Wendy's Tale

A short while later Tom and Loki left Tom's apartment and headed out into the hustle and bustle of London, and in short time they had reached the park.

Tom had no idea where they should start looking. He looked at Loki who was watching the rush of London life whizz past them. Midgard was fascinating thought Loki. Hiddlesgard was nothing like Midgard in some respects. There were opportunities here, plenty of ‘opportunities’. Loki smiled to himself. Then he stopped. He was at risk just like everyone else in Hiddlesgard. That couldn’t mean that when he was returned to Hiddlesgard he could not try and use those opportunities here. He had travelled to Migard now, he could travel again. He cast an unseen sneer towards Tom. He needed Tom in order to survive so he would ‘play’ along with him for the time being. Now they had to find his irritating little Wendy. He had chased her into the park. There was no sign of her being here now, she could have flown anywhere. Perhaps she was still somewhere close by. He closed his eyes and concentrated. She was part of Hiddlesgard, perhaps he could sense her.

“Loki?” Tom asked a frown on his face.

Loki waved a dismissive hand to silence him, his eyes still closed.
Tom closed his mouth and stood silently next to Loki. He started looking around the park, hoping he could spot something, anything. He hoped Wendy was OK. London was a big scary place if you had never been to such a big city before and Wendy was used to Hiddlesgard.

Loki lifted his head higher and frowned. Yes he could just pick up something. He was sure she was close, somewhere close but it was not clear to him where. He frowned harder, he had to concentrate…

***********************************************

Wendy was busy in conversation with Mr Ruffles. He sat silently while she chattered away to him. She had a lot to tell him. She asked him about his trip to the beach. She had been to the beaches in Hiddlesgard with other Huggles. They would swoop and dance among the waves on a windy day. Giggling as droplets of water spray would wash over them. They would follow the roll of a wave as it crashed to shore. On sunny days when the seas were calm they would fly over the Sea of Dreams watching their reflections on the sea’s surface. There was an island called the Principality of Pudding and that was a very special place for Wendys. Any and every kind of pudding you could think of you could eat. The Wendys would fly out in flocks for the day just to sample some of the delicious puddings. Wendy smiled to herself, those were very happy memories. She tapped Mr Ruffles on the nose to check to see if he was still listening. He tipped over on to his side...again. He did that a lot. Wendy didn’t worry she let him rest again. She had been chattering to him for a while now. Jenny had said she had to go downstairs and talk with her grandmother so had to leave Wendy in her room.

Seeing that Mr Ruffles was resting Wendy fluttered over to the window and looked out over the park. There were people there, walking their dogs and running along the paths. Wendy liked people watching out of the window. She always went to the window when Jenny had to leave her alone. Jenny’s room was high up so Wendy could see quite a bit of the park. She smiled as she saw a dog chasing and fetching a ball. That looked like fun. Her gazed shifted to the left and Wendy froze. There was a man…a man with long black hair. He was standing in the park with his eyes closed. Wendy knew that man and she did not like him. He should not be here. She forgot about the window being made of glass and thumped into it. She scolded herself. She needed to get outside and into the park. Then she saw someone else emerge from being hidden by the leaves of the trees. It was the man from her daydream. He was real. She was panicking now. He should not be with the other man. The other man was dangerous. The other man was very, very bad. Wendy started chattering loudly. Jenny had told her to stay quiet but she had to get outside to help the man. She had to protect him. She thudded up against the window again. This was causing her great distress. She fluttered around Jenny’s room. She needed to get outside. She called out to Jenny. ‘Please Jenny’ Wendy cried. You have to come and let me out. She knew Jenny could not understand her as she was speaking in Wendyese but she needed to get Jenny’s attention.

Then she heard footsteps and voices outside of Jenny’s room. She could hear Jenny pleading with someone not to open the door and that it was ok and please don’t panic. The other voice was raised in concern and Wendy thought she could hear a woman scolding Jenny for keeping an animal in her room. Wendy could hear Jenny crying. She was torn. She had never wanted Jenny to get upset but she also had to help the man in the park. Wendy was flustered and confused. She flew round in circles. She had to get outside.

She heard someone turn the doorknob and saw the door open slowly. She could hear Jenny sobbing quietly. The face of an older woman poked gingerly around the side of the door, her eyes scanning the room. Then she noticed Wendy and let out a shriek. The door flew open and Jenny dashed in, her eyes red, swollen and damp with tears. She made a grab for Wendy and stood holding her tight. Wendy tried to wiggle free but was held fast in Jenny’s fingers.

“You can’t take her away from me! She belongs to me! I won’t let you!” Jenny shouted at her grandmother, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Jenny sweetheart you cannot keep a wild animal in the house.” Her grandmother spoke calmly now.

