As he entered May's street, Ferry felt a pleasant numbness taking him over. The sweet fragrances in the air made him feel as floating. The October sun was shining unexpectedly bright for that time of the year.
Ferry let himself be guided by the strong fragrances of chrysanthemums, the gentle and subtle touches of petunias, and the sweet scent of roses.
When he entered the flower shop, Basil Flower saluted him from the counter. Iris Flower was behind a big pot of purple, autumn flowers with small inflorescences like tiny buttons. She waved at him, just as happy to see him.
May showed up at the doorway leading to a dark hallway at the end of which he could see the stairs. Ferry followed her down that gloomy hallway, which seemed more suited for a hostile home, not the enchanted, jolly one he'd just entered. But when they climbed the stairs, a warm light scattered around, leading them to May's room.
As he stepped in, Ferry felt like he had entered the Land of Faerie. The room was small. A tiny bed, full of stuffed toys and satin pillows, was placed near a wardrobe with mirror doors. By the window, there was a table with a small chair, both made of walnut wood. All the furniture was painted in light hues of blue. A fire was burning in the fireplace, spreading the scent of fir and wilderness. There was also a chest of drawers painted in the same color as the sky. Each drawer was decorated with pink roses painted by May herself.
Ferry sat on the bed, trying to find a free spot among May's toys. They had to do their Biology homework which May found rather difficult. She found it particularly hard to memorize all those Latin names of animals and plants.
"How can you memorize all those boring Latin names?" she asked. "I can't possibly do it."
Ferry would have liked to tell her that the names came to his head as if someone had whispered in his ear.
"I try to connect the names with the things I like," he said instead. "For instance, rosemary in Latin is Rosmarinus which means dew of the sea. And I've always loved... dew. Especially in May when summer is close..."
The two children looked at each other for a while, without saying a word. When the moment took too long and almost became embarrassing, May's mother came in with a tray of cookies and lemonade.
"Are you all right?" she asked May putting her hand on the girl's forehead. "Are you in any pain? Or maybe you're cold?"
"I'm fine, Mum..." May said, sighing.
"Then you should take a break from studying. I'm sure Ferry will agree," she added before leaving the room.
May put the Biology book aside and nibbled on a cookie.
"My parents are very protective," she said. "I suppose it's because I'm very sensitive and always catching a cold. Sometimes it's annoying, but they're doing this because they love me and I'm their only child. What are your parents like?"
"Pretty much the same. My mum is like that sometimes, but she means well. Dad can be really harsh, and... he expects a lot from me. I try not to disappoint him, but it's hard..."
It was the first time Ferry had talked about his parents. He hadn't done that in front of anyone before.
"How about your grandparents?" the girl asked, inviting Ferry to have a cookie.
Ferry had never met his grandparents. He knew his father's parents were dead; his grandparents from his mother's side hadn't talked to her ever since she married his father.
"I never met them," he said in a low voice. "It must be nice having grandparents. How about you?"
"I only knew my grandmother on my father's side. Her name was Mayra, and they named me after her. She died a couple of years ago," she said and the sparkle in her eyes faded away. "I miss her a lot..."
"What was she like?" asked Ferry after a moment of silence.
"She was the merriest person I've ever met. Even when she got older and weaker, she still told jokes and laughed a lot. I want to show you something," she said.
She then went to the lower drawer of the chest from where she took out an old wooden box with a little girl on a swing painted on the top. She then sat next to Ferry, pushing some toys aside. When she opened the box, a song came out like drops of music from old times. May took out a picture of her grandmother. She was as tall and thin as May's father. She was always smiling and Ferry could tell just by looking at the pictures she was an amazing woman. Unfortunately, all the pictures were showing her at an old age. In one photo, she was riding a horse; another was portraying her with the Egyptian pyramids in the background. She was just sitting in a field dotted with poppies in a third one.
"What did your grandmother do for a living?" he asked.
