The Fairy Godmother Part 21

“She wasn’t exactly sleeping on the job,” Enid explained to the Head of the Fairy Council. “She had a bad cold, the hot chocolate she was given made her sleepy.”

“He didn’t give it to her did he?” the Head Fairy asked.

“Yes,” said Enid.

“He was trying to help,” I butted in.

“Did you sort it?” the Head Fairy asked Enid.

“Yes,” Enid smiled.

“Well, Christmas is almost upon us,” the Head Fairy replied. “There is plenty of work to be done, assuming she can stay awake.”

“I’ll see to it,” said Enid guiding me out of the room in such a way that I didn’t feel I had any option but to leave.

“How did you sort him?” I asked.

“I used your idea about the adaption of the Scrooge story,” said Enid. “By the time I finished with him, he was a changed person.”

“I was getting there,” I said.

“Of course you were, I just hurried things up a bit,” Enid said, hurrying me down a corridor that seemed to go on for miles.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“The Christmas elves need a hand with the wrapping. I don’t think you can go wrong with that,” Enid smiled.

“I try, I really do, but nothing goes right,” I started sobbing. Enid paused.

“You must stop that, you can’t cry whilst wrapping presents,” Enid said. “The paper gets soggy and the sellotape doesn’t stick.”

I howled and Enid looked confused. An elderly Fairy walked up to us.

“You never did get emotion did you Enid,” she smiled patting me on the shoulder. “You go and do what you need to do and I’ll look after this little one.”

“If you’re sure Mum,” said Enid.

“I’m sure,” Enid’s mum said.

“Enid’s got a Mum and I haven’t,” I howled.

“Mum,” said Enid, looking furtive. “The last person she was Fairy Godmother for gave her a drink of hot chocolate, it might have had alcohol in it.”

“Going by her behaviour,” Enid’s mum replied. “It most definitely did have, which is all the more reason that I should watch over her till it wares off.”

“OK,” said Enid. “Just so as you know.”

“I think we are needed in the kitchen,” Enid’s mum smiled. “There is plenty to do in there. It wont matter if you sob your heart out whilst peeling the potatoes.”

“Is it wise, letting her loose with a knife?” Enid asked.

“Potatoes, dear we use potato peelers,” her mum smiled. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Of course Mum,” she said and dashed off.

“Why don’t I know who my Mum is?” I asked.

“There are many reasons,” she smiled. “But now is not the time to go into them.”

“What is it the time for?” I asked.

“Peeling potatoes,” she said. “There are lots of elves here working every hour that they can. It is important to feed them.”

“That’s if you can drag them away from their work,” said someone dashing past.

“That is why we are peeling potatoes to make chips,” Enid’s mum replied.

“Chips! Did someone say Chips, I could murder a chip butty,” someone said pausing in his rushing.

“They will be along shortly,” Enid’s mum replied, ushering me towards the kitchen and a large pile of potatoes.

After a short while, it seemed like I had spent all my life peeling potatoes and yet the pile of potatoes to be peeled didn’t seem to be getting any smaller. Enid’s mum walked across to me with a plate of chips.

“You need to eat as well,” she said. “The elves thank you for your work.”

“How many more potatoes do I need to peel?” I asked.

“Just that lot,” she said.

“It’s taking forever,” I sighed.

“Eat your chips and I’ll give you a hand, we’ll soon have them finished,” she laughed siting down with a peeler whilst I ate.

“Who are all these chips for?” I asked.

“First the are the elves who have been filling the bottomless sacks on Santa’s sleigh, they turned up as soon as Santa headed off,” Enid’s mum said. “The rest are for Santa and his helpers when he comes back.”

“What happens after that?” I asked.

“We do the washing,” she laughed. “Don’t look so worried, we have dishwashers, it’s just, they need loading and unloading when they’ve finished.

“Then what happens?” I asked.

“That’s a good question,” said Enid suddenly appearing at her Mother’s side.

