Footprints in the Snow

  HEATHER MCALENDIN

  author of FAE, KILLER QUEEN and DREAMWALKER

  FOOTPRINTS in THE SNOW

  a novella

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places and characters are a product of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to actual people or places are entirely coincidental.

  No part of this work may be reproduced manually or electronically without the express written permission of the author.

  heather@mcalendin.com

  http://mcalendin.com

  mcalendin.com 2011

  Fairy poetry courtesy of “THE BOOK OF FAIRY POETRY”;

  edited by Dora Owen;Published originally in 1920 by Longmans Green and Co.

  " And gaily shines the Fairy-land

  But all is glistening show,

  Like the idle gleam that December's beam

  Can dart on ice and snow.”

  The Book of Fairy Poetry – Alice Brand 1920

  Prologue

  “Mamo, mamo! Come and see the pretty ladies!”

  My first memory of faeries was as a very young child. My Irish grandmother used to tell my sisters and I stories of the “wee” folk and about faerie myth from the homeland. She and her husband had moved from County Mayo, along the cost of Ireland when I was a very young girl.

  I was fascinated with these lovely, ethereal creatures my grandmother would describe.

  “Did you know my parents had to move their house three times when I was but a lass?”

  “No mamo. Why?” I would ask, knowing that would be the start of fascinating tale of the tiny tunnels underground that the faerie folk would use to travel unnoticed around the countryside. If anyone knowingly built their home over one of these “faerie paths”, the tiny creatures would wreak havoc upon the poor souls who lived there. From what my grandmother had said, she and her family witnessed many a family moving out of the house in the middle of the night as the fae had tormented them by pulling their toes and weaving their hair so that it would wrap around the bedposts.

  I would giggle loudly as I imagined an Irish lady with long, wavy locks being unable to raise her head from her bed lest she pull out all her hair.

  Faerie folk were not necessary evil creatures, but they did possess an impish-like streak if they felt encroached upon.

  I loved thinking about these tiny faeries flitting in and out amongst trees and bushes, playing around the heavily scented rose bushes and blessing newborn babes in their cradles when an Irish family welcomed a new child.

  So, it was no surprise to my grandmother when I was sure I saw some of these creatures tip toeing around the trees on a cold, wintery afternoon. She would put her finger to her lips, slip into her winter coat and motion for me to dress and follow her outside.

  If my mother had found out, that would have been the end of my playtime with my grandmother. Little did I know that she had fallen ill with dementia and her brain did not function as it should. As a young child I was blissfully unaware of Alzheimer disease and the tricks it played on the brain. For now, on this wintery afternoon, my Mamo and I were dancing with the faeries in the crisp winter snow.

  It was the best and one of the final memories I had of my grandmother. She passed away only a year later. I was eight years old.

  Chapter One

  “Mamo! Didn’t you hear me? Come and see the pretty ladies!”

  I looked down to see my own precious, chubby cheeked, six year old granddaughter staring up at me.

  Her greens eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out why I had been ignoring her. I shook free of my daydream and smiled down at her, taking the time to place a curly, red lock of hair behind her ear and stroke her soft, pink cheek.

  “What's wrong Pegeen? What ladies? Is someone at the door?”

  I laughed as in frustration she placed her hands on her hips and pointed toward the glass door leading to my backyard. Pegeen was my daughter's only child and precocious as a youngster can get. Her father had been dead a year; shot in the line of duty while trying to protect an elderly woman being attacked on a street corner. He was a rookie on the Maple Ridge Police force and had only been on the job mere months before his death. It destroyed my daughter emotionally and confused my granddaughter who loved her father and did not understand why he was not coming home. From that time onward, Pegeen and her mother lived with me and I would care for her just as my own grandmother cared for me after school and while her mother worked.

  “No Mamo! They are outside. Come and see.”

  I stood up and grabbed my granddaughters hand, allowing her bring me to the window facing the English garden that bloomed so beautifully in the spring and summer. It was now January and a winter storm had covered everything in a soft blanket of white. I secretly hoped Pegeen had not discovered some kind of peeping tom looking in the windows.

  “They were right there!” Pegeen insisted as I pressed my face to the cold glass, squinting to see any indication that someone had been standing in my yard.

  Nothing.

  “Are you sure wee one? There is nobody there now.”

  “I am not a liar Mamo. Mommy says always to tell the truth even if it's about bad stuff. But this isn't bad. There were three pretty ladies dancing in the snow.”

  I reached down and hugged my granddaughter tight to my bosom. “Hush now. Don't get all upset. I never said you lied but there doesn’t seem to be anyone there now. Take a look for yourself.”

  Pegeen ripped herself from my arms and stood in front of the glass, searching the yard and trees for any sign of her “ladies”. She breathed out a sigh of frustration and made her tiny hands into fists.

  “That's not fair. I wanted to play outside with them. I love dancing.”

  “Indeed you do wee one. Shall we play some music and dance in the living-room. It looks cold outside today.”

  My grand daughter seemed to take a moment to ponder my suggestion until she got that look I had seen come over her face and my own many times...stubborn incredibility.

  “No Mamo. Can we go out and see? Please? Pretty please? I want to see where they went.”

