Barbie McGillicutty Gets Her Three Wishes 2: Finding Denton

By the time Barbie walked all the way to the house, found a crack between the door and its jamb, slipped inside, and began the arduous climb up the basement stairs, her feet felt like they were encased in lead. They were so tired from walking so far, they felt as heavy as could be. She did not feel like a fairy princess at all. Barbie began to realize that the wishes she received from the leprechaun were definitely not as great as they were cracked up to be.

Suddenly, her oldest sister began to climb up the stairs. Barbie leaped as high as she could and caught hold of the cuff of Dymphna's pants. She settled herself in as Dymphna unknowingly carried her the rest of the way up the stairs to the kitchen.

Mother was getting irritated. Being so small, Barbie could really only catch part of what Mother was saying, but, apparently, Denton needed to come in the house to take out the trash he had forgotten again and was not answering Mother's calls. Dymphna was sent to find the missing wight.

Dymphna automatically went towards the woods near their home. She was well practiced in finding Denton who haunted the woods more naturally than a tree nymph. He had some problem in his brain that made him prone to wandering. Dymphna, a perfectly responsible teenager, was usually sent to find him.

As Dymphna walked down the hill toward the little creek that ran through the woods, Barbie felt as though she were on a carnival ride. She flew through the air in her blue jean cuff seat with every step Dymphna took. Then she waited with anticipation for the next step to come. Whoosh. Step. Whoosh. Step. Barbie's stomach felt like it was full of butterflies with every whoosh.

When Dymphna stopped to call for Denton, Barbie peeked out over the edge of the cuff. The woods were still and quiet except for Dymphna's calls. Barbie saw a slight movement just feet from them.

It was a toad, one of Denton's favorite kinds, a fowler's toad. She knew because every time he caught one of those warty brown toads, he showed it to her and and lectured her on its habits. That's too weird, she thought. If she looked at the toad just right, it had Denton's face. It looked right at her. There was Denton, smiling like it was the world's greatest thing to be changed into a toad.

Barbie put her hand up to her mouth. "I've got to change him back," she whispered. Then she realized, "I don't know any Latin. I barely know how to read." The Denton toad croaked loudly. Dymphna seemed to notice, because she moved away from him involuntarily. "Pick him up," Barbie moaned, but her voice was as soft as the whisper of a butterfly's wings. She waved sadly to Denton as Dymphna continued searching for Denton. He didn't wave back.

Barbie waited as patiently as a five-year-old girl could possibly wait as she got her fill of roller coaster rides for years within the cuff of Dymphna's pants. Dymphna called and called for Denton to no avail. She trekked down to the creek, looked under the little bridge, climbed up the other side, walked across the field to the other part of the woods, explored the enormous fallen tree, and finally sat down on a big piece of granite that was sticking out of the ground like a flying saucer that had fallen from the heavens and embedded itself there in the woods.

As Dymphna grumbled to herself and drank from her water bottle, Barbie plucked up her courage and began the arduous climb up her sister's pant leg. People always teased Dymphna about wearing her jeans all the time—even in 100-degree weather—but Barbie fully appreciated her sister's silly habit now.

She made it all the way up to Dymphna's lap. Dymphna had her hand resting on her leg as she looked around. Barbie decided to tickle her hand with her wand rather than try to keep climbing up Dymphna's arm. It worked!

At first Dymphna jumped, thinking a bug had come to irritate her, but then she looked more closely.

"Barbie?" Dymphna asked in wonder and surprise. She carelessly set her drink down and carefully picked up her very little sister.

"Yes! It's me!" Barbie shouted, but Dymphna could not hear her. She placed Barbie right next to her ear, and only then could Barbie's words be heard.

Barbie explained everything that had happened. Then she said, "Now I need your help!"

"How can I help you?" asked Dymphna, looking doubtful.

"You are studying Latin," replied Barbie triumphantly. "You can let me know the words I need to know in order to do the magic I want. And," she emphasized, "you can catch Denton."

Dymphna exclaimed disgustedly, "I don't want to touch a toad!"

"It's the only way," Barbie said sagely.

"I suppose you're right," answered Dymphna, "but first we have to find him again. You said he was over near the three trees?"

Barbie answered, "Yes."