“I think someone needs to sleep,” said Enid’s mum with a rather determined look on her face.

“Probably a good idea,” said the Head of the Fairy Council who had also appeared out of nowhere, I was beginning to wonder who else was going to turn up when Enid’s mum suddenly said.

“That’s the last of the potatoes peeled. I’ll find you somewhere to sleep,” and guided me off out of the kitchen.

“Do you really think that she is Fairy Godmother material?” the Head of the Fairy Council asked Enid.

“She finds solutions to problems, not necessarily your standard solutions, but then if we only used those, we wouldn’t have to put any thought into would we,” Enid replied.

“OK,” said the Head of the Fairy Council. “I will look through the current list of work after we’ve all had a rest and let you know.”

by Janice Nye © 2019

The Fairy Godmother Part 20

I didn’t think it was polite to comment on the flavour of the hot chocolate. Something seemed a little off, but it was very smooth and soothing for my throat and it did shut that annoying cough up, soon I was fast asleep. Perhaps I have misjudged him and he does have at least one redeeming feature.

“Right,” said Enid to him. “No more miss nice fairy godmother.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“You know the good fairy, bad fairy routine,” said Enid. “Well she’s the good fairy.”

“But she’s been threatening me with a laser canon!” he replied. “How can she be the good fairy.”

“Because I am far worse than she could ever be,” Enid smiled. “She was thinking of something along the lines of the old Scrooge story to shake you out of your current state of being.”

“You mean the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future?” he asked nervously.

“Something along that line,” said Enid. “Personally I was thinking of something along the lines of Girlfriends past, present and future.”

“I don’t understand,” he said looking worried his gaze turning to the door and the rather odd sound of someone banging on it.

“Better go and see who it is?” Enid smiled. “You don’t want to keep them waiting.”

“Is this Girlfriends past?” he asked.

“You wont find out stand here,” Enid said. “And one of them may still have a key,” she added, laughing as he ran to the door. He opened it cautiously and the small crowd pushed past him and made their way to the kitchen.

“Is this the latest victim?” the first one asked, seeing his Fairy Godmother asleep on the sofa.

“She is my Fairy Godmother and she’s got a cold,” he muttered, trying to make his way into the kitchen.

“Fairy Godmother,” someone laughed.

“Did you give her some hot chocolate?” another asked.

“You had the hot chocolate as well?” the first one in asked.

“We’d better hang around till she wakes up,” said the last one through the kitchen door.

“I wouldn’t,” he shouted.

“Changed have you,” one of them asked.

“She isn’t human, she’s a fairy godmother,” he muttered.

“That wouldn’t have stopped you before,” one of them replied and the rest of them laughed.

“Nothing would have stopped you,” one said bitterly.

“Just part of the plan to get someone to look after you,” said a voice which he didn’t recognise.

“Who said that?” he asked.

“Why are you interested?” they asked.

“Because I don’t remember you, I recognise everyone else, can’t put a name to all of you, but you I don’t remember at all,” he said as the person changed back into Enid.

“It’s nice to know you remember us to some extent,” said one of them.

“Tina,” he said looking at her.

“I’m Lisa,” she said.

“I thought you were Tina?” he mumbled.

“I’m Tina,” said someone else who looked remarkably similar.

“Of course you are,” he said. “I don’t know how I could have mistaken you and I don’t know why I left you.”

“I left you,” she snapped. “You were a swine. You expected me to take time off work when you had a bit of a cold and expected me to go in to work when I was nearly delirious, I had a fervour, even the kiddie thermometer said, go to the hospital.”

“You did work at the hospital,” he said.

“I worked at a dentists,” she snapped.

“Easy mistake to make,” he muttered.

“Shows how much interest you took in my work,” Tina said.

“OK, I’m not perfect,” he replied. “But I tried.”

“That’s the problem,” said Lisa. “You didn’t try. I worked nights.”

“I never complained about it,” he said quickly.

