The small girl tapped her black shoes against the concrete as she jumped over sidewalk cracks and danced in circles.

"Are we almost there Momma?" she turned and asked her mother. Her mother nodded, smiling down at her four-year-old.

Rebecca twirled and her dress spun around her and she laughed. She had insisted on dressing herself, so the result was over-dressed for the Miller Fair. Her hair was up in pig tails held together by lime green bows and she wore a pink gingham dress. The dress was her favorite because it always twirled around her when she spun. She wore her shiny, black Mary Janes; she could see her own reflection in them if she looked carefully.

She took her mother's hand as they neared Main street and was dazzled by the rows and rows of cars that were lined up. Rebecca stopped and gasped in wonder at Main Street. People screamed and lights flashed on the last day of the Miller Fair.

She had been there once when she was three, but that was a long time ago by her standards. She stared in awe as her parents gently tugged her along the street, navigating through the crowds.

Rebecca held onto her mother tightly as she peered at the people who stood around the booths, yelling at people to come and try their game.

"Who are they?" Rebecca whispered as she tugged on her mother.

“They’re carnies, they work here and try to get people to play their games.” Rebecca stared at them as they headed towards the ticket booth, afraid one might come and kidnap her, forever making her a slave to the fair.

Her father stood close to them bringing out they money to pay.

“Thank you,” Rebecca whispered to him.

He smiled down at her and affectionately tugged one of her braids. “Just for you my little Princess.”

Rebecca smiled and blinked up at the lights as they stood in front of the ticket booth and sucked in her breath. She leaned in closer, examining one of the lights. Inside was a tiny fair, illuminating the bulb. The fairy waved at Rebecca and pointed to other light bulbs; sure enough the lights weren’t powered by electricity, but by tiny fairies. Rebecca blinked and the magic disappeared, replaced by the standards, unexceptional, electric light bulb.

“Do you want to ride the slide, Rebecca?” Her mother asked as she handed Rebecca the pink tickets for rides. Rebecca peered around and looked up at the giant slide.

“Yes, and then the carousel,” Rebecca said faithfully after a moment of indecisiveness.

She trotted between her parents holding onto both their hands, enjoying the sound her shoes made as they slapped against the old asphalt. Rebecca looked up as her parents stopped to talk with someone.

She let out a sigh. She hated it when they did this. Rebecca closed her eyes, her body silently swayed and her mind wandered.

Rebecca opened her eyes and looked around and realized that her mom no longer held her hand and everybody was dressed differently. She looked down at her self and gasped. Her once ordinary pink gingham cotton dress was no an elegant pink silken dress that fell to the ground. She touched her hair and giggled when, instead of pig tails with ribbons, she found her hair braided with flowers. The most exciting thing was that on top of her head was a golden tiara with green stones.

“I’m a Princess!” Rebecca shouted happily and she spun, watching her dress twirl around her. It was more fun to spin in a princess dress than a normal dress.

As she looked down the ground appeared different She watched as the asphalt smoothed and became discolored, forming worn cobblestones.

Rebecca turned and watched as the concrete crumbled and some buildings collapsed, while others morphed into cottages. Trees sprang up from the crumpled buildings, erasing their existence and grass blossomed out of the fallen concrete. Fair rides creaked, fell to the ground and were soon covered in vines.

She watched in amazement as a low flying plane buzzed through the air. The buzz turned into a deafening roar as the plane shuddered. Flying through the night sky was a silver dragon where the plane had once been.

She turned around marveling at the changes. The lights flickered out and were replaces by lightning bugs and fairies, spreading tiny light wherever they flew.

Off the grassy knoll where the bandstand had once been the town water tower creaked. The letters MILLER became distorted as the side of the water tower suddenly split and water came rushing out. The tower completely collapsed and disappeared, and flowing through the land was now a crystal clear river where flowers sprang to life along its banks.

Where carnival workers had dotted the street quickly became merchant stalls. The tattoo stall transformed. Instead, the man inside was selling paintings, offering to paint anyone in ten minutes who came to his stall and gave him three gold pieces.

Rebecca gave a start as she faced the slow moving carousel, one of the only rides still present. She stared as one of the horses on the carousel blinked and then shook its head, breaking free of its metallic bonds. The horse’s glistening white hair shone in the moonlight, and it grew a spiraling horn. The rest of the horses were breaking free of their bonds. Some were palomino, others brow, white, and appaloosas. But, there was only the one unicorn. What was left of the base of the carousal rose up and became a rough wooden hewn fence. The unicorn pawed at the ground and then easily leapt over the fence, galloping into the thickening woods.

Rebecca shivered with excitement as the world changed around her. It was turning into her kingdom, because he was, after all, a princess. With her diamond encrusted slippers on she delicately turned once again to face the end of Main Street. Behind the slide, the ground heaved upward, forming a rocky cliff. She watched the slide as it dissolved into the cliff, forming a breath-taking waterfall. The burger stand caved in on itself and slowly turned into stone, replaced by a beautiful fountain.

It was then Rebecca noticed the air no long smelled like cigarette smoke and exhaust fumes, but it smelled clean, free of the pollutants that were slowly destroying the world. The fresh wind picked up into a gentle breeze. Tree leaves drifted through the wind and a few landed in the fountain water, transforming into koi fish that swam lazily.

At the end of Main Street the last buildings leaned forward and grew taller. As they grew, the buildings became stone and became the turrets of a castle. Slowly rising from the ground the rest of the castle came to touch the sky and join the buildings that had just formed turrets.

Rebecca stared and started to laugh; this was where she belonged. Everything was complete. Her subjects roamed the street buying merchandise. Guards in shining armor stood at attention guarding the doors at the castle. She turned around in circles, slowly admiring the world that had formed around her. It was a world of peace. The carousel horses were grazing on hay and the people were laughing and talking to each other, no one worried about distant wars. Here everyone accepted each other and no hatred was to be found. Fairies and fireflies still danced in the sky, and far off in the distance Rebecca could still catch the glow of the luminous unicorn as it trotted through the woods.

She smiled happily, ready to run into the castle to meet her parents, who were now the King and Queen.

“Rebecca, lets go and ride the slide.”

Rebecca blinked, and juts like that, her mother’s voice snapped her back into reality and away from her dream world. She was now back in the Miller fair.

“Yes, Momma, lets run!”  Rebecca giggled, still happy over her daydream.  Holding her parent’s hands, he ran down the street listening to her feet thump against the asphalt. Would cobblestone have sounded different? Maybe it would have. However the world of fairy tales was just that, imaginative and a fairy tale. Rebecca could return there whenever she wanted.

As she ran though, Rebecca could have sworn she saw a fairy, waving at her as it glowed in its translucent glass hiding place.