Pixie Power!

This last Saturday I met one of my girlfriends for a late brunch. A few minutes into our meal she noticed the ring on my hand. "That's so cute!" she exclaimed. "Is that Tinkerbell?" I acknowledged that it was indeed a Tinkerbell ring, a child's trinket that I picked up at a gift shop several months earlier. When it came time to pay the check I reached into my designer handbag and pulled out...a child's Tinkerbell wallet. If that wasn't enough I then reached into the wallet and pulled out my Chase credit card that features none other than, yes, you guessed it, Tinkerbell. My companion was delighted which is probably why we're friends. There are some people I know who would have felt that the Tink ring + the wallet + the credit card = serious mental illness. But this particular gal pal was charmed and when I told her that Tinkerbell had sort of become my good luck charm she totally understood. "She's such a positive figure," she said, "and she sprinkles pixie dust over everything--"

"--and makes everything better," I finished for her. Tink is also spunky. Some of the Disney's merchandise and branding downplays that aspect of her personality but anyone who has actually read Peter Pan knows that Tinkerbell, as adorable as she is, is not a pixie you want to cross. That's one of the reasons I love her. She embraces her true pixie roots which is to say that she's mischievous and a little moody. Look at Shakespeare's Titania (the Queen of the Fairies in Midsummer Night's Dream). She was moody as hell, and her husband's servant-pixie, Puck, was always up to something. In fact certain English mythology claims that the pixies went to war with the fairies, won and then drove the defeated fairies out of Somerset. Again, don't mess with the pixies. They will fuck you up.

On the other hand if you're nice to them they'll make your life so much easier and brighter. They will charm you, bring you joy and make you laugh. I like that dichotomy. I suppose I could go around wearing a ring that depicted some random pixie that bears a resemblance to the pixies that were described in ancient or medieval times but no one would recognize a pixie like that. I figure that in the 21st century Tinkerbell has usurped Titania's thrown. Tink's the current Queen of the Pixies, and she even has a major Hollywood studio doing her marketing for her. Furthermore, unlike Titania who was essentially humiliated and bested by her husband and his mischief-making helper Tink has never really lost a battle. Even Wendy, who briefly claimed Peter Pan's heart, had to eventually go back to the real world and leave Peter in Tink's eager and capable hands.

So yes, I have a Tinkerbell ring, and a Tink wallet and a Tink credit card and I even have a Tink key chain with my name on it. I don't care if people think it's cheesy, childish or stupid. I like my pixies, damn it. And every once in a while they'll sprinkle some pixie dust over me and make everything better....if only for a little while.

Kyra Davis
Bestselling Author of:
The Sophie Katz Murder Mystery Series,
and
SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING
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