“You never did the shopping,” she snapped. “The shops were shut when I came home from work, I’d have to get up early to go out and get everything. You wouldn’t even tell me what we needed, I had to guess and if I got it wrong, you’d go on about how I couldn’t even sort that out.”

“You went past the shops,” he muttered.

“When they were shut,” she shouted.

“Oh!” he said. “I didn’t realise.”

“You just sat around all day, I had to go out in the afternoon and get everything,” she snapped. “It would have been nice having you there telling me what we needed and helping with the carrying.”

“He wasn’t much good at that,” said another and everyone turned to look at her. “He used to come with me to the shops. All he ever wanted was crisps and booze.”

“Typical,” was the general reply.

“It wasn’t all I wanted,” he replied. “I suggested tissues one time.”

“You are right,” she agreed. “He was coming down with a cold,” she told the crowd. “I was picking the soggy masses up from all round the flat for the next month!”

“I didn’t think it was a good idea to put them in the bin,” he said. “It might have spread the infection.”

“You could have put them in a plastic bag or something anything other than leave a trail of them round the place,” she told him.

“I thought you liked living here, with me,” he said looking confused.

“We didn’t move in to be your career,” said one girl.

“We thought it would be an equal partnership,” said another.

“Not us getting a job and then coming home to wait on you,” said Tina.

“That is why we left, you were too much like hard work,” said Lisa. He sat down, shaking his head and one by one all his ex-girlfriends left, except for one, standing in the shadows.

“That is girlfriends past,” said Enid.

“I haven’t got a girlfriend at the moment,” he said. “So how do you plan to do that?”

“Did you think for one moment that I would come back to this tip?” the last of his ex-girlfriends asked him, moving our from he shadows.

“I’ve tidied up a bit,” he started.

“Only because sleepy head here made you and look what’s happened to her, she’s picked up some bug or other that was lying in the dust,” she said heading towards the door.

“I’m no good without you,” he said. “I fell to pieces when you left me.”

“It looks like it,” she said pausing for a second. “But no one likes to be the support person, the one without whom nothing happens, the cook, cleaner and all round dogs body.”

“But,” he said.

“There were things I wanted to do, but after working all night and spending all day looking after you, I didn’t have any energy left,” she replied.

“I didn’t know,” he sighed.

“You never asked,” she said walking out of the flat door and letting it slam shut behind her.

“Girlfriends future?” he asked slowly.

“Come with me,” said Enid holding out her hand to him. He took it and they sailed through the window together, to a dance club where he spent the evening talking to any girl he saw. As the dancers began to thin out and people went home he found himself talking to a girl at the bar.

“So where are you going to now,” he asked as the music stopped and the man behind the bar refused to sell any more drinks.

“Good question,” she sighed. “I’d go home, but I’m not welcome there any more.”

“You could come home with me,” he said. Next thing they were in her car speeding along the road to his block of flats.

“Are you sure you live round here?” she asked as people scurried into the shadows when they pulled up in front of the block.

“I live on the 15^th floor,” he said pointing towards the block and people started coming out of the shadows towards them.

“I’m not that desperate,” she muttered, opened the door, pushed him out and then drove off at high speed. He looked around at the people walking towards him and started running towards the flats. There was an “Out of order” sign on the lift door and he headed for the stairs, running as fast as he could in the hope that they would give up whilst he could still run. He had the key to his flat in his hand two floors before he got there and as he opened his door an avalanche of rubbish fell on him.

He woke up to find himself lying on the kitchen floor fighting with the kitchen bin, Enid was watching him.

“Do you see what needs changing?” she asked.

“So much,” he said. “Not just me and I can’t do it all, I’m just one person.”

“What time of year is it?” Enid asked.

“Christmas,” he said.

“And what do we celebrate?” she asked.

“The birth of Jesus,” he said.

“And he was one person,” Enid replied.

“I am not him,” he said.

“This is one block of flats, not the world,” said Enid. “Start by changing yourself and this flat, then get to know your neighbours, give them a hand with things and work form there. This place needs a bit of community spirit, people helping each other.”

