For anyone who remembers the  "User Hostile" blogs, they have been edited and are now a book available from Lulu.   This is a photo of some that I have had sent to me just in case someone would like a signed copy.

The Fairy Godmother Part 88

You would think that it would just require a wave of the wand and I’d be in the hospital, after all, I just have to do that to get anywhere, but it doesn’t work that way. I think that a few years back there were a lot of people sent to the hospital, via a wand, and they collided, some people ended up with the wrong body parts, some were missing a few important bits, heads, that sort of thing. I don’t think they ever worked out how many had been sent there, all I do know is that only half a dozen had all their own bits and five of them were dead before they were sent, since then it has been forbidden. Hence Enid ringing for an ambulance, unfortunately they haven’t got it properly organised yet, which is why I was coming round when they arrived.

“What happened?” the ambulance man asked.

“I don’t know,” I told them. “I went to bed and woke up lying here on the floor and every time I try to get up everything goes dark again.”

“Who rang for us?” he asked.

“I did,” snapped Enid. “I was checking up on my daughter and I found her like this.”

“Did you hear anything?” he asked.

“Of course not, I was fifty miles away,” snapped Enid.

“And you came to check up on her?” he asked.

“I thought there was something wrong, I was worried about her and rightly so,” said Enid.

“Shouldn’t you be checking me to make sure I’m OK or taking me to the hospital or something?” I asked, feeling a bit left out of the discussion.

“We are just trying to find out how you ended up down there,” the ambulance man replied. “Assuming, that is, that you don’t normally sleep on the floor.”

“If I did there would be no purpose to me having a bed,” I said.

“Nor would I have rung you,” Enid added.

“The pool of blood under the patients head is growing,” said the paramedic.

“I was wondering when someone was going to notice that,” said the ambulance man.

“Would someone kindly do something about it,” I said and then things went dark again. Next thing I remember I was waking up in a hospital bed with a splitting headache.

“You’re awake,” said Enid, pressing a button on the bedside cabinet.

“I think so,” I replied with a wince.

“You are so useless,” snapped Enid. “I would have thought even you would be able to tell if you were awake!”

“I hope I wouldn’t dream a headache this bad,” I replied wincing as I tried to sit up.

“How many times must I tell you not to move,” snapped Enid, pressing the button again. “They said if you wake up to press this, what’s the point if they don’t respond.”

“What do you mean if?” I asked.

“You have been like this for six weeks,” she said looking at her watch.

“Have you been here all that time?” I asked.

“Of course not, I’ve got to sleep, we, your family and friends, set up a rota, it’s just chance that I was here now,” Enid said, but the bags under her eyes told a different story.

“Ah, so the sleeping beauty has woken up at last,” said a cheerful looking man in a white coat with a stethoscope draped round his neck.

“I was debating that with my Mother,” I replied.

“And how do we feel?” he asked.

“Well, Mum looks like she hast slept for ages, I have a splitting headache and I’m assuming you can speak for yourself,” I replied, trying to take account of all the people in the room.

“So you are the comedian of the family,” he replied, his face fell slightly as Mum rushed out of the room sobbing.

“I think Enid may be a bit over tired,” said a nurse, whom I hadn’t noticed. “She has been at Myrtle’s side since she was brought in six weeks ago.”

“I don’t know why she would be upset, being awake is a good sign,” he said. “Could you get her something for her headache nurse?”

“Yes Doctor,” the nurse replied.

“So, how are you feeling?” he asked me.

“I have a headache,” I replied.

“And apart from that?” he asked.

“I’d like to know why I am here,” I said, trying to get my thoughts together.

“You have had a rather nasty blow to the head and going by the test results, you have been eating the wrong type of mushrooms,” he said. “Do you remember when you last ate mushrooms?”

“I had a fried mushroom sandwich just before I went to bed,” I replied.

“Is that all?” he asked.

“And a mug of hot chocolate,” I added.

“There was no evidence of anything having been cooked,” said a strange voice.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I am the person in charge of finding out what happened to you,” he said. “If you could tell me what happened, in the right order,” he said pulling a notebook out of his pocket.

“I was hungry, so I looked through the cupboards to see what I could find, in the way of food,” I said.

“And that is when you found the mushrooms and decided to fry them?” he asked.

“No,” I replied. “That is when I found that there was no food in the flat.”

“So where did the mushrooms come from?” he asked.

“They appeared, as a hot fired mushroom sandwich, on a plate, on the work surface with a message from Maud,” I replied.

“Maud?” he asked.

“She runs the canteen,” I replied.

“And she has a habit of sending you hot fried mushroom sandwiches?” he asked.

“No, but she is a kind person and she knows that I have been working hard lately,” I replied.

“So it didn’t come as a surprise to find this sandwich appearing?” he asked.

“Not at the time,” I replied.

“But now?” he asked.

“Now I think back, she would have delivered it herself, not just sent it,” I replied.

“So who do you think sent it?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “But I think I know someone who could find out.”

“Ethel?” said Enid, returning to my bedside.

“And who are you?” asked the investigator.

“I am her Mother,” Enid replied in her most imperial of manor.

“I see,” he replied. “And your name is?”

“Enid,” she snapped.

“We have had our best tech people trying to find out about everything coming in and our of your rooms and found out nothing,” he said. “I don’t think this Ethel will be able to find out anything that we can’t.”

“Ethel works in the office of the Fairy Godmother,” I explained. “She knows all about the techie stuff that we use and if anyone can trace how that mushroom sandwich and mug of hot chocolate got there and where it came from, it would be her.”

“We have the best tech people working for us,” he blustered.

“Mum, will you go and ask Ethel?” I asked Enid.

“Of course,” Enid replied. “Take care, I wont be long,” she added walking out of the room and out of the building,so that she could clear the wand deadening field.

“I don’t think that is going to be much help,” the investigator replied.

