Fantamasia

Preme-Fligger Flagger and the Register

It was around eleven in the morning when I woke up; watching a butterfly near me, soak the nectar out of the poppy flower, planted around the tree which I had used to lean on to. As I made my way to the park I saw Jolene writing marks on a huge file filled with papers. I would have gone up to her and asked what she was doing, but my stomach insisted that I go and have breakfast first.

 Just as I was buttering my toast with marmalade I saw a huge shadow cast on the ground only to see a bright coloured bird soaring through the sky, its claws clutching to something very firmly. At that exact point I saw Jolene who had been running after the bird crying ‘Get back here! I need my papers.’ I rushed to help her, made her sit down and tried to make her drink a glass of water. I heard Professor Mufti mutter ‘Preme-Fligger Flagger’ underneath his breath. ‘What?’ I asked him loudly to tell him to spill the beans. ‘Preme –Fligger Flagger. It had long been extinct but I guess this one is the last of its race but then again I might have been mistaken’. Now that Jolene had cooled down she asked Professor Mufti where its nest was. He rubbed his chin as though he was a poet or actor which led me to let out a giggle. ‘The only answer to that is to follow the bird.’ She was quiet for a moment. ‘You all would actually help me get my register back?’ she said in barely a whisper. ‘That is a question not worth answering because the answer is too obvious’ I smiled at her ‘so what are you all doing staring at me? Come on we have a bird to catch!’ I said enthusiastically spreading bolts of excitement everywhere.

It was dusk now and the orange sun slowly changed to a light hazy pink, making the clouds have a tinge of orange and pink and some crimson in between. For more help I texted Dad to ask about Preme-Fligger Flaggers’ only to get back a riddle saying: “Don’t make the Horse go to the water; Make the water come to the horse”. That made no sense so I showed it to the Professor who said that it could mean that we would have to take things gradually. I wasn’t sure if that was the correct meaning but it could have been very close so I kept my mouth shut. As I watched Jolene making notes of all the details she had learnt about Preme-Fligger Flaggers’ I felt a pang of pain in my heart.

It had suddenly dawned on me that Jolene had almost the same features as my mother. . She turned to me and said ‘is everything alright Lily? You seem a little down in the dumps. You can talk to me if you like. The best way to handle sadness is just to let it go'. And as if Harry Potter had cast a spell on me from his magical flying car which I knew must have been in the invisibility mode right now, I told her everything... 

 '.. people would say that later on she would have to pass away but they- they had NO idea how much pain it was to let my mother leave from this world. She was my first friend, the first person to know me better than I know myself, she knew how to keep me out of harm's way, to tell me even the hardest things in the calmest voice, she was the shore that I would search for when I was lost at sea, the light that beamed in the darkness, the reason to why the birds sang, to why everyone was in such a good mood, but most of all she was my mother and I could NEVER let her go. I shut my father out for a few days but when I opened the door to him, he shut me out for good.'  I tried to look somewhere else but the look on her face made it easier. I was sure she could understand how I felt. The smile she gave me made me feel much better.

My fingers put a strand of hair behind my ear; a smile danced on my lips; my ears heard the music that the wind sang and my eyes saw the adventure ahead of me. I felt the wind ruffle my hair, while the clouds floated majestically in thin air. As I watched the birds chirp each other good night I finally got the correct meaning of the riddle. ‘I got it!’ I cried going towards Professor Mufti

‘Professor, Do you remember how the riddle said: Don’t make the Horse go to the water; Make the water come to the Horse. Well I think that instead of us going to find the bird we should make the bird find us. Does that make sense?’ I wasn’t sure if my theory was correct but I had tried. ‘Kind of’ said Professor Mufti trying to remember which poet had said the line. I gave a weak smile and thought about further asking Dad what it meant.