Lola is one of the people who live rent-free in my mind. I am the happy repository of many stories from many characters. From time to time they insist that I write one of their stories. I don’t know a lot about Lola. She has not revealed herself personally so I don’t know how old she is, or how tall she is, or anything else about her. I believe she is Hispanic because some of her stories are flavored with Hispanic references but I’m not sure. I only know that she lives with a lot of fantasy. This is a story she wanted me to write a few months ago. I did. Since then I revised it a bit and offer it today.

Little People – a nighttime revelry

An unknown force tugged at Lola’s eyelids begging them to open. Her brain slowly began to surface from indigo slumber. She could hear the soft purr of her lover’s breath as he snored lightly on the pillow next to her. Still holding fast her eyelids, she listened for any other sounds. What had awakened her? The house kept its nighttime silence. Then.  What was that? She heard a splash, the sound of drops of water landing in water and, even yes, the sound of voices. It seemed distant but yet…she felt her ears expand in an effort to catch the slightest detail of sound. Again, a splash. She tried to sense the direction of the noise. It wasn’t in the house.

She opened her eyes to the blanket of darkness, then immediately closed them again. Through her closed eyelids, she sensed a hazy glow as if with open eyes she was looking through a thick cloth that filtered a bright illumination. When she opened her eyes again all she saw was inky nothing. She concentrated on picking out objects in the room. Through the curtained window she could make out an outline of moonlight. The mirror across the room received and reflected tiny fragments of light captured from the window. Slowly she began to see the outline of furniture in the room.

What was that? Another sound, unmistakably a tinkling voice, very high and gleeful, almost a laugh.

Her mind tried to bend around the sensory evidence it was collecting. Was she awake? Was she dreaming? Why did she see more light with her eyes closed than when they were open? Where was water being moved and splashed? And who was talking or laughing nearby? She was absolutely baffled. She lay rigid, not from fear, but straining every fiber to pick up more clues to the strangeness she perceived in the night. It seemed quiet now. Maybe just a dream.

Slowly Lola rolled her head to the side and looked at the clock. 4:00 in the morning. She groaned inwardly and involuntarily began to review the tasks before her for the day. She had to get up in an hour, an early meeting at the office. Then there was the council luncheon and her report. Her aunt was arriving from Texas later in the afternoon, and she had to pick her up at the airport. She needed every second of sleep she could squeeze from the night, so she rolled over to cuddle her sleeping partner who hadn’t stirred at all.

Mid-turn she heard the sound again of water being moved. Now she was sure she wasn’t asleep. She sat up, swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and pulled on her robe. She went to the window, pulled aside the curtain, and looked out, astonished by the brightness of milky moonlight. The backyard was bathed in a pearlescent glow and stars twinkled above in a black sky. Sounds rang out again and she knew they came from the backyard, but she couldn’t see all of it from the upstairs bedroom window. She slid her feet into her slippers and tiptoed quietly downstairs to the back door.

Lola peered through the window in the door that led out to the yard and the serenity pond surrounded by rocks and plants. It was her special quiet place, where she sat to reflect on nothing when all the something in life got to be too much. Her eyes widened. The moonlight made everything very clear, but her eyes wouldn’t believe what they saw. Six tiny people, pixies, elves, or something of the sort were cavorting around the edge of her pond. The entire pool was only six feet long and five feet wide with maybe a foot and a half of water, but the little people swam around like it was a full-size swimming pool. They couldn’t have been more than ten inches tall. They talked together in whispers except once in a while, one of them would laugh aloud, only to be hushed by the others. She was tempted to open the door and walk out onto the patio to see what they would do, but she didn’t want to disturb their happy revelry. She stood silently watching. They were dressed alike in costumes like old-fashioned bathing suits – knee-length pants, with a tunic top. She couldn’t tell if they were male or female. All had short shiny hair.

Lola watched for a while as daylight spread like a shawl over the mountaintop. Mistress Moon gave way, her glimmer fading into the stronger radiance of her Brother Sun. At the exchange of light, the little people faded along with the moonglow leaving Lola to wonder. Had they really been there? Was she still dreaming? What a start to a new day!