  I shrugged my shoulders, knowing better than to try and hold my granddaughter back. Once she got an idea in her head she had to see it through to completion. Besides that, I wanted to be assured that nobody had been skulking about in my yard. “Alright my love, let's put on our woolies and head outside.”

  Pegeen looked up at me and grinned. “Woolies? Mamo, I only have a winter coat! You're silly.”

  I laughed and helped her on with her coat and boots. She insisted on her favourite red felt hat and mittens and watched impatiently as I put on my own coat and scarf.

  “Hurry up Mamo. The ladies will be gone forever by the time we get out there!”

  The sun was bright and the fresh snow sparkled like diamonds. I took Pegeen by the hand and walked cautiously around my small brick home to the gate that led to the back yard. Much to my dismay, the gate was open but not wide enough for an adult female to fit through, but it was open enough for another child. “Maybe Pegeen saw a the next door neighbors child?” I wondered.

  I looked down on the snow packed path and saw no footprints. An unsettled feeling came over me as we continued to the back garden.

  “It was here Mamo. There were three ladies dancing right there in the snow. They were beautiful.”

  I pulled my glasses out of my coat pocket and placed them across the bridge of my nose. The snow covered yard was untouched, almost virginal. There was no possible way that my granddaughter had seen anyone standing, let alone dancing in the back yard.

  “Where did you say they were my wee love?” I asked, trying to get a better description of where or who she saw.

  “Right there M
amo. You don't believe me do you?”

  My heart broke as I watched Pegeen's face turn from excitement to despair. Big fat tears rolled down from her long eyelashes and over her cheeks.

  “Stay here my love and let me have a look. If they were here then they are certainly playing hide and seek very well.”

  Pegeen stamped her boots in the snow and watched as I head toward the winter bare arbor where my roses would wind themselves into rows of colourful floral confetti in the spring and summer. I looked closely around the shrubs and bushes and could find no sign of anyone standing or dancing in the snow.

  “Mamo! Look!”

  I quickly turned to see Pegeen kneeling on the ground, staring at the base of a tall, ancient maple tree. I hurried to her side and bent down trying to focus on what is was she thought she saw.

  It took a moment of focusing on the brilliant, white snow to finally understand what my frantic granddaughter was excited about. I sat back on my hunches, nearly toppling over into the snow back before regaining my composure.

  “Impossible!” My brain was having a tough time comprehending the irrefutable evidence in front of me.

  “What are those Mamo?”

  “I...they seem to be...it's not possible but they seem to be tiny footprints in the snow.”

  As if vindicated, Pegeen stood in front of me with a beaming smile, triumphant that she could prove she had not told a lie.

  I squinted again and stared long and hard trying to make sense of what we were seeing. “Maybe they belong to a bird or an animal?”

  “No way Mamo! I told you I saw ladies dancing out here. I told you so!” Pegeen began to dance gaily around me, almost stepping on those fragile, tiny marks in the snow.

  “Pegeen Marie McCullough! Enough! Stand still for heavens sake!”

  The frustration in my voice caused Pegeen to stop dead in her tracks and start to cry. Without meaning to, I had frightened her.

  “Oh my wee love, I am so sorry,” I drew Pegeen close and patted her head. “I am not angry but we can't have you messing up these little foot prints. Do Mamo a favour and run into the kitchen and get my camera. I think we need to take some pictures before these disappear.”

  “Okay, Mamo,” Pegeen sniffed as she hurried down the path to the front of the house.

  I felt terrible but I needed to take a better look at what were apparently the footprints of something very small. “Impossible!” I said again.

  “Remember pet, do not expect an adult to see as you do. Children are very aware of what is around them. That is why the faerie folk appear to them most often. They understand the mind of a child.”

  My grandmother's words reverberated in my head. She had spoke these words to me in a lucid moment before she died. She knew if my mother had ever found out about our adventure with the faeries that she would never understand. My mother had lost her imagination, as adults are want to do when they are overcome with responsibility and raising children. Had I become one of those adults now? As a child I had thought nothing of dancing and hunting for faeries in the garden of my own grandmother's home.

  “Maybe it is my turn to go senile!”

  “What is senile Mamo? Are you sick?”

  I turned to see Pegeen standing proudly behind me, holding the small, silver digital camera between her tiny, mitten covered hands.

  “No my love, I am not sick, Just thinking out loud. Let's have at that camera.”

  For the next few minutes I took dozens of close up photos of what looked to be three set of bare foot prints in the snow, barely larger than my thumbnail. They went round in several circles before only one set lead away under a low bush in the snow. It was a wonder that Pegeen even saw them. But, I had to remember she was looking through her child's eyes. Children are such a wonder.

  I walked hand in hand with Pegeen and asked her to peek underneath the bush where the footprints had ended. “Take a look wee one. What do you see?”

  Pegeen gladly crawled on her hands and knees, pressing her face as close as she could to the cold ground and under the bush.

  Expecting nothing, I was surprised at her answer.

  “Colours Mamo! Such pretty colours!”

  “Colours? What do you mean Pegeen?”