“I think we should judge that when we get the results back,” I replied, resting my head back on the pillows.

“I think the patient is tired,” said the Doctor.

“I only have a few more questions,” the investigator replied.

“Could you tell the Easter bunny that I will sort out the Easter egg supply tomorrow, I’m feeling a little bit woozy and he won’t listen to me,” I said to the Doctor, I’ll explain it all to the Easter bunny later, he’s very understanding, I’m sure he’ll understand.

“No more questions,” said the Doctor firmly. “I don’t think you’d get any sensible answers from her anyway.”

“I shall be back later,” said the investigator. “Could you let me know if her Mother or Ethel turn up, I would like to speak to them as well.”

“Of course,” said the Doctor, guiding him out of the room.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 87

My rooms were quiet, once everyone was gone and I liked it that way. I wondered round trying to find something to clean and or tidy, but there wasn’t anything. I decided to make a mess of the kitchen by cooking myself something for tea. There was no food in the larder, probably something to do with me not doing the shopping.

“Looks like it’s going to be the canteen for me then,” I thought, yawning loudly. A fried mushroom sandwich appeared on the counter, still steaming, along with a message.

“I heard that thought and the yawn, eat this and have a rest, Maud.”

“Thank-you,” I thought as loudly as I could and sat down to eat it. I was just trying to work out what to drink when a mug of hot chocolate appeared.

“You read my mind,” I thought, yawning. The plate and mug vanished as soon as I had finished and I went off to my bedroom with the thought that I would wake up to a nice clean and tidy kitchen which required restocking with food.

I climbed into bed and closed my eyes and suddenly I was at a fair ground, except all the rides were run by clowns who were carrying large bunches of balloons.

“You should have a go on this ride,” a clown insisted, pushing me into the seat and fastening me securely in place. I was just about to protest when the ride started. I thought it was one where you travelled round in a circle and the seat went up and down getting faster as you went, but this one seemed to wander round the fairground weaving in and out of the other rides as it went, then it twisted and I fell off, landing in a large net full of balls.

“This is strictly for children under the height of five foot tall,” said the clown dragging me out of the net by my hair.

“I am four foot nine,” I said, trying to disentangle my hair from his grip.

“But you are over 12 years old,” he said flinging me away from the net full of balls. I landed in a large tea cup.

“I would advise you to get out of that quickly,” said someone who looked like the mad hatter from “Alice in Wonderland”. “The tea is brewing and we will be pouring it out shortly. It would be a shame for that pretty white dress to be covered with tea stains,” he smiled as a leapt out of the cup. I would have waved my wand, but I couldn’t find it, some things are never there when you want them. I was slightly disappointed when he didn’t pour tea into the mug that I had climbed out of, instead he poured it into a rather nice tea set.

“Would you like a cup?” he asked

“Yes, that would be nice,” I said. He handed me an empty cup.

“What about the tea?” I asked. He emptied the teapot over my head, laughed and ran off, fortunately the tea was cold, I suspected that it had never been even warm. I threw the tea cup after him, with little expectation of actually hitting, but it made contact with his head and he stopped dead and fell flat on his face. All the clowns around me turned round to face me.

“You’ve killed him,” they all said, not bothering to take into account the fact that the mad hatter had just rolled over onto his side, picked up the tea cup and started eating it.

“He isn’t dead,” I said pointing to him. He finished the tea cup, leapt up, put a Police helmet on his head, pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket, grabbed my right wrist, turned me round and cuffed my hands behind my back.

“You are under arrest,” he said.

“Shouldn’t you caution me?” I asked.

“Look where you are walking, there are some nasty holes in the ground,” he laughed as I fell through one and started plummeting through the sky in a landscape that looked like a picture from a children’s book all block pastel colours.

“This has to be a dream,” I told myself as a wrestled with the handcuffs.

“You should think the cuffs large and you small,” came a voice from nowhere. I did and the cuffs fell off, I flapped my wings and missed the ground by a matter of inches.

“You are a fairy, these things shouldn’t be a problem,” said the voice.

“What the hell is going on?” I thought.

“Now now, Fairies shouldn’t use language like that,” the voice replied laughing.

“Who are you, where are we and why don’t you show yourself?” I asked.

“You are a fairy godmother, you should have all the answers, why don’t you tell me,” came the reply.

“What makes you think that I have all the answers, just because I am a fairy godmother?” I asked, settling myself on a lollipop shaped tree.

“How can you provide the solutions if you don’t have the answers?” the voice replied. I was about to say that it was rude to answer a question with a question, when it crossed my mind that it wouldn’t get us anywhere.

“I know the questions, if you know the right questions then you will get the right answers and that will solve the problem,” I replied.

“Do you have all the questions?” the voice asked.

“I doubt if anyone does, but hopefully I have enough questions to start unravelling the problem,” I replied. “So, where am I and who are you?”

“Like I said, find out and I’ll tell you,” said the voice laughing, then I heard a door shut and the laughter was cut off as if the laughing person had gone through a door and it had shut behind them.

“I shall follow that road and see where it leads to,” I thought spying a road that lead into the distance. “After all, I am going to get nowhere sitting up this tree, it isn’t even comfortable.”

The light from the sun, shinning through my bedroom window, woke me up. I was lying on the floor next to my bed. I tried to stand up, but my head started throbbing.

“You just stay right where you are,” said Enid. “I’ve rung for an ambulance, they say you shouldn’t move, there’s a nasty cut on your head and they don’t want to risk you moving in case you have injured your back.”

“What happened?” I asked, trying to work out how to ask what she was doing there without sounding ungrateful.

“I don’t know,” said Enid. “Maud asked me to drop by to check up on you, you haven’t done any shopping lately, she thought you might be low on food.”

“She sent me a fried mushroom sandwich last night and some hot chocolate,” I said.

