The Fairy-Tale Matchmaker (14 page)

“Worms!” said James.

“Do you think my fish would eat a worm if I put it in their tank?” Steven said as the boys ran to look for containers.

Cory was still trying to figure out how to get the jars to the girls when the boys returned. “Good!” she said, seeing how much they had brought back. “Each of you choose one of your sisters. Start walking toward her while collecting all the worms in front of you. When you reach your sister, give her a container so she can start picking them up, too. Try not to step on the worms. Joey, you stay with me. We'll start collecting in that direction,” Cory said, pointing away from the girls.

“I have squished worm on my shoes!” cried Heather.

“Just don't step on any more,” said Cory. “We'll clean your shoes off later.”

“Why should we collect worms?” Sarah Beth wailed. “I don't want to touch them. They're gross! Some of them are huge!”

“These worms are worth money, especially the big ones,” said Cory. “They're night crawlers. The fishermen who pass by here might buy one cup of lemonade, but they'll buy a lot of worms. If you want to make some money, here's a great way to do it!”

“Oh!” said Heather, looking at the worms as if they might not be disgusting after all. “Maybe I could make enough money for that bracelet I wanted. Quick, James! Hand me that jar!”

The children collected the worms as quickly as they could. The girls picked them up gingerly at first, but
the more they collected, the easier it became. After a while it grew into a competition, seeing who could collect the most worms, or the biggest worms, or even the grossest worms before they slipped back into the mud. By the time all the cans and boxes and jars were full, the only worms that Cory could see were the ones that the girls had stepped on as they ran out the door.

The day was hotter now than it had been when they had started selling lemonade. It had already dried out the dead worms as well as the girls' clothes and hair. Cory had everyone put their containers of worms on the lemonade stand, then sent them back to the house to brush their hair and wash their hands. “Leave your shoes outside so I can clean them!” she told the girls.

Steven was the first one to come back out. “I'm going to make a new sign,” he announced.

While Cory cleaned the shoes the best she could, Steven found a large leaf and a small jar of paint.
WORMS FOR SALE
! read the sign when he was finished. He took the lemonade sign down and propped the worm sign up in front of the stand, angling it so people coming toward the lake could see it.

When the stand was ready, Steven sat down beside Cory. They sold the first worms before the girls came back outside. By the time they sold the last worms, the children's mother was walking down the street.

“Thank you so much for watching the children!” she told Cory. “I work in the Clinic for Ailing Fey and I can't take time off when the school closes. How much do I owe you?”

Cory told her a lower rate than she would anyone else. It didn't make sense to help the family raise money, then take it all away. She thought about not taking anything, but they would probably consider it charity and she doubted they would accept it.

The children clustered around as Cory said good-bye to Gladys. “We want you to come back,” said Sarah Beth.

“And bring your woodchuck,” Heather told her. “I've never seen a pet woodchuck before.”

“I will,” said Cory. “As soon as your mother needs me again.”

“Finally, a babysitter that they actually like!” said Gladys.

That evening Cory flew to the Shady Nook, wearing her blue dress and the new pebble-gray shoes she'd bought on the way home from babysitting. She'd bought a fresh-cream-colored pair as well and had set it high on a shelf in her room where even the most determined woodchuck couldn't reach.

When Cory stepped into the restaurant, Marjorie
was already there, seated at a table by the window. Marjorie looked up and smiled as Cory took a seat across from her. “Oh, good. You're here! Jack Horner came over and introduced himself when he heard that I was in your party, but he was called away. He said he'd be right back.”

“That's fine. It gives us a chance to talk first,” said Cory. “How have you been? Are the spiders still as bad?”

“Worse!” said Marjorie. “Oh, it's not like they try to bite me or anything, but they're forever getting into things and stealing my possessions. Why, just this morning one stole my cereal bowl while I was still eating! They're making it nearly impossible for me to get any work done. As soon as I set down an ink stick, they take it!”

