Halley's Comet

Not too long ago I had the fortune to meet with a satyr named Fred. He was weird looking because he had goat hooves for feet and swirling ram horns coming out of his head. He was a funny guy because he told me the following story. I can’t say for sure if he made it up or not. I mean, Cupid was made up for Valentine’s Day so adults could feel like they’re in love again. He can’t be real, right?

Fred walked along his normal route. A beautiful silver river in the heavens that glistened with the goings on of the world below. It would randomly show different scenes from many peoples’ lives. An old man waggling his cane at a couple of kids that broke his window. A young couple kissing in front of a priest. His favorite always came up as the river turned around and into his forest. A young girl about ten, like he was, picking flowers in a meadow. She did that often. He would stare at her dark skin and glistening black hair for hours. For you see, he had reddish-blond hair and very light skin.

One day he decided that he wanted to do more than just watch her as she played with her baby brother or played soccer during recess at something called a school. He wanted to meet her. He walked back and forth across the soft grass thinking of a way he could see her. He wasn’t supposed to go to the world below. That was forbidden, but he couldn’t see any other way that he could meet her. He could always have his father make her appear in their world.

He thought that was an excellent idea, so he ran all the way to his humble nook in a large tree in between the roots that were above the ground. His father, also a satyr, sat in front of a small fire. He had long old horns that were cracking in places. His goat fur had silver splotches through it.

“Dad! Dad!” said Fred.

“What is it, boy?” asked his father, looking up at him.

“I want you to meet someone.”

Fred’s father raised an eyebrow. Fred’s face was so eager though that his father got out of his chair with a groan and hobbled after him. Fred skipped and hollered all through the forest until they got to the turn in the stream. Fred pointed at the pretty girl in the stream.

“Dad, make her my friend. Please, oh please!” Fred said.

Fred’s dad just looked at him confused. He looked down into the stream and saw the pretty girl. His brow furrowed. His father sighed and looked at Fred.

“I’m sorry my boy. My magic is not strong enough to make this girl your friend. Only you can do that.”

“Dad, can you make her appear in our world?” His father shook his head. Fred collapsed to the ground. “But you can do anything! Surely there’s something you can do?”

“I cannot do that type of magic, my boy. It is forbidden to us forest folk. Only a god can do that.” Fred squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn’t meet the girl that he really liked. He stared at her in the stream again. The scene of her disappeared! “It’s best if you forget about her, my boy.” His father hobbled back to their little nook.

Fred ran down the stream looking for the little girl’s picture. As the hours passed, he still had not found her. He collapsed on the ground with a loud thud. Only a god could make it so that he could finally meet her. He jumped up and rushed through the forest until he got to a large gold metal door with pink stained-glass windows. The picture on the window was a large heart with an arrow through it. His friend, Cupid, lived there. He knocked on the door and it opened by itself to a large courtyard area. It was full of pink clouds, buzzing fireflies, a fountain in the middle.

Cupid jumped out from a nearby rose bush covered in scrapes and bruises. He pulled out the thorns and washed his cuts in the fountain. Cupid was a chubby kid with tighty-whities and a shimmering pink and red sash across his chest. He had a quiver of arrows across one shoulder. His bow was missing.

“Trying to find your bow again?” Fred asked.

“Maybe,” Cupid said with a grin. “What brings you here, my friend?” Fred explained that he really liked this girl, and since Cupid was the child of a god that he could bring her to him. Cupid looked at him like he was crazy and shook his head.

“I don’t know the magic that would do that, Fred. We can ask my mom! She might know.” Cupid and Fred walked over to his large house made of candies. His mom was beautiful. She had baby pink hair and rosy cheeks. She wore a cute apron and was holding a muffin when they entered the dazzling white and pink kitchen.

“Ah, Fred and Cupid. What are you two plotting today?” she asked, with a giggle. Her voice sounded like a wind chime.

“Fred wants to meet a girl from the human world,” Cupid said. She stopped laughing and glared at them.

“Now, Fred,” she said putting one hand on her hip and taking a bite out of her muffin, “you can’t visit the human world. Your dad would not want you to go down there. There is a lot of sadness there that we don’t have here.”

“But ma’am, I really want to meet this girl. She has the most amazing smile and loves to be outside.”

“I said no, Fred. Now run along.” Fred and Cupid slumped against the fountain in front of Cupid’s house. Cupid’s mom closed the door and walked into the garden around the back of the house.

“Can I see this girl?” Cupid asked. Fred beamed and grabbed Cupid’s sash. He hauled him out of the gold and pink door and through the forest. When they got to the turn in the stream he peered over the side. She was back. Fred grinned at Cupid and pointed into the stream. Cupid looked over the edge and gasped. She was beautiful. She was filling out Valentines for her classmates and attaching a box of candy to each of them. Cupid gushed that she was very pretty with her dark skin and glistening hair pulled back in a braid.

“It’s too bad I’ll never get to meet her,” Fred said, with a sigh. Cupid sighed too because he really wanted to meet her as well. Cupid paced as he thought of a way he and Fred could meet this human girl.

“What if we go ask the wizard on the other side of the forest?” asked Cupid.

“We could do that!” Fred said.

They ran through the forest to a small cottage. Fred tip-toed to the window and saw a pretty young woman using a wand to stir her tea as she read a book. She didn’t look like a wizard. Cupid tip-toed to the door and was already knocking before Fred could tell him that the wizard was really a witch. Fred watched as the young woman spilled her tea on her book. She brushed her hand over it to dry it off. She walked out of his sight. A creak resounded across the forest as he turned. She’d opened the door.

“What can I do for you two boys?” she asked. Her voice was light and airy.

