The Faerie Reel

By Mike Mayak

The two men stood staring at the ground. One of them had reddish-brown hair and a soccer player’s build. The other also looked like he was in his twenties, about the same height (5’10”) skinny with light brownish skin that had looked a little greenish in the Moonlight. Green eyes and very definite green hair that hung down around his ears.

On the green grass in front of them was a half-circle of dirty-white mushrooms, part of what had been a perfect circle growing out of the ground. Scattered a little further up the slight rise were clumps of broken mushrooms that had probably been kicked by kids on their way to the pool or something.

“Well, they really did a job on them, didn’t they?” the Fae said, his greenish hair glinting in the summer sunlight.

“Yeah. Look, this is all my fault,” Mac said. “If we hadn’t stayed in bed so long…”

“Hey, I liked it!” the Fae said with a grin.

“But now you’re stuck here until this ring grows back…” Mac said.

“Or until we find another one.” The Fae waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry. There are other ways to access Faerie. If nothing else, I can wait ‘till the Winter Solstice when I can cross through from anywhere.”

“Not on Halloween Night?” Mac said, grinning himself.

“Oh, puh-lease!” the Fae said. He tugged at the t-shirt he was wearing. Blue, with a baseball on the front emblazoned with the name ROYALS.

“And thanks for the shirt,” the Fae said. “I dunno what the Faerie Court will think about the Royals thing, though.”

“Hey, you can grab another shirt for the trip back,” Mac said. “So, I guess you’re staying with me for a while.”

“Yeah,” the Fae said with another grin.

“Beats the heck out of couch surfing.” Mac said.

The Fae laughed. The two of them started walking back to Mac’s apartment.

“Oh!” Mac said, stopping and looking at the Fae. “What do I call you? You do have a name, don’t you?”

The Fae thought for a moment. “O’Brien,” he said. “Like Oberon.”

The two men kissed.

“Hey, isn’t that an Earth cliché?” O’Brien asked. “Having to ask the name of the guy you spent the night with?”

They laughed again.

“At least with the kids today that green hair will blend in,” Mac said as they started walking again. “I’ll like having an otherworldly roommate. Hey, you don’t have antenna, do you?”

—end—