Short Story: Journey To A Tea Party

In a tiny little cottage obscured deep in the forest, with two chimneys and walls made up of twigs and stones, there lives Effie who loves nonsense more than anyone else. She has a head of colourful long hair tied into three ponytails because two makes too much sense and one makes her sad. She has a laugh too loud from a little girl like her and sometimes it comes with tears and a snort that seems to be infectious to those around her.

 

Her friends live together in the crowded village, because they had said it made much more sense to always be with people you care about. They had frown and tutted at Effie’s cottage when they came to visit, saying it is nonsense to live so far alone. Effie had simply tutted back and ran around her cottage, singing at the top of her lungs.

 

“Stop it Effie! You’re being too loud!”, her friends had shouted through her singing, but Effie paid no heed because she had moved on to hit on her drums, playing the most impressive beats. When she had stopped abruptly, catching her breath and the drumsticks that she had thrown skillfully up in the air, one could hear the wind rustling the trees, and how the river nearby gurgled and whooshed by, and Effie could hear her own beating heart and always felt alive.

 

Her friends understood then that she is happy in the forest, however nonsense it seems. When they were leaving, they had invited Effie to a tea party in the village. So on a day with her favourite weather, when it is sunny but with storm clouds hanging about in the sky, there comes Effie tumbling out of her door, humming joyously on the way to see her friends, her legs taking her fast with excitement.

 

She goes first to her friend, Pippin, who owns rows of neatly arranged books. As she knocks on the wooden door, she can hear him shuffling and bustling about inside. “Come in!” he cries, “I’m looking for a new place to keep my books. There is no space left in here.”

 

But this is not true, Pippin lives in an enormous house with an empty room, which Effie imagines big enough to keep the sun itself. She sits among the piled books on the floor and puts on her thinking cap to find a way to help Pippin arrange his books. After few moments, her face lits up with a mischievious grin and she whispers her idea into Pippin’s ear as if a spy is near. With Pippin’s enthusiastic nod, they both set to work and a construction takes place.

 

As all teamwork does in speeding up any work, in no time, an igloo made up of stacked books stands magnificently in the middle of the room. Pippin and Effie jump up and give each other a high-five before they crawl into the igloo and marvel at the structure which had before this only existed in their imaginations. Hardwork does make dreams come true.

 

After they are done pretending to be penguins, silently reading books in the igloo, they set out together to find the other friends. Before long, they see Jill sitting on a rock, weeping silently. Her shiny red slippers, no longer glinting as they are stuck in the pool of mud next to her. It does not make sense to show up to a party barefeet nor will tears wash her slippers clean.

 

Delighted at how nonsense it is to go to a party barefeet, Effie takes off her polka dotted boots and wiggles her toes as she steps onto the grass, with Pippin following suit. This attracts a surprised laughter from Jill, seeing how silly her friends are being, but she feels better now. And so the three friends chuckle as they run along the grass, picking up dirt and the fragrance of fallen crushed flowers at their heels.

 

They arrive at Oliver’s house, the baker among the friends. The smell of sugar and spices wafts out from the opened windows and make the three friends drool. He bakes the most delicious cakes, decorated with berries fresh from his garden, but sometimes he follows the recipes too strictly that he forgets to use love as his ingredient. “This is what it says on the recipe and it simply has to be followed.” Oliver says with flour on his face, pointing at an opened heavy ancient book with a wooden spatula, sticky with yellow dough.

“Yes, yes, those recipes are ancient and written by great bakers, it is utter nonsense to NOT to follow it even if cakes made are too sweet or soup too salty!”, said Effie between squishy munches of juicy strawberries she has plucked from the bushes outside. At this, Oliver realises how silly it is to follow too closely to the recipes and not use his own creativity. He closes the book and starts a dance he knows by heart in the kitchen. Stirring bater and rolling dough, to a song that only he can hear.

 

The friends want to help with the gingerbread man cookies, but there is no cookie cutter and so Effie comes up with an idea, and starts cutting out cloud shapes cookies. “I’m creating my own clouds and they are sweet and crunchy!”, says Effie. The other friends start to show each other their own cloud cookies and soon the baking pan is transformed into a sky, dotted with sweet clouds. And that is how unlike other sensible children, they get to taste the clouds, some with sprinkles or cinnamon powder.

 

When all is done and the kitchen has been cleaned, hand in hand, the group of friends set off to Naomi’s, who keeps up with time for everything. She has an old grandfather’s clock which makes a loud gong at every hour, telling her the time so she does not miss anything. It’s only proper to have tea at five in the evening sinply because that is the time when everyone has it, and the clock shows clearly that it is only a quarter past four.

 

“It’s not time yet for the tea party, you may sit on the couch and we shall wait.” Naomi says while ushering them inside, keeping them away from the glorious garden where the party is set to take place.

 

“Of course it’s time for tea because we have arrived for the time to be so and we want tea now!”, Effie laughs. And at the same time, Naomi’s stomach growls at the sight of the delicious food in the baskets they have brought and off she goes in a flurry to grab the picnic blanket from the pantry.

 

They brought the food out to the garden where butterflies flutter around the poppies and lilies, and ants scuttle about following the trail of sweet treasures. Each creature being happy in their own way, which seems nonsense to the other.

 

While gulping down fresh lemonade, Effie notices an eagle at the roots of a nearby tree. It stares at Effie with yellow eyes, and she wonders why the poor bird is frowning and squinting when she has been told such birds have perfect sight. Then she notices its left wing hanging lower than the right. When it notices the stranger watching it, its pupils dilate in fear covering its yellow irises like eclipse, and instead of spreading its magestic wings, it cowers and tries to hide.

 

“Oh no! I think this eagle is hurt!”,Effie exclaims with both her hands cupping her own cheeks. She tries to get near but her friends warn her to stay away because eagles are dangerous wild creatures. Pippin tugs at her sleeve, and the other friends wave their hands about, as if the gesture would slow and eventually stop Effie’s determined steps. But still she goes.

 

It’s nonsense to see an eagle with a broken wing and an even more broken pride. Effie cooed and kneels down slowly with her arms opened wide. The magnificent bird screetches weakly and tentatively hops into her arms. It is nonsense to take care of an eagle, when they are creatures meant to be free and soar the sky, and for the eagle with its broken wing, it only makes sense to let nature take its course over the helpless wild creature. Kindness can sometimes be the most nonsense act in the world especially towards an eagle which can never repay her deeds, but it’s a nonsense that should be done and Effie likes it the most.

 

The Sun smiles down and sees that the story of the broken eagle and nonsense girl has commenced, which mean this story has come to its end. The colour pink and orange spread slowly across the blue sky, and the Sun gives a small yawn as it slowly disappears for a much needed rest. The nonsense girl skips back to her cottage with an eagle snug in her hug, and continues doing nonsense things. Logically, she lives happily ever after.