The Bean and the Dragon

Blue Bean

Shelly fluttered her wings to land carefully on the pillow next to the sleeping child, stumbling in the softness as she did. She flailed her arms to avoid falling head-over-heels into the girl's face. Barely saving herself, she huffed out a grateful breath.

I don't know why I let Pinkly convince me to take her shift as the tooth fairy. I'm a messenger! This is hard! she complained to herself as she reviewed the list. According to it, Audrey Green was the girl's name, and Shelly marked her off before digging the big coin out of her special pouch. The shiny metal disk was heavy, much more so than the magic beans she usually carried, but her bag allowed her to carry as much as she wanted. Thank the stars for magic! Shelly thought with gratitude.

She clutched the money to her chest and looked around for the child's tooth, spying it on the bed, nearly under the pillow. Gingerly, she climbed down to the funny-looking thing, stuffed it into her bag, and left the coin in its place. There. Last one!

Audrey mumbled in her sleep, and Shelly froze. Of all things, she didn't need the trouble of being seen by a human. When the child rolled over away from her, she sagged in relief. She fluttered her wings and turned to take flight, but her heart skipped a beat as she came nose-to-nose with the family dog. He was white with black and brown patches and floppy ears.

Shelly squealed in fright, pinwheeling back from the horrid creature. Dogs, notoriously, did not like magic or magical creatures. And certainly not fairies. The mutt growled, a sound that rumbled deep in its chest.

"Shh!" Shelly urged, gesturing for the canine to be quiet. She glanced at Audrey, who seemed to stir. "Who's a good boy?" she whispered to the pup as she backed up slowly. "You're a good boy!" She scowled. "Aren't you?"

He barked loudly, and Shelly stumbled backward, falling to land on her butt and spilling her bag's contents consisting of coins, makeup, several boxes to be delivered, and many pieces of mail. "Oh! You!" she shot at the animal. Before he could bowl her over again, she hopped up and grabbed her bag, frantic to stuff all the items back in it.

"Charlie?" Audrey said, half asleep and yawning.

The dog woofed and wagged his tail.

"What are you barking at?"

Shelly's eyes widened at the sight of Audrey moving. She ran to the edge of the bed, launched herself off into the air, and flew for all she was worth toward the window.

The dog followed, scrambling to snap at her, but Shelly was just fast enough, zig-zagging along the way to avoid the dog's wrath. She made it, by some miracle, to the windowsill and slipped through the crack. She panted, her heart racing as she flew off into the moonless night.

The dog humphed one last time before trotting back to his human, tail high and wagging. She was sitting up, rubbing her eyes, and he snuffled around to root out the source of the offending magic he smelled. It didn't take long to find it: a bean.

It was blue and about the size of a thumbnail. It had spots, and to him, stank something horrible. He was just about ready to roll the thing off the bed when Audrey spotted it.

"Whatcha got there, Charlie?" she asked, plucking the bean right from under his nose.

He woofed softly at her and wagged his tail, hoping for the ear skritches she gave him absentmindedly as she studied what she had found.

She gasped when she realized what she had. "Where'd you get this from?" she demanded.

He sat and cocked his head.

Audrey, realizing what she'd discovered, jumped from the bed and shouted, "Jane! Jane, look what I found! It's a bean!"

Her small stockinged feet propelled her toward her sister's bed on the other side of the room. Jane was still asleep; she could sleep through anything. Audrey shook her. "Jane! Wake up! I've got a bean, just like cousin Jack!"