The Fairy Godmother Part 8

The Fairy Council, something that is spoken of in hushed tones and only after all care has been taken to make sure no one is listening. They are the last people a fairy wants to be standing in front of and that was where I was now. The room was enormous, I’m sure there was a ceiling up there, but I couldn’t see it. The table at the far end of the room seemed to go on for ever, though I suppose it didn’t, just felt that way. There were fairies along the length of the table, but it was the one in the centre, who was busy reading something, who was the one in charge and she looked far from happy.

“I have been reading your report,” said the fairy when she finally finished and it felt like we’d been standing there forever.

“I can explain,” said the Head Fairy. “Or rather we can,” she added looking at me. I decided to say nothing. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I thought I’d better not make things worse and kept quiet.

“I should think so Enid,” the Head of the Fairy Council replied. “I am greatly disappointed with this report,” she added holding it up by a corner as if it was something repellent, that had crawled out from under a rock and died. “I expected better from you.”

“It was not an easy report to write,” Enid said, looking as if she didn’t know where to start. “My role in this project was to observe.”

“It was also to intervene if things looked to be getting out of hand,” the Head of the Fairy Council replied. “And where was your report?” she added glaring at me. My brain went blank.

“I,” I looked round trying to find inspiration and coming up with a blank. “I was busy composing it when the Head Fairy brought me here. I wanted to do a proper job of it. I didn’t want to rush it.” I stuttered to a halt.

“You were sitting on a deck chair on the beach, sunning yourself and waiting for someone to bring you a drink,” the Head Fairy snapped.

“It has been a busy few days and I went there to make sure the village was OK after the curse had been lifted,” I replied.

“And why wouldn’t it be OK?” asked the Head of the Fairy Council. “They have had a curse lifted, they can now carry on as per normal.”

“But can they?” I asked. “I don’t know how long they have been under this curse.”

“I don’t see that that would matter,” said the Head of the Fairy Council.

“Curses can last for a long time,” I said. “If they have been under a curse for a long time then it is going to effect their trade with other villages and they may not be able to pick up where they left off, they could face an economic disaster. I needed to check that this was not going to happen.”

“And what were you going to do if you thought there had been any detrimental result from the curse?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I was planning on judging what the repercussions were and then working out what to do next.”

“And you were going to do that from your deck chair?” she asked.

“The man was talking about re-opening his hotel,” I replied. “I had to have some idea as to their level of service before I could judge if this was a good basis for the villages resurgence.”

“Sounds reasonable,” said someone on the table. The Head of the Fairy Council glared in their direction and they subsided.

“And if it wasn’t?” she asked.

“Then I was going to hang around and try to assess the situation, see what the economy of the villages was based on and see how that fitted in to modern life,” I explained.

“And did you plan to do that from the comfort of your deck chair?” she asked. “Or were you planning on waving your wand a bit more to make it all hunky dory for everyone?”

That’s when it crossed my mind that perhaps they thought I’d over done the wand a bit. It had seemed the best solution to the various problems, at the time.

“There is a time and a place for everything,” I said. “My use of the wand may have seemed a bit excessive.”

The Head Fairy started coughing and was offered a glass of water. Well, when I say offered, someone waved a wand and it appeared next to her.

“But sometimes it is necessary to speed things up,” I added as the Head Fairy took a sip of water to stop her coughing fit.

“I’ll take the glass to the kitchen,” the Head Fairy suggested once her cough had subsided.

“You will do no such thing,” said the Head of the Fairy Council. “You can place it on the coaster,” she added and a coaster appeared on the table in front of her.

“Thank-you,” said the Head Fairy.

“You can take it to the kitchen later,” the Head of the Fairy Council replied. “After the meeting is over. Carry on,” she added, glancing in my direction.

“Yes,” I said smiling. “The use of my wand my have seemed excessive, but it was mainly used to speed up the resolution of the problem as I saw it and the return to normal life for those effected.”

“So, cleaning the shoe makers house?” the Head Fairy asked.

