Darling One
I could use some charming in my life. After I spent most of the day wearing my underwear inside out and going through five disposable contact lenses before I got t:hem into my eyes, I needed a reprieve — at least from my ineptitude. That’s why this Little Darling was chosen because it's adorable. And honestly, we could all use some adorable in our lives. Leave now if your life is full-up on adorable. Plus, it is sprinkled with Celtic mythology in it, and who doesn’t love that? Seriously, just turn around if you don’t. This place is not for you.
Enough of my badgering, and onto the Little Darling.
Enjoy.
Sophie gave her mother a gap-toothed grin while she snuggled deeper under her pink floral patchwork quilt. For what seemed like forever, she had painstakingly run her tongue over the bottom of each tooth, hoping to loosen them. In her six short years of life, the moments they popped from her head had been her most outstanding achievements. All of her friends had most of their adult teeth already, and she was not going to be left behind.
During the afternoon, while she was playing in the sun-warmed dirt on the side of the garden where her parents never planted, she felt them finally break free from their stronghold in her gums. After a moment of pressure and the taste of something gross on her tongue, she felt both of them fall into her mouth. In all of her excitement, she nearly swallowed them but managed to spit them out into her dirt-coated hand.
Without a moment to waste, she ran inside the house and tugged on her mother’s skirt to show her what had happened. Ecstatic and beaming, she had proudly displayed the teeth cupped in her chubby hand to her mother.
Now, after dinner and bath time, she was nestled into her cream-colored canopy bed. Tonight was special, though: Her mom had placed her teeth under her pillow, and Sophie hoped that since they were her biggest and there were two of them, she would get enough money to buy some new crayons. Her friend Andy had broken her blue one the other day, and the small pieces just didn’t color the same.
Plus, she was wearing her favorite PJs with the giant strawberry on the front and green lace around the top. She hadn’t ever met the Tooth Fairy but wanted to look her best just in case she did.
She wiggled nervously under her covers. No matter what she did, the butterflies wouldn’t settle in her belly.
Her mother leaned over her, resting a hip on Sophie’s bed while she tucked the bedding around her tiny body. “There, snug as a bug,” Mary said.
Sophie’s giggle turned into a yawn. Today had been a big day, but she wasn’t ready to say goodnight, not just yet.
“Tell me a story,” she demanded.
Mary smiled. “Scoot over, then.”
Sophie did just that and made herself as small as possible. She knew that if she gave her mom a lot of room on the bed, she would get a longer story. Though the world was still new to her, she understood that adults did not like to be uncomfortable. Her teacher, Ms. Cox, was constantly sitting. She would scoot her rolling chair across the floor of her classroom and never bother to stand up, even when she wrote on the marker board.
Sophie didn’t like to sit. She liked to run and climb trees, but most of the adults she saw always look tired with crinkly skin around the corners of their eyes and hunched shoulders.
That was never going to be her, though.
The mattress shifted with Mary’s weight, and Sophie curled inward toward the motherly warmth.
“Once there was a young girl whose beauty broke the hearts of everyone she met. This girl’s father was a Fomorian titan called Balor. Balor was monstrous, and he had one eye.”
Sophie laughed as her mom held a hand over one of her eyes and nudged her.
Her mom pulled her hand away and continued. “But with this eye, he could do terrible things and hurt lots and lots of people.”
Sophie shivered under her covers. Though she had heard this story many times before, every time her mom told it, Balor got worse and worse. She soon settled down from the smooth strokes of her mom’s hand through her hair.
“One day, Balor heard a prophecy that foretold of his doom. It said that he would be slain by his grandson.” Mary paused for dramatic effect. It was what she did every time they got to this part of the story, and it made Sophie giggle.
After a long, deep breath, Mary continued. “But Balor thought of a plan to stop this. He locked his daughter Enya away in a very high tower where no one could reach her. And Balor continued on with his life as though everything was fine.”
Sophie felt her eyelids begin to get heavy. She forced both eyes open and kept them like that: No matter how much they burned, she would not blink. Every blink was one step closer to sleep, and tonight — she couldn’t sleep. She had to stay up to meet with the Tooth Fairy.
“In a different part of the land, there was a man named Cain. Cain had a cow. But not just any cow: Cain’s cow produced the sweetest milk, and ten times the amount of a normal cow. Balor heard about Cain’s cow and decided he needed this cow for himself. So he took it — leaving Cain without his cow.”
“Completely out of sorts, Cain searched for someone to help him. He found a druidess — not just anybody, but the same druidess who told Balor that he would die by his grandson’s hand. Cain begged this woman for help and told her all about how Balor had stolen his cow. She agreed to give Cain access to Enya’s tower.”
Soophie yawned deeply and felt the air suck in through the wide gap in the front of her mouth. The reminder cemented her resolve to stay awake.
“Cain and Enya fell quickly in love and had triplets.” Mary poked Sophie’s nose with her finger, and she crinkled it in response with a giggle. “But Balor was wrathful and stole the children away from them. He couldn’t live with the idea that he might be defeated. So he tried to kill them.”
“Why would he do that?” Sophie asked with a shudder, pulling the covers higher to cover every part of her face except her eyes.
The corners of her mom’s mouth turned downward. “I don’t know, dear. But sometimes, the actions of others are wrong. They are simply wrong. But you, my smart little girl — you can change that.”
“How?”
“By doing the right things! Now, where was I,” Mary winked. “Balor had just stolen away from his grandchildren, and very sadly, two children did not make it. But by luck, one did. Lugh, his grandson, was saved and raised sadly away from his parents.”
Sophie stifled another yawn. The warmth of her covers and the soft cradle of her bed called her to sleep. Even the dim glow from the light on her white wood nightstand wasn’t enough to fight off sleep much longer. She knew she was done for.
“And just like what was foretold, Balor met Lugh in battle. In the final battle between the Fomorians and Tuatha Dé Danann, Balor used his terrible eye to cut down those who stood against him. But Lugh used his slingshot and took out Balor’s eye, defeating him and ultimately winning the battle for his people.”
“Yay,” Sophie whispered weakly. Her eyelids stubbornly refused to stay open, and her body felt heavy. She hardly felt her mother’s kiss before drifting off to sleep.