Oh! I had such a great time at the Beet Festival.
Myth and I arrived at the fairground right when the festivities were beginning. I took the lead, pulling poor Myth along by the hand. There was so much to see and do that I had trouble deciding where to begin. But then…
“Oh!” I squealed happily, pointing at one particular stall. “Myth, look over there: bobbing for beets! We have to do that right now.”
As I dragged Myth over to the “Bobbing for beets” stall, she said, “Bobbing for beets, really? You’re going to stick your head in a bucket of water and try to catch a beet in your mouth?”
“Uh-huh!” I exclaimed.
I paid the “Bobbing for beets” vendor for one go at sticking my head in the bucket. Placing my hands on both sides of the bucket, I took a deep breath. Then I plunged my head into the chilly water. I snapped at the beets, eagerly trying to catch one of them with my mouth. And when my head reemerged from the bucket—yes! There was a beet caught between my teeth!
“Well done, Izzy,” said Myth, chuckling.
“Thank you,” I replied after I had removed the beet from my mouth. “Do you want to try it?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
The vendor handed me a towel so I could dry my face. “What should we do now?” I asked Myth.
Myth shrugged. “You decide, Izzy. This is your day.”
I gave the towel back to the vendor. Glancing around, I spotted…
“Look!” I shouted happily. “Someone is selling cryspes!”
Grabbing Myth’s hand, I rushed towards the cryspe stall. “Let’s buy some cryspes to eat.”
“You’re going to make yourself sick by eating too many cryspes again, aren’t you?” said Myth.
“That only happened once, Missy.”
“What about when you were a girl and the fair came to Dusk?”
“Well, okay,” I said. “I may have eaten so many cryspes that I made myself sick a few times when I was a girl. But it’s only happened once since we’ve been traveling together.”
We reached the stall, and I ordered two cryspes.
“Thanks, Izzy,” said Myth, “but none for me. I’m not hungry.”
“Are you sure?” I asked her. “They’re delicious.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Eating sugar in the morning upsets my stomach.”
“Well…” I said slowly. “I’ll still buy two, just in case you change your mind.”
“You’ll start eating the second cryspe about a minute after you’ve finished eating the first one,” said Myth.
My mouth was already crammed full of delicious cryspe, so I responded to Myth’s joke by slapping her arm.
As I gorged on cryspe, we visited the crafts stalls where vendors were selling all sorts of homemade knickknacks.
“Look at these necklaces,” I said, halting at a stall to examine its wares. “They’re so neat!”
Myth was not as impressed with the necklaces as I was. “Izzy, they’re just buttons threaded onto a length of string.”
“But isn’t it clever how someone used old buttons to make necklaces?” I replied, determined not to let Myth have the final word.
I glanced at the next stall…
“Oh!” I exclaimed. Rushing to that stall, I picked up one of its wares. “Now this is really handy!”
“Izzy,” said Myth, “it’s soap.”
“But it’s on a rope,” I replied, dangling the soap-on-a-rope in front of her. “Now, that is an absolutely fantastic idea. I cannot begin to count all the times I have dropped my soap in a river just in the past month. Soap-on-a-rope is perfect for travelling.”
“Why not drill a hole into our soap and then thread some string through the hole?” the always-practical Myth said. “Doing that would be a lot cheaper than buying this soap.”
I glanced at the soap-on-a-rope. Myth did have a point, but… “This soap has a chicken imprinted on it,” I replied. “Ours doesn’t.”
Myth would not give up. “The chicken is going to fade when you use the soap.”
True. But I had the perfect comeback: I brushed aside Myth’s rational argument with a wave of my hand. You just do not get many chances in life to buy soap-on-a-rope with a chicken imprinted on it. So you should not pass up such a chance when it comes along.
Clutching my chicken soap, I declared, “I’m going to buy it.”
Then I spotted a bar of soap with a rose imprinted on it. “This one, too,” I said, picking up that soap-on-a-rope.
And then I glimpsed a soap-on-a-rope that had a kitty cat imprinted on it. “And this one,” I said, grabbing the kitty cat soap.
As the vendor wrapped up my soaps, I stared covetously at the remaining bars of soap-on-a-rope.
Alas, Myth managed to steer me away from the soap-on-a-rope stall before I purchased all of its wares. But unluckily for her…
“Look, Myth!” I exclaimed, pointing ahead of us. “There’s a hard cider stall. We should buy a few bottles and enjoy them one night when we’re camping.”
“Iz, lugging around bottles of cider won’t be fun. And they might break.”
But my mind was already made up. How could I pass on a chance to enjoy some cider with Myth as we sat beside a fire and beneath the stars?
I purchased a dozen bottles of cider. And the vendor kindly offered to have them delivered to the tavern where we were staying for a small, additional fee.
“What a nice man,” I said as we moved on. “Offering to deliver the cider to our tavern was so considerate of him. Carrying all that cider around would have slowed us down.”
