Adelaide's Gold

Adelaide ran through her backyard, laughing in half panic and half excitement at avoiding her mother’s call from inside their home. The clouds hadn’t fully cleared from the earlier rain, but the sunlight that peeked through turned the five year old’s hair a flaming red as she sprinted towards the trees clustered at the back of the property. Her white dress – the one her mother specifically asked her not to wear that morning because of the mud that would inevitably stain it – billowed behind her as her feet grew slick and mud stuck between her toes.

She clutched her contraband tightly with one tiny fist, making sure not to drop the small green notebook during her escape. Adelaide hadn’t meant to get carried away when coloring her mommy’s book of lists, but one picture had quickly turned into pages of colorful doodles and scribbled messages. The little girl was sure it looked much more fun this way, but wasn’t as sure the notebook’s owner would feel the same. Her mommy loved writing in her green notebook, though it didn’t seem that much fun. Maybe it was because it was green. Almost the same color of their house. Green was her mommy’s favorite color. She knew because things like favorite colors were important.

The five year old slowed only slightly as she passed the tree line, taking a furtive glance back to see if she had been spotted. Her confidence boosted at not seeing a frowning face staring out the back window, Adelaide wove through the tall trees giggling with that semi-hysterical glee that often envelops young children when they feel they’ve gotten away with something.

Her giggles were stopped short as she stumbled over something, tumbling to the ground in a mess of tangled hair and ruffles, fresh mud and chlorophyll staining her dress green and brown as her mom had warned her would happen. Adelaide didn’t particularly mind, though. She didn’t feel any pain and an evening bath had already been in her future considering her family would be going to mass in the morning. Plus, lying still on the ground with her eyes closed she could enjoy that distinct scent of nature after the rain.

She breathed in deeply, small brow furrowing slightly at the smell of something vaguely metallic mixed with her beloved post-rain smell. She opened her eyes to investigate and found she was laying in a circular clearing she couldn’t recall having seen before. Odd, since she was familiar with every blade of grass and piece of bark in her small personal woods. Tilting her head up, her eyes widened as she saw not the grey sky, but a myriad of colors that swirled and mixed with one another. She glanced at her dress, the white now transformed into a dancing rainbow, pink, blue, yellow, and green lights having a field day on the fabric.

The little girl twirled happily, enjoying her wondrous new hideaway, but stopped as her eye caught on something unexpected. Only a foot away, a large cauldron sat filled to the brim with gold. The swirling lights from above caused the golden coins inside the pot to glitter spectacularly. She stepped forward, reaching out her hand to touch before remembering her mother’s words: “We look with our eyes, not our hands.”

The sound of a clearing throat startled her out of her reverie and she glanced up, realizing she’d been found. At the sight of a stranger, the little girl took a couple of steps back. The man didn’t seem very threatening, but her mommy had always told her to be careful around strangers. Adelaide could tell that he was a man, but he wasn’t like any man she had met before. He was no taller than she was, and he was entirely red. He had red hair, red cheeks, a red beard, and wore a red suit. Adelaide had never seen a suit that color and thought to herself that church would be at least a bit more interesting if there were more bright clothes instead of the sea of blacks and browns and greys that surrounded her in the pew.

“Why are you in my yard?” she asked.

“I’m not,” the stranger replied, looking at her strangely. Adelaide noticed that his eyes weren’t red, but green and they stood out clearly from the rest of him.

“Yeah huh,” Adelaide said with all the confidence of a small child. “Mommy had Pappy build a fence around our yard because I kept going too far and she’d get scared and I’m not big enough to climb it yet and so I know I’m still in my yard. And you’re here, too, so you’re in my yard.”

“I’m not in your yard,” the small man repeated.

His voice sounded strange to Adelaide, his words understandable but kind of different? The last time she’d met someone who sounded different like that had been when a priest from another country was visiting their church. Suddenly it dawned on her. The man was lost! He wasn’t from around here and somehow had wandered into her yard. Maybe he could tell her how he got over the fence!

“Hey! How about if you tell me how you climbed over the fence, I can help you find where you’re going!” This seemed fair. The man in red didn’t seem happy to be here and she wanted to figure out how to escape her yard. The people on the other side of the fence had gotten chickens – chickens! - after it was built and if she could sneak over she could play with them!

Unfortunately, her plan didn’t look like it was going to work because the man just shook his head. Adelaide sighed, crossing her arms and pouting her lips. If she wasn’t going to learn how to climb the fence then she might as well be on her way. She had a notebook to hide, after all. She picked the small green book up from the ground, brushed it off a bit, and turned. She stopped short, however, when she noticed there was no space between the trees for her to step through.

