car door slams.

“They’re back.” I stand up in panic and the
room swirls around. Fairy Godmonster

grabs me before I crash to the floor.

“Buck up. Quick. Let’s go.”

She hustles me out of the room. I start to
close the door.

“No. Leave it open a crack, to cover your
tracks. Get downstairs and pretend to be working.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I have to get the Luster Detector from my
motorcycle.”

“How will you find it at night?”

She rolls her eyes.

I forget about her X-ray vision.

“You can’t get downstairs in time,” I say in
panic.

She smiles. “I’ll climb out the attic window
and jump.”

My brain swirls and I want to throw up. “I
can’t get Kong out of here in time.”

“I’ll take him with me,” she says.

“He weighs a hundred-and-forty pounds!”

“I don’t lift weights for fun. Some of my
monster clients are huge. Now go!” She sprints for the attic.

“Wait!” I yell. “Here’s the key!” I throw it
to her.

The front door opens.

I run down the hall and eye the banister. I
jump on, sliding like a maniac. Faster and faster. The curve comes
sooner than I remember. My legs sail off. I fly through the air.
Hit the back of the sofa, roll over the wedding presents and crash
to the floor. I stand up and try to look casual, heart hammering in
my chest.

John and Claire walk into the room.

Claire hands me a milkshake. “The house looks
wonderful.”

“You did a great job,” adds John.

I cross my legs to stop them from
shaking.

“Thanks. Did you have a good dinner?”

John pats his stomach. “Delicious. For a
small town, you have a good selection of restaurants.”

“If you don’t mind, I need to get to bed
early,” I say.

“You earned it.” John smiles.

“David called while we were at the
restaurant,” Claire says. “He doesn’t know when he’ll be home. He’s
searching the city’s shops for enough benches.”

John laughs. “You’ll have to do with my
expertise in the morning.”

“I don’t expect you to help when David isn’t
here, John,” I say. “You’re company.”

“I need the workout. Can’t have you doing
everything alone, so I better go to bed. See you in the morning.
Goodnight.” John strides toward the den.

“‘
Night. Thanks.” I swallow
a gulp of chocolate shake to soothe my dry throat. It tastes like
mud.

Mr. Dudley saunters into the room. “I’m
impressed with your work ethic, young lady. Good job.”

Fairy Godmonster’s magic did the work. I
ignore the guilt. “Thanks for the milkshake, Mr. Dudley.”

“Least I could do.” His cell phone rings and
he excuses himself.

Weasel hovers in the doorway. “I wonder how
you accomplished so much in such a

short time.”

“Mother. That’s not nice,” Claire says in a
quiet voice.

Daria’s piercing screech fills the house.
Chills shiver all the way to my toes.

Weasel rushes to the stairs. Claire follows
her and I stumble after them.

Daria screams and runs down the stairs.
“G-Gazella’s gone!”

“Dear heavens!” exclaims Weasel. “The
mousetraps.”

“GAZELLA!” Daria heads for the kitchen.

“I put the mousetraps away after I caught the
mice, Mrs. Dudley.”

Weasel clutches her throat in silence.

Claire grabs her sister. “Calm down, Daria.
I’ll help you search the house. She has to be here somewhere.”

Daria points at me and screeches louder. “She
cleaned my room and left the door open.”

I tell the truth. “The cat was there the last
time I saw her.”

“We’ll find her.” Claire takes Daria’s hand.
“You get some sleep, Winifred.”

“Thanks. ‘Night.” I hurry up the stairs.
Fairy Godmonster left the key and I lock myself in the attic. I
plop down on the bed and stare at the ceiling. The hot tub
gurgles.

“Daria. Come back inside.” Mr. Dudley’s voice
booms through my open window.

“Gazella! Gazella, kitty, kitty!”

“Come in this house, young lady.”

“Daddy, she’s not in the house! She got
outside! She’ll die!”

“Cats are very good at hiding, Daria.
Besides, you can’t find a black cat in the dark. We’ll look in the
morning. Time for bed.”

“I can’t sleep without Gazella! She’s my only
friend!” Daria starts crying like her heart is breaking. Her sobs
get louder and then there is silence.

Mr. Dudley and Daria have gone inside, but
Daria’s cries still fill my mind. I know it’s not my fault that her
cat disappeared. What if Godzilla never comes back?

I roll over, totally lost. “Oh, Mom. What am
I going to do?”

The moon peeps over the windowsill and a beam
of light shines on Mom’s trunks.

I drag myself off the bed. With a shaky hand,
I slowly lift one lid and see Mom’s beautiful clothes. I search
through them carefully and go on to the next trunk. Under a pile of
books is a soft, leather diary with a single rose etched on the
cover. I hold my breath and open it. The title leaps out from the
lace-edged pages, “To Winifred, My Precious Daughter.”

Chapter 19: Do Not Pass - Discovery

The world seems to stop. All sound, all
feeling, everything. Moonlight softly shines on Mom’s words. I
touch them with my fingers. Tears slide down my cheeks. Questions
crowd into my mind. Why did she write to me? Did she know she was
going to die in childbirth? I turn the page.

“My darling Winifred. Please know that I love
you more than life itself. Even death can’t change that. If you are
reading this, then I didn’t survive your birth. The depth of my
grief is unfathomable. I am so sorry. For myself, but mostly for
you, your dad and David. I wanted to be with all of you more than
anything in the world.

