Snow, up to a Fae's knees

The Faes finally made it onto the fence. I hurriedly put the gates onto the arbor just before it snowed. I was concerned that I would not be able to put them on without a little bit of shoveling.

My daughter and her husband as well as his folks were coming in for Christmas and aside from the fact that I had promised myself I would finish by Christmas, I wanted them to see the faes on the gates in their natural habitat (as opposed to the garage benches).

I was correct about the shoveling. I was not correct about the little bit. Below is a picture of the gates the next day, after the blizzard. My daughter's inlaws made it as far as the hotel room and there they were trapped as we all anxiously waited to see if the young couple would make it to DIA from their layover in Las Vegas.

They did not. They had to stay the night in Vegas (I can think of worse places to be stuck but those places would probably have been cheaper for them). The next day they drove a rented car to the house as I spent the time trying to get a way in and out of the driveway. One of the disadvantages of being the only house on the block is that if a path is going to be made, we have to make it.

So we had a white Christmas and the Faes spent their first day outside wondering if they were going to be covered by a glacier for eons to come.

Not that that would particularly upset them. Aside from the time-keeper, Sheneal, the other faes have there own methods of playing with time.


For us to survive an ice age (or wait out a global warming "horror") we would have to live out every day between now and the time when everything turned back to "normal".


For the faes the task is much simpler. That is if you consider stepping into a parallel universe simple. The only real problem that they have with this popping in and out is that sometimes they pop back seconds before they left. A fae trapped in that way pops back into herself just as she is leaving again, and again, and again....


I had a similar experience this holiday season with the shoveling. As soon as I got down to the end of the drive, it was time to start over again. I almost took back all of my presents to put a down payment on a snow blower. But that would have required getting out of the driveway to get to the store. And I could not get out of the driveway, so back to the snow shoveling I went.


You might be wondering how a fae escapes such a loop-back event. It takes about 8 faes (no, this is not the joke about how many faes it takes to change a light bulb - although that is a funny one!). A fae has to pop out of this universe just after the trapped fae's point of departure and then pop back in just before the trapped faes return, all the while extending a hand to the trapped fae.


Of course this traps the second fae. So a third fae envelopes the second, extending her arm. And so on with faes 4 through 8. Around fae 8, sometimes 7, there is enough time between return and departure to push off into (and out of) another time. They all clasp hands, the eighth fae pushes off forming a kind of whip that snaps the original trapped fae into at least three additional universes before she finally rolls to a stop, far from the tiny worm hole.


BTW, nowadays, all faes travel in pairs (binds, they are called) and rescues are never attempted without a ninth fae even though it doesn't take 9 to do the trick. All young faes are told stories about the "Lost 8". It was long ago and no one is certain if it is a fairy tale or if it is false. But 8 faes are in the books and no record of them can be found after a certain point in time. Some young faes ask if they might someday pop back, but the suggestion is simply shrugged off because many have looked deep in the future and it does not happen.