The next thing I knew, we were traveling along a quiet country road and people were waving at us. At first, I thought they were digging our cool looking Hippie Hangout, so we were smiling and waving back at them. However, by the time we realized they were waving frantically at us to pull over and get off the road, it was too late; a swarm of motorcycles topped a hill and were buzzing towards us at an alarming speed. Daisy applied the brakes just as one motorcycle shot overhead and we could hear its rear wheel running along the roof. Three more speeding motorcycles, a blur of colour, zipped around us, while more were speeding our way. As it turned out, we were on the Isle of Man, which is situated in the Irish Sea and we had become part of one of the world's most dangerous events - the TT (Tourist Trophy) Motorcycle Race. Fortunately, Daisy and her fancy maneuvering managed to get the truck and trailer far enough off the road, which gave us an excellent place to watch these amazing bikers, sometimes reaching speeds of 320k (200mph). Since I had driven motorcycles for about 30 years when I was younger and not in a shy manner, I was in complete awe at the death defying rate they were traveling.
The Isle of Man, although basically its own country, is really quite small, so we decided to trip around and take in the sights. And besides, we hadn't yet asked the little people (fairies) for safe journey and after the super close call we had during the race, we were soon on our way to the fairy bridge. Apparently, not visiting them first can have serious consequences, which is why everyone, including the TT racers go and greet them upon arrival.
I was somewhat skeptical regarding fairies but then most cats have tails - except on the Isle of Man - the Manx cats don't have them - so why shouldn't fairies exist - right? After munching up a couple of Daisy's brownies and feeling really laid back, we followed a narrow dirt path until we arrived at the small stone bridge crossing over a sparkling stream. Since it was so peaceful and we were not in any rush, I laid down amidst some purple wild flowers growing beside the path and shut my eyes. I wasn't sure if I had drifted off to the land of dreams because when I opened my eyes, the image before me couldn't be real. An extremely tiny man dressed all in green, including his hat and curled up pointy shoes was sitting on my chest peering into my bloodshot eyes.
Needless to say I was shocked and even more so when the wee green dude said, his eyes twinkling with merriment, "I witnessed your remarkable arrival. Like us, you must have splendid, superlative mystical powers."
I was going to tell him about our mind-bending herbal brownies but instead said, "Not really. Crazy stuff happens - that's all I can tell you."
"So you don't have any control?"
"Not really. One moment Daisy and I are just minding our own business and then poof, we've found ourselves at the North Pole, Greenland, Iceland and Ireland before arriving here. And who knows where we'll wind up next."
"How long will you be staying here at the Isle of Man?"
"I have no idea but we thought since we're here, we had better get your approval for safe journey especially after we wound up in the middle of the TT Race. It's amazing none of them crashed into us."
"You were safe enough, all the drivers came to us before the race and we made sure there wouldn't be any serious accidents. Although there were a couple of them that were kind of snooty, thought we were just a plain old superstition, they ran into a few mishaps - nothing serious - just slowed then down."
When the little man stood up and looked like he was about to leave I asked, "You're not the type that makes wishes come true are you, like if I wished for a pot of gold, you'd give it to me?"
"No. Sorry. We're not like the genie in Aladdin's lamp. However, we did make an exception a long time ago when the Isle of Man was ruled by a very rich tyrant who enslaved many young women for his enjoyment. A frightened young lad caught one of us and he wanted three wishes in exchange for his captive. When he told us his situation, which involved the tyrant, they were granted, not because he held one of us captive (we can easily escape) but because his wishes seemed fair. The only thing that seemed strange about was that whatever he wished for, the tyrant would get double. His first wish to be rich only made the tyrant richer and the second wish to have twelve of the most beautiful women live with him seemed to be right up the tyrant's alley, that is, until the third wish was granted."
"I don't get it. He made the tyrant richer and he now had two dozen of the most beautiful women in his harem - seems to me he already has more than a good deal."
"It does doesn't it, that is, until we granted the young man's last wish to cut his sex appeal in half."
Sounded like a far out tale to me but the little dude and I still got a big laugh out of it. I don't know why my belly hurt so much, whether it was because I was laughing so hard or because he was jumping up and down on it - either way it was a great belly laugh.
Before leaving, we all ate a brownie or two or maybe three and then, while we were all laughing hysterically at absolutely nothing, poof...cheers, eh!
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