“Is that what she was doing when she got the dealers arrested?” he asked.

“You noticed?” Enid said.

“I hear things,” he smiled.

“That was bringing the place down, making people not want to go out after dark, the residents need to reclaim the night and get things in this place working properly, you got the lift sorted,” Enid said.

“And that will change the Christmas yet to come?” he asked.

“Of course it will,” Enid replied. “The past is history, we can learn from it. The present is where we start from and the future is ours to create.”

“I’d better get cleaning,” he said as I yawned and stretched.

“Your work is done here,” Enid told me, time to go.

“But,” I muttered as the flat disappeared and we stood once more in the Hall of the Fairy Council.

“Sleeping on the job again,” said the Head of the Fairy Council. “We have Christmas to sort. There is work to do, get out of my sight the both of you!”

by Janice Nye © 2019

The Fairy Godmother Part 19

“Shouldn’t you use a tissue?” he asked. I had sneezed a zillion times with hardly time to draw breath and when that ended my poor nose was dripping and my hands were covered with slime.

“I don’t have one,” I replied looking at my hands. He proffered me some kitchen roll which looked as if it had been sitting in a pool of something, but it had to be better than nothing.

“Now there is the problem of what to do with that,” he said looking at it as if it contained all the worst known germs in the world, plus a few unknown ones.

“Do you have a plastic bag that I can put it in?” I asked.

“The ex didn’t like plastic bags, said they were smothering the planet, polluting the oceans and strangling the wildlife,” he replied.

“Very worthy,” I replied, thinking of the problems I’d had with plastic bags as a tooth fairy. A tooth is relatively small, a tooth in a plastic bag can be quite a problem, the whole package is so much bigger and the bags rustle very loudly.

“You can’t just leave it lying about,” he said. “Think of the germs.”

“I shall take it to the bin,” I sighed and headed out of the window.

“Why don’t you use the door, like everyone else?” he asked as I flew down to the bins.

“It’s you again,” said the man who, as always, was hanging round the bins.

“I could say the same,” I replied hovering over the correct bin and managing to deposit the soggy mess that had been kitchen paper, into it.

“Do you fly everywhere?” he asked.

“Saves ware and tare on my shoes,” I replied.

“No one comes here any more because of you,” he said. “You’ve chased all my customers away.”

“Then I suggest you find alternative employment,” I replied.

“There are people wanting money from me,” he said. “Because of you, I haven’t got it.”

“Give them back what you didn’t sell,” I suggested.

“They don’t want it back, they want their money and they are getting rather angry,” he said.

“Very,” said a voice from the shadows.

“You are both being very stupid,” said Enid. I think my ears are rather gummed up, that’s the second time I haven’t heard her coming.

“And what’s it to do with you?” the man by the bins asked.

“I am the Head Fairy, the well being of all the fairy’s is my business,” Enid snapped.

“Get you,” muttered the voice from the shadows. Enid waved her wand and he was dragged out into the beam from the street light. He didn’t look half as menacing as he sounded, but he still didn’t look like someone you would want to meet in a dark ally or by the bins.

“Nice to see who I’m talking to,” said Enid.

“This is between, me, him and possibly her,” he said waving in my direction. “It’s got nothing to do with you.”

“It has everything to do with me,” said Enid. “Do not presume to tell me what my business is.”

“Do you know who I am?” he asked.

“Of course we do,” said one of the two Policemen who were busily hand cuffing him and the man by the bins. “You are the two who are going to accompany us to the station to answer some questions about all this,” he added holding up a bag which seemed rather heavy.

“And what about them?” they asked him.

“Who?” asked one of the Policemen. “You two are the only ones here.”

“But there were two Fairies, flying about, above the bins,” the man from the shadows insisted.

“You been sampling the wares have you?” he was asked as he was helped into the back of the Police car.

“What were you going to do with those two?” Enid asked.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I don’t think it would be a problem if I had my wand back.”

