"You're a person, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"The fairy queen knows all the people in her grove. If you came here with a group of school children and had a picnic, the fairy queen would know you all. She would visit you."
"Then why did I go inside the tree?"
"To see something new."
I was a little shocked. "Don't you have rules to keep intruders out of your tree?"
"I think you've been watching Avatar too often. We're not big blue people with a lot of secrets. We're fairies. Life is easy for us, and it doesn't matter who wants to know about us."
"You've seen Avatar?"
Thumbelina shrugged. "Sure."
"Did you like it?"
"It wasn't very funny. I liked the glowing plants, though."
I wanted to ask how often Thumbelina watches movies -- and where. Only, it was more important to ask about yesterday.
"Well, did the queen like me? Did I do ok on my interview?"
Thumbelina laughed in my face.
"It wasn't a job interview."
"I know."
"The queen just wanted to know you better."
"Then I passed?" I wasn't sure what to make of this. I was trying really hard to get rid of whatever attitude I had from watching Avatar.
"You've also been in school too much."
"Ok. Maybe it wasn't about passing." I had to pause for a confusing second. "What was the point of the interview, then?"
"I told you. Just talking. Think of fairy life as one big birthday party. Or maybe like summer camp. Or a family reunion. We're here to be friends -- you don't have to be one way or another to please the queen. We live in a good world. There's always plenty of food. We want to get some things done, but we also want to have a lot of fun."
It was disappointing. I wanted to be the human that finally made the big connection. The one who made the link between races easier. I wanted to bring new understanding. All those idealistic thing I've seen in culture-clash movies.
I didn't expect there would never be any clash.
So, where's the drama in this whole situation? If I don't have the chance to save anything or anybody, I can hardly be a hero, now can I? (I just read that last sentence again, and realized something important -- humans are so inclined to do a grand thing, we probably miss the value in the normal. -- Well, maybe that's true for humans who watch Avatar too much, anyway.)Fairies are apparently open minded enough to get to know an awkward human girl who's trying so hard to fit in, she's tripping all over herself.
Maybe the Wizard of Oz was my first big mistake of a movie. I approached the queen like Dorothy going to see the Wizard, when I should have been more like Sabrina going to see her crochet obsessed great aunt.
So, for everyone out there having a normal life and wondering when the drama will start: May your sunflower always shine.
-- Sabrina
Isn't she cute? She stole my tag line.
-- Fresh
