I have a wonderful friend on Twitter that I love to have fun with when it comes to writing. Over the years, we have come up with a couple of characters that every once in a while peek their heads onto Twitter and take over our threads.

Mine comes from a character that I created in a Free Write Friday I used to do on Kellie Elmore’s website. She is a witch that lives in the forest by herself, which she likes it that way. Although she does not look a day over thirty, she is very old and is neither good or evil. Because she has been betrayed in the worst of ways, their are very few that she has let into her life or she trusts. Suzanne’s character is a pixie by the name of Suzi. Suzi always means well, but her magic is, shall we say, a little…unpredictable. Even so, Suzi has managed to worm her way into my character’s heart, even if at times the pixie exasperates her to no end.

What started out as Suzi waking me up early in the morning with exuberance and being very loud (I am NOT a morning person either in story or real life) has grown into a friendship and an actual story, which we should get back to writing someday.

So, it was my birthday last weekend and Suzi paid me a little visit. I have copied and pasted the entire thread onto here. Due to Twitter’s 140 character rule, I have edited a few words that were shortened and fixed the punctuation and format. Otherwise everything is the same as it was on Twitter.

So, enough from me. Here is Suzi’s Birthday Present

 

Suzi flutters into the living room with a small box in her hand. She quietly places it on the floor. Pursing her lips as she looks around, she decides she’ll need more room. Removing her wand, she gently sweeps all the furniture against the wall.

“Hmmm,” she says with a big smile. “That should do it.” Walking back to the small box she reaches in her pocket for her bag of pixie dust. “Now let me think. Is it one pinch or two?” She reaches in to take some out and the bag drops out of her hand and emptied out all over the box. “Oh my!” she exclaims and slowly flutters back woods as the box starts growing in size. In no time at all the box fills the entire room and Suzi is very close to being squished into the window. Just barely making it out in time, she flutters outside the house as the living room starts to groan and stretch from the pressure of the growing box.

“Oooooh no!! It gonna blow!!!” She exclaims in horror. “Take cover!” she yells as she ducks behind the nearest tree.

Just as thinks could not get any worse the house explodes! There left standing is a ginormous white box with a big red ribbon wrapped around it with a card that reads, “Happy birthday Heidi!”

“Oh jeez!” she sighs. “I don’t suppose she’ll want to open the box now. There was a pretty pink balloon I decorated by hand in there,” Suzi thought to herself. “I wonder how many there are now?”

 

Returning from the market, I slow to a stop, my mouth open, eyes wide as I survey the scene before me. There is a gigantic white box with a pink bow sitting among what is left of my living room, which is in shards around the meadow. Even the trees, who groan in n protest as sap weeps down their bark, have pieces of living room sticking out like small daggers. Somewhere, probably under the box, is my furniture….

Closing my eyes and counting to twenty, I take a deep breath, let it out slowly then opened them. “Suzi? Why is there a laarrgge box on my house?”

“Umm… Birthday present?” she relays sheepishly. “Wanna open it?”

“Sure…!” Praying for patience and the luck of the Irish, and every other charm that brings luck, I step towards the box and reach for the bow, gently tugging on it. It won’t budge.

“Here!” Suzi exclaims. “Let me help!!” Giving the ribbon a hard tug the lid flies open and thousands of pink hand decorated balloons come flying out!!

Gasping in awe, we watch them as most of them float up into the heavens, some staying near the ground so I can enjoy them.

“Thank you Suzi! They are beautiful!” I reach down to pick one up and examine it, loving the detail. “You really should be an artist.”

“Ummm, Heidi, you might want to put that down.” Suzi says looking up into the sky. As each balloon pops, fireworks explode.

My body freezes, the only things that work are my fingers, which let go of the balloon. Coming to my senses, I step away from the balloon before it explodes. Raising my unblinking eyes upwards, I watch the fireworks, careful to wave away any balloon that float my way.

“Very lovely,” I say my voice slightly strained. “Um, Suzi?

“Yes Heidi?”

“Be a dear and put my house back together exactly the way it was then heal the trees. I’ll start dinner. I got your favorite.” 🙂

“Yes Heidi. Oh.. And Heidi? Happy birthday!!

“Thank you, dear.” 😀

Hugs my friend!!

 

© 2015 Heidi Barnes & Suzanne Carey