The Fairy-Tale Matchmaker (16 page)

Her grandmother tapped the spoon on the edge of the pot and turned to face Cory. “Really? Your mother said you quit the Tooth Fairy Guild. It seems to me that you have a great deal to work out.”

“I'm fine with what I did. I'm not going back!” Cory cried, glaring at her mother.

“Now, Cory, you're being unreasonable,” said Delphinium. “You must realize by now that you're never going to get anywhere doing what you're doing.”

“What's she doing?” Grandmother demanded.

“I'm helping people,” said Cory.

Delphinium sighed. “She's doing odd jobs, working for anyone who will pay her.”

“And what's wrong with that?” asked Cory. “They're respectable people and I'm doing respectable work!”

“What did you do today?” asked her grandmother.

“I helped a woman can beans,” said Cory.

Her grandmother raised one thin eyebrow. “And you're making a career out of this?”

“I'm doing it until I find exactly what I want to do with my life.”

“And how long will that take?” asked her mother. “You're never going to find a career better than one at the Tooth Fairy Guild!”

Throwing her hands in the air, Cory said, “You really don't listen to me, Mother! I've told you time and again that the TFG is not for me. That's enough. I'm not talking about this anymore. Good-bye, Grandmother. I'm sorry I can't stay for supper.”

Cory turned on her heel and left the room, but her mother and grandmother continued talking in voices loud enough that she could still hear them.

“She's just as stubborn and opinionated as her grandfather,” her grandmother declared. “The whole time you knew him, he never would back down or change his mind.”

“I know,” said Delphinium. “I don't think I ever heard him admit that he was wrong. Now you see what I've had to deal with! Cory doesn't seem to understand that she's never going to amount to anything this way. I've tried to appease the TFG, but there won't be any stopping them if she doesn't return to them soon.”

“It's your fault, you know. You never should have let it happen,” Cory's grandmother declared. “You're her mother and you were her mentor. She lived in your house, yet you let her quit!”

“I didn't
let
her quit, Mother …”

“Uncle Micah, I'm going home. You're welcome to stay here if you want,” Cory told him.

“I guess I will,” said her uncle. “They're only just getting started with this fight. I should probably stick around to patch up the bruised egos when it's over.”

Cory didn't have any plans for the next day other than to put her mother's nagging out of her mind. It had preyed on her all the way home and kept her awake long into the night. She knew she shouldn't let it bother her, but it soured her mood and made her snap at Noodles when he nibbled her toes, something that didn't usually bother her.

Cory was pouring milk on her bowl of mixed grain and nuts when her uncle stopped by the kitchen to say good-bye. He had gotten up early and already eaten his breakfast.

“When did Mother and Grandmother stop fighting?” Cory asked him.

“They didn't, as far as I know. They were still at it when I left.”

“Poor Grandfather,” said Cory. “I'm sure he has to listen to that kind of thing all the time.”

Micah shook his head. “Don't feel sorry for him. I think he's gotten good at tuning it out. It just becomes so much background noise after a while. So, what are you doing today?”

“Looking through the paper to see if anyone wants help with a project, I suppose,” said Cory. “I am meeting a lot of interesting people this way.”

Her uncle leaned down to give her a kiss on her cheek. “In that case, I hope something good turns up.”

Cory waved as Micah left the room. She was reaching for the paper he'd left on the table when she heard the front door close and her uncle begin to whistle a tune. “I'm glad someone around here is happy.”

Cory frowned when she opened the paper. Another picture of Santa Claus crowned the front page. Underneath it was an editorial saying that Santa Claus had no right to complain about the paparazzi. Public figures as prominent as Santa should expect to be under public scrutiny all the time, even when they were on vacation.

Cory didn't agree. As far as she was concerned, everyone should have some time to relax without anyone pestering them. She was studying the picture when it occurred to her that what Santa needed was something more private, like a vacation home. And she knew
precisely which one. It didn't take her long to write a message.

To her surprise, Santa Claus sent her a reply only a few minutes later.

She was returning to the kitchen when she heard a
ping!
behind her. It was Mrs. Dumpty wanting her to babysit Humpty again. Cory was pleased. She liked Humpty and would enjoy spending the day with him.

Cory had just entered her newest appointment in the notebook when she heard yet another message arrive.
Taking the notebook with her, she went back into the main room to fetch the message.

Cory reread the note. She wasn't sure what to do. Finding the right person for Marjorie hadn't gone very well so far. The poor girl hadn't met anyone she wanted to see more than once, and Cory's visions hadn't been a bit of help. Oh, well. At least Marjorie was meeting eligible young men, which was all she'd really asked for.

Although Cory had never met Priscilla Hood, she didn't know of any reason why she couldn't try to help Marjorie's friend the way she was helping Marjorie. Cory seemed to be meeting more eligible bachelors all the time. Perhaps one of them would be the perfect match for Marjorie or her friend. After a few messages back and forth, Cory and Priscilla agreed to meet the next morning.

Mrs. Dumpty met Cory at the door, holding a finger to her plump red lips. “My little angel is taking a nap,” she said in a loud whisper. “You can sit in the main room while he sleeps. He'll come find you when he wakes up. Have fun!”

As soon as Cory stepped inside, Humpty's mother scurried out the door, her purse over her arm. Cory shut the door behind her, then went to check on Humpty. He was asleep on his bed clutching a stuffed toy mouse. Reassured that her charge was all right, Cory made her way to the main room.