"My grandmother was an adventuress," said May and the sparkle in her eyes came back. "She had a lot of jobs during her life. She was a teacher, acrobat, explorer, paleontologist, biologist, ethnologist, and a lot of other jobs ending in -ist. She got bored easily, and she loved to travel. When she visited, she used to bring me a lot of amazing gifts, each one with a great story. Even when she died, she died doing what she loved. She went to explore some strange ruins when an earthquake started and everything collapsed on her and her team. I would've loved to still have her around..." she said softly.
Ferry looked at the smiling face in the photos. One of them particularly captured his attention. It was an older photo, with a yellowish tint. This time, May's grandmother was young and Ferry could recognize the same contagious smile. She was wearing a long, white dress, made of fine lace embroidery. She had a big brim hat that covered her face almost entirely. But something else caught his eye. Besides May's grandmother, there was a tall silhouette. Unlike the young woman, the person sitting next to her was blurry, spreading a white, milky light around. He couldn't distinguish the silhouette's facial features, nor the clothing. The blurry face though captured the eye, even with the crowd in the background. Even May's grandmother looked somehow less interesting having that person next to her. On the back of the photo, he could read September 30th, 1911.
"That's a photo my grandmother took at a big fair," said May. "She told me a lot of wonderful things about that fair."
Ferry couldn't take his eyes away from that strange silhouette.
"Who's with her in the picture?" he asked.
"Oh, that's a fairy," said May as naturally as possible.
Ferry was sure his jaw dropped, "A fairy?!"
"Wait a second!" she said, amused by his reaction.
May got up again and feverishly looked for something in the drawer. This time, she came back with a Swiss chocolate box. The lid was beautifully decorated with a painting representing a dancing couple, but the drawing was dim and flowers of rust were embracing the two dancers little by little as time passed. May opened the box and took out colored glass beads, wooden and mother-of-pearl figurines, rusty coins from all the places her grandmother had traveled, small perfume bottles, porcelain dolls, and many other charming trifles that would have brought joy to any little girl.
She finally found a silk handkerchief with initials MF. She unfolded it and took out an old, silver comb with a big, blue stone encrusted in the middle. A faint scent of lavender scattered as she unfolded the handkerchief.
"It's a gift from the fairy I told you about," she said, caressing the comb with the tip of her fingers. "It's the most precious thing she left me because it's magical. But it's not for me."
"What do you mean?" Ferry wondered.
"My grandmother told me the fairy gave it to her so she would give it to her granddaughter. The fairy knew my grandmother was to have a granddaughter. Some fairies can predict the future, you know? Then she said something odd, something neither I nor my grandmother could understand."
"What did she say?" asked Ferry, feeling his racing.
"She said, 'Tell your granddaughter to give this to the moonlight boy when the time shall come...'"
Once again, Ferry's draw dropped, as he stared at the magical comb which he didn't dare to touch.
"Do you believe in fairies, May?" he asked her, looking into her eyes.
May blushed. "Yes, I do believe in fairies, even though they live only in fairy tales. But then again, you don't have to see it to believe it..."
Ferry was about to tell her he had seen some strange things in his life, too when a scratch at the door stopped him.
"Oh, my!" she jumped from her seat. "I forgot Harry outside."
"Who's Harry?"
"It's my rabbit," answered the girl, opening the door.
Through the half-open door entered the strangest rabbit Ferry has ever seen. He had indeed long, rabbit-like ears, but the mouth was elongated like a wolf's mouth. The eyes were red and gimlet. And the strangest of all, it was walking on its back legs as humans do.
"What a curious rabbit you have, May," said Ferry without taking his eyes away from the odd creature.
"It's a hare, actually," May explained, putting Harry in her lap and offering it a cookie. The rabbit grabbed the cookie with both paws. Ferry could see some sort of suckers on the back of its paws. The creature was crunching the cookie without minding them.
"Was it also a gift from your grandmother?" the boy asked.
"Oh, no. Grandma was long gone before we found Harry. He found us, actually. He was scratching at the door. Last summer, on a stormy night."
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