“Loosing his wife, his sole mate, had been devastating for the shoe maker. She ran the house and the shop very efficiently, without her around things fell into chaos. The washing wasn’t done, the rubbish wasn’t taken out, he was living on take-aways because he had no idea how to cook and it didn’t help that he had no idea what to get when shopping. With her gone the place rapidly became a mess. Having her sort it all out and then get on with getting the business back in order seemed like a tall order, to me, the simplest solution was to give a hand with the house work. She still has the business to get back in order, but at least they have a start at getting their lives back on track,”

“I see,” said the Head of the Fairy Council.

“And the maid?” she asked.

“It wasn’t much of a job,” I said. “And she would have preferred to be near to her Mum, also, it meant that I would be there when the spell on the Head Fairy ended, just in case she was a little disorientated when it happened.”

“That was very thoughtful of you,” said a voice from the other end of the table. The Head of the Fairy Council glared in the direction of the speaker.

“Thank-you,” muttered the Head Fairy, but I knew she didn’t mean it.

“I retrieved the mirror and the Head Fairy was able to collect the Fairy gems and then we left,” I said.

“The Head Fairy flew off, you used your wand to get to the shoe makers home,” said the Head of the Fairy Council.

“I had been longer than expected in Sybil’s rooms,” I explained quickly. “I had arranged with the shoe maker, the ex doorman and the other man to meet them at the shoe makers house as soon as everything was sorted. I didn’t want them to get anxious and start thinking that something had gone wrong, so I used my want to speed things up,” I explained.

“Then, after you used it to clean up the shoe makers house, you went on to use it to transport yourself and the two men to the village on the coast,” said the Head of the Fairy Council.

“It was necessary to get them away from the place as quickly as possible,” I said.

“And why would that be?” the Head of the Fairy Council asked.

“Because Sybil might be after them,” I said. “She’d want to know what had happened to the mirror and the Fairy gems, for a start off and they were the ones likely to have any answers, them and the Head Fairy,” I added, looking at Enid.

“So you were getting them out of harms way?” the Head Fairy asked.

“Doing my best,” I said. “Also, the were anxious to find out how the village was coping with things, the best thing was to get them back there so they could see for themselves.”

“And how are you going to stop Sybil from following them there?” the Head of the Fairy Council asked.

“That’s a good question,” said the Head Fairy, turning to me. “Not that the Head of the Fairy Council asks any other sort of question,” she added hurriedly as she felt the Head of the Fairy’s eyes upon her.

“I spent a long time waiting for dawn to break the spell on the Head Fairy,” I explained. “I used that time checking through Sybil’s records and erasing all mention of the village, it’s going to be harder for her to get there if she doesn’t know where it is and what it’s called.”

“Well, it’s good to know you’d thought of that,” the Head of the Fairy Council admitted, through clenched teeth. “Do you have anything to add to this?” she added, turning to the Head Fairy.

“I did warn against excessive use of the wand,” the Head Fairy replied.

“You warned!” said the Head of the Fairy Council. “You should have taken over and sorted it all out.”

“I thought she had it under control,” said the Head Fairy. “All right, her methods were a little unorthodox, but they were getting things sorted.”

“You’re judgement has been a bit off, of late,” said the Head of the Fairy Council.

“I think that is a little harsh, if you don’t mind me saying,” the Head Fairy replied.

“Yes, I do mind,” said the Head of the Fairy Council. “Your decisions will have to be put for approval by the council for the next month after which time this judgement will be up for review.”

“But,” the Head Fairy stuttered.

“If you want to argue the case that can be increased to six months,” said the Head of the Fairy Council.

“Of course not, I bow to your judgement,” said the Head Fairy, bowing low.

“As for you,” the Head of the Fairy Council said turning to me. “You will leave your wand on the table before you leave.”

“How can I work as a Fairy Godmother without a wand?” I asked.

“That’s for you to work out,” the Head of the Fairy Council replied with a smile, tapping the table. I stepped forward and put my wand down in front of her.

“Here is your next job,” she said handing an envelope to me. “Get out of my sight and get on with your work, both of you,” she added with a wave of her wand.

By Janice Nye © 2019