Copyright Oggbashan November 2004/December 2017
The first two chapters were posted in November 2004. This is the final chapter.
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.
This story was inspired by Piers Anthony's short story 'The Bridge'. I cannot describe this as an original work only as a variation on his theme.
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Chapter 03 Resolution
That evening Minnie had asked Paul to lean a wardrobe away from the wall. She had reached behind it to retrieve a large black handbag.
"How?" Paul asked.
"I have told you how and why I was created. Sarah, the anthropologist, was my tutor in Earth's customs. She was supposed to teach me as much as I needed to know to seduce you, and no more. She didn't. She taught me almost everything she knew and encouraged me to develop techniques for memorising and acquiring information quickly..."
"What does that have to do with a handbag appearing behind my wardrobe?"
"Patience, Paul. Sarah and I became friends, as friendly as creatures can be that are vastly different in size. She was very unhappy that I would die almost as soon as I had fulfilled my creators' purpose. She was upset that my death would be unpleasant for you."
"I'll say it would. After just meeting you and having been seduced by you, to have a dead fairy on my bed would be more than unpleasant..."
Minnie stopped Paul's mouth with a kiss. As she removed her lips she put a hand over his mouth.
"Shut up for a few minutes and listen."
Paul nodded. Minnie's hand brushed his cheek.
"Sarah and I conspired together without the elders knowing. She couldn't do much. She had permission to create an identity for me. The elders didn't connect that an adult mini-person twelve inches tall couldn't pass as human. They allowed her the energy to transfer objects around on earth. The energy involved was miniscule compared with moving me from their planet to Earth.
Sarah found an identity for me. A husband and wife from London had emigrated to South America several years ago. They had left behind an only daughter, my apparent age, who visited them just before a landslide buried them and their house six months ago. There are no other relations anywhere. Sarah and I discussed it at length so that I could assume the identity if necessary.
That handbag belonged to the daughter. It contains her passport, National Insurance details, credit and debit cards and other proofs of her identity. The photograph has been altered to be of me, or rather what I would look like if I was full-size, as I am now. The records at the Passport Office and elsewhere have also been amended. The cover story is that I had amnesia after the landslide, was treated in a South American hospital, recovered my memory, and returned to England last week. Solicitors acting for me have lodged a claim on my behalf for the insurance on my parents' lives and on my travel insurance for the hospital costs. The hospital money will go to the hospital to help pay for their costs of treating the real survivors. The hospital director has already had a substantial bribe to verify my back story."
"How did Sarah do that?"
"I don't know. All Sarah said was that it was done without any harm to any sentient beings. The money appeared on the director's desk with a letter explaining what he should do. The letter self-destructed in an hour. The money didn't.
The result is that the handbag proves my identity. There might be some doubt about how I entered the UK from South America but there should be no reason to ask. The daughter was not going to return to her student accommodation. She had just completed her PhD and on return from visiting her parents was going to stay in a cheap hotel while she looked for a job and somewhere to live. Now I am full-size, I can be her."
"But how do you, as her, marry me, Minnie?"
"I'm not Minnie any more, am I? I'm a full size woman and my name is..."
Minnie rummaged in the handbag to produce a stained passport.
"...Titania Smith. As you know from your Shakespeare, Titania is the Queen of the Fairies, but Titania also means Titaness. At this size I think that Titania is appropriate, don't you?"
As Titania was slightly taller than Paul in her bare feet and much taller when wearing any heeled shoes, Paul nodded his agreement.