Hear It From Granchu

"I sat up to see the interloper a little better and caught the first glimpse of the weirdest looking boy I'd ever seen..."

Raggedy overalls, wild hair, bare feet, two missing teeth — and a mischievous grin that changed everything.

"If you really want to know, follow me."

The dare. The chase through fields and woods. The creek with water so cold it made your feet numb. And the boy who wouldn't tell his name — until he did.

"ALOYSIUS Q. SNODGRASS, III, at your service."

Rope swings, tree climbing, guessing games about the mysterious "Q" — and the beginning of a friendship that would outlast childhood itself.

"I tried again at the supper table thinking surely Daddy would be interested in my afternoon..."

But no one believed her. Not Mama, not Daddy. An imaginary friend, they said. So she gave up telling them — but she never gave up believing.

"Aloysius, you scared me!"

Down drops Aloysius, upside down, swinging like a monkey by his legs — and wanting to know what she wants to go and act like a girl for.

"Her mother, the Queen, hired another lady-in-waiting just to be in charge of her smiles."

Meet Princess Sadie Mae Glutz, his girlie cousin from the Isle of Why: frilly dresses, a lady for every tiara and shoe, and pouting over everything.

"How were we to know she'd look so close she'd fall into the stupid puddle."

The fairy godmother in the mud puddle, the mixed-up shoes, and neat, slimy frogs for company. A little dirt never hurt nobody.

"Before long I noticed I wasn't crying anymore."

Sweet white peaches from the orchard, another guess at the "Q," and falling asleep with a smile, dreaming of princesses on a magical island.

"All of a sudden who should pop right out in front of me than Aloysius, in the flesh."

A sister with a cut foot on the back of the bike, a tumble into the sandspurs, DID NOT and DID TOO — and Aloysius giving up with "Aint Ludiwill!"

"We should have NEVER listened to Aloysius."

The cowboy show was gone and a werewolf movie was playing. Mama said come straight home. Aloysius said only itty-bitty babies would.

"It was HORRIBLE!"

The next-to-last row, a werewolf growing hair and claws and drooling teeth, and right behind them, in the back row, Aloysius: "Booooo!"

"AND IT WAS ALL ALOYSIUS'S FAULT!!!"

Popcorn and Coke flying, a record-speed ride home, and years of nightmares they could never tell Mama about.

"Who should peek through the vines and pop into my secret lair, but Aloysius Q. Snodgrass, III!"

Nobody but her and her sister knew about the hideaway. Aloysius did, of course, and it reminded him of a place he once found with Sadie Mae.

"It kind of smelled a cross between baby powder and honeysuckle, but different."

A boat ride across the bay from the Isle of Why, a path into the trees, and little girl giggles with tiny tinkling bells behind them.

"My name is ESMERELDA MOONDUST GOSWEETLY and this is my Fairy Glen."

A riot of dark brown curls, a luminous pink dress, WINGS, and tea served in acorn cups with Starlight, Sparkle, Plumrose and Pucker Up.

"It seems that some mean ol' Imps in the area had been harassing her and her friends for months."

They dammed the fairies' creek and ruined their flowers. Sadie Mae knew exactly who to call: the best trickster she knows.

"So me and my boys got to work."

A trail of peaches, Bodacious and his best cat meows, and a raft that was never meant to be sturdy.

"Do you think I could meet them some day?"

The Imps float out to sea, the creek runs sweet again, and a girl who always believed in fairies hears the answer she was hoping for.

“There was always one week in the summer that everything in the garden and orchard seemed to get ripe all at once.”

Stuck on Granchu’s front porch peeling peaches, mounds of them, pruny hands and a ruined manicure.

“And suddenly there HE was. It’s so funny how he never changed.”

She needed a hero to rescue her. Aloysius had just the one: Lucy Lou, with an upturned nose sprinkled with fairy kisses.

“Oggie really liked apple pie and Princess Sadie really liked to give him what he wanted.”

The biggest, juiciest apples were way up high, so Sadie Mae gave Little Oggie a boost.

“Grabbing the closest limb he just froze and turned a dangerous looking shade of greenish white.”

Sadie Mae shimmied up after him, lost her balance, and a branch snapped like a toothpick.

“The most unlikeliest looking hero on the island – Lucy Lou Schmorgenstern.”

She heard the squawking clear over in her village with super hero hearin’, and came running as quick as lightning.

“Do you want to be remembered as a LOW BELLIED, TURNIP BRAINED JELLY BEAN…”

Drastic measures were called for. That got his attention.

“August 1st of every year thereafter would be celebrated as Lucy Lou Schmorgenstern, Super Hero Day.”

She asked the King and Queen for no reward, just to be friends.

“I just finished my last peach and the time just flew.”

And what does the Q stand for? It’s his secret, until she guesses.

“Every summer we made the journey to see Mamaw and Papaw in Mississippi.”

Eight in a Chevy Impala with no air conditioning and no radio, singing in harmony, with fried chicken and pimento cheese packed in dress boxes.

“Guess who showed up. You’re so smart – Aloysius Q., himself.”

Outside the first clean-looking filling station past Eufaula, while Mama scrubbed the bathroom, a familiar voice whispered.

“Well, now, her real name is Prissy Pruscilla Higginbotham.”

A bosom buddy of Esmerelda Moondust Gosweetly, who met her one early morning on the beach near the Isle of Why.

“Because, you see, Miss Priss was really a MERMAID!”

Shy, sunning on a rock, drying her fine yellow hair, until a friendly fairy said hello and her hair stood straight up to the sky.

“Can we start over?” Esmerelda asked.

And they did. Water tricks, tea on the sand with the merry maids, and the bestest of friends ever after.

“I always got a warm feeling after an Aloysius story.”

Back in the Chevy, on to Mamaw’s cookies and milk in the green cup she kept only for Tere.