“You’re really enjoying yourself, aren’t you?”
“Of course, I am,” I replied. “Why? Are you bored?”
Myth shook her head and said, “No.”
I wanted to believe her, but Myth did not seem to be having as much fun as I was. Does she want to leave? I wondered. I hope not, because I definitely want to stay at the festival for at least a few more hours. But I need to consider Myth’s feelings. So if she is not having a good time, then we’ll leave and I won’t pout at all.
“Are you just saying that?” I asked her. “Because we can leave if you want to.”
“Izzy, I promise that I’m having fun,” said Myth. “But only because you’re here. Seeing you become so giddy over soap-on-a-rope and button necklaces… Well, it’s adorable.”
Hearing her say that made me so happy that I started to bounce up and down. Smiling, I grabbed Myth’s hand and rushed towards another stall.
Countless stalls and two cryspes later, I had sated my enthusiasm. So we stopped rushing from attraction to attraction. Now, we walked leisurely, enjoying the sights and sounds of the festival.
“You’ve been such a good sport today,” I told Myth. “Thank you so much for coming with me. But you haven’t bought anything.”
Myth waved her hand at the stalls in front of us. “All these crafts seem… frivolous.”
“That’s the point. Sometimes you just need to buy a frivolous souvenir.”
Myth sighed. “Spending money on trifles isn’t a luxury elves can afford, Izzy.”
I folded my arms across my tummy. “So you’ve never wanted to buy something just to buy it, not because you needed it?”
“Of course, I have,” said Myth.
“Ah-hah!” I exclaimed, pointing my finger at her.
“Who hasn’t?” replied Myth. “But wishing I could buy some trinket or whatnot isn’t the same as actually buying that trinket.”
I opened my coin purse. “Well, today you’re going to buy a souvenir, Missy.”
Reaching into my coin purse, I grabbed a handful of coins. “Here,” I said, holding out my hand so Myth could take the coins.
But Myth did not take the coins—she hunched her shoulders, instead.
“We’ve been through this already, Myth,” I said, feeling quite annoyed. “We’re friends. You are not indebted to me when I give you some coins as a gift.”
“I know, Iz,” said Myth as she kicked a clump of grass. “But I don’t want people to think that I’m your… Oh, forget it.”
“No, I won’t forget it,” I replied. “Tell me what you don’t want people to think.”
Myth huffed. “I don’t want people to think that I’m your love bunny, okay.”
“My love bunny,” I said, utterly bewildered. “What’s a love bunny?”
Myth kicked the clump of grass again. “It’s our name for an elf who accepts money from a human in exchange for becoming that human’s… special companion.”
I was absolutely staggered! Staggered, I tell you. “What!” I shouted. “Why would anyone think that you’re my… my… that just because I gave you some coins?”
Myth’s face was bright red. “People already think that I’m your love bunny.”
“What!”
“That’s why people laugh at us whenever we rent just one room.”
The odd looks and smirking, I said to myself, those people thought that Myth was my love bunny! And Myth knew! But why hasn’t she said something before now? Wait just a second! Is Myth worried that I’ll expect her to become my love bunny in return for the coins I’ve already spent on her? Oh, I hope not.
“Myth,” I said, “I would never ask you to be my, um, love bunny. I care about you too much.”
“I know, Iz,” replied Myth. “And honestly, I don’t care if random drunks think that I’m your love bunny. Sure, it’s embarrassing, but I can deal with it. I don’t want other elves to think that, however. And I don’t want them to think that you’re a spoiled nob spending Daddy’s money on her love bunny. You deserve better.”
Her concern for my feelings made me smile. “Myth, any elf who calls you a love bunny is a fool. No one who knows you would ever think that—and their opinions are the ones that matter. So let’s promise one another that we won’t let strangers ruin our friendship. Okay?”
Myth nodded and mumbled, “Okay.”
“Good,” I said. “Now”—I grabbed her hand and placed my coins in it—“please buy a souvenir.”
Myth shook her head, ready to protest. But I cut her off immediately.
“I know this embarrasses you,” I said. “And I don’t expect that to change all of a sudden. But the only way you are going to get over your embarrassment is let me give you a gift from time to time. Eventually, you’ll stop feeling so embarrassed. And you need to stop feeling embarrassed about this because there is nothing wrong with a friend giving you a gift.”
Myth nodded her head slightly and mumbled, “Okay, Izzy.”
Smiling, I rubbed her elbow. “I have an idea. Let’s split up for a few hours. That way, you can shop in peace, without people smirking and thinking that you’re my love bunny. We’ll met up again back in our room. And then you can show me what you’ve bought.”
Myth smiled weakly and said, “Thanks.”
“Now off you go, Missy,” I told her.
Myth began to walk through the crowd. Before she had gone too far, she turned and beamed a giant smile at me. Then she was gone.