“Maud my be good, kind and considerate,” said Enid, looking like she was going to be sick. “But she does not do deliveries to anyone, not like that. She might take food to someone, but she wont send it unannounced.”

“She did yesterday,” I insisted.

“So where is the plate and mug?” Enid asked.

“They vanished, when I finished,” I replied and winced at the sound of someone hammering on my door.

“That will be the ambulance people,” said Enid. “You stay here, I’ll let them in.”

“Do I get any choice with that?” I thought as the world went dark.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 86

“Do you think it should be books set in particular places or guides to the places?” asked Juliet as soon as I appeared.

“Books set in the places,” I said. “Anyone can find a guide book.”

“You are right,” she said and set to work on an article. I was amazed at how many books she knew were set in holiday destinations.

“Then your readers can try and work out where each scene is set,” I added.

“Just in case the holiday isn’t as interesting as they thought it would be,” she smiled.

“I would say it is more, giving a direction to the site seeing,” I replied.

“Can I use that phrase?” Juliet asked.

“Of course,” I smiled, looking across the room at Georgie. “Are you OK?”

“I didn’t think they’d do something like that,” she stuttered. “I knew they were angry with me, but,” she paused shaking her head.

“Him and Ivy are both doing anger management or something like that, I have been assured that they wont do anything like that again,” I said.

“I thought they were going to kill us both,” Georgie stuttered.

“They didn’t and they aren’t,” said Juliet. “They have seen the error of their ways, so forget about it. I have.”

The Fairy Godmother Part 86

“Do you think it should be books set in particular places or guides to the places?” asked Juliet as soon as I appeared.

“Books set in the places,” I said. “Anyone can find a guide book.”

“You are right,” she said and set to work on an article. I was amazed at how many books she knew were set in holiday destinations.

“Then your readers can try and work out where each scene is set,” I added.

“Just in case the holiday isn’t as interesting as they thought it would be,” she smiled.

“I would say it is more, giving a direction to the site seeing,” I replied.

“Can I use that phrase?” Juliet asked.

“Of course,” I smiled, looking across the room at Georgie. “Are you OK?”

“I didn’t think they’d do something like that,” she stuttered. “I knew they were angry with me, but,” she paused shaking her head.

“Him and Ivy are both doing anger management or something like that, I have been assured that they wont do anything like that again,” I said.

“I thought they were going to kill us both,” Georgie stuttered.

“They didn’t and they aren’t,” said Juliet. “They have seen the error of their ways, so forget about it. I have.”

“Obviously, it’s easy for you,” snapped Georgie. “But it isn’t that easy for me!” she added and ran out of the room.

“That wasn’t very helpful,” I said.

“She’ll get over it,” said Juliet. “She just needs to get on with things, like I have.”

Some how, I didn’t believe Juliet, but I thought that Georgie was a more immediate problem, so I followed to the door of her room and knocked.

“Georgie?” I called and heard sobbing, muffled sobbing.

“Go away,” she said.

“You know I’m not going to do that,” I replied. “It would be easier to talk without a door in between us.”

“You can just wave your wand and get in here,” she replied.

“I know, but I’d rather you opened the door,” I said.

“Can’t you just wave your wand and get rid of these things from my mind?” Georgie asked, opening the door slightly and standing in the gap that she had created.

“I could do,” I said. “But it is better that you learn to live with them, I can’t go erasing memories every time you have a bad day.”

“So you think I should just put it in a box and carry on with life, like Juliet is?” she asked.

“No, that would be as bad as erasing the memory,” I replied. “And I don’t think Juliet is over it like she says, she is keeping herself too busy to think about it.”

“What do you mean?” Georgie asked.

“When this next magazine goes to the printer, she is going to crash and then she will need your help to get through it all,” I replied.

“How can I help her, I can’t cope with this myself,” she said throwing herself down on the bed in an overly dramatic way.

“Perhaps we should talk to your ex landlord,” I said, giving my wand a quick wave before I changed my mind.

We arrived in time to great Ivy and her son as they walked out of a lecture theatre.

“I think I see where I went wrong,” said Ian.

“I hope so,” said Ivy.

“Do you see where you went wrong?” I asked Ivy, carefully grabbing Georgie by the arm to stop her from running out of the building. I didn’t want her to find out, the hard way, that it was floating on an air current, in a bubble, one mile up. It probably wouldn’t let her fall to the ground, but I didn’t want to risk it.

“I shouldn’t have let the flat get into such a state,” said Ian. “And I shouldn’t have been so aggressive. Getting you sacked from the newsagents wasn’t a great way to get the rent paid either.”

“It’s all very well for you to say that,” stuttered Georgie.

“Fine words don’t butter any parsnips,” said someone wandering over to us. “Let me introduce myself, I am Edward, I run the sessions here,” he added smiling broadly, so broadly I began to wonder if his head was going to fall in two.

“Nice to meet you,” I smiled, looking round for a way out, then I remembered my wand.

“They gave you a nasty shock,” he said looking at Ivy and Ian. “And know you wonder if their repentance is real?”

“They were going to kill my friend and me,” Georgie replied.

“It was an over reaction,” said Ivy, elbowing Ian in the ribs.

“Yes,” Ian agreed, rubbing his side. “It will never happen again.”

“Isn’t that good to know,” said Edward, still smiling.

“Yes,” muttered Georgie. “Can I go home now?” she asked turning to me.

“You’ve only just got here,” Edward smiled. “You must join us in the next session.”

“I don’t think so,” I muttered and discreetly waved my wand, all four of us went back to Georgie’s room.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” asked Ivy.

“I was going to ask you that,” I replied. “That man, Edward, has con man written all over him, you can’t say you’ve fallen for that rubbish!”

“He has the solution to all our problems,” said Ian.

“And I bet these solutions come with a pretty hefty bill,” I replied.

