My Fairy Godmonster by Denice Hughes Lewis

whole face
lights up. I’m even getting used to her tiny fangs.
    “Stay home. We’ll let my whip do the magic
and get this place cleaned up.”
    Finally. I breathe a sigh of relief.
    A car door slams, twice. Screams pierce the
air. What now?
    I look out the window. Daria kicks and
shrieks while Claire drags her toward the house.
     
     

Chapter 17: Wrong Way - Catastrophe
     
    Fairy Godmonster looks out the window over my
shoulder. “Ooh, fun! Let’s go eavesdrop.”
    “No. Stay here. Please.”
    Fairy Godmonster covers her face with the
veil and turns her back on me.
    I sneak downstairs and sit on the bottom
step. Peeking around the banister, I can see Daria pouting in a
chair.
    “She needs to be punished, Mother,” says
Claire. “I have never been so embarrassed. If I hadn’t already
purchased hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise from the store,
I think they would have taken us to the police station.”
    Weasel is speechless, for once.
    Mr. Dudley frowns and sits in front of Daria.
“What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?”
    Daria squirms under her father’s gaze. “It
was a stupid stuffed animal.”
    “A five hundred dollar one!” exclaims Claire.
“You tried to steal it.” She paces in anger. “I said you could buy
anything you wanted.”
    “Calm down, Claire,” says Mr. Dudley.
    Claire glares at her father.
    The doorbell rings. I head for the front door
when I hear Weasel say, “Claire, please get the door. No telling
where that girl is hiding.”
    I go through the living room so Claire won’t
know I’ve been eavesdropping. We get to the front door at the same
time.
    “I’m sorry Winifred. It’s your house,” she
apologizes.
    “Don’t worry about it. You didn’t know I was
coming downstairs.”
    The UPS man is at the door.
    “Hi, Mr. Blakely,” I say.
    “Hi, yourself. Got a bunch of packages for
Mr. and Mrs. David Smith. What’s up?”
    “My brother is getting married. This is his
fiancée, Claire.”
    “Oh yeah. I remember the Missus telling me
about our invitation. Right nice of you
    to invite us. Congratulations, young lady.
I’ve known David since he was in diapers. Sign here and I’ll get
your packages.”
    Claire smiles. “Thank you.”
    “David is one lucky guy.” Mr. Blakely goes to
his truck and starts carrying the packages to the door.
    “Where shall we put them?” asks Claire.
    “Er, in the living room, for now.”
    Claire and I take turns carting them to the
coffee table. There are so many, we have to use the sofa.
    “Last one,” says Mr. Blakely. “I imagine I’ll
be here again soon by the looks of this load. Have a good day, you
two.”
    “Bye, Mr. Blakely.”
    Claire smiles. “Thank you.” Her eyes sparkle
when she turns to me. “I can’t wait until David gets back so we can
open them.”
    Mr. Dudley strides into the living room. “We
are going out to dinner as soon as Daria finds Gazella and locks
her upstairs.”
    “Gazella. Kitty, kitty,” calls Daria.
    “Is she going to be punished this time?” asks
Claire.
    Mr. Dudley notices me. “Winifred, would you
mind getting the mousetraps ready?”
    “Sure thing. Mice love peanut butter almost
as much as I do.”
    I leave the room and hear him say, “She will
be confined to her bedroom for one day.”
    “Is that all?” asks Claire.
    “When the wedding is over and we return home,
we will consider our options and take the necessary action.”
    I try not to feel sorry for Daria and wonder
why a rich kid would steal.
    Daria is carrying Godzilla out of the kitchen
when I go for the traps.
    “Be sure the bedroom door is closed, Daria. I
am going to be setting mousetraps and they could hurt your
cat.”
    Her eyes grow big. She hauls the cat upstairs
with effort. Godzilla protests with a loud growl.
    I laugh as I set traps for magical mice.
    Mr. Dudley steps into the room. “Thank you,
Winifred. Claire is getting John from the barn. Are you ready to go
to dinner?”
    “I don’t want to