My Story Book

Garden Gnomes

                     Alexander Ken and Anne De Lise were best of friends who lived in a shared house with their families. Alex lived on the second floor while Anne lived on the ground floor. The garden out front was decorated with garden gnomes. And there was always something odd happening with the gnomes. Something that the adults never seemed to notice.

                   Every month on the full moon, strange noises could be heard throughout the estate. And the next day, the families would wake up to fresh, clean clothes neatly folded and or hanging in the closet, the rubbish bins empty, the floors, fans and dishes shone. Any sort of mess in the house was as if it was never there. Mr Ken had complained once that his  favourite shirt had an iron burn on it, and the next day it had fully disappeared.

                     It wasn't just the house either. Every month after the full moon the garden seemed to spruce itself up. The porch was dust free, the fish aquariums were clean of algae save for a small section for the fish to munch, the ripe flower pods were plucked and sitting in a small basket, leaves eaten by caterpillars were pruned off, and bees and butterflies visited the garden very frequently. With this, the garden thrived, and the adults were satisfied. The children however, were not.

                    While they may be 3-4 year olds in kindergarten, They were observant enough to notice the garden gnomes seemed to have moved ever so slightly the day after the full moon. One day, Alex and Anne heard the story of the Elves and the Shoemaker, and wondered if the same could be happening to them. After school, they both got into the usual van that took them home. 

                   That was when Alex heard 7 year olds Dinah and Jasper talk about fairies that made gardens thrive. Alex then started a conversation with them, claiming that their house was being looked after by the garden gnomes. Jasper laughed it off and said it was a fib, but Dinah was interested, and asked how Alex came to that conclusion. After that, the older kids took an interest.

                After a week of planning, they waited for the next full moon. Anne and Alex invited Dinah and Jasper over for a sleepover, carefully making sure it would definitely fall on the full moon. When Dinah and Jasper arrived, the children had fun together, and when Dinah accidentally let slip about elf-watching, the families found it cute that the children had such good imaginations. 

                  That night, the children were ready. As the grown ups closed the lights, Dinah, Anne, Jasper and Alex put bolsters and pillows under their covers, then snuck to the living room. Jasper brought out pairs of toy binoculars, while Dinah uncovered her sparkly pink 'night vision goggles'. Alex and Anne brought out kitchen towel rolls to use as telescopes. After hours of observing and stealing jelly pudding cups from the fridge and potato crisps from the pantry, they saw movement in the garden.

                  The garden gnomes began to move, and come to life! One garden gnome holding a fishing pole near the aquariums got up and walked over to the nearby hedges. He lifted up the leaves, and a bunch of elves began to emerge. The oldest gnome, with a crack in its hat, was the organiser. "Klara, you and the other gnomes clean up the garden." he said to the only female gnome. She nodded, and ordered the others to spread out. 

                   "And Ellen," he began, and the elf leader said, "I know the drill, Nick, clean the aquariums and flower pots, then move on to the house." "Yes, thank you, Ellen.". The gnomes and elves got to work. Anne got out her toy camera, and began to click away, being as quiet as she could. The children kept quiet, observing the magic taking place in the garden.

                  Just then, Ellen the elf said, "Oi, we're done boss, we're going into the house now." the old gnome nodded, and the elves began to work they way up to the door and windows. The children didn't want to be seen, so they quickly packed up their things and made a dash for the bedrooms. Dinah going with Anne and Jasper going with Alex. As Dinah closed the door, she could hear an elf taste a broken piece of potato crisp, and exclaim loudly that it was far too salty for an elf. Anne giggled as Dinah told her.

                    Jasper and Alex heard the noises the elves made throughout the house. and when all was quiet, Alex peeked outside. The coast was clear upstairs. Him and Jasper sat near the stairs, watching the elves clean up where they had been observing down below. They laid on their tummies, watching the spectacle. It was a wonder that the adults were still sound asleep with all this going on.

                   Eventually, the boys were tired, and went to sleep. The next day, it was no surprise that the house was sparkling, and birds were singing in the garden. The children decided to make something to thank the elves and gnomes for their hard work, after all it was the polite thing to do. Dinah and Jasper had enough of magic elves and gnomes, so Alex and Anne were on their own.

                Alex had an idea. Anne heard it and thought it was brilliant. She and her mum sewed tiny doll clothes, which Mrs De Lise thought the idea was adorable. Alex and his father restored the faded gnomes, and they patched up the oldest gnome's crack, making them all look brand new. And during the next full moon, Anne and Alex hid to watch. As the gnomes admired themselves, Ellen found the dolls' dresses, with a scrawled on note that read, "FoR tHe Elfs.". The next day, the clothes were gone, but the house and the garden were even more clean and beautiful from that day on.