“Well it wasn’t cheap,” said Ivy, trying not to look at anyone. “But you’re my son, I thought it would help you.”

“What would help him is proper supervision,” I said. “You seem to have failed to teach him right from wrong as a child, instead, he got everything he wanted if he made enough noise about it, so that is how he learnt to behave.”

“But,” said Ivy.

“Your son, you need to correct the mistakes you made, not hive the problem out to some quick fix artist,” I snapped.

“I think I’m going to have to talk to Enid about the way she brought you up, no respect for her elders, that’s where I’ll start,” Ivy shouted.

“Since she didn’t bring me up, that would be a waste of effort,” I said. “And you can blame that on Natasha and Malcolm, they kept telling her to get rid of me, I’m surprised you didn’t get the same treatment.”

“They did say it would be for the best,” said Ivy. “But I wanted to prove them wrong.”

“And what do they say now?” I asked.

“He’s my mess, so I can sort it,” sighed Ivy.

“I am still here,” said Ian.

“We know that,” we all said.

“Good, because I don’t like being talked about like that,” Ian replied.

“You’ve stuffed up again, like you always do,” said Ivy. “It’s about time you grew up and took responsibility for your mistakes and learn from them.”

“He wont do that if he isn’t part of the discussion,” I said.

“Thank-you,” said Ian.

“He’s my son, I don’t need you to tell me how to bring him up,” snapped Ivy.

“Because you’ve done such a good job of it,” I replied.

“Could you lot keep it quiet,” snapped Juliet. “I have some work to do and I can’t do it with all this noise.”

“I shall move the discussions elsewhere,” I replied. “If you need us just ring,” I added and waved my wand, we moved to my rooms.

“So,” I said looking round at them. “I saw the flat, it must have taken quiet a bit of time for it to get into that state.”as

“It was really nice, when I first saw it,” said Georgie. “But then things started to go wrong, I’d report them, but nothing ever happened.”

“Such as?” asked Ivy.

“There were leaks from upstairs, water was running through the ceiling,” Georgie replied. “It didn’t smell very clean and it soaked all my food. I had to bin it all and then clean up.”

“I presume the leak stopped,” said Ivy.

“It stopped, but no one came to check up on the damage it caused,” said Georgie.

“Just a lit of spoilt food, nothing major,” said Ivy.

“The ceiling fell in on to the cooker, I tried cleaning it out, but the spark igniter wouldn’t work and the oven stank, I reported that, but nothing happened,” Georgie replied. “Then the gas kept going out.”

“There is a meter, you have to put money in it and then you get gas,” Ivy explained slowly.

“I rang the gas board,” the pipes were full of water, so they pumped them out and told me to tell my landlord so he could arrange with them to get the pipes sorted,” Georgie explained. “Again nothing happened.”

“Why didn’t you do anything?” I asked Ian.

“I didn’t think it was that important,” he said.

“Put yourself in Georgie’s place,” I said. “You would want to have these things fixed.”

“I don’t live in rented accommodation,” he smiled, looking at Georgie in a way that verged on possessive. It quite puzzled me, but it didn’t puzzle Ivy.

“You did all this because you fancied her?” Ivy asked.

“She said she wasn’t interested, I was just trying to persuade her,” said Ian.

“I have never and will never be interested in you,” shouted Georgie. “Not in any way, the thought that you might, it makes me feel sick,” she added shuddering.

“By destroying her home around her!” said Ivy.

“I thought she could move in with me,” said Ian, looking round at us all. “Pretty stupid of me I suppose.”

“There’s no suppose in it,” I said.

“You are coming back with me,” Ivy said to Ian.

“Not to that con man, Edward?” I asked.

“No,” said Ivy. “I think I’ll find a way to shut him down, legally,” she added and with a wave of a wand they were gone.

“How are you feeling now?” I asked Georgie cautiously.

“A bit better,” Georgie replied. “I don’t think he’s likely to turn up unannounced.”

“That’s something at least,” I said.

“I’m just not sure about the forgive and forget bit,” Georgie replied.

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” I smiled. “Try not to hang on to the anger. If you have any problems, you know my phone number.”

“Thank’s, now, I’d better get back, Juliet wont eat if I don’t make something and remind her,” Georgie smiled. I waved my wand and she was gone.

By Janice Nye © 2020

“Obviously, it’s easy for you,” snapped Georgie. “But it isn’t that easy for me!” she added and ran out of the room.

“That wasn’t very helpful,” I said.

“She’ll get over it,” said Juliet. “She just needs to get on with things, like I have.”

Some how, I didn’t believe Juliet, but I thought that Georgie was a more immediate problem, so I followed to the door of her room and knocked.

“Georgie?” I called and heard sobbing, muffled sobbing.

“Go away,” she said.

“You know I’m not going to do that,” I replied. “It would be easier to talk without a door in between us.”

“You can just wave your wand and get in here,” she replied.

“I know, but I’d rather you opened the door,” I said.

“Can’t you just wave your wand and get rid of these things from my mind?” Georgie asked, opening the door slightly and standing in the gap that she had created.

“I could do,” I said. “But it is better that you learn to live with them, I can’t go erasing memories every time you have a bad day.”

“So you think I should just put it in a box and carry on with life, like Juliet is?” she asked.

“No, that would be as bad as erasing the memory,” I replied. “And I don’t think Juliet is over it like she says, she is keeping herself too busy to think about it.”

“What do you mean?” Georgie asked.

“When this next magazine goes to the printer, she is going to crash and then she will need your help to get through it all,” I replied.

“How can I help her, I can’t cope with this myself,” she said throwing herself down on the bed in an overly dramatic way.

“Perhaps we should talk to your ex landlord,” I said, giving my wand a quick wave before I changed my mind.

We arrived in time to great Ivy and her son as they walked out of a lecture theatre.

“I think I see where I went wrong,” said Ian.

