Spangly Dust

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 234, 1 July 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

Spangly Dust

(Original, by Lilac Lady (17), Wellington.) 'J’HREE days’ time, two days’ time, tomorrow, today. At last, that longawaited day had-come —one day ou which the school bazaar was to be held. Elizabeth had thrilled with excitement when the bigger girls had asked her to help at the flower stall. All that day there had been an atmosphere of expectation, of something about to happen, over the school. The boys had been very busy moving the desks Into the corridor and tacking up decorations. It seemed to Elizabeth very .strange, indeed, to see the schoolrooms empty and the once hollow corridors packed with desks. Stranger still to think that in standard Ill’s room there was to be a fairy cave and Father Christmas. AU day long there had been mysterious sounds of hammering, and strange objects had gone in under secret cover. The door was kept shut and no one was allowed to look inside, not, thought Elizabeth, that anyone would want to, that would spoil the “seeretness” of it. Far better to wait and then see it when it was completed. Elizabeth knew that the fairies would only be girls from the fifth standard, but the Father Christmas would be real; she was sure of that. And then there would be the stalls. Wliat fun it had been making the little baskets and boxes for the sweet stall. Of course, no one, least of all the teachers, had thought of such a thing as school lessons for that day. Il would seem so strange to be coming back to school in the evening, for it was to be an evening bazaar. • ' “Tlie decorations are simply wonderful,” Elizabeth had exclaimed to mother.

The flowers were simply wonderful, too, thought she, as, with the other girls, she 'tied together Iceland poppies and all the other summer flowers, and made posies from the smaller ones. Never, in all her small life, had she seen so many different flowers together—the dusky i>erfunie of roses and the sweet sweat of stock and rosemary. But it was the pansies that she loved best of all. The darlings! They seemed to be laughing up at you as if they shared a joke together. Elizabeth was ready. She had been ready to go for 15 minutes, and still the girls were lingering. She would be late, and the bazaar would start before she arrived there. At last they were coming. She hopped down to the bottom stair. They were going to the bazaar. Oh, it was the most perfect bazaar you ever saw! Everyone was there, and the fairy cave—mere words could never describe the fairy cave. When you entered the fairies spangled you with fairy dust, and you yourself felt an enchanted being. They said that nearly everything had been sold. Elizabeth went at last to bed. As she nestled down she breathed a deep sigh of happiness and fell asleep. Next morning the 1 playground was strewn with packing cases. School did not go in till late, and the children delved excitedly into the boxes for treasure. Strips of ribbons, streamers, a balloon, and then Pat Thompson held a little paper bag aloft and cried, . “Look I’ve, found some of that, silver dust.” Spangly dust,\tbought Elizabeth.

"Oh, let me see.” she said. ft Wnit a minute,” said Pat. “Don’t push.” She put her hand into .the bag and scattered some. There was no flash of silver. That was strange. Elizabeth could not see it—and then someone found some coloured boxes and they all went to see.. She picked up the bag that Pat had dropped and opened it. Inside there 'was a heap of grey sand. She touched it with her finger and then looked at it, It was covered with sticky grey sand. There was no spangly dust. This, then, was what spangly dust really was. The bell rang and she stood still a moment, then dropped the bag and went slowly into line. ’ .