Sophia was bored. Ever since her stroke her daughter had kept a very close eye on her, going so far as to move her out of her own home! Left alone all day with just an orderly for company to remind her to take her pills and do her physical therapy, Sophia was desperate for something to occupy her time not to mention her mind. So far she had knitted dozens of scarves and was thinking about branching out into more complex projects, but being alone in her own head was becoming bothersome. Television was getting monotonous, audiobooks were nice but her granddaughter kept blathering on about podcasts and who knew what that was.

Sitting in her back bedroom, Sophia sighed and grabbed her cane to make her way to the bathroom. It was almost pill time and she knew that Michael the orderly would be looking for her soon. Best take care of business before he came lumbering down the hallway with his false cheerfulness. Before she got out of her chair she changed her mind. She’d rather walk in the garden for a while, it was such a nice day and her daughter always chastised her for walking on the path. She could hear Dorothy’s voice now, “it’s uneven, Mummy! What if you have a fall?!” That was Dorothy’s problem, always worried about what could happen, never one to go on an adventure. Far from her namesake, Dorothy would simply never undertake a trip to the Emerald City.

Sophia smiled thinking of her favorite book from her girlhood. What a lark! Thinking about going on an adventure at her age. The best she could do was the bottom of the garden and look for the fairies.

She made her way down to the fence and turned to overlook the garden. A lovely, English country garden, messy in its way, but lovely to those who appreciated that specific kind of barely contained wildness. The bees buzzed and hummed and lulled Sophia as she closed her eyes and felt the slight breeze on her skin. Down the path came Fizzle, her ragged old tomcat that she had insisted that Dorothy let her bring. Life wouldn’t be worth living without Fizzle, though he sometimes reminded her of the cowardly lion. All swagger and bluster but when faced with an enemy he ran and hid behind her legs.

As she watched Fizzle saunter towards her a strange shimmer seemed to appear in the air. The buzzing of the bees became louder and took on an eerie quality. For a moment Sophia panicked, was she having another stroke?  As suddenly as it started the shimmer vanished and the buzzing returned to normal. Perhaps she should go back into the house, she thought, the sun was obviously not agreeing with her. As she turned to look at the garden once more before heading back inside she head a tiny voice near her feet.

“Did it work?” the voice was hesitant.

“We’ll find out soon enough”, a huskier voice replied.

Sophia looked near her feet for the speakers, chastising herself for being so foolish. It was an immediate reaction to look for the source of the sound but was she really looking for fairies at the bottom of the garden? What nonsense. If Dorothy found out she would be whisked away to a home before you could say “incompetent”.

Scowling at her own brain playing tricks on her, Sophia caught a flicker of movement. A small woman, the size of a toy, was looking at her from beneath a flowering bush. When Sophia’s eyes widened at the sight, the woman moved tentatively closer.

“Grandol! I think it worked! She’s looking right at me!” the small woman declared, tiny eyes never leaving Sophia’s.

At her words a toad-like creature slipped into view. This was obviously male, nature would never do such a thing to a female.

“Excellent work Prielie!” he croaked. “And on your first try! Well done!”

Sophia straightened up and blinked furiously. She glanced back but the two were still standing near her feet, watching her intently. Before she could put her thoughts in order, Fizzle came streaking past her and pounced. The small woman and the toad-man vanished and Sophia yelled for Fizzle to stop. She hated when he picked on small creatures, even if they were figments of her imagination. He heard her yells and turned his lamp-like eyes on her.

“You never let me have any fun”. The words appeared in her head without the courtesy of using her ears.

“That’s it!” she thought to herself, “I have gone mad”

Fizzle sat down to wash himself, seemingly ignorant that she had heard him in her head. Natural curiosity won out, however, and she decided to investigate further.

“Fizzle?” she hesitantly asked.

“What?” he replied petulantly.

“Can you understand me?” He turned from washing his back and sat facing her on the garden path.

“I can always understand you, you mad old woman.” He flicked his tail.

“well, there’s no need for name calling” Sophia stood up to her full 5’2” and peered down her nose at him.

“Name calling!” he harrumphed. “Look who’s talking. Named me ‘Fizzle’ like I’m the end of a firecracker. Nothing close to the respect I deserve”

“I named you ‘Fizzle’ because you are always dashing about like your tail is on fire, you mad beast!”

“That’s right, I am a beast. Best you remember it!” Fizzle set about washing again when the toad-man reappeared and shot a bolt of light right at Fizzle. He yelped and dove behind Sophia’s legs, hissing at the man from the safety of his hiding spot.

“Fierce jungle beast, you are”, Sophia chuckled.

“Madame,” the small man was addressing her directly now and attempting a bow, though his body was in a perpetual crouch anyway so it was hard to tell. “We have come to take you to your destiny, our land has been plagued by terrible war and you must return with us to fight the evil”

Sophia issued an unladylike snort. Perhaps she was having a dream, though her dreams never seemed to be quite so realistic as this.

The small woman now joined her cohort. Obviously more wary of Fizzle she remained a step behind the man and fidgeted with her fingers, twisting them around and eyes darting around. “Please!” she squeaked. “You must! It has been foretold to us”

“It matters not” the man turned suddenly sharp, “We will take her, she will lead the uprising!”

The haze was coming up, more gradual now but denser than before. She saw Michael the orderly hurrying towards her with her pills and a mug of tea, his eyes wide.

Suddenly she was jolted and her feet landed on hard ground. She gripped her cane madly and hoped that she wouldn’t fall. Dorothy would be so cross.