Bad Fairies!

I don't much like fairies these days.

That's probably surprising to you. After all, aren't I the sort of Mockingbird who believes in all manner of gentle, kind, otherworldly things that watch over humans, chuckle at our foibles and occasionally help us out?

Well, maybe. But I'm talking about fairies here!

Oh, sure. They've got good PR, I'll grant you that. Everyone thinks that they're all sweet and cute, sort of like this. Or this. Or maybe even this.

Uh-uh. Not true and don't fall for the hype.

It's actually funny. I had spent six hours teaching my summer classes about life in Elizabethan times as part of the introduction to their work with Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, which prominently features fairies messing about with human lives. Elizabethans believed in all sorts of supernatural thingies that went bump in the night, including ghosts and fairies. But their sorts of fairies weren't the nice kind. Instead, they were the things you blamed when things went wrong, such as the milk going sour, or you not being able to find a shoe. Or worse!

But I'm a modern Mockingbird. When the air conditioning in my house stopped working consistently (it still cooled, just not very well), I knew to call the home warranty folks. I was a bit more flummoxed when I came out of my night class and the car mysteriously died - totally stopped - still in the parking lot.

I blame the fairies.

I may not be right, but the tow truck driver was amused.