“The more you keep saying that, the longer it will be before you get it back,” Enid replied. “You know how the Head of the Fairy Council works.”

“I think she sent me this cold or whatever it is,” I said sneezing violently and covering at least ten of the bins in slime.

“You may be right, but it’s nothing compared with what the Fairies she had getting rid of the cobwebs have and as for the ones who had to clean the snot off the council table, chairs and floor, you don’t want to know how ill they are,” said Enid.

“And you want me to wrap up this job quickly and head back there?” I replied.

“OK, that isn’t much of an incentive, but Christmas is coming and there is a growing backlog of things to do, we need all the help we can get,” Enid replied.

“A wave of a wand would sort all that out,” I replied. “But I don’t have my wand, so the Head of the Fairy Council will just have to sort it out herself.”

“That isn’t going to endear you with her,” said Enid.

“At this moment, I have a splitting headache, my throat is red raw and my nose is running like a tap which is odd because it feels blocked,” I replied. “So forgive me for not feeling sorry for her, but I don’t,” I added and started coughing uncontrollably, which was extremely annoying as I had just got level with the kitchen window of his flat and the coughing had shot me backwards, several yards and up a few floors. I waved and smiled at the children in the flat three floors up from the one I was aiming at and made a second attempt at getting back to the kitchen.

“And don’t you dare laugh at me,” I snapped.

“Was that for my benefit or hers?” he asked as I climbed into the window.

“Yes,” I snapped.

“You are in a bad way,” he said. “You should go to bed.”

“A Fairy Godmother doesn’t sleep on the job,” Enid said sharply.

“I have also been told that they don’t catch colds,” he said looking at me. Enid handed me a handkerchief just in time to catch the next bout of sneezing.

“You’d better keep it,” said Enid when I’d finished. Got to say one thing about fairy handkerchiefs, doesn’t matter how much snot you aim at them, they always look clean and freshly ironed.

“Perhaps a rest might improve her efficiency,” Enid admitted.

“So should I head back to the Fairy dormitory?” I asked.

“Not really possible,” said Enid.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Well, for one,” said Enid. “You may not have the same bug as everyone else.”

“And the other reason?” I asked.

“Your bed has been reallocated,” Enid added. “They had to segregate the sick and the healthy.”

“So the Head of the Fairy Council wouldn’t be able to accommodate me even if I was well enough to go back,” I said.

“Not at the moment,” said Enid. “Though I’m sure, when you are well enough, we will find somewhere for you.”

“She can always sleep here,” he said.

“It is a one bedroomed flat,” Enid and I said together.

“I don’t mind sharing,” he smiled.

“I do,” I snapped.

“There’s a sofa,” said Enid. “You’ll just have to sleep there, for the time being.”

“This is impossible,” I snapped, but she was fading away even as I said that.

“It’s a comfy sofa,” he smiled.

“You had better not get any ideas,” I said.

“I’ll get you a clean duvet and some pillows and make you a mug of hot chocolate,” he said. “My exs all used to love that when they weren’t well.”

“Thank-you,” I replied. “At this moment I can’t think of anything nicer,” probably because at that moment I was struggling to think straight.

By Janice Nye © 2019

The Fairy Godmother Part 18

“He’s reading?” Enid said, making me jump because I hadn’t realised she was there.

“He’s reading the instruction to the dishwasher and the washing machine,” I replied.

“And why is he doing that?” Enid asked.

“Because he needs to know how to use them if he is to keep the place in any semblance of order,” I said. “And because I threatened him with a laser canon if he didn’t,” I added and then started coughing again.

“Fairy Godmothers don’t cough,” said Enid.

“I think this is evidence to the contrary,” I replied.

“You need to get this place cleaned up and get out of here,” said Enid.

“And if I do that, which would take two ticks if I had my wand, if I did that it would be back to the same tip within two weeks,” I replied.

“And you think that getting him to read instruction manuals is going to prevent that?” she asked.

