“As you know, your parents got married later than most people. But not so late that they couldn’t have kids. How old are you now, Robbie?”
I grimaced. I hated being called Robbie cause that sounded like a boy’s name. I already had to deal with being thought to be a boy with my pageboy haircut and slightly unisex name. “I’m fourteen,” I said finally.
“Well, your mother was twice that when she married your father, and him three years older than her, so they were both near thirty. But try as she might, your mother could not conceive. I tried lots of things but nothing worked.”
I nodded, knowing what she must’ve tried. My great-grandmother and her kin came from a long line of midwives. My grandmother, however, had taken the opportunity to go to college and become a teacher. My mother followed both her mother and her grandmother by becoming a licensed obstetrician, and then going on to teach at a teaching hospital. Her particular interest was in how babies of insane people turned out. I think she was doing either her master’s work or her dissertation on that.
“One night,” Grandma continued, “when both your mother and I had just about given up, we got together while your father was gone on some trip and just cried. We didn’t know what to do.”
Just like my father to be gone at a time like that, I thought. This was one of the things my parents were trying to work out. As a linguistics professor, my father traveled frequently for research or conferences. Usually, he went to exacavation sites or to visit people who knew old stories.
“While we were sitting there, the strangest thing happened,” said Grandma. “A strange light appeared, and then a beautiful group of four women, all tall and fair.
“‘Do not weep,’ one of them said. ‘For though you have no children of your own, you can be the guardian, you and your mother, of this fair child.’ And then she said something to one of the other women, and the woman stepped forward, holding a baby.
“‘This baby was meant to be our princess,’ said the other woman, ‘but things in Walden are not safe, even for us elves. There have been great things prophesied about her, so we fear evil will come looking for her. But it cannot cross into this world, at least not yet.’
“‘So we ask you,’ said a third lady, ‘that you guard this child for us until the time is right, and do not let her know the truth of her heritage until then.’
“‘These things will help you,’ said the fourth woman, reaching under her robe. ‘First, keep this bag of treasures to give to her when she journeys to us.’ She gave me a bag of things, which I later hid.
“To your mother she gave a chest with a key. ‘Keep this quite secret,’ said the woman. ‘For within this chest lies all that was elven of this young child, so that she will not go to Walden too soon or have trouble on this planet with her elven self conflicting with the human world.’
“‘You have made her human, then?’ I asked.
“‘That is right, madam,’ said the third lady. ‘Excepting that she did not come from the womb of your daughter, she is as human as you and your daughter are. And so she shall remain until the time we appoint for her to return to us.’
“‘What if,’ said I, ‘she should find the box before the appointed time and gain access to her elven self?’”
“Which is what happened now, I guess,” I interrupted.
“Yes,” said Grandma, “which is why I am telling this to you.
“‘It is our hope that such a thing does not happen,’ said the third lady. ‘But if it does, tell her the truth and send her to us, for such a thing happening will mean Chaimvin will have ordained a time for her to return without our knowledge, in which case it would not be wise for us to interfere.’
“After that, they left, once we accepted the duty they asked us to do.”
“So, let me get this straight,” I said. “I’m not really my parents’ daughter, you’re not really my grandma, and I’m really an elven princess from some other world out there someplace?”
“Yes, that’s basically it,” said Grandma. “Except that the world has a name: Walden.”
“This seems kinda weird,” I remarked. “You’re not just making this up, are you?”
“I could hardly believe it myself when I heard it,” replied Grandma, “but it is true. In fact, I have video of this, and of course, the fact that the chest is here helps, right?”
“Those elves let you videotape them?” I asked incredulously.
“No, not exactly,” Grandma replied. “But as you know, I put security cameras in here after your grandfather’s antique movie camera was stolen when your mother was young. The elves were caught on that."
I remembered my mom saying something about security cameras, but I figured since no one had robbed from them in my recollection that they would’ve taken them down by now.
For the next couple hours, we watched the footage from the cameras a couple times. Apparently, Grandma had forgotten to mention that the elves explained what each of the things in the bag were. Grandma also paused it to get drinks for us and to get the aforementioned bag so I could see each thing as it was explained.
It was like watching one of those paranormal investigation shows coupled with an educational video like the kind I had to watch in school. Very odd, honestly.
This is like a fairy tale, I thought. Could this really be happening?
