We shrank way past gnat -- down to the size of a speck of dust. Thumbelina let me take a breather there because a human brain in such a tiny space is going to need acclimation time. When my vision returned, and my memories sorted themselves out a little, we got even smaller.
Whats about a tenth the size of a speck of dust? That's about how big I was. I was bigger than a bacteria -- those were about the size of lap dogs when I caught glimpses of them. On the other hand, I was small enough to squeeze between the dry pieces of cork cambium to get to the inside of the tree. (Go ahead and look on Wikipedia to find the parts I'm talking about -- I had to do a quick search to make the post accurate enough.)
I taught Thumbelina a new word: xylem. Maybe it will really catch on among the fairies. She seemed to like it. For some reason, I couldn't remember the name for the part of a plant that carries water down (phloem. I checked later.) But once we passed the easy-going flow of stuff headed down from the leaves to the roots, we got in a xylem, and I had the ride of my life. I was shooting up toward the top of the tree like a spit wad in a straw when Thumbelina started yelling at me.I couldn't hear her, and she streaked upward after me. Her wings are really versatile. I'll give her that. She got to where I was in just a couple of seconds, and yelled, "Spread your arms and legs unless you want to pop out the top of a leaf and evaporate into the air."
She got ahead of me and braced her adorable little knees and elbows against the walls of the tube to show me how to slow down. I copied her pretty well, but still ran into her -- head into teakettle. Oops. Fairies don't appreciate collisions. She gave me a little zap for a reminder. (Yes, fairies electrocute people -- I'm not a fan of the experience.)
Once we were slow enough in the tube, she explained that her job was to clear out mineral deposits that might block the passage of water in this tube. I helped out. It wasn't hard work, really.
At least not the first few hundred times.
Do you have any idea how many xylem vessels a tree has? Me neither. We had to quit when I couldn't hold the same size any more.
As fairies go, I'm totally sub par. Thumbelina thought she was doing me a favor giving me easy duty today. If she had done this chore alone, it would have been done before noon. I slowed her down so much she only got about a third of it done, and is going to finish up later.
Ok, so I'm worthless.
I'm taking another very long nap.
-- Sabrina
Fairy's note: She means well. I'll take her sight seeing soon.
May your lilac always lift your spirits.
-- Fresh