“C-could you help us meet a human girl?” Cupid asked. Fred clopped over with hopeful eyes. The witch giggled and motioned for them to enter her house.

“All you two want is to meet a girl? Aren’t you a little young?”

“It’s never too early to want to make a new friend,” Fred said. The witch smiled and pulled down a large old book made of leaves. She flipped through the pages with a serious expression. She ended on a page and started pulling herbs, berries, and twigs into a bowl. She mashed them up and poured them into a kettle of hot water over her nearby fire. Fred and Cupid looked eagerly at each other.

The witch removed the kettle and whispered some funny words. She poured a cup and turned to them with the cup in hand.

“I’m sorry, I’ve only got enough for one of you to go,” she said. Cupid snatched the cup out of her hand and spilled some on himself. He yelped as the hot liquid hit his skin. He dropped the cup and Fred grabbed it just before it hit the floor. More of the potion spilled out. There wasn’t much left. Cupid swiped at the cup as Fred clopped away from him.

“Cupid, what’s gotten into you?” Fred asked.

“I wanted to see the girl just as much as you,” Cupid said with a sneer as he reached out for the cup again. The witch waved her wand and the cup slipped out of Fred’s hand and into hers. She looked into the cup and sighed.

“Boys, there isn’t enough for either of you now.” Fred threw a glare at Cupid. Cupid glared back at him. Fred turned his back on Cupid and stormed out of the cottage. He trudged back to the girl’s life in the stream. He laid on the grass and watched her for a little bit with a frown. She was helping someone find a toy that they had lost on the playground. She was so nice.

He reached his hand out to her image. As he placed it in the water, his hand disappeared. He jerked his arm back and his hand re-appeared. He did it again. Maybe, just maybe, this was a portal into someone’ s life. He could see her. He could be with her! He jumped up and got ready to jump into the stream. He stopped at the water’s edge. Would he be able to come back? It didn’t matter. He could be friends with her. Why would he want to come back?

He jumped off the edge into the water. Everything went silver before he landed. He blinked as a teacher introduced him as a new student in a fourth-grade class. Her class. He stared at her, not believing he was actually seeing her. There were desks everywhere filled with lots of kids. He glanced down at himself. He looked like a normal human boy. He had, what were they called, oh feet! He had toes! He touched above his ears and found that he didn’t have his horns either. Cool! The teacher told him where he could sit and that they were just about to hand out valentines to each other. The dark-haired girl walked over to a couple other children and gave them their Valentines. His heart beat really fast as she walked over to him.

“Hi, I’m Halley but everyone calls me by my middle name Teni because there are three girls named Haley in this class. It’s nice to meet you! I’m so glad that I made extra Valentines. Would you like one?” She held out a cute little card that said ‘eye love ewe’ in pictures of an eye, a heart, and a lamb.

“T-thanks. I’m Fred.” Fred said, as he blushed. “Would you like to be friends?”

“Sure.” She beamed at him as the school bell rang. It was time for recess. They walked outside and enjoyed swinging on the swings, hanging on these metal bars called monkey bars, and running around the soccer field playing tag. Fred’s happiness came to an end as Cupid appeared on the soccer field.

“C-cupid!” Fred said. He stopped running after Teni to stare at his ex-best friend.

“Fred!” Cupid tackled him and started punching him. “You didn’t come tell me you’d found a way!”

“I wasn’t the one who made it so I couldn’t see Teni.” Fred held his hands up to protect his face. He pushed Cupid off and started punching him in return. A teacher blew a whistle to warn the boys to break up their fight. Teni ran over to them and pulled at Fred’s shirt.

“Fred, stop! Your hands are bleeding.” Fred stopped and stared at Teni. She wrapped his hands in her scarf. She looked at Fred, worried as Cupid got off the ground. He pushed Fred aside as he walked up to Teni and flashed her a smile. Teni stuck her tongue out to him and turned her back on him with a huff.

Cupid puffed out his cheeks in anger. He grabbed Fred and shot his bow into the sky. Everything went silver, and they were back in Fred’s forest. Fred shoved Cupid away.

“Why did you do that?” Fred asked.

“If I can’t have her then you can’t either.” Cupid said as he raised his bow, pointing his arrow at the picture of Teni looking for them on the playground. Fred pulled Teni’s scarf off of him and lunged at Cupid. He missed and landed in a tree as Cupid released his arrow. Teni turned into a large flaming rock. She floated out of her life and into their forest. Fred stared.

“Let her go!” Fred scrambled after the floating Teni. He flung his arms out trying to catch her as he jumped. The rock kept floating up into the sky. Fred turned around and punched a gleeful Cupid. He thought of the witch and ran to her cottage, keeping an eye on Teni as she rose into the sky. He pounded on the door.

“Ms. Witch! A human girl has been turned into a flying rock! Can you change her back?” The witch opened the door. She smiled at him and walked out of her cottage. She looked into the sky and saw Teni, the flying rock.

“It’s called a comet,” said the witch.

“C-Can you help her.” Fred said through his tears.

“I can try.” She rose her wand and said some funny words, but nothing happened. She tried again but still nothing happened. “Who did this?”

“C-Cupid.”

“He’s a god’s child, yes?”

“Yeah.” the witch knelt down and gave Fred a hug.

“I’m sorry, little one. I cannot help you. What I can do is make it so that you can see her every 76 years. That’s the best I can do. No god can undo what another god has done. Neither can any witch or wizard.” Fred cried but nodded his head. The witch rose her wand one more time and whispered some words. The comet of Teni froze in the sky and zoomed off.

Now every 76 years Teni, or Halley’s Comet, as Fred named it, comes back across his forest. He hugs her scarf wrapped around him waiting for a glimpse of her flying through the sky so he can see her again.