True or False:
George Washington had a fairy godfather.
Answer:
Duh. True. How else do you think he got across the Delaware River?
History was not my best subject at Riverside Elementary. My problem was that at the Fairy Academy we learned the same history, but we focused on how fairy godmothers and fairy godfathers were involved. For example, Thomas Jefferson had a really hard time writing the Declaration of Independence. This is understandable because it’s a pretty important document. It’s not like writing a grocery list where if you forget to put down a reminder to get cheese it will be a pain, but not a real problem. (Unless you were planning to have grilled cheese for dinner.) If you are writing a document that will make a whole nation free, you don’t want to leave any of the important bits out.
Thomas Jefferson’s fairy godfather was named Seamus Winkles. He had a very funny last name, but he did a great job on the Declaration. The part about all men being created equal? That was all Seamus’s doing. He also added the line about pursuing happiness being a right. Seamus was a very good writer.
Then there was Lucille King, Fairy Godmother Level 3, who helped the Apollo 11 mission land on the moon. Talk about complicated. We had whole chapters in our history books devoted to how this was the first time wishes had been granted in zero gravity.
It’s hard to pass a history class when you can’t remember the humdrum name involved and there wouldn’t be any extra credit points for knowing the fairy godmother. We were learning all about the Revolutionary War in class. Ms. Caul broke the class up into groups to work on a project.
Our group was going to make a map of how the United States looked back at the time of the war. We picked Katie to draw the outline of the map because she was the best artist in our class. Katie started by looking at the map in our textbook and then measuring the blank paper. She made small marks in pencil with her ruler.
“What’s taking so long? The rest of us have stuff to do too, you know,” Bethany complained.
“I have to make sure where everything goes before I start or else Maine will be huge, and there won’t be any room for New Hampshire.” Katie explained.
“Well, we better have time for me to do my part.” Bethany had volunteered to draw horses on our map. She said it was because George Washington liked horses, but we all knew it was because she was horse crazy. She had horses and unicorns on everything. I don’t want to be mean or anything, but even though Bethany thought she was great at drawing horses, she really wasn’t. Her horses all looked like cows. Cows with knobby knees.
“You can help me draw some horses if you want,” Bethany told Nathan.
“Nah. I’d rather draw the buildings.”
Bethany glared at me. It wasn’t my fault that Nathan wanted to draw buildings with me instead of her stupid cow horses.
“Nobody will get to draw anything if I don’t get this map right.” Katie started to outline the map. She stopped every few moments to check the pencil marks on the page and to consult our textbook.
“Everybody give her some space,” I waved my arms to clear some room around the table for Katie to work.
“It’s a shame Katie wasn’t at the slumber party this weekend with the rest of us. She could have helped draw people’s wedding dresses.” Bethany slapped her hand over her mouth as if the words had fallen out by accident. “Whoops. I forgot I wasn’t supposed to mention you were at the party.”
Katie turned to me. “What does she mean? I thought you were at your grandma’s on Saturday.”
“Um. I was going to go, but I ended up going there on Sunday instead.” I crossed my fingers hoping that Katie would let things drop there.
“So on Saturday night you were at Miranda’s slumber party?” Katie dropped her marker making a big black dot on our map paper.
“Sort of. I was going to tell you.” Everyone in our work group was silent watching Katie and me. Bethany was smiling.
“When?” Katie demanded.
“I didn’t say anything because I knew you weren’t interested in all the wedding stuff anyway. I went because Miranda wanted to show me her dress.”
Katie’s mouth was a straight line. I could tell she was really mad. “I can’t believe you lied to me.”
“If we don’t finish this map soon we’re not going to get our project done,” Nathan said. He was the only one who didn’t seem interested in all the drama.
Katie grabbed the pen and rushed through the rest of the map. It didn’t look very much like the United States. It looked more like an oozing outline of a fried egg.
“There’s your map.” Katie nearly threw the pen down onto the table. She sat down in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I’ll start on my horses now,” Bethany said. “Nathan, you can draw some buildings near them because they’ll need a stable.”
Nathan sighed and I thought I heard him mumble “girls” to Ryan, who was the only other guy working in our group.
“Are you mad?” I whispered to Katie.
She didn’t look over. She stared straight ahead.
“I was going to tell you. I really was.” She still wouldn’t look at me. “I didn’t even have that good of a time,” I said quietly so only she could hear me. “You’ll never guess what kind of sleeping bag Bethany has.” When she didn’t answer I kept talking. “It has unicorns all over it.” I snorted to show what I thought of a unicorn-covered sleeping bag.
“You shouldn’t talk about your best friends like that,” Katie said still looking straight ahead.
“Bethany isn’t my best friend. You are.”
Katie turned to look at me. “Really? I never would have guessed.”