“He shouldn’t be dependant on a woman to look after him,” I replied starting to sneeze. “He should be able to look after himself. I shouldn’t think anyone wants to think of themselves as an unpaid servant, only there to put a meal on the table and do the ironing.”

“He doesn’t look like he needs much ironing,” said Enid looking at him.

“That’s another thing on the list of equipment he needs to know how to use,” I replied. “I’ve just got to find that and the ironing board first.”

“The Head of the Fairy Council sent me here to see if there is any way of speeding up your progress,” Enid said. “We have a lot of work to do and you aren’t the only fairy coughing.”

“So much for fairy’s don’t get colds,” I replied.

“I think it’s to do with the dust that was on the cobwebs,” Enid replied.

“They shouldn’t have been there,” I replied. “They are happy enough to tell others what to do, perhaps they should check their own house first.”

“I’d be careful what you say,” Enid hissed. “You don’t want to make an enemy of the Head of the Fairy Council.”

“I thought I already had,” I sneezed and looked at him busy, supposedly reading, but I could see that he was trying hard not to laugh.

“And what do you find amusing in the washing machine manual?” I asked him.

“Nothing,” he assured me. “I was just reading about the different wash loads, I don’t think I have any delicates, not as far as laundry goes.”

“There is a large mound of washing in your bedroom, you should bring it in here and divide it into wash loads,” I replied.

“But,” he said, the smile gone from his face.

“It is time to put some of that new found knowledge into practice,” I said, pointing the laser canon to the door.

“OK,” he said. “But it’s going to take forever to get through that lot.”

“It will take longer than forever if you don’t get to work and wash it,” I said. “Now get a shift on.”

“Whatever,” he muttered.

“He’s right,” said Enid.

“He’s exaggerating,” I replied.

“The consensus is that this job is taking far too long,” Enid replied.

“It is not a simple job,” I replied. “Of course things would be quicker if I had my wand, but that would just clean the place up, changing his attitude is what is taking time and a wand wouldn’t speed that up.”

“So what are you saying?” Enid asked.

“We need to change his mind,” I replied. “And unless you can think of something that would produce an epiphany then it is going to take time.”

“The Head of the Fairy Council is not going to be happy with that,” Enid replied.

“I know, but her wanting extra hands for the Christmas work isn’t going to change anything, unless,” I added.

“Unless what?” asked Enid sounding worried.

“You know the story of Scrooge?” I asked.

“The ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet to come?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Some sort of variation on that.”

“I’m listening,” Enid said.

“Christmas past,” I said. “We need to find out something about his early memories of Christmas, something that changed his life or set it in the mould that it is in.”

“By we?” Enid asked.

“I can’t exactly ask him about that, can I, he’d be suspicious,” I replied.

“That’s true,” said Enid. “But who would know?”

“I was thinking the Head of the Fairy Council, after all, she gave me the job, she must know something about him,” I said.

“That is true, that is very true,” said Enid.

“Christmas present,” I continued. “We could whisk him forward in time to a Christmas party and he brings someone back to his flat, they take one look at it and walk out?”

“Bit hackneyed,” said Enid. “Anyway, once she saw the block of flats, she wouldn’t get out of her car to go up to the 15^th floor, he’d be lucky if she stopped long enough for him to get out of it with some level of dignity.”

“That’s true,” I sighed. “Do you have some suggestions.”

“I’m working on it,” said Enid. “The idea of the three ghosts is good, but maybe the Christmas theme is pushing things a bit.”

“It’s just that time of year,” I smiled.

“All the more reason to go down another line of thinking,” Enid replied.

“Such as?” I asked.

“I thought you were good with off the wall ideas,” said Enid.

“Usually,” I sighed. “But my head feels like it has been stuffed with grease and I can’t seem to focus it the way I normally do.”

“I’ll see what the Head of the Fairy Council has to say,” said Enid. “Meanwhile, keep thinking, you might come up with something,” she added and then faded away into nothing.

“So, did your friend come up with any ideas?” he asked.

