My podcast has started a monthly flash fiction game where we are given three elements we much include in a flash fiction. Here is my contribution from the last podcast.
The old man glanced at the clock, it was almost time. He carefully set the last item, a tiny plate made from gold, on his miniature table. His son had called him silly for borrowing his granddaughter’s doll furniture but he didn’t care. Today he would be instrumental in bringing together two people who missed each other by mere minutes the last few months.
He sat down on his comfortable chair and picked up his book, so he looked busy. He had a clear view of the window where he’d laid out a feast fit for a king, only on a tiny scale. The little man showed first, flitting through on his fairy wings. He would worry the snapdragons and honey suckle and be on his way but today there was something. The fairy man stopped at the table and stuck his nose in the small pitcher of wine.
The old man peered over the pages of his book and waited, the fairy man taking a tiny biscuit and taking a bite. The small creature wore an acorn cap on his head and his clothes looked like leaves from an autumn day. Dunking his biscuit into the honey, the fairy man sat down.
Good, the old man thought. The longer he stayed the more likely she would appear. The lady fairy preferred the dew from roses and lilacs. He’d taken great pains to time their meeting, moving their preferred flowers closer and closer together in garden outside. Now his study window had the perfect view.
The lady fairy flitted in, light as a breeze but halted at the scene he’d laid out. He knew as soon as he saw the fairy man and the lady fairy he had to get them to meet. The little man swallowed his bit of biscuit and straightened up. The lady fairy waved in greeting but looked skittish. She might flee at any moment.
The old man gripped the hard edges of his book. He’d waited for this moment for months, they’ve finally met! The two circled each other, hovering just above the floor of the window sill. Oblivious, for the moment, to the feast before them. If they spoke to one another, he couldn’t hear but their heads nodded and their hands motioned.
Finally they landed, and the fairy man pulled out the doll chair for lady. She sat down, her feathery dress floofing about her. He sat beside her and they ate the feast before them. The old man closed his book and slowly inched out of the study. He’d done what he set out to do, he got his two fairy friends to meet. By the looks of it, they enjoyed their feast and each other’s company very much. It might be the start of something beautiful, which started with a chance delicious feast.
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