To the top of the Tree - #AMMC-DFQ

Hello,

I decided to participate in a Christmas anthology but I was stumped for ideas, today is deadline day and as usual I perform better under pressure, and so without further ado...here is my contribution to...

A Merry Minion Christmas: Assorted Tales from the Realm of the Dark Fairy Queen

 

To the top of the tree

 

Genre: ?  Author/Pen Name: Marjie Myers ebook: Yes #AMMC-DFQ

 

On the 1st December, the Hornby family get together and make Hornby senior’s stark home look like someone threw up Liberace’s wardrobe, and its a day he looks forward to. On the 2nd December the carefully place angel is always missing; turning up hidden in the branches or caught beneath the tree skirt. This year he decided to place a star on top instead and everyone wished him luck in keeping it there.

Chippy, the wooden toy soldier, had stood beneath the branches of every tree that Mr Hornby had, it was his job to make sure the baubles stayed sparkly and that the tinsel was hung evenly around the tree.

Chippy loved his job and when Mr Hornby had left the angel, Mirabelle, in the box, why his poor little wooden heart almost went up in flames. After marching, he decided that Mirabelle belonged atop the tree’

He opened the box,

"Mirabelle...Mirabelle..are you in there? the tree is decorated...Mirabelle..."

Mirabelle sprang out like a jack in the box with a look of sheer panic across her face.

"Mr Hornby can't’ have finished...how can he have finished when I hadn’t been unrustled?"

"He said the star won’t run away and hide like you."

"but..thats my place"

‘"o up there then"

"up there...i..i...its so very high..and the ground is so very far from up there"

"ok, then back in the box"

"but.. but...i wont see christmas, i wont see the lights twinkling in the evening or racing each other or doing fancy flash dances, I wont be able to listen to the flower fairies share their stories, i wont...oh Chippy, why do i have to be so scared of falling?"

"Dont be. I will catch you!. I believe that you can do anything, i know it in my grain. Why don’t you try and see?"

"Oh...its sooo high..."

"You have to trust me, I wont let you down mirabelle?"

"take my hand and I shall help you. You see, the first branch is the easiest,’ and he lifted her up.

‘the hard part is to keep going, when you doubt yourself, when you think you might go wrong, or when you have to trust someone else and yet you doubt them too, thats the hard part Mirabelle"

Mirabelle reached up and pulled herself to the next and the next branch. She felt spurred on to reach the next branch but she wasn’t sure how to get there, she looked down at Chippy and felt quite dizzy, and looked up at Glimmer sparkling in the night. She wanted to move on but felt like there was no way. Mirabelle felt like crying but something floated down in front of her, it was Mr Silber the tinsel, he gave a rustle and reached out to her and she realised he was offering to help and he pulled her up to the fourth branch.

All she needed was to have some faith and a little hope and she could find a solution. Looking around, she wondered how she would climb the next two branches, when she saw a bauble glistening in the light and had an idea. She would have to ask for help and that wasnt something that came easy to her.  

"erm excuse me Orb, could I swing on you up to the next branch? I am aiming for the top but I cant get there alone, will you help?"

"yes...would you help me?"

Mirabelle was taken aback to be asked for help, no-one ever asked her for help, instead they laughed at her and mocked her saying ‘who ever heard of an angel who is scared of heights?’, they never thought she had much to offer.

"of course Orb, what shall I do for you?"

!Can you see, on my top is a hoop with a soft silk ribbon running through it and beside that a sharp pine needle is sticking into me, it's terribly annoying putting up with a prickle like that all day."

So very carefully Mirabelle removed the pine needle for Orb.

"Ohhhhhh..that is much better,now climb aboard and lets get swinging.’"

As Mirabelle leapt off, she realised that she might not reach the branch but she did...just. She was hanging on by her fingertips, she told herself not to look down, but she did and instead of feeling scared, she felt very safe indeed. Standing at the bottom of the tree was Chippy, smiling and ready to catch her, and when she saw Orb still swinging she caught her reflection in his coat of glass. The angel she saw didn’t look scared, as her grip began to loosen she closed her eyes expecting to free fall and was surprised when something grabbed her and pulled her up to the top branch. When she opened her eyes she saw it was Glimmer.

He had climbed down a little from his place on the tree to help her, even though he must have known why she was there, and her heart felt so full she thought she would burst  

For the first time she took in the view from the top of the tree and saw how beautiful it was. Mirabelle hadnt realised, she hadnt want to see it before, she looked down and blew a kiss to Chippy and then turned to glimmer and gave him a smile. She had made it, she had overcome her fear with the help of her friends, they had believed in her, taught her not to be scared and given her hope, and here she was at the top of the tree to stay.

On the 2nd december Mr Hornby came downstairs, he half expected not to see the star on the tree, but it was. He smiled as he headed to the kitchen, then he stopped, removed his spectacles and gave them a clean, put them on and looked back at the tree.

And there on the tree, sat just below the star, was his angel.