“I hope so,” said Ivy.

“Do you see where you went wrong?” I asked Ivy, carefully grabbing Georgie by the arm to stop her from running out of the building. I didn’t want her to find out, the hard way, that it was floating on an air current, in a bubble, one mile up. It probably wouldn’t let her fall to the ground, but I didn’t want to risk it.

“I shouldn’t have let the flat get into such a state,” said Ian. “And I shouldn’t have been so aggressive. Getting you sacked from the newsagents wasn’t a great way to get the rent paid either.”

“It’s all very well for you to say that,” stuttered Georgie.

“Fine words don’t butter any parsnips,” said someone wandering over to us. “Let me introduce myself, I am Edward, I run the sessions here,” he added smiling broadly, so broadly I began to wonder if his head was going to fall in two.

“Nice to meet you,” I smiled, looking round for a way out, then I remembered my wand.

“They gave you a nasty shock,” he said looking at Ivy and Ian. “And know you wonder if their repentance is real?”

“They were going to kill my friend and me,” Georgie replied.

“It was an over reaction,” said Ivy, elbowing Ian in the ribs.

“Yes,” Ian agreed, rubbing his side. “It will never happen again.”

“Isn’t that good to know,” said Edward, still smiling.

“Yes,” muttered Georgie. “Can I go home now?” she asked turning to me.

“You’ve only just got here,” Edward smiled. “You must join us in the next session.”

“I don’t think so,” I muttered and discreetly waved my wand, all four of us went back to Georgie’s room.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” asked Ivy.

“I was going to ask you that,” I replied. “That man, Edward, has con man written all over him, you can’t say you’ve fallen for that rubbish!”

“He has the solution to all our problems,” said Ian.

“And I bet these solutions come with a pretty hefty bill,” I replied.

“Well it wasn’t cheap,” said Ivy, trying not to look at anyone. “But you’re my son, I thought it would help you.”

“What would help him is proper supervision,” I said. “You seem to have failed to teach him right from wrong as a child, instead, he got everything he wanted if he made enough noise about it, so that is how he learnt to behave.”

“But,” said Ivy.

“Your son, you need to correct the mistakes you made, not hive the problem out to some quick fix artist,” I snapped.

“I think I’m going to have to talk to Enid about the way she brought you up, no respect for her elders, that’s where I’ll start,” Ivy shouted.

“Since she didn’t bring me up, that would be a waste of effort,” I said. “And you can blame that on Natasha and Malcolm, they kept telling her to get rid of me, I’m surprised you didn’t get the same treatment.”

“They did say it would be for the best,” said Ivy. “But I wanted to prove them wrong.”

“And what do they say now?” I asked.

“He’s my mess, so I can sort it,” sighed Ivy.

“I am still here,” said Ian.

“We know that,” we all said.

“Good, because I don’t like being talked about like that,” Ian replied.

“You’ve stuffed up again, like you always do,” said Ivy. “It’s about time you grew up and took responsibility for your mistakes and learn from them.”

“He wont do that if he isn’t part of the discussion,” I said.

“Thank-you,” said Ian.

“He’s my son, I don’t need you to tell me how to bring him up,” snapped Ivy.

“Because you’ve done such a good job of it,” I replied.

“Could you lot keep it quiet,” snapped Juliet. “I have some work to do and I can’t do it with all this noise.”

“I shall move the discussions elsewhere,” I replied. “If you need us just ring,” I added and waved my wand, we moved to my rooms.

“So,” I said looking round at them. “I saw the flat, it must have taken quiet a bit of time for it to get into that state.”as

“It was really nice, when I first saw it,” said Georgie. “But then things started to go wrong, I’d report them, but nothing ever happened.”

“Such as?” asked Ivy.

“There were leaks from upstairs, water was running through the ceiling,” Georgie replied. “It didn’t smell very clean and it soaked all my food. I had to bin it all and then clean up.”

“I presume the leak stopped,” said Ivy.

“It stopped, but no one came to check up on the damage it caused,” said Georgie.

“Just a lit of spoilt food, nothing major,” said Ivy.

“The ceiling fell in on to the cooker, I tried cleaning it out, but the spark igniter wouldn’t work and the oven stank, I reported that, but nothing happened,” Georgie replied. “Then the gas kept going out.”

“There is a meter, you have to put money in it and then you get gas,” Ivy explained slowly.

“I rang the gas board,” the pipes were full of water, so they pumped them out and told me to tell my landlord so he could arrange with them to get the pipes sorted,” Georgie explained. “Again nothing happened.”

“Why didn’t you do anything?” I asked Ian.

“I didn’t think it was that important,” he said.

“Put yourself in Georgie’s place,” I said. “You would want to have these things fixed.”

“I don’t live in rented accommodation,” he smiled, looking at Georgie in a way that verged on possessive. It quite puzzled me, but it didn’t puzzle Ivy.

“You did all this because you fancied her?” Ivy asked.

“She said she wasn’t interested, I was just trying to persuade her,” said Ian.

“I have never and will never be interested in you,” shouted Georgie. “Not in any way, the thought that you might, it makes me feel sick,” she added shuddering.

“By destroying her home around her!” said Ivy.

“I thought she could move in with me,” said Ian, looking round at us all. “Pretty stupid of me I suppose.”

“There’s no suppose in it,” I said.

“You are coming back with me,” Ivy said to Ian.

“Not to that con man, Edward?” I asked.

“No,” said Ivy. “I think I’ll find a way to shut him down, legally,” she added and with a wave of a wand they were gone.

“How are you feeling now?” I asked Georgie cautiously.

“A bit better,” Georgie replied. “I don’t think he’s likely to turn up unannounced.”

“That’s something at least,” I said.

“I’m just not sure about the forgive and forget bit,” Georgie replied.

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” I smiled. “Try not to hang on to the anger. If you have any problems, you know my phone number.”

