The Window Wiper Fairy doesn\u2019t wipe windows because of fairy altruism. She wipes them because she is stuck to them. And how she got to be there nobody knows. It just so happened that one day the building\u2019s windows were bare all except for dirt, and the next, they were bare all except for a pink-haired fairy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People who see the fairy have stopped paying her mind. Perhaps, for a few seconds, they\u2019ll stare as she flaps her glittery butterfly wings and beats them against the glass. Then, they\u2019ll revel in the sight of a window so clean and shiny it reflects like a mirror. But in the end, they simply turn their heads and forget that she\u2019s there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even those within the office on which\u2019s window the fairy hangs from, have moved on from the novelty of her presence. She\u2019s simply one spot where sunlight doesn\u2019t enter. She\u2019s as mundane as a hunted deer head perched above a hearth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there is one who is rattled by the fairy\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every morning, Jodie comes to work with a stronger coffee than the day before hoping she\u2019ll wake up from her strange dream. She sits at her desk and sighs disappointedly because it’s still <\/em>dark. She glances hesitantly to her right\u2014 and low and behold, the pink-haired, glitter-winged fairy remains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She tries to ignore the fairy\u2019s presence because everyone else does. And she\u2019s too new to the workplace to ask for another desk. No, every day, Jodie spends the rest of her time in silence, thoughts always fluttering back to the fairy on the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s even worse for Jodie when the fairy begins her daily routine of batting wings to wipe windows clean. Jodie feels as if she\u2019s sitting next to a prepubescent tornado. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One day, Jodie finally musters up the courage to talk to the fairy. She knocks on the glass over the small of the fairy\u2019s back and the crease between her wings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thump.<\/em> Wings hit the window, Jodie almost jolted back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUm, hello Fairy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thump. Thump.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you need to get down from there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thump.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUh, beat once for yes and twice for no.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thump. Thump. Thump.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, what is she supposed to do with that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJust once or twice, please.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, the fairy flaps three times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat does thrice mean? Do you not understand what I\u2019m saying?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thump. Thump. Thump. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jodie grows frustrated. She bangs her fist hard against the glass where she\u2019d knocked before. The fairy retaliates with four flaps this time, each more forceful than the last. And Jodie hits back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two continue with their sharing of blows until Jodie takes a break as her skin turns cherry red. She takes a step back to look for the cool steel of her water bottle, hoping that will soothe her aching fist. But the moment she turns away from the fairy, it slams its wings so hard the window shatters and blows into the office. And Jodie falls to the floor from the force of it all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJodie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jodie lifts her head to the furious visage of her boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re fired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut, it was the fairy\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Jodie points back to the now disintegrated window there no longer is the Window Wiper Fairy. Just the open blue sky flooding her desk with brightness once again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n END<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Window Wiper Fairy doesn\u2019t wipe windows because of fairy altruism. She wipes them because she is stuck to them. And how she got to be there nobody knows. It just so happened that one day the building\u2019s windows were bare all except for dirt, and the next, they were bare all except for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2257,"featured_media":23693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[188,1257],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24799"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24800,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24799\/revisions\/24800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}