Cory thanked the waiter as he filled her glass with water. “I probably should have asked before this, but what kind of work do you do?” she asked when they were alone again.

“I'm a writer,” said Marjorie. “I write big books with lots of pictures. You've seen some of them at my house.”

“You mean you wrote the books that you use to smash spiders?”

“I did,” Marjorie replied. “Although that wasn't why I wrote them, but they do work very well, don't you
think? So tell me about yourself. What have you been up to since I saw you last?”

“I've been doing odd jobs like house-sitting, doing inventory, mowing lawns … Actually, things would be going pretty well if it weren't for the Tooth Fairy Guild. They keep trying to sabotage my work. Today they made it rain while I was babysitting. Then they had worms come out all over the ground. You should have seen it. There were worms everywhere!”

“So … you had to stay inside?”

“Not at all! I had the children collect the worms in jars and sell them to fishermen. They made quite a bit of money.”

Marjorie clapped her hands and grinned. “What a good idea! I never would have thought of that!”

Cory glanced up when Jack Horner took one of the empty seats. “Very few fairies would have,” he said. “Most would have found it discouraging.”

“I got the idea from a former employer named Suzy,” Cory told them. “The TFG sent a huge swarm of crabs onto her property while I was there. Suzy filled a tub with the ones she caught so she could eat them later.”

“And why is the Tooth Fairy Guild doing this exactly?” Jack Horner asked.

“Because Cory quit being a tooth fairy,” said Marjorie. “Apparently, the guild doesn't take rejection well.”

Cory wasn't sure she wanted everyone to know what was happening between her and the guild. Telling her friend was one thing, but she regretted sharing the story with someone she barely knew. “Didn't you say that you were going to invite a friend who had just moved back to town?” Cory asked Jack, hoping to change the subject.

“I did,” Jack told them as he turned to look around. “He should be here soon.”

“Where do bands set up when they play in the restaurant?” asked Cory.

“You can't see it from here, but there's a raised platform in the back of the room. Don't worry, there will be plenty of space for your band.”

Marjorie set down her water glass. “Is Zephyr going to play in the Shady Nook? Oh, Cory! That's wonderful!”

“I spoke with your bandleader, Olot, today,” Jack told Cory. “You're scheduled for this coming Friday.”

“I can't wait!” cried Marjorie.

“Wait for what? Me?” said a thin young man whose blond hair covered his eyes. He shook his head, flicking his hair back for a moment, revealing eyes of an intense blue.

“I'd like to introduce you young ladies to my friend, Tom Tom,” said Jack Horner. “He's been away from town for a few years and just returned last week.”

Tom Tom
, thought Cory.
Where have I heard that name before?
“Oh!” she said as she remembered suddenly. “You're Gladys's son! The one who stole a pig!” As soon as she'd said it, Cory wished she hadn't. Jack Horner glanced at her in surprise while Marjorie's eyes went wide. Tom Tom's reaction was the strongest; his face turned red and he glared at her, saying, “Where did you hear that?”

“From your mother,” said Cory. “I babysat your brothers and sisters today.”

“That figures!” he said with a forced laugh, making an obvious effort to control his temper. “My mother gets everything wrong.”

“You mean you weren't in jail for stealing a pig?” asked Marjorie.

“Not at all. I was in prison for kidnapping a talking pig. I
thought
I was stealing a normal pig until he started screaming and carrying on. I did it on a dare when I was in Junior Fey School. I've spent the last five years in prison, which turned out to be a lot like school. I earned a degree in roadside maintenance, and another in library science.”

“That means he worked on the road crew and in the prison library,” said Jack.

Tom Tom nodded. “Yes, but they taught us how to do it the correct way and we really did earn certificates.
I was lucky. I found a job when I got out and I really like the work, although it wasn't the kind of work I'd planned to do. To get the best jobs, you need to train for them in Junior Fey School, do an apprenticeship, and stick with it for the rest of your life. Look at Jack here. He always knew he wanted to be a chef and own a restaurant.”

