Hazel fidgeted on the sofa. She and her mom had come to visit her grandma, but they weren’t doing anything interesting. They were just sitting in the parlor sipping tea. The cookies had run out and the fabric on the couch was making Hazel’s legs itchy. Her mom and grandma were talking. It seemed like they’d forgotten she was there. 

“Can I play outside?” Hazel asked. Anything would be better than sitting here for one more minute. She got permission to go out to the garden and let out a sigh of relief.

Hazel loved her grandma’s garden. There were flowers in all different colors. There was a pond with pretty orange fish. And there were garden gnomes. The small statues were all over the place. Funny little gnomes with pointed hats and rosy cheeks.

Hazel was walking toward the pond when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see a gnome statue, closer to her than it had been before. She kept walking and turned again. She swore she saw the statue winking.

That’s impossible, Hazel told herself. She kept walking. Soon she felt something behind her. She turned again and sure enough, there was a whole army of garden gnomes, statues from all over the garden, and they were standing right behind her. “Hello!” they said.

“Uh, hello?” she said back. “Are you real?”

“Of course we’re real!” chorused the gnomes. “We only show ourselves to those who will believe us. We’d like to invite you to a tea party!”

Hazel’s eyes widened. Was this really happening? “Thanks,” she said. “But I was having tea inside and it wasn’t all that fun.”

“That was a human tea party,” said one of the gnomes. “This is a gnome tea party. They are very different.”

The gnomes gestured for Hazel to follow them. They led her through a little red gate that she had never noticed before. On the other side, there was a whole new world.

The grassy meadow beyond the gate was filled with gnomes. Some were dancing. Some were playing instruments. There were balloons and streamers everywhere. And there were tables piled high with cakes and sandwiches and bowls of ice cream and strawberries. This was some tea party!

Hazel danced with the gnomes. She ate cakes and strawberries. She never wanted to leave.

Then, all of a sudden, everything disappeared. Hazel was standing by herself in an empty meadow. The only thing left was the little red gate. Hazel walked through it and found herself back in her grandma’s garden. She could see the gnome statues scattered around as usual, frozen and unmoving.

“There you are,” said her mother. “Come back into the house now. It’s time to say goodbye.”

As Hazel walked towards the house, she caught one of the gnome statues winking. She winked back. “See you next time!” she whispered with a smile.