  Reaching under the bush, Pegeen pulled out a nest of rainbow coloured ribbons. “Aren't they beautiful Mamo? Who left them here?”

  I shook my head, suddenly remembering that my grandmother had told me something about faerie folk loving gifts of brightly coloured bits of cloth or ribbon to adorn themselves and their woodland homes.

  “I have no idea my pet. Let's take it inside and have a better look. We'll soon freeze standing out here in the snow. Maybe I'll make some hot cocoa?”

  Pegeen nodded happily and skipped down the path with the coloured ribbon nest in hand, humming a cheerful tune. I followed stoically behind her trying to make sense of it all.

  “There must be an explanation. Or is there?” I wondered as an unexpected familiarity overcame me.

  Chapter Two

  Pegeen sat quietly at the kitchen table. She warmed her hands on the large cup of hot cocoa I had made and stared intently at the small, rainbow coloured nest sitting in the centre of the table. After a better look, I discovered intricate patterns of knots and weaving. The tightly woven nest was deep and also held tiny bits of dried flowers and leaves. If I didn't know better, I would have said it was made as some kind of shelter for a very small creature. It was a bit too uniform to have been created by an animal or bird.

  “Was this created by huckster who wanted to make fun of my Celtic background? But why would anyone want to do that?”

  After a sip of cocoa, Pegeen fingered the ribbon and smiled. “It would fit my dress up dollies Mamo. Can I have it for them to sleep in?”

  I sat down across the table from my granddaughter and shook my head. “No my wee one, you can't have this to play with just yet. I want to take a better look at it. Perhaps we'll show it to your Mommy and see what she has to say?”

  “Awww, that's no fair.” Pegeen lamented as only a six year old could.

  “There are always things that are not fair my love and things we can't always explain. This may be one of those things.”

  “Do you think the dancing ladies left it here for us?”

  I paused for a moment and smiled. It was so simple to be a child and think without malice. Could life still be that simple?

  “I don't know just yet. But I do know that if my grandmother was still alive she would blame it on the faerie folk.”

  Pegeen's green eyes grew wide and she took a deep breath. “Your Mamo saw faeries? Mommy says that they are just for bedtime stories.”

  I shook my head as I remember a time when my daughter, Morgaine would swear she saw faeries in the trees. As an adult and especially since her husband, Bryan's death she had shut down and most things in life seemed dreadful and laborious.

  “Well, you must remember that stories always have a bit of truth in them. I used to tell your Mommy stories of faerie glens how tiny fae would light the trees at night so that humans could find their way through darkened forests. Some would say it was just firefly’s but I knew better. These were some of the same stories my Mamo told me. Back in Ireland, all sorts of folks believe in faeries.”

  After another sip of cocoa, Pegeen tilted her head and stared back down at the ribbon nest in the centre of the table. “Wow,” she whispered. “Maybe I saw those faeries today.”

  “Maybe,” I said with a quiet smile. “Maybe.”

  I could tell the faerie stories had intrigued my young granddaughter. Just what her mother would think, I had no idea. I decided to do some investigating on my own before I approached Morgaine about what we had found.

  “Okay sweet love, go wash up before your Mommy comes home for dinner. How about you and I keep these faeries a secret until we can find out for sure who was playing in the backyard?”

  Pegeens green eyes glittered as she smiled. I knew the idea of keep
ing a secret would appeal to her.

  “Okay Mamo, I love you.”

  “I love you too wee girl, now off you go!”

  Much to Pegeen's disappointment but perhaps a blessing from the wee folk, Morgaine decided to take on another shift at work and would not be home until midnight.

  Pegeen and I ate a hearty meal of beef stew with a freshly baked apple pie for dessert. After I had her bathed and ready for bed, Pegeen crawled up into her bed and pulled her brightly coloured comforter up to her neck.

  “All snug like a bug in rug my pet?” I asked as I tucked her in.

  A large yawn and slowly closing eyes was all the answer I would get from my granddaughter. Our big adventure today had tired her out.

  “Bless this child and the day.” I whispered as I lay a hand gently on Pegeen's head and bent low to kiss her cheek. After turning out the light and making sure Pegeen's Tinkerbell night light was on I left the room and slowly made my way down the hall to my own room. I had a thought that I needed to follow.

  Chapter Three

  The house was dark and there was still a few hours time before Morgaine would come home. I stood in the doorway of the kitchen and stared at the outline of the little ribbon nest sitting on the table.

  “Am I making this out to be something it's not?”

  I walked over and picked up the gaily coloured nest, letting it sit in the palm of my hand. Incredibly, it felt warm. I closed my hands and allowed my imagination to wander to a place I had not been in well over fifty years. Back to Ireland and my own Mamo's farm cottage.

  I was a slip of a girl, just barely out of the toddler stage when my parents decided to go back home an visit my grandmother. My own mother had emigrated to Canada just shorty after marrying my father, and I was born . Da was soldier with the Canadian Algonquin Regiment. I remember my Mamo telling me how broken hearted she was as she watched my mother and her husband board the passenger ship to Canada. She swore she would never see her family again. This trip was my mother's way of trying to heal the division between the two and to re-introduce me, her first and only granddaughter.