A Winter Solstice Dream
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12/22/2007 - 12/23/07
First Place, Children’s Stories
Nothing is as magical as a child’s imagination. Isabel Rodriguez’ sweet prose allows us to share her vision of fairies, dragons and cinnamon-scented cookies on the eve of the winter solstice.
By the light of the night, at midnight, on the winter solstice, the fairies came to cook all night. They come because it is the longest and most magical night in their universe.
Every winter solstice, the fairies say, dragons fly on the thin air, making raw eggs stand on end. The fairies use these magical stand-on-end eggs to paint their recipes. The recipes include pies, cakes and snow-flake tea. But most of all they make cookies — pumpkin cookies. They make them every year. The fairies make the mix. Next, some put the frosting on the cookies. Finally, the cookies are put in the oven. After an hour, they put the good-smelling cinnamon on.
***
I wake up from shiny sparkles in the air. I smell cinnamon — from the living room? From the basement? From the kitchen!
I crawl to the kitchen to find the smell. I look at the table. Two dozen cookies are there. I go to reach for a cookie, but before I can, three dragons fly through the open window, reaching for the pumpkin cookies with their golden tongues. They yank and pull, finally getting an even amount.
I sit with my mouth open, watching the baby dragons crunch their cookies and slurp their tea. Then I see twinkling lights in the corner of the kitchen. I walk toward the lights, more afraid than ever, when a tiny hand pops out and touches me on the nose.
***
Next thing I remember, I am in my bed snuggled up with my bear. Snow is falling down outside and I remember the cookies. I go to the kitchen and find a bunch of tiny crumbs on the table and floor.
I think and think and think some more. Soon I think it is all a dream. I tell a friend about my dream.
She says, "Fairies. Fairies made them."
My friend tells me about the legends of fairies and dragons on winter solstice night. The fairies return every year. That's where it stops — not a word more.
No, no, it ends here — finally the end — until next winter solstice night.
Isabel Rodriguez, 8, is in the third grade at Nava Elementary School. She lives in Santa Fe.
