“Dear guests, our entertainment program will start soon, come and bring your kids,” she says in her mic, and there goes your hope for a peaceful lunch in between the raids on Zara and Colins. Do kids even like that, you wonder. You never were the kind to enjoy such things. But some are, and by the time the two giant dynamics start humming and booming she’s surrounded by a pack of all sorts – girls and boys, tall and short, plump and lathy, all somewhat clumsy. “Awesome! Now let’s raise our hands up and do some hops!” The excited voice chanting nonsense, the puffy pink skirt wiggling with every movement. Bright red wig, and no actual face underneath. She gets mistaken for other people often.
She’s well aware of what you think of her. Her mother’s like you, a quiet and reserved person, unapproving of her daughter’s idea of “fun”.
“Then I was like, that’s just a part-time job, it’s not like I’m planning to do that for living, right? I’ll quit as soon as I graduate.” When the kids are taken away by their parents, she sits at one of the tables, sharing a meal with Hello Kitty. They both have things to do besides raising hands and hopping. When her friend leaves, she opens her laptop, mouth no longer smiling, fingers typing swiftly, wire and organza wings spread carefully between her back and the back of the chair.
“Hush, don’t cry, it’s okay– Look, there’s a fairy right there!”
She stands up. “What’s that, honey? Do you wanna dance? C’mon, who’s the prettiest princess here?”
With kids, you never know. Some like attention, some start crying even louder when a stranger comes up to them and starts asking questions. The latter happens rarely when you’re a fairy, though. Nobody’s afraid of fairies, right? Not these days.
These days. If she were her mother, the parents would never see their children again – a dancing procession led by a faceless woman with a pink plastic wand, cheering and singing, leaving the food court, the mall, the realm. Good days, her mother would say. But things are different now.
She reaches behind the little girl’s ear, a vivid blue flower appearing in her hand: “Whatcha got there?”
They say every time a baby laughs, a fairy is born.
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