The Magnificent Maisy

His mother knew how to punish him, Jimmy had to give her that. He stuck his bottom lip out in a pout and he swept his eyes over the park. There was a playground; a slide, four large plastic toadstools, monkey bars and a rock-climbing wall. Nothing special. Gum trees surrounded the outside.

One thing was certain, it was not home.

He crossed his arms and turned to his mum. She was sitting on the park bench - lounging on it rather. Pity any poor soul who may come along in need of a seat, for two legs were in the way.

Jimmy stamped his foot, indignant, “I want to go.”

His mum did not raise her eyes to look at him, instead, she pulled a crossword from her jacket pocket.

“You just got here,” she said.

He sniffed. It was not like he had a choice in coming. It was all, “Jimmy, get out of bed, we’re going to the park.” No ifs or buts would sway her otherwise.

“There is nothing to do here,” he said.

She rolled her eyes, “Find something to do.”

“How?” He asked.

“It’s called imagination, Jimmy.” She had the crossword opened and a pen was in her hand. There was no arguing now.

Jimmy huffed and trudged down to the playground, little fists clenched. He sat down on one of the toadstools, a brilliant plan in mind. He would sit here and stare at his mum with all the anger his brain could muster. She would notice, deliver a swift apology, and pack him off home where he could watch the morning cartoons. At least, that was the plan.

As Jimmy stared, he caught movement in the corner of his eye. A person? He looked over and found that he was right. It was a girl, with wild brown hair and a dark green coat. She was peering out from behind a tree. Jimmy locked eyes with her. She ducked behind the tree.

Huh? Jimmy got up and walked over.

Jimmy was a few steps away from the tree when the girl jumped out, pointing a foam sword right at his heart.

“Halt, goblin.” She commanded.

He crossed his arms, “I’m not a goblin.”

The girl narrowed her eyes but lowered her sword. “What are you then?”

This was a ridiculous question.

“I’m human, and so are you,” he said.

To Jimmy’s surprise, the girl laughed. It was not a giggly laugh. More like the ‘HA HA HA’ of a villain revealing their true motive to the unsuspecting hero.

“I am the Magnificent Maisy, Pirate Queen of the North. I am part human, fairy and mermaid. And,” she added, matter of fact, “grandma says there might even be a bit of dragon.” she narrowed her eyes again, “Now, give me your name and tell me what you are.”

“I’m Jimmy, and I’m human,” He said.

Maisy shook her head, her eyes moving from his face to his feet, then back again, “No, there must be a bit of goblin in you.”

“There is no goblin! None at all!” He shouted.

“Well, if you insist.” She held out her hand “Nice to meet you, Jimmy the human.”

He didn’t shake it. She continued talking anyway.

“Unfortunately, donkey seahorse lions ate my crew. And I am on an adventure I cannot complete alone. Do you want to help?” she asked.

No. Absolutely not. This girl was crazy.

Jimmy shook his head.

“What a shame, I guess I’ll have to find the treasure myself then.” She turned from him with a flick of her hair.

The word treasure struck him like a lightning bolt, zapping his body with electricity.

“Treasure?” he asked.

“Yes treasure,” she turned to look back over her shoulder at him. “it’s a special kind of treasure too. This treasure is anything you want.”

Anything you wanted sounded pretty good. Jimmy knew what he wanted…

“Alright fine, I’m in,” he said.

Maisy jumped back around with a clap of her hands and a great shout, “Yipeeeeeeee!” (It was the longest yippee Jimmy had ever heard.)

Maisy dug her hand into her baggy trench coat pocket. “Aha!” she pulled out a plastic sheriff's badge and presented it to Jimmy.

Uncertain, he took it from her and pinned it to his shirt.

“You are now my first mate!” Maisy beamed. She spread her arms wide, “Welcome aboard!”

He did not bother informing her they were not on a pirate ship.

“So where’s the treasure?” he said.

She ushered him closer. From her pocket, she pulled out a small black notebook.

She lowered her voice, “This is the Wondrous Book of Wonders. I fought through an angry pack of maple-patterned wolf-bears to get it. It could do lots of bad in the wrong hands, so we must be quiet. There are spies everywhere.” she cast a glance up at the magpie in the tree above them.

Jimmy doubted the magpie was a spy.

Maisy opened the booklet and flipped through, revealing colourful sketches of strange animals. They were impressive. Jimmy hated drawing. He could barely manage a stick figure without getting angry that it did not turn out the way he liked.

Finally, she rested on a page in the middle of the book, a map. Maisy had labelled the places with names like ‘Forest of the Moth-Owls'' and ‘Lake of Blood-Thirsty Mer-Sharks’. Though, it was none of these names that caught Jimmy's attention. In the middle of the map, right next to ‘Mount Everest II’, there was an ‘X’ marked in red pencil.

