Once Upon A Time On West Thirty Fourth Street

by Mike Mayak

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The Draws for the August 2025 Flash Fiction Draw Challenge were a Fairy Tale set at the Empire State Building involving a bowl full of jelly. Enjoy —-mike

Once upon a time, there were two members of the Fairy Folk who had been assigned by the Queen of the Fae to locate the mystic Corejo Amethyst. It had once belonged to the Queen and she wanted it back for no other reason than that was the sort of thing a Queen of the Fae did.

“But your Majesty,” the Fairy known as The Namer of It said. “How do we find this, this thing?”

“That is your problem,” the Queen said imperiously. Saying things imperiously was something that, being a queen, she made a habit of and she had gotten very good at.

“Isn’t there an Office that finds lost things or maybe the Celestial Bloodhound?” said the Fairy known as Swiftness Of An Eel.

“Those things cost gold, and I do not wish to part with any of my gold,” the Queen said. “My gem is on Earth and I want you to find it and be back in a fortnight.”

The two Fairies bowed and walked out of the Royal Chamber, each trying to remember how long a fortnight was.

“If we have to be on Earth we had best get a move on,” said The Namer Of It, whose friends called him “It,” which made conversations a lot easier.

“But how will we find it, It?” asked Swiftness Of An Eel, whose friends likewise called him “Eel.”

“We are of the Fairy Folk,” said It. “We will allow ourselves to be taken to Fairy Treasure. That’s what we do after all.”

“Yes,” said Eel. “I shall leave this place like the wind and take you with me.” For part of Eel’s swiftness was his ability to assume the aspects of other forms and so It was soon carried over the gulf between worlds by a wind to the strange and solid place called Earth.

And it was in of all the places on the good old Earth, New York City, several hours after midnight that It swirled and spun down to a sidewalk as the wind swirled around and re-formed into Eel. They were both greyish men with long beards, pointed caps and clothing of forest green. Each one exactly four and one half inches in height. In other words, they were quite inconspicuous in the big city. Especially after dark.

The two Fairies stared upward.

They had landed before a huge structure, brightly-lit on the outside but only dimly-lit through the windows.

“Hmmm…This building belongs to the Emperor…” It read. “Emperor Stat’s Building…”

“Empire State Building,” Eel said squinting his eyes to read.

“Aha!” It said. “The Amethyst is inside.”

“But how do we get in?” Eel said. “The doors are locked at this hour. I could become like a rock slide and batter down the door, but…”

“Wait,” said It. “I have a better idea.”

From his hat, It pulled out a jewel encrusted hairpin and quickly picked the lock. They quickly entered and glanced around. They had never seen Art Deco or marble like they saw in the lobby.

“This is it!” It said. “The Amethyst! We’re inside it!”

“I’m not so sure,” Eel said tapping on a wall. “Feels like stone. And anyway, it’s big. Too big to bring back.”

“What do we do?” It asked.

They heard a running of feet from upstairs. Guards.

“We leave, that’s what.” Eel said.

“You become like the wind again?” It asked.

“Can’t do the same trick in the same hour. But a bowl full of strong, bouncy jelly could get us out of here.”

Before it could protest, the doors behind them burst open and Eel became jelly which wrapped around It and shuddering and bouncing hopped them out of the doors and away into the night.

And It shook when Eel left like a bowl full of jelly…

—end—

NOTE: Had to close a fractured fairy tale with an awful pun! —mike