I do not own Matilda or the Addams Family.

I do own books.

Matilda Wormwood, Meet Wednesday Addams

To Woo, Who?

"Pugsley, old man, there you are!"

Gomez Addams has finally found his wayward offspring.

"Come!"

And beckoned him exuberantly forward.

"You are expected at the party, son!"

But Pugsley Addams is busy.

Generous face screwed up in a frown of concentration.

Perhaps due to the fact that the writhing rodent within his thick-fingered grasp does not particularly wish to be so tightly wrapped in a red silk ribbon.

"Oh, hello, Father."

The prepubescent lad, however, is bound and determined.

Quite like the irate rattus with which he wrestles.

"I'm wrapping my favorite rat to give to Matilda for the party."

That squirming, screeching, biting plague carrier in his hands.

And Gomez Addams, acquitted lady killer and tender-hearted father, carefully considers his next move.

"Ah, yes. Matilda. Mmm. Partial to, uh, rodents, is she?"

Uncoordinated shrug from the boy on the floor.

"I don't know. I like 'em."

A pause.

A shift.

Toward the father.

"You think she won't want a rat?"

Gomez smiles gently, brashly overt personality softening as fatherly nature takes over.

"Pugsley, when you woo a lady, you must consider her likes and preferences over your own. This is how you win her affections."

Here is an advanced consideration.

And Pugsley is rather unqualified for the challenge by himself alone.

Gomez continues.

"Consider your mother for instance."

Not hesitating at all to set himself in his pinstriped suit down on the hardwood floor of his son's dim and dank bedroom.

"Tell me, Pugsley, what makes my beloved Morticia coo and flutter like a dark wing dove?'

Another challenging query. Young boys do not oft consider the appreciations and preferences of their mothers.

Especially ones so self-sufficient as Morticia Addams.

His father, having once been something akin to a boy, though not quite so as this, makes clarification.

"What makes your beloved's eyes alight with passion, what makes her blood boil, what makes her-"

The realization he is speaking of a child, a brilliant, extremely well-read, magically-inclined child, but a child nonetheless, taps its long tapered finger on Gomez's brain.

And he stops.

Resets.

And regroups.

"What does she like, Pugsley?"

The answer being so obvious, so simple.

Gomez Addams already gone full circle, right back to the serendipitous day of his first meeting with the one and only Matilda Wormwood.

Arrived at the conclusion.

And is hopeful for the son he loves . . .

"More than anything else in the whole world?"

. . . who moves more than a bit slower in this realm.

"Uhhh, mmm . . . books?"

Huzzah! Victory!

And Gomez's mustached face bursts into a broad, proud smile.

"Aha! There! Now you've hit on it!"

And then they sit for a moment together, musing of that which has been spoken.

Books, books, ah those magical creations in which any manner of written word may bring forth joy, knowledge, grief, love, bravery, ire.

Books, an escape from wearies of everyday life.

But which might be the perfect selection for the slip of the girl with the red ribbon in her dark hair?

Gomez Addams bursts into action, lightly slapping the knee of his Cupid-struck progeny.

"Come, son! I've just the solution to your literary conundrum!"

They let the rat go.

"Celtic Fairy Tales."

The book is old, very old.

Taken from the Addams' family library expressly for the intent of enchanting (metaphorically) the one now holding it.

It is smallish, this lightly hefty little rectangle, fitting easily in her hand.

Dark, rich green gilded bound.

Inscribed in proud, thick Gaelic script.

Beings of undefinable form twisting and turning upon the cover.

Both script and illustration raised, an enjoyment in itself simply to stroke the artwork thereupon.

Dragons, perhaps. Wolves.

A surreshing promise of wondrous bracken and thicket and dark creatures waiting within.

Welcoming, beckoning, with long-fingered, enticing hand.

Into the mysterious wildlands of Ireland and Scotland long past.

It smells of old ink, this book, of ancient paper.

Of fantastical stories read joyfully read by softly illuminating lamplight.

Or perhaps candle whilst thunderheads clash above thatched roofs.

As a long night wanes beyond the wave-fogged window.

"Oh, . . ."

The boy who has handed her the timeless tome glances nervously at his father.

His father standing alongside the darkly ethereal woman who has forever captured his heart.

Placed it in a velvet-lined repository upon her chiffonier so many decades past.

His father, stub of a cigar clenched lightly in perfectly white teeth.

Who subtly nods brave reassurance to his anxious son.

". . . it's wonderful, Pugsley. Thank you very much."

Matilda Wormwood smiles, all sweet little girl and neat white teeth.

And Pugsley Addams is very, very happy.

Thanks to Ammigo16, jeremy's wife, sukamousepaw, Brookie Twiling, Anue Jiah, bellachaos, Lydlovesbooks, LittleAngel2292, clairbear2319, Avalonemyst, Katrina, MasqueradingDragon, DinahRay, TrilbyBard, anomicstephy, PheonixQueen15, jaguarspot, meshou storm,The Authverlord, fringeperson, Fox Boss, JannaKalderash, vmage2, secretwhovianpony, Seth A. Mincberg and The Phantom Keeper for reviewing the previous chapter. Posted all the way back in March, oh goodness!

Thanks also to LMCSK, GriffinQueen2010, Readingfanal, DemonLordFloofy, DreamingOfRavens, ringoshirayuki9,nerd-on-the-right, Solaris17, O Cavaleiro da Luz, MaidenZorriah, Orochigin, leofrick, Fellow-Human9923, Inkweaverzyx88 Rayne90, TheDarkestFallingStar, Anue Jiah, Michaelis lullaby, Arora-and-Amira, AnnieBeth, MavenAlysse, celespatri18fyaoi, noelicoan, MulticolouredRainbow, RinDrakaina, untoldpleasure, brandiny, Lilithnocte, wind crow, Cro-Fael, Nekomata N. Ninja, Olivia Maynard, punkymarz18, Libysss, MoonlitPhoenix16, goldenneko-kun, BadgerBooks, Znickerdoodle04, GypsyNinja2BirdBlunder, LadyD, CatLover444, Marcus Rowland, Gala Secrets, catlovemeow, Phantom0408, and Dusk the Cybertronian Fox for adding your support to this story!

Wow, you all are amazing!

One more chapter coming up (which is already in the works, I promise) and it will be posted by August 24th because they are sending us back to school. In the middle of a pandemic. Which is insane.

And totally not the focus of this little foray into a fantastical, better world.

So thanks for reading, everybody! You're just the best!