Maisy tapped the ‘X’, “That’s where the treasure is.”

Jimmy was feeling disheartened. There was no real treasure. She had drawn this map herself.

“This way! To the bog of quicksand!” Maisy strutted towards the plastic toadstools of the playground.

Jimmy gazed over at his mum. She was still absorbed in her crossword. He sighed. He may as well stick around, at least this gave him something to do until he could go home. He followed Maisy, taking time to kick at small stones while he did so.

Maisy leapt from the barrier of concrete, across the mulch, and onto the first toadstool.

“Boy, it sure would help if one of us had wings.” she bent her knees, preparing for the next jump.

“Didn’t you say you were part fairy?” Jimmy replied. He couldn’t believe he was entertaining her foolish ideals.

“Only full-blooded fairies have wings, silly,” she said. She leapt across to the next toadstool.

Of course, they did. James jumped onto the first toadstool as Maisy landed on the other side.

Another jump, another, one more, and he joined Maisy.

“What’s next?” Jimmy asked. He hoped his mum was almost finished.

A chilling smile crept onto Maisy’s face.

“The jungle vines of death!” she shouted.

Jimmy guessed that meant the monkey bars.

Maisy went first, swinging across with ease and making it to the other side.

“C’mon Jimmy!” She encouraged, “You can do it!”

Jimmy hated monkey bars.

He jumped and grabbed the first rung. He swung… and made it to the second… and the third…

And... his hands were slipping. He was going to fall!

The world around him came to life with each desperate beat of his heart. As he struggled to hold on, the bar above him morphed into a vine, a vine as slippery as a snake. A vine that was alive, writhing and snapping at his hand, willing him to let go. He was swinging between trees that were as tall as mountains. A deadly drop loomed below. His palms began to sweat, turning this dire situation into one of mortal peril.

Jimmy lost his grip and began to fall with a terrified scream…

Someone grabbed his hand, stopping his fall.

Jimmy looked up. Maisy had climbed to the top of the monkey bars and was holding Jimmy up through the gap between the rungs.

“What are you doing Maisy?” he cried “You’ll fall too!”

“Pirate queens do not fall!”

With a grunt, she pulled him up and away from the drop to the rainforest floor, away from the reach of the snapping vines. He managed to get a grip on the bars and pull himself into the canopy next to her.

They sat for a moment, legs hanging over the edge. Admiring the sunset of a new world.

‘Look!’ cried Jimmy, ‘Sea-Turtle doves!’

‘Oh, I haven’t seen them before.’ Maisy said. ‘They must be rare. They’re so pretty.’

They clambered over the monkey bars dropping down, safe, on the other side.

Before them lay the last obstacle on their adventure.

If Jimmy thought the trees were big, the mountain before them, ‘Mount Everest II’ was even bigger. It was as if, stacked on top of each other, were all the mountains in the world.

‘So the treasure is just over there..?” he asked.

Maisy pulled out her pirate map and consulted it. She was taller now. An eye patch over her eye, a scar on her cheek. Her sword was a fine weapon of real silver. She wore a magnificent black pirate coat, decorated with golden buttons.

‘Yep,’ she declared, shutting the wondrous book of wonderful things with a snap and placing it in her pocket.

Jimmy was different as well. He was not a boy. He was the brave first mate of Marvelous Maisy, Pirate Queen of the North. With a sword and pistol by his side, a shining white pirate's blouse and black hair slicked into a ponytail.

“Almost there,” he said.

They began their ascent. The terrain was rocky and precarious. Halfway up, a pack of wolf-bats attacked. Maisy and Jimmy fought them off with ease. Maisy swinging and slicing at them with her sword, while Jimmy used his pistol, his aim akin to a master marksman.

At long last, they had made it to the top.

Only one obstacle left, the climb downward.

The playground slide.

His mother had finished her crossword. She was standing, watching Jimmy and waiting, her arms crossed.

Someone was shouting Maisy’s name from the other end of the playground.

“What do you want the treasure to be?” Maisy asked. There was a sense of finality to her tone. An understanding their adventure was coming to an end

Jimmy looked at her, and paused, thinking. Grief wrapped around him like a dark fog.

“$20,000,” he finally said, “That’s how much they need to treat my sister’s cancer.”

Maisy nodded, understanding. “I hope it’s $20,000 too, then.”

And one by one, they slid down the slide. They both knew, deep down, that they wouldn’t find $20,000 at the mountain’s base.

But at least, for now, they could pretend.