“What?” I snapped. I hadn’t realised that he could see Enid or that he might be able to hear what we’d been talking about.

“Have you divided the washing into loads?” I asked pointing to the pile of mucky clothes in the middle of the kitchen.

“They all looked to be dark, so I put them in one pile,” he smiled.

“I can see woollies in that lot,” I snapped. “If you put them in with the ordinary wash, they’ll shrink.”

“Woollies?” he asked.

“Jumpers,” I said. “Also, you want bed linen and towels separate to the rest.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Perhaps it is the thought of unclean underwear in with towels, I don’t know, however, going by the smell of this lot, I would suggest you fish out the undies and socks to start off with and see how that fills the machine,” I replied.

“OK,” he said. “I shall separate out the smellies and we can see where we go from there.”

“It has to improve the odour of this place at the very least,” I replied.

“So what were you and your friend talking about?” he asked.

“The world, the universe and everything except for you,” I replied as I supervised the amount of powder and rinse aide he added to the machine. “How come you have so many socks?” I asked.

“Christmas presents, I always get socks for Christmas,” he sighed.

“From everyone?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “That and boxer shorts.”

“I was wondering about those,” I said as a particularly vivid pair wandered across the font of the washing machine.

“Have you ever gone out and bought any yourself?” I asked.

“There has never been much point in it, I just have to last through till Christmas to get some more,” he smiled.

“Is that the same for all your clothes?” I asked.

“If you mean, do I buy any?” he asked.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“That’s what girlfriends and Mothers are for,” he laughed.

“That gives me an idea?” I thought. “Forget the Christmas theme, lets go with clothes.”

by Janice Nye © 2019

The Fairy Godmother Part 17

The muesli did take a lot of eating. Didn’t matter how much I chewed it just didn’t seem to take up the hazel nut milk and was proving difficult to swallow, but I persevered, a good Fairy Godmother leads by example. It seemed to keep him amused.

“Interesting,” he said standing up and heading out of the kitchen.

“Where do you think you are going?” I snapped, getting to the door before him and then having a coughing fit.

“I’m going back to bed,” he said. “All this getting up in the morning, it’s not me really. Might be an idea if you went to bed too,” he added. “Sounds like you are coming down with a nasty cold.”.

“Fairy Godmothers don’t get colds,” I snapped, but my efforts were wasted on him as I had a sneezing fit that sent me flying backwards out of the room and ended up with me sitting, rather uncomfortably, on the toilet. He took the opportunity to leg it into his bedroom and lock the door. I carefully stood up and made my way back to the kitchen and rang the Head Fairy.

“Tell me you have turned his life around and are heading back to the Council for extra Christmas duties,” said Enid as soon as she answered my call.

I tried to talk, but all I could do was cough.

“You have not got a cold,” Enid replied. “Fairy Godmothers do not get colds.” I sneezed, loudly and my ear drums went pop. “Have you disturbed a lot of dust?”

“Yes,” I croaked. “Difficult not to in here.”

“That’s why you are coughing and sneezing,” Enid assured me.

“So what do I do?” I asked.

“Well, go full steam ahead with getting the place clean and dust free,” she replied. “The sooner the dust is gone, the sooner you will stop all that noise. Get your human to help, he’s part of the cause of all this dust, where is he anyway?”

“He said he doesn’t do mornings and went back to bed after he’d eaten a bowel of muesli,” I said.

“Did he like the muesli?” she asked.

“He said it was interesting,” I said.

“What did you think?” she asked.

“Takes a lot of chewing,” I said.

“At least I’m not the only one who thinks that,” she muttered. “Did he wash the dishes?”

“No, he’s got a dishwasher,” I coughed.

“Did he put the bowels in it?” she asked.

“It was full of clean crockery,” I replied.

“And he didn’t hang around to empty it, just went to bed?” Enid asked.

“Went to bed and locked the door,” I replied.

“Hard love, that’s what you need to use,” said Enid.