“You have the right to know why this
happened. I imagine your dad won’t tell you. At least, not until
you are grown. He won’t want you to think that you are responsible
in any way. You are not! It will be hard on him, especially since
your brother is still a boy.

“I almost died when David was born. There was
no pain. Just an easy fading away. Hemophilia runs in our family,
but we had three generations without male children. Although I
don’t have the disease, I bleed more than normal in major
situations, like childbirth.

“I was never supposed to have another child.
As careful as we were, God had other plans and blessed me with
you.

“The doctors are taking every precaution to
insure our safety.

”For nine months, I will cherish every minute
we have together. David and I are making the garden for you. It
amazes me how smart he is. I will be watching to see how your gifts
bloom if I can’t be with you.”

The words blur with my tears. I can’t stop
crying. I don’t notice Fairy Godmonster is back until she takes me
in her arms.

“Let go, child.”

My whole body heaves with sobs. She holds me
for a long time. Until a great calm washes me with warmth and the
tears fade away.

“Let’s finish this together.”

We silently read page after page.

I laugh when Mom tells me how she locked
herself out of the house when she was twelve. She begged her mom to
let her stay alone, that she was mature enough to take care of
herself. She used a rope to shimmy down the chimney. When her
parents walked in the door, she and the living room were black with
soot.

I cry when the same house burns down and she
loses her best friend, the doll that knows her special secrets.

As Mom tells me about her life, the hole in
mine starts to fill. I get to know about her temper. Like mine! Her
parents, boyfriends, heartaches and joys. And her one great love,
my dad.

“I wish for you the same kind of man as your
dad, if you choose to marry. One who is gentle, giving, funny,
thoughtful and loving beyond all measure. No, he’s not an angel. He
sees only the good and sometimes lets people decide what they think
is best for him, to his detriment. Perhaps his biggest fault is in
giving too much to everyone and not saving enough for himself. For
then he gets angry inside and frustrated.”

I read with awe as Mom gives me all kinds of
advice that can help me for the rest of my life. It seems like only
minutes have passed when I reach the last page. I don’t want her
words to end.

“Be strong, but gentle, my Winifred.
Passionate and committed to your dreams. And remember above all
else, love is the most important essence in the world. Love
everything, for you are a special part of it. Especially - love
yourself. You are the only one like you in the world.

“I am always with you. I love you forever.
Mom.”

I close the cover on Mom’s precious words,
exhausted, but content. Gently placing the book back inside the
trunk, I put the broken horse next to it and close the lid.

Fairy Godmonster whispers, “You need to sleep
now.”

I nod.

She carries me to the bed and tucks me under
the covers. “Sweet dreams.”

I fall asleep instantly, not caring what
tomorrow brings.

Chapter 20: Watch Out For Animals

I float in a field of daisies with Mom. We
laugh and fall into the soft petals. She touches my face
gently.

The alarm screams at me.

Fairy Godmonster is on my usual side of the
bed. She turns it off, moaning, “How annoying.”

I savor the peace inside me. Content, for
once.

Fairy Godmonster sits up, still in her French
maid’s outfit. Her clothes look bedraggled, but somehow she
doesn’t.

“How do you feel?” she asks.

I sigh. “I had a dream about Mom.”

Fairy Godmonster smiles. “Cool.”

I climb out of bed and crash into her
motorcycle. Dragging myself off the floor, I ask, “When did you get
this up here?”

“When I flew in last night. A little tricky
getting it through the window.”

I look at the gouges and wheel marks on the
windowsill.

“No kidding.”

“If I ever get my whip back, I’ll fix
it.”

“Gazella, here kitty. Gazella!” Daria’s voice
filters in from the open window.

“The cat!” I exclaim.

“Chill. She’ll show up. Probably freaked by
now. We have to find her poop.”

“Won’t she use her litter box?”

“She’s kind of wandering around in limbo
until the chip is out of her.”

“How can we find it?”

Fairy Godmonster glides out of bed and takes
a small, silver cylinder from a compartment under the Harley’s
metallic black wings. It looks like a flashlight. Except that it
has three short rods that stick out of one end. She pushes a button
and the rods move in all directions, shooting out purple beams.

“Poop-finder extraordinaire.”

“How’s it work?” I wonder.

“This Luster Detector will find the surface
plasmon resonance of the poop. We can retrieve the NTMT chip inside
before anything happens to it.”

“Why can’t you detect it in Godzilla?”

“Her body has too much mass.”

“What if the cat appears when I’m outside
with the horses?”

“If necessary, I’ll sneak around the house
and look.”

“You can’t do that anymore!” I exclaim.

“I need that chip. You don’t think I’m going
to spend one second longer than I have to in these clothes?” she
huffs.

I plop on the bed, overwhelmed.

Fairy Godmother frowns. “Where is the spunk
that your mom gave you?”

I stiffen and jump off the bed. “I don’t want
to talk about her.” I dress quickly and head for the door.

She smiles. “Can you bring me some food after
stable chores?”

“I’ll add it to my list.” I rush out before
she can say anything.

The morning seems different. Maybe it’s me.
Can you grow up overnight? I think about Claire and wonder if I
should tell her what I know about her birth mother.

“Morning,” says John when I meet him in the
stable. “I fed the horses and let them out.

Hope you don’t mind.”

“Thanks. What would I do without you?”

“I don’t like seeing you work so hard. If I
didn’t have to study for my bar exams before David comes home, I’d
be helping you in the house.”