Ophelia's garden

word count 1470

My name is Ophelia. But everyone calls me Sunny. My mom named me after a classic play by Shakespeare. She says everyone should have a name that means something. That’s why I like Sunny. It either means I am nice and warm like the sun or at least that I like to be out in the sun, which I do.

Oh, I forgot to tell you the most important thing about me. I am a fairy. I live in some nice people’s backyard. I don’t think they know I live here but they have a nice garden by a little pond. It is almost perfect except they don’t have any water lilies and they have two cats. I hear the man talking to the cats. He calls them Tom and Tiger. The man takes them for a walk every evening. They follow him around the yard. During the day time they lie in the grass and try to catch birds or squirrels. Sometimes they do catch a bird or a mouse but usually the birds get away.

The cats see me sometimes but if I hide under a leaf or stand still when they look at me then they don’t try to catch me. Of course I can fly to so maybe they think I am a butterfly and I have never seen them chase a butterfly.

My wings are sort of see through. They are blue and green kind of like a dragonfly’s wing. When the sun shines on my wings I get all sparkly. Maybe that's why I like the sun. It makes my wings look like they have lots of colors instead of just blue and green. I like my wings better than birds with feathers but there are some butterflies that have much prettier wings.

My mother says I should be careful because the cats might decide they want to eat me, but I don’t think I would taste very good.

I have brownish red hair and freckles on my nose. My mom says that the freckles are because I don’t have sense enough to stay out of the sun. The sun feels so good on my face in the morning. My mother always uses a leaf or a flower for a parasol for shade.

The pond has some tall grass around the back and some flowers on the sides.Some of the flowers are very pretty. There are Iris, Lillies, Violets and Lobelia. Sometimes butterflies or hummingbirds come to get drinks from the pond. At night deer come down from the woods to get drinks. I have seen a few raccoons but they aren’t very friendly. The butterflies are polite but they pretty much ignore us fairies. Every once in a while a nice butterfly or moth will stop to talk for a minute. The hummingbirds are way to busy to stop for any one but they always say hello and goodbye. The dragonflies are my favorite. They stop and sit on leaves so we can chat. Sometimes if they aren't busy and we ask nicely they will give us a ride.

Sometimes the people have children there. They used to come more often but I think they are getting older and visiting isn’t as much fun. There was a beautiful little girl. She had golden hair. I wanted to play with her. She had little dolls that were the same size as me. I think she lived there but then she stopped being there so much so maybe they went some place else and now when she comes she is bigger. She doesn’t play with dolls any more and she comes out later in the day. She used to get in the big pool that the people call a hot tub. The lady and she used to get in it in the morning. She called the lady Grandma. Then the lady she called Mother brought a baby. The baby was so cute. She could hardly walk but she would wobble all over the yard. Sometimes she would fall down and get right back up. My mother says people often have more than one child but fairies are happy if they get even one. The baby could see me and sometimes she would try to chase me. I had to stay up a little higher so she couldn't grab me; I was afraid she would tear my wings when she grabbed me.

That baby got older and now she is a little girl. She comes sometimes to visit now. She is beautiful too. And she has freckles like me. She likes to play outside. There is a grape arbor and she likes to play there. She can hide between the grapevines and play house. I would really like to play with her but mother says if the people see me they will want to put me in a jar like grasshoppers or lightning bugs. . I saw the girls put grasshoppers in jars before. They punched holes in the top of the lid for air and tried to feed the grasshoppers leafs. Then at night when they went in to go to sleep, they let the grasshoppers out. Ugh, I sure don’t want to live in a jar even for a day

Yesterday, I was swimming in the pond with my friend, Johnny. He is a fairy too. His family lives in the front garden there isn’t a pond there but there are lots of flowers and a big pine tree. We were splashing and having a good time. The man came out and the cats came with them. Johnny had never been in the pond when the cats came out and didn’t know they could see him. So he kept splashing until I got his attention and warned him.

The cat called Tom came down to the water and looked in the pond. He put his paw in the water. He tried to reach Johnny. Johnny swam out a little further. The cat looked like he wanted to dive in. I was so scared. I could see the cat’s whiskers and even feel his breath but I knew if I held still he couldn’t see me. The man called to the cat.He even came over to see what the cat was doing. He didn’t see us. He said “stupid cat” then walked away. The cat kept watching the water. The cat doesn’t like water so he wouldn’t jump in. He lay down in the grass by the pond.

Then a bird flew by and the cat tried to run after him. I was glad to see the cat leave. I told Johnny we should still be very careful. We floated very still until we could get to the end of the pond then we hid in a flower pot. When we saw both cats far away on the other side of the yard we flew to the front of the house.

I was very hungry after all that. Johnny said we should go get some berries. There are some berry bushes by one of the buildings that the man called Grandpa goes in a lot. He has some tools and stuff in there. We had a big berry for lunch. It was so good but messy. Then we played in the rose bushes because the cats were lying on the deck by the pond watching the man.

Later a dragon fly came by and went to the birdbath for a drink. We ran over and asked him for a ride. He flew us all over the yard. We went really high. It was so much fun.

Then Johnny’s mom called him to come home. She had some chores for him. So I went home too. My mom didn’t have any chores but she was cleaning the house so I helped her. I used a little pine branch to sweep the floor. We have a really nice house. It is made from an old flower pot that is turned up side down. The peerson called Grandma says it is so frogs can have a home since it is cracked and not good for flowers, but I think it is perfect for us. We use flowers for pillow and they smell wonderful. I have a nice soft leaf for a cover. I found some acorns; the caps make wonderful bowls. Sometimes we find little things like thread spools for a table or buttons for dishes. My mom says I have bright eyes which mean I see little things which are on the ground.

I really hope the little girls come to visit this summer because I love watching them. Sometimes Johnny and I find little things they leave in the yard. Until they come though, I will still have fun watching the man and lady and their cats.