Reality can be beaten with enough imagination. - Mark Twain
"Don't let them get to you, Alvin. They don't know nothing about it!"
The boy looked up at Millie, face streaked with tears. She'd been nice to him since he arrived, ages ago, and Alvin thought she was very smart. After all, she was twelve, and he was only six. That didn't mean she was always right.
"But I don't know my real name! I am a dummy, like they said."
Millie just shook her head, scowling at the boys walking away. Grabbing Alvin's hand, she pulled him, none too gently, into the back garden. Plopping down in the tangle of tree roots, she took one last look around before turning back to him.
"Look, I think I know exactly what happened to you."
"You do?" Alvin's eyes got big in wonder. "How?"
"I know because my gramma told me about this stuff. She was from Ireland, y'know."
"What's Ireland?"
Millie huffed impatiently. "It's another country, across the ocean. That's not important. What's important is what she told me, about the wee folk. It explains everything about you."
" 'Wee folk'?"
"Fairies!"
"Ohhhh..."
Millie nodded. "Yep. You must've been stolen by the wee folk. They do that, y'know. Steal human babies and put their own in their place. Then they take the humans back to their lodges in the woods and raise them there. But then," she looked quickly around, "when the humans got old enough, they had to do chores all day and live on porridge and bread."
"But - "
"I know, you don't remember that. But I think - and it's the only thing that makes sense - is that you did the same thing with them that you do now. You wandered off. You were just lucky you ended up at the Church, or the fairies would have hauled you back and probably eaten you because you'd run away."
"Eaten me!?"
"Well, they couldn't spend their time chasing after you all the time. They have better things to do - like dancing and singing and playing more tricks on people. And humans are very tasty, y'know. At least to the wee folk."
"But why couldn't they take me from the Church?"
"I guess they're not allowed to. Gramma was kinda fuzzy on that part. You were really lucky you ended up here. But since they couldn't take you, they made you forget all about them and the time you spent with them. Just like they made you forget your real parents."
Millie jumped up, pulling Alvin with her, and looked sternly down at him.
"Just remember - you can't tell anyone about this."
"Why?"
"Because that would let the fairies come back and take you away. Plus, nobody would believe you anyway. They'd stick you in the funny farm and you'd end up drooling all over the place. Now c'mon - it's almost time for lunch."
*****
Hannibal looked up from his book. It was his turn to watch Face, make sure he didn't pull any stitches or spike a fever, and it had been a calm night so far. But now Face was getting restless, and Hannibal was alarmed to see tears forming. Damn, another nightmare. He leaned close, just as Face's eyes opened. Face looked at him, still mostly asleep, and mumbled, "Don't let them take me..."
"Take you? Who, kid?"
"The fairies..."
FINI