“Thanks, now, I’d better get back, Juliet wont eat if I don’t make something and remind her,” Georgie smiled. I waved my wand and she was gone.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 85

My cousin proved to be in rude health, it didn’t take long to proved that, about 5 seconds, I recognised him straight away and he recognised me, unfortunately. I decided that time would be a great healer with that relationship and left Ivy and Enid to discuss things with him. Perhaps next time we meet he wont want to kill me.

My rooms seemed very quiet and tidy when I got back. It seemed a shame to disturb them, but I needed somewhere to think and everywhere else I knew, Enid did a good job of following me to. Then a thought crossed my mind.

“Santa’s workshop,” She’d spent a lot of time there, but the only impression of the place that I got from her was negative, it was very cold and there was always tons of work to be done, two days work to be fitted into one day, that sort of thing. Not somewhere to go on the off chance of finding me. A wave of my wand and I was there.

“You look familiar,” said a cheery voice. I turned around to see an old man standing behind me, clean shaven, with a bald head, not very tall and quite slim built.

“Hello, I’m Myrtle,” I smiled. “Who are you?”

“Myrtle,” he smiled. “You look just like a young fairy who was here, I forget how long ago, her name was Enid, I don’t suppose you know of her?”

“She is my Mother,” I replied. “And I don’t look anything like her, she has red hair for a start off.”

“Red hair is it,” he laughed. “It was rainbow coloured when she was here the first time, I think it was purple and black the second. Never happy with the natural colour of her hair, she was always changing it.”

“Do you mean that colour comes out of a bottle?” I asked.

“All the others did,” he laughed. “I don’t see any reason for her to change. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Not really,” I sighed.

“That tends to mean that you do,” he replied. “Would you like to come in and talk about it?”

“I don’t want to interrupt whatever it is you do,” I said.

“Don’t worry, no one will miss me for a while,” he replied. “I could tell them I’m on my tea break. Would you like a cup of tea?”

“It would be nice,” I said.

“Hard day?” he asked.

“I found out that I have and Aunt and a cousin that I didn’t know about, plus at least two Uncles,” I replied.

“These would be Enid’s brothers?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s a thought, I haven’t asked my Father if he has any siblings,” I replied, beginning to wonder just how many relatives I did have.

“Enid has five brothers and four sisters, well, some are half siblings, but I guess you aren’t that bothered about that distinction,” he smiled. “Your Father has one brother and two sisters, all by the same parents.”

“Who are you and how do you know all of this?” I asked.

“I am Santa,” he smiled. “And, contrary to popular belief all adults were children at some time in their lives, it’s just that a lot of them grow up and forget what it was like.”

“I thought you were taller,” I said.

“Through the eyes of a small child, I am quite tall,” he said. “Most people mention the hair, or lack of it.”

“It’s summer, it’s probably quite warm with all that hair, maybe you shaved it all off,” I suggested.

“Or maybe it’s a wig,” he laughed. “And you didn’t mention the girth.”

“It’s not polite to comment on things like that,” I reminded him.

“It gets very cold in the winter, you need a lot of layers to keep warm,” he laughed. “And I do feel the cold a lot.”

“Must make it easy to wander around the world without anyone recognising you,” I commentated.

“And to find out who has been naughty or nice,” he laughed.

“Looks like my family are more likely to feature on the naughty list,” I sighed.

“True,” he said. “But in general, they do mean well.”

“Even when they kidnap and threaten people?” I asked.

“Ivy does tend to go over the top,” he smiled. “But you have to admit, she hadn’t thought out how it would feel from the other persons point of view and she was very apologetic when she did.”

“A bit on the late side, they were already traumatised,” I said.

“And you don’t know how to handle it?” he asked.

“They just leap in, without a second thought, maybe without even a first thought and,” I started. “It’s hard to know how to cope with.”

“You are faced with choices,” Santa said. “You could forget that they exist.”

“I don’t think I could do that,” I sighed. “For all their faults, I know about them now.”

“Then, you either accept them as they are or try to change them,” he said. “And that is your call.”

“How, they are impossible,” I sighed.

“And changing them?” he asked.

“Is going to be a long job,” I replied.

“When has that ever stopped you?” he smiled.

“I suppose this course that Ivy sent her son on might help,” I sighed.

“I think Ivy was going to go on it as well,” he reminded me.

“Big steps and little steps, I’ll just have to be there to remind them what is the right thing to do and hope the ideas sink in,” I said.

“That’s the idea,” he said. “Now you know what to do.”

“I should go and do it,” I smiled. “And you can get on with your work, I hope I haven’t taken up too much of your time.” He smiled, pointed to the clock which hadn’t moved on a second since I had arrived and then, I was back in my rooms and my phone was ringing.

“Hello Mum,” I said, seeing Enid’s name.

“I thought you might like to know, your Aunty Ivy has agreed to stop and your cousin Ralf no longer wants to kill either you, Georgie or Juliet,” she said.

“That’s nice to know,” I replied. “By the way Santa says you have five brothers and four sisters, some of which might be half siblings.”

“You went to see Santa!” she stuttered. “Why?”

“I was trying to think of somewhere you wouldn’t think to look for me,” I said. “I needed to think.”

“The family is a lot to take in,” said Enid after a moments pause. “Five brothers, don’t think even Ivy knew that. Perhaps I’d better visit the old fellow sometime.”

“Or you could try asking Natasha and Malcolm,” I suggested.

“Nice idea, but they may have forgotten about them all, or not have contact details,” said Enid. “Getting a straight answer out of either of them is next to impossible. You might do better with that job.”

“Why?” I snapped.

“They have a history of hiding details like that from me,” Enid explained. “It’s almost second nature for them not to avoid the issue when they talk to me. You on the other hand, they see you as an adult you might stand a chance.”

“I’ll think about it,” I replied.