“What?” I asked, my head felt as if someone had shoved a 13.5 tog double duvet in through one ear and was trying to pull it out through my nose.

“Simple, ring him up, he’s bound to have taken his mobile phone in there with him, and tell him that if he doesn’t come out and do some housework you are going to use that laser canon of yours to blow out his bedroom window,” Enid told me and then hung up.

“OK,” I thought ringing him up and repeating the message.

“You wouldn’t do that?” he asked.

“I don’t like coughing, I hate sneezing,” I paused for a sneezing fit and then paused again whilst I coughed my breakfast up, it still looked like muesli as it fell the 15 floors to the ground and landed on the person who had been doing something down at the bins. I wasn’t sure what, but I don’t think he was putting out the rubbish. He looked up and I was going to hiss at him, worked quite well when I was a tooth fairy and the family cat thought I was some sort of toy. That didn’t happen, I coughed up a load of bile green phlegm, it got caught by a gust of wind near the ground and hit him fair and square in the face. I honestly didn’t think he could run that fast.

“And this is not putting me in the best of moods,” I added, doing my best not to laugh at the look on the man’s face.

“OK, I get the picture,” he said. “You can come back in now.”

“I will see you in the kitchen,” I said and started coughing, which made it rather difficult to get back to the kitchen window, I still got there before him.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked smiling.

“The dishwasher needs emptying,” I said pointing at it with the laser canon.

“I’ve started emptying it, I got the bowels from there,” he said hopefully.

“So, you are happy for the dishes to accumulate whilst you are emptying it,” I said. “That isn’t going to happen.” I started coughing again. “This is not making me happy,” I said pointing the laser canon at him.

“OK,” he said emptying the dishwasher onto the kitchen table.

“Put them into the cupboards,” I shouted and then started coughing again.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to empty it onto the table first?” he asked, but the muzzle of the laser canon pushed against his nose stopped him from arguing and further.

“OK, OK, straight to the cupboards,” he said. “You did a good job of cleaning these,” he added.

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” I replied and started sneezing, accidentally shooting a hole in the tea towel he was holding.

“Careful,” he muttered. “I don’t have that many tea towels.”

“Then get on with using it,” I said.

“OK,” he smiled.

It took nearly half an hour for him to empty the machine, I didn’t think they held that much, but then he was quite slow and meticulous with the drying.

“Now what?” he asked.

“When was the last time you cleaned that machine, back flushed the filter, topped up the salt and the rinse aid?” I asked.

“It’s domestic machinery,” he replied. “My girlfriend uses it.”

“She isn’t here, in case you’ve forgotten,” I replied. “But the mucky dishes will be.”

“I could live on a diet of take aways,” he said.

“And you could put on so much weight no girl would give you a second glance, let alone be prepared to take on your housework, even if you did pay them,” I said.

“You don’t think someone could do all that stuff for the joy of my company?” he asked, for once sounding a little uncertain.

“I have experienced your company for the last day and it isn’t anything I would cross the road for,” I replied.

“So why are you here?” he asked.

“You are a work in progress and a Fairy Godmother doesn’t leave a job half done,” I explained.

“And you are the ultimate professional,” he smiled.

“Tell that one to the Head of the Fairy Council,” I muttered.

“So that’s who you upset,” he laughed.

“If you are going to upset someone, you may as well make sure they are big,” I replied.

“So cleaning the dishwasher,” he said.

“The book that came with the dishwasher has all the instruction you need,” I replied pointing to a book on the kitchen table. “Read, inwardly digest and clean the dishwasher.”

“And if I don’t?” he asked.

“If you can’t be bothered to read the instructions then you wont be allowed to use the machine,” I replied.

“I can live with that,” he smiled.

“Can you live with washing the dishes by hand?” I asked. He picked up the book and started studying it.

“After you have done that you can read up about the washing machine,” I said, pointing to another book.

“Is there anything else you want me to study?” he asked.

“Probably,” I replied.

By Janice Nye © 2019