She sat up and squared her shoulders. She gently picked up Barbie. Barbie felt as light as a dandelion seed. As she placed the little fairy in the pocket of her shirt, saying, "I'd better put you in here for safe keeping." The girls then set out back to the other side of the woods.

It took Dymphna a full hour's hard searching to find Denton with Barbie directing her all the while. Barbie suspected that Denton had been hiding, because he liked being a toad. Even so, he kept trying to escape all the way back home. Dymphna firmly placed the Denton toad into his glass tank he kept in the basement for animals he planned to study.

Of course, Mother would never believe that Denton was a toad, so they could not tell her or anyone else about their disconcerting problem

"Let's let him be a toad for the rest of the evening," said Barbie sympathetically. "He really seems to love it."

Dymphna shook her head, though. "Mom would have a cow," Dymphna said. "As much as Denton drives her crazy, she loves him and could not bear that fact that he was a toad."

Barbie agreed and so Dymphna got started on translating the sentence, "Turn Denton back into a person."

When she had it all just right, Barbie pointed her wand at Denton and said the words. The Denton toad just sat on the desk where Dymphna had placed him. Barbie tried two more times before finally yelling, "Paddy! Where are you!" in desperation.

Suddenly, Paddy, the leprechaun, appeared out of nowhere. "At your service, Princess," said Paddy, bowing.

Barbie looked confused. "You came," she said. "I had not expected you to come."

"I had to come," said Paddy, looking down on the desk at his foot and acting as if he did not want to say what he was about to say. "You see, leprechauns are a kind of fairy. Since you are now a fairy princess, I am bound to come when you call me and to answer truthfully when you ask me questions."

As the two talked, Dymphna watched, wide eyed. Denton watched, too. He began to stealthily hop toward the edge of the desk.

"Why didn’t the Denton toad turn back into Denton?" she asked, pointing toward the escaping amphibian. Dymphna caught Denton just as he made a flying leap from the desk.

"Blech!" Dymphna cried disgustedly. She struggled a minute or two until she firmly had a hold of him. Then she placed him back in the cage. She ran to the bathroom and scrubbed her hands clean. When she got back, she found that Paddy and Barbie had been waiting for her.

Paddy glanced at Denton and Dymphna with a quirky little smile. "Well, now," replied Paddy, "you are very new and unschooled in the ways of fairies and their magic. I’d say that you were either not doing something right, or you weren’t powerful enough to make the change."

"What?!" yelled Barbie as she stamped her foot. "How am I supposed to do my mag-whatsit tasks if I’m not powerful enough to do it?"

"Keep yer crown on, yer highness. You’ve already forgotten you can borrow magic from others." Paddy smiled. "Why don’t ye think of a story that has just the kind of magic you’ll need."

Barbie tapped her finger on her chin, thoughtfully, but Dymphna said, "The Frog King. A princess in that story changed a frog into a prince. I’ve got the book around here somewhere."

"Now yer thinkin’," said Paddy with a little grin. "May I leave now?"

Barbie eyed him suspiciously. "Will you come back whenever I call for you?"

"Yes, o’ course!" answered Paddy, placatingly.

"Wait a minute. What about this whole power of Books and Stories thing? How does that really work?" Asked Dymphna with an air of authority.

Paddy did not say anything. He just kept looking expectantly at Barbie.

"Why aren’t you answering her, Paddy?" Barbie asked, frustrated.

Paddy said, "Answer who?"

Barbie cried, "My sister!"

"Barbie, my dear, I only have to answer to you. Your sister has absolutely no power over me. I can hardly believe she can actually see me."

Now Barbie was red in the face, and so was Dymphna. They both began yelling at Paddy at the same time. He could barely suppress a grin.

Then Dymphna bent down and whispered something in Barbie’s ear. Barbie smiled wickedly and said, "Paddy, since you have to answer to me, I order you to listen to Dymphna and to answer all of her questions truthfully."

Paddy’s grin fell like a bag of sand off a balcony. "Oh, all right. What are yer questions?"

Dymphna looked satisfied as she sedately asked, "I want to know more about the Books and Stories power. It seems to me that you keep playing tricks on poor little Barbie, giving her half truths and letting her fall into mistake after mistake. I want you to own up to all of that and to treat her kindly. Educate her properly."