“So what are you going to do next?” she asked.

“Check up on Georgie and Juliet,” I sighed. “God knows what sort of mess they are in now!”

“Good luck,” Enid replied and hung up.

“I think I’m going to need it,” I said to no one in particular and waved my wand.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 84

“Tidying, not my favourite job, if it was then my rooms would never become untidy enough to need it, I suppose. Anyway, I’ve done plenty of it lately, so I’m in practice,” I thought looking round the room. Actually, it didn’t look that bad, now the laundry had gone off, Velvet had done the dishes, wiped the surfaces, taken out the rubbish and picked the magazines up off the floor, so there were just a few things littering the floor.

It only took an hour get get the place looking immaculate, of course, the cupboards and the drawers could do with a thorough clear out, but the surface looked good and the rest could wait for a rainy day or some other inspiration. I still hadn’t sorted out what, if anything to do about my family.

“A cup of tea, that would be a good idea,” I told myself and was just about to get underway when the phone rang.

“There’s always someone,” I muttered, picking it up. The phone said Georgie. “Didn’t think I’d hear from her again.”

“Hello Georgie,” I said, trying to sound bright and failing drastically.

“Myrtle,” she said, sounding like she was busy trying to think of what to say next . “I know you probably didn’t want to hear from me, things weren’t so good between us when we last met.” She paused for a moment .

“So why are you ringing me?” I asked, as if I didn’t know that I was the last person she’d ring and therefore she was desperate.

“You’ve done so much for us,” Georgie said, rambling.

“What is the problem?” I asked, trying to cut to the chase.

“It’s Juliet,” Georgie replied.

“What about her?” I asked.

“She’s in trouble,” Georgie sighed.

“About what?” I asked, this was beginning to get annoying.

“It’s very difficult,” said Georgie.

“Well, you aren’t the only people I am helping, so if you can’t explain your problem, perhaps you aught to ring back later when you’ve worked out what it is,” I said, preparing to hang up.

“I know you are upset with us and I am sorry, but I need your help now,” said Georgie. “There is no one else I can turn to.”

“Alright,” I sighed and waved my wand.

“Myrtle!” Georgie screamed as her phone went dead.

“Myrtle! What sort of name is that for someone,” the woman laughed, snatching the phone from Georgie’s hand, throwing it to the ground and stamping on it with her stiletto heel till it was in several pieces on the ground.

“She is my Fairy Godmother,” said Georgie.

“Really, well even she is going to find it hard to locate you, let alone do anything to help you or Juliet,” she replied.

“Not that hard,” I smiled, waving my wand so that the phone rebuilt itself. “It’s amazing the memory some materials have,” I added, directing the phone to Georgie’s hand and then removing both of us from the place.

“What the hell!” shouted the woman as we disappeared.

“And who was that unpleasant woman?” I asked Georgie.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“In my rooms,” I replied. “Now, who was that?”

“You remember my last landlord?” Georgie asked.

“That wasn’t him,” I replied. “Though thinking on, he did look a bit like her.”

“That’s his Mother,” said Georgie shuddering. “And she is no where near as nice as he was.”

“He wasn’t nice at all,” I said. “And why are we talking about him in the past?”

“He didn’t come up to her expectations,” said Georgie. “So she got rid of him.”

“As in killed him?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Georgie. “But don’t tell her I said that, because if she thought I had any prof then I’d be joining him, as would Juliet.”

“She’d have to find you both first,” I smiled. “Stay here, I’ll be back in a minute,” I added, waving my wand.

“Myrtle!” Juliet said. I looked around the room she was in, it was cold, damp and dark, rather like a dungeon and she was chained to the wall, a bit like a prisoner in some ancient film, with a bowl of water just out of reach.

“I take it you wouldn’t object to a change of scenery?” I asked.

“Please,” she said as the door opened.

“You again,” snapped the woman, as I wavered my wand.

“Juliet!” screamed Georgie as we materialised in my rooms.

“There’s more to that woman than just being your ex-landlords mother,” I said to them.

“They say she’s a witch,” said Juliet.

“They say that about most evil, scheming old women,” I said.

“There’s no need to be like that about me,” said Enid appearing on the sofa next to Georgie, the poor girl jumped off the sofa and would have dashed out of the room if she hadn’t fallen over a footstool which I don’t remember having.

“I thought it was time you had a footstool,” said Enid. “I can see me visiting you a bit more often now and I do like to have a footstool, some of us aren’t quiet so tall,” she added as the footstool dashed across the room and placed itself under her feet. Georgie climbed onto a near by chair and pulled her feet under her.

“Things were strange and now they are getting stranger,” she said. “I don’t know if I can cope with any more of this.”

“Who are you ringing?” Mum asked.

“Ethel,” I said. “There’s more to that woman than meets the eye and I think Ethel can help us find out what.”

“Myrtle?” Ethel replied.

“I have a little job for you,” I replied.

“I think I know what it is,” said Ethel sounding very nervous.

“Is she there?” I asked.

“Yes,” said the woman’s voice and then the phone went dead.

“Do you know her?” I asked Enid.

“Yes,” she said. “At least I think I do?”

“Then we had better go and see,” I replied, giving my wand a quick wave.

“Enid,” said the woman. “I thought if I kept digging I’d find you at the bottom somewhere.”

“What do you want?” Enid asked.

“Straight to the point, no how have you been, what have you been doing, non of the usual pleasantries,” the woman spanned.

“I could say the same of you,” Enid replied. “But then, you never were interested in anyone but yourself.”

“Lily wouldn’t think much of your attitude,” the woman snapped. “She always paid due respect to me.”

“Who the hell is she?” I asked Enid.

“She is my elder sister, your Aunt Ivy,” Enid replied.

“Poison Ivy, you used to call me, whenever you thought I couldn’t hear you,” Ivy replied aiming a clout at her sister.