“You can’t leave,” the man said. She felt scared for a split second before realizing he hadn’t said it as a threat, just a matter of fact. She looked around the clearing and noticed that the trees surrounding it had no openings between them.

But if she couldn’t leave then… “How did I get here?”

“I’m trying to figure that out me’self.”

Adelaide looked at the man, her eyes asking all the questions she couldn’t quite voice.

“You’re in my… domain.”

Domain. The word somehow didn’t quite match up with the way his mouth had moved and it sounded strange. She wanted to ask about it, but found her jaw wouldn’t open and her tongue felt heavy when she tried to repeat the word. Instead, she asked, “How do I leave?”

The man brought a freckled hand up to scratch his head.

“You have to take the gold.”

“Why would I take your gold?”

The question took the man by surprise. Humans were greedy creatures. Many had tried to force his kind to show them where they kept their treasure, but they were also stupid, so they didn’t usually succeed. This girl, however, had found the gold and she didn’t want it?

“You found it. So it’s yours.”

The five year old considered this for a moment, but remembered that time when a nice old lady tried to give her a couple of coins to buy a lollipop and her mommy had said no.

“I can’t.”

“You have to.”

“Mommy says I can’t take things from strangers.”

“Look, I’m what you would call a leprechaun. We have rules we have to follow.”

“A leprechaun? Like the one on my cereal box?”

The red in the man’s cheeks suddenly spread throughout his whole face and he pursed his lips so hard they almost disappeared.

Adelaide cocked her head and continued, “I thought leprechauns were supposed to wear green. The one on the cereal box wears green.”

The self-proclaimed leprechaun took a deep breath in through his nose and let it out through his mouth.

“Listen, child – “

“Adelaide,” she said. “It’s polite to in-toe-duce yourself.”

The Leprechaun closed his eyes for a moment and huffed.

“Adelaide,” he repeated, “listen. I am a leprechaun. You found my gold at the end of a rainbow. Now you have to take the gold in order to leave. Those are the rules.”

“My teacher said that rainbows are circles.”

“Aye.”

“But she said circles don’t have ends so you can’t get to the end of a rainbow.”

Honestly, the leprechaun was wondering about this himself. There was a reason his kind made the rule that people could only find their gold at the end of a rainbow. Leprechauns would often laugh at the foolish humans who chased rainbows in an attempt to find riches. Yet somehow this little girl had literally stumbled over his gold. He was bewildered, tired of the barrage of questions, and ready to end this interaction.

“Look around you. You’re at the end of a rainbow and you found my gold. Now take it and go.”

“But mommy would get mad.”

The leprechaun raked his hand down his face.

“It’s worth around twenty thousand dollars. I’m sure your mother will be okay with it.”

“Is twenty thousand more than one hundred? I can only count to one hundred, but Tommy said he can count more than that.”

“Yes. It’s a fair bit of money. Your mom will be glad.”

Adelaide thought for a moment, before shaking her head. “No, sorry, I don’t want to make Mommy mad.”

“Child – “

“Adelaide.”

“Adelaide, I’m obligated to give you this gold.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means there are rules and I have to follow the rules. So do you if you want to leave.”

The little girl did want to leave. She didn’t know how long she’d been here, but she still had to hide the notebook before going back to the house.

Adelaide fidgeted with the notebook, bringing it to the leprechaun’s attention.

“What if we do a trade?” Adelaide asked.

The red man frowned.

“No, you found the gold. It’s already yours.”

“No, it’s yours.”

This tiny child was incredibly frustrating.

“I can’t take things from strangers.”

The leprechaun had an idea.

“If you give me your notebook will I not be a stranger?”

The five year old thought this over and smiled, mostly excited that she’d found the best hiding place, and nodded her head. “Yeah, mommy didn’t say I couldn’t give things to strangers. And if we’re friends I can take your gold!”

He wanted to avoid a “friendship” with this creature at all costs, but he wanted to get her out of his space more.

“Deal, hand me your notebook.”

Adelaide held it out to him and there was a shift in the air, a small gust of wind, and she was suddenly alone, surrounded by her own familiar trees.

“ADELAIDE ANNE YOU COME HERE THIS –“

Her mother stopped as she passed through a couple trees to where Adelaide was standing next to a giant pot.

“What is – “

To say she was bewildered would be an understatement.

“Look mom!” Adelaide said excitedly, “Money is green!”