“You cannot keep the bird in your room. It belongs outside where is can fly in the sky and enjoy freedom. It would not be fair to keep it here.”

“No, she is special I rescued her. She needs me. She has no friends.” Jenny sobbed back. She gripped Wendy tighter.

“You have to let her be free Jenny. She has friends and she can find them if you let her go. Please my darling.”

Her grandmother walked slowly towards Jenny, a kindly smile on her lips. Jenny looked down at Wendy and then back at her grandmother, tears welling up in her eyes.

“I will never see her again. “ Her eyes pleaded with the grandmother to let Wendy stay.

“You will see her again. We will go to the park and she will be there. She probably has a family waiting for her and they miss her terribly. Do you want them to worry about her?” her grandmother soothed the top of Jenny’s head then hugged her close. Wendy thought she smelt of violets.

Jenny sniffed. “No I don’t want them to worry. We can go to the park everyday?”

“We will go as often as we can, maybe even more than once a day. Please Jenny we must set her free”

Jenny’s grandmother walked over to the window and released the latch. She then pushed the window pane upwards. A gentle breeze fluttered the curtains.

Jenny took a deep breath and walked over to the window. She lifted he hands to her mouth and gently kissed Wendy.

“I will miss you. Please come back and see me. I am not going to call you Mrs Chichester any more. I am going to call you Wendy.” she whispered into her fingers.

Wendy’s heart skipped. Jenny knew her real name. Wendy was heartbroken, but she had to go. She promised there and then she would come back.

Jenny placed her hands across the window ledge. Wendy could feel a cool breeze on her whiskers. She then felt Jenny’s fingers open up. Wendy sat between Jenny’s palms. She blinked and looked back at Jenny.

“I love you” Jenny whispered.

Wendy fluttered her whiskers and lifted gently from Jenny’s hands. She looked down to the park then back at Jenny. She flew quickly towards the trees. She then paused and shot straight back into Jenny’s room and into Jenny’s arms. She chirped a thank you and nuzzled Jenny’s cheek. She kissed it and then flew back out of the window down to the park.

Jenny turned from the window and looked at her grandmother, who stood open mouthed. She was sure she had just seen a flying, talking moustache. Jenny saw the look on her face. Her face was still red and wet but she giggled and hugged her grandmother. She knew she would see Wendy again.

***********************************************

Loki frowned again. Suddenly he could very clearly pick up a sense that the Wendy was very close by. He opened his eyes wide and turned around. Something small, whiskered and very angry barreled into his chest knocking him to the floor.

He squirmed and wiggled on the grass trying to brush away Wendy. She would not let him get up. She growled and snarled. He was not going to harm anyone, she would see to that.

“Wendy STOP!” Tom shouted.

Wendy paused mid-nibble. She had Loki’s shirt between her teeth. She released the shirt and fluttered upwards and turned to look at the man who had shouted at her. Loki slowly tried to get to his feet.

Wendy stared hard at Tom. She knew this man. She had wanted to protect him, but who was he?

“Wendy.” Tom said kindly “Leave Loki, he is here to help us and we need your help.” He reached out a hand towards her.
Wendy growled and Tom withdrew his hand. He looked concerned and then hurt.

“Wendy?... Don’t you know me?”

Loki smirked.

“Wendy… It’s me…Tom.”

Tom’s face fell. Why didn’t she recognize him? What had happened to her?

He step towards her and held out his hand again.

"Wendy sweetheart, please it's OK. It is me Tom. I won't hurt you. You know that don't you?"

Tom felt something wiggle in his pocket. He looked down at it and pulled it open slightly.

Out flew Sparkz from the pocket. He hovered in front of Wendy and started chattering away to her. Wendy looked from him to Tom and then back again to Sparkz. He chirped away some more and then pointed a whisker at Loki, then blew a raspberry. Wendy giggled and Loki looked taken aback. He looked across at Tom who shrugged his shoulders.

Sparkz carried on speaking to Wendy who listened and nodded. She kept looking at Tom then back at Sparkz.

Tom anxiously waited for Sparkz to stop talking. Wendy fluttered slowly over to Tom and held out a whisker in greeting. The smile he had on his face as she approached faded. He sadly held out his hand a shook her whisker. He felt like his heart was breaking. His Wendy. His beautiful gorgeous Wendy did not know him. He really wanted to snaffle her up in his arms and hug her very tight, but he felt like she would not like that now. Maybe she would remember him. If he took her back to the other Wendys she would remember him and their time in Hiddlesgard and how close they were. He missed his Wendy...