This particular morning when Zuzu stepped outside, there was an eerie mist enveloping everything.  The key turned in the lock of her front door with a bothersome squeak.  She made a mental note.  Then she turned and walked down the stone pathway to the car.  Out of the corner of her eye, she spied the garden gate, and it seemed just slightly ajar.  She dropped her knapsack in the car and headed for the garden.  She slipped through the gate and made her way slowly along the row of lilies that lined the side of the house.

There are the usual garden sounds to which one grows accustomed – the chirp of crickets, the trilling of humming birds, and the drone of bumble bees.  They fill a garden like the silent hum that inhabits a library.  You almost don’t hear them after a while.  But this sound was new, and it was coming from the birdbath.

Zuzu had found the little stone birdbath at a rummage sale.  It was old and worn, but she loved it.  It was in the shape of a toadstool, with a shallow indentation on top that filled with rainwater.  She loved to watch the birds splashing around in it on sunny afternoons.  And it was a very popular destination for the squirrels as well.  But today, perched ever so daintily on the rim was the most amazing petite winged creature she had ever seen.  She had to blink several times to be sure she wasn’t imagining it, but there she was – a brown wood fairy.  And she was crying.

Well, it’s not every day that you see a brown wood fairy.  They are very shy, and almost never land this close to a human habitat.  Zuzu felt she had to say something, but what do you say to a crying fairy ?  She turned the idea over in her head, but nothing came to her.  So she approached, stepping very lightly, careful not to frighten the frail little thing.

Hello ?  The word had barely left her lips when a flutter of wings blurred before her eyes, and the wood fairy was gone.  Zuzu looked up as quickly as she could, but the garden was still, and she heard only the sound of two hummingbirds twittering as they feasted on the honeysuckle.  She sighed, and it felt as if a small bubble popped inside her chest.

Somewhere out there was a wood fairy crying about something.  She was determined to try to make her feel better.  She gathered an assortment of the smallest flowers in the garden bed, and tied them into a miniature bouquet with a strand of her hair.  She laid the little floral gift on the edge of the birdbath and tiptoed out of the garden.  Wood fairies are very fond of flowers, and she hoped that this gift would soothe her sorrows.

Zuzu made her way to work as usual, but she could not keep her mind out of her garden.  She didn’t know why this was so important to her.  After all, it was just one tiny wood fairy, and she would probably never see her again.  There were so many sad and suffering souls in the world, but somehow this one meant something to her.  It seemed like two days passed before she could return home.  She went directly into the garden and slowly over to the birdbath.  Her eyes widened as she realized that the flowers were gone.  Had the wood fairy taken her gift, or had the flowers been taken by one of the squirrels ?

Zuzu collected the mail and went inside to make some chamomile tea.  As the teapot steamed away on the stove, Zuzu opened a letter from a distant relative.  She read with sadness that her great aunt had passed away after a long illness.  Zuzu did not know her great aunt very well, but she had heard her grandmother speak of her many times.  Zuzu even had a photograph of her grandmother and her sister as children, and she had always cherished it.  It sat in a gold frame on her mantel.  She could feel the tears well up in her eyes, and she held the photograph for a long time before looking at it.  Zuzu could hardly believe what she saw.  She had never noticed it before, but there was a barely perceptible shape just over the shoulder of her great aunt, and as she brought the photograph very close….. no, it could not be.

Zuzu ran out into the yard.  As she neared the birdbath, her breath caught in her throat.  There on the edge of the bath was a little wreath fashioned of the smallest twigs, and woven around it was a single strand of brown hair.  She held it carefully in her hand, and for a moment, she could swear she heard the sound of tiny wings high above her in the trees.