Fair Folk and Foul Folk at Deerpark Arboretum

This is a work of fiction. Nothing you are about to read is actually true.

Lacey was not quite 99 years old — still quite young for a pixie. His name was Queen Anne’s Lace, but only his grandmother dared call him that. Not even the King of Deerwood called him by his full name.

Sweet William was 174, which was about average for the local ghosts, most of whom had perished November 30, 1864.

Although Lacey was a pixie and Sweet William was a ghost, a shared sense of mischief and their relative youth had led to the two becoming friends.

Sweet William wasn’t very sweet. In life, he had been Private William McKay, of General Hood’s Army of Tennessee.

“Ready?” Will whispered. “On three.”

Lacey counted silently. One, two, three. Then Will yelled “boo!” as loud as he could. Lacey jumped up in front of a gray squirrel, waving his arms wildy. The squirrel ran off. Will and Lacey giggled at their accomplishment.

The dryad of a nearby white oak stepped forth from her tree. . “Are you two proud of yourselves? Why don’t you go down and join the trolls?” She stepped back into her tree without waiting for a response.

Deerwood Arboretum had been developed on top of the old Brentwood sewage treatment center. Trolls and ghouls lived beneath. Pixies, dryads, and other Fay lived in the park. A few naiads swam in the Little Harpeth River.

“You ain’t thinking of it, are you?” Will asked, although he knew from the look in his friend’s eyes that Lacey was considering it. “Going down to the trolls? Your Ma would kill you deader than me if you did that.”