“That's true,” said Jack. “When I was a little boy, I wanted to make the best pastries in the world. I studied to be a chef in school, did an apprenticeship with the Sprats, and opened Perfect Pastry a year later. Two years after that I opened the Shady Nook.”

“What about you, Marjorie?” asked Tom Tom.

“I always wanted to write books. I studied writing in school, worked with Mother Goose for my apprenticeship, then started writing my own books.”

“See what I mean!” said Tom Tom. “And you, Cory?”

“I was in the pre–tooth fairy program in school and did my apprenticeship with them when I got out.”

“So you're a tooth fairy now?” asked Tom Tom.

“I was … until I quit. Now I'm trying to decide what it is I really want to do.”

“Why would you quit a great career like that?” asked Tom Tom. “The big guilds have the best jobs.”

“I quit because it wasn't right for me,” Cory said. “I hated it and couldn't see myself doing it for the rest of
my life. I want to help people, but I didn't feel as if I was really helping anyone. I think you should enjoy what you do. Look at Jack and Marjorie. They both love what they're doing.”

“We're talking about you, not them,” said Tom Tom. “You quit when it got too hard! I don't have any sympathy for someone who throws away a good job when some people have a hard time finding any job at all.”

“But if it isn't right for you …”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you. So, Marjorie, what kind of books do you write?”

Cory sat back in her seat, stunned. Not only was Tom Tom exceedingly rude, she was afraid he might be right.

Cory was in a bad mood the next morning, which got even worse when she received a message from Marjorie before breakfast.

“She was bored!” Cory muttered. “I wish I could say the same.” Instead she had been angry at Tom Tom for being rude, at Jack for bringing him along, and at herself for wondering if Tom Tom was right, at least in some small part. After sitting there getting madder the more she thought about it, she had finally made her excuses and left. Marjorie had ignored her unspoken invitation to leave with her, so Cory had assumed that her friend was having a good time. Maybe it hadn't been so good after all. And now Marjorie wanted to meet someone else.

Cory sighed. She'd thought she'd seen them in a vision, but apparently her visions weren't any better now than they had been when she was younger.

Ping!
Another message appeared in the basket.

“Who could it be this time?” she murmured.

Cory had no idea where Winding Way was located, so she found the basket where her uncle kept his maps and shuffled through them until she found one of the area. It took her a while to find Winding Way, a twisty,
turny road a good distance outside of town. After studying the map, Cory decided that it was going to take her at least two hours to get to Stella's home—an hour to get ready and an hour to fly there.

She sent a message to the woman.

I'll be there in two hours.

Corialis Feathering

To her surprise, Noodles was more cooperative than usual and she was able to leave earlier than she'd expected. With the map's directions in mind, Cory flew above the trees, following some easily seen roads. She was partway there when the sky grew dark and it began to rain.

Raindrops that she'd barely notice when human size felt like someone was hitting her with baseballs when she was the size of a flower fairy. Larger raindrops hurt even more. When the first drops fell, Cory darted into the shelter of a maple tree, hiding under one of the leaves. The rain lasted only a few minutes before it stopped and she was able to get on her way again. Three miles down the road, the wind picked up suddenly, blowing her half a mile off course before she was able to take refuge in a flowerpot lying on its side in someone's yard. The wind died down as soon as it could no longer
blow her around. Cory started to fly again, but the rain began only a few minutes later.

This time Cory landed, turned back into her human size, and reached into her pocket. She took out her pedal-bus token and rubbed it until it glowed. The bus arrived a few minutes later. When Cory climbed on, everyone was complaining about the sudden rain shower. The rain stayed with them as they pedaled through the countryside. They stopped twice to pick up more passengers. Two fairies got on near a field of sunflowers, already talking about the sudden rainstorm that had started as the bus pulled up. When a gnome who got on near his hollow tree said the same thing, Cory began to wonder if the rain was following her. She was tempted to tell the other passengers what she suspected, but her stop was next and she got off, certain they would figure it out if the rain stayed with her.