Although the room was a little too yellow for her taste, it was pleasant enough and the upholstered chairs all looked very comfortable. Taking a seat on an overstuffed chair in the corner, she spotted a pile of books on the table beside it. The biggest book on the bottom caught her eye, although it wasn't the title as much as the author that she found interesting.
One Hundred and One Unusual Insects and Where to Find Them
had been written by Marjorie Muffet.

The book was filled with brightly colored illustrations and descriptions of how and where Marjorie had found each subject. Some of the descriptions were fascinating and showed that sweet little Marjorie wasn't afraid to travel in very unusual places. One butterfly could be found only on the milkweed plants that grew
outside a minotaur's cave. A certain kind of mantis lived in the grasslands where griffins hunted their prey. Mosquitoes as big as her hand swarmed in the forests where the Sasquatch roamed. None of them looked like places that Cory would want to visit.

Cory was leafing through the book when she came across a picture of the spiders that overran Marjorie's house. According to the caption, Marjorie had come across them in the deepest, darkest part of the Enchanted Forest while researching another book she had written titled
Odd and Unusual Creatures I Have Known
. Was it possible that the spiders had hitchhiked back in Marjorie's luggage?

Cory was flipping through the book when she heard a sound in the back of the house. Thinking that Humpty had woken from his nap, she set the book down and hurried to his bedroom. His door was open and his bed was empty. “Humpty!” Cory called. “Where are you?”

Cory searched the house from top to bottom, looking under beds, in closets and cupboards, behind doors, inside a clothes hamper, and on the top shelf of the linen closet without any luck. When she was sure that Humpty wasn't in the house, she went outside to search the yard. She looked in the trees and under the trees, behind the shrubs and in the shrubs, on the wall across the street and behind the wall across the street in case he had
climbed up and fallen off the other side. She was looking behind the garden shed when she heard giggling and glanced up to find Humpty peeking down at her.

“What are you doing there?” she asked, craning her neck to peer up at him.

“Waiting for you to find me,” the little boy replied. “I want you to come up here.”

“Not today,” Cory told him. “Today I want to play down here.”

“I don't wanna,” Humpty replied, dragging his stuffed toy mouse off the shed roof and hugging it to his chest.

“That's a very nice mouse,” said Cory. “Can I see it?”

“You can if you come up here,” said Humpty.

“I have some mice at my house,” Cory said. “They live in a cage in my bedroom.”

“Really?” said Humpty. “Are they real mice? The kind that squeak and run around?”

Cory nodded. “Yes, they are. I think you would like them very much. There are three of them and they're awfully cute,” she told him in a very soft voice. “All three are brown, but one has a white spot on its chest.”

“What did you say?” Humpty shouted. “I want to hear about the mice.”

“And one has longer whiskers than the others,” Cory continued, her voice so soft it was almost a whisper.
“But do you know what makes them different from any other mice I've ever seen?” she asked.

“What is it? What are you saying?” Humpty cried. “Hold on, I want to hear this!”

Cory watched as the little boy scrambled off the roof and down the ladder he had propped against the side. He scurried over to sit beside Cory and poked her in the ribs. “Tell me about the mice. I want to hear everything.”

Cory repeated everything she had said, finishing with, “They are different from any other mice I have ever seen, because all three are blind and don't have any tails.”

“Wow!” Humpty said. “I'd like to see a mouse like that! Could I see one? Could you bring one here?”

“If you are very good, and listen to me today, and don't try to climb anymore, I'll see if I can bring all three the next time I come. In the meantime, why don't you help me think of names for them?”

“I can do that!” said Humpty. “We can call one Fuzzy, or Tiger or Giggles or …”

Cory and Humpty were still sitting in the grass talking about the mice when his mother returned home. She seemed delighted to find them there and handed Cory some money even as she thanked her over and over for keeping Humpty on the ground.

“He was a very good boy today,” Cory said as Humpty ran into the house with a small toy flower-fairy cart that his mother had just bought him. “The next time I come, he wants me to—”

Mrs. Dumpty started to back away. “Excuse me, but I've got to run inside. I don't want Humpty to play with that cart on my good furniture. It has water in a little toy barrel and he … Never mind! I'll see you next time! I'm sure whatever you want to do will be just fine!”

“—bring some mice,” Cory finished, her voice fading away as Mrs. Dumpty dashed into the house.

It was late afternoon when Cory returned home to find another message waiting for her. A woman named Mary Mary needed some help with odd jobs. She wrote that she wanted to come by to discuss the jobs and talk about the fee. Cory felt a sense of satisfaction as she sent her a confirmation for a meeting the next morning. She'd had a good day with more work headed her way. She was making more money than she'd ever made as a tooth fairy while actually helping people. Delphinium might not like what her daughter was doing, but for once Cory could say that she was enjoying her work.

Cory was up early the next day and dressed for her first meeting before her uncle Micah had even left the house. While waiting for Mary Mary to arrive, Cory washed the breakfast dishes, stood outside waiting for Noodles to finish snuffling around the yard, then went inside to tidy the main room.

Noodles was asleep in the kitchen when Mary Mary arrived. Although Cory had no idea what her visitor looked like, she didn't expect the stern-faced woman who knocked on the door. Mary Mary was older than Cory's own mother and looked as if she had never smiled in her whole life. Her eyes were a cold gray and her handshake was just as chilly.