“Do you have any other sisters or brothers that I haven’t been told about?” I asked.

“Non that I know about,” said Enid. “There’s just her and me!”

“Lily, don’t forget about Lily, she’s not got to be happy when I tell her that you forgot about her,” said Ivy.

“Lily is dead,” I said.

“What happened?” Ivy asked, suddenly looking smaller and less threatening that before.

“She hung herself,” I explained.

“I didn’t know,” she muttered.

“It isn’t as if you are in contact,” said Enid. “I mean, we don’t have your phone number or an address, so we couldn’t contact you.”

“Natasha does,” Ivy replied.

“Well then, you can take that up with her,” I replied. “I want to know why you were bothering Georgie and Juliet.”

“Georgie owed rent, at least six months worth to my son,” Ivy replied.

“Is that the one you killed?” I asked.

“He isn’t dead,” said Ivy. “I didn’t like the way he was working, so I sent him off for retraining. I don’t know where he learnt such evil tactics.”

“Going by what you’ve just done, I would say he learnt them from you,” I said.

“ME!” she shouted.

“You,” I replied. “You are the one who kidnapped Georgie and Juliet.”

“They wouldn’t listen to me, said they were too busy,” Ivy explained. “I was just taking them away from distractions.”

“And threatening to kill them, the way you killed your own son,” I said.

“He isn’t dead,” said Ivy. “I just sent him on a course to learn how to talk to people so that he didn’t have so many disputes. I thought, perhaps they could learn something from it as well. I don’t know where they got the idea that he was dead.”

“It was the way you told your people to deal with him,” said Georgie.

“You have too much imagination,” said Ivy.

“I think you are the one who needs to go on that course,” I replied. “That is, after we’ve seen this son of yours to make sure he is alive.”

“OK,” Ivy replied sulkily. “What about the rent?”

“If I took the authorities round that flat it would be condemned,” I told her. “Then you would be paying compensation to Georgie and be forced to make the place habitable.”

“It was a very nice flat when I gave it to my son,” said Ivy.

“Well, it isn’t now,” I said. “And that still doesn’t excuse what you have done today. Georgie and Juliet are traumatised.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” said Ivy. “Bye the way, Enid, we have at least two brothers.”

“At least, don’t you know for certain?” I asked.

“Malcolm and Natasha, they are as bad as each other as far as fidelity goes,” Ivy said.

“The more I find out about this side of my family the more I find out I don’t know,” I said. “You need to sort things out with Georgie and Juliet and then. I don’t know what.”

“You could go to the place with my son, I’ll pay for both of you?” Ivy suggested.

“I think you aught to go there,” said Georgie.

“And I don’t want to be anywhere near either you or your son,” said Juliet. “I just want to sort out next months magazine.”

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

“Natasha doesn’t look as if she’s going to get the next room sorted in time,” said Juliet. “She keeps falling asleep.”

“I’ve got her an apprentice, that should help her finish things,” I said.

“And, I’m short of an idea to hang the magazine on,” said Juliet.

“The summer holidays are coming up,” I said.

“And everyone will have sorted out their clothes,” snapped Juliet.

“But have they sorted out their books, their holiday reading matter, different things for different places round the world,” I suggested.

“Of course, why didn’t I think of that,” said Juliet.

“Now we all have places to be,” I said, giving my wand a quick wave and sending them all there.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 83

“What are you doing here?” asked Velvet, supervising a new girl pegging out the washing. “You need to straighten it out more,” she told the girl. “It’ll never dry like that and it’ll be murder to get all those creases out.”

“Who cares?” she asked sulkily.

“I care and you will if you have to iron it,” Velvet replied.

“I wont be doing ironing for another month,” the girl replied.

“By which time someone else will be pegging the washing out and you will have to iron out the creases they create,” Velvet replied. “At the moment though, those doing the ironing may not be so happy about the amount of creases that will be in that, if you don’t straighten it.” The girl straightened the sheet and made a better job of the next one and then went back for the next load of washing.

“So what brings you here?” Velvet asked me again.

“I went to see Malcolm,” I said.

“Had Natasha come back?” Velvet asked.

“Yes, only Malcolm wasn’t alone,” I sighed. “Is this my fault?”

“Of course not,” Velvet laughed. “He’s like that every time she goes off on a job.”

“But,” I started and then stopped.

“You tried to help, which is good of you,” Velvet smiled. “You just didn’t know what he was like.”

“Neither did Mum,” I said.

“It’s not the sort of thing that Natasha would want her daughters to know about,” Velvet smiled.

“She couldn’t exactly hide it today,” I laughed. “The lady concerned was running out of the house, trying to get dressed and dodge all the things Natasha was hurling in her direction.”

“Did she succeed?” Velvet asked.

“I don’t think so, the last thing definitely sounded like it made contact,” I replied.

“Was there a screech?” asked Velvet.

“Yes,” I replied. “Quite a long one.”

“Couldn’t have been that bad then,” said Velvet. “It’s when you hear the thump and then there’s silence that you need to worry. She knocked one girl out cold.”

“I just don’t understand them,” I said shaking my head.

“What did you do this time?” Velvet asked.

“I found her an apprentice,” I said. “How did you know that I did something?”

“You always do,” said Velvet. “You are a fixer, give you a problem and you will always try to come up with a solution.”

“So why can’t I solve me!” I asked.

“Well, the obvious reply to that is that you are too close to the problem,” said Velvet. “The other is that, I don’t think you have worked out what the problem is.”

“It’s a bit difficult to do that when you hardly get time to catch your breath,” I snapped.

“Have you tried taking a holiday?” asked Velvet.

“Yes,” I sighed. “I thought of the ideal location, some people I had helped were going to revive a tropical holiday resort, sun, sea and sand, you get the picture.”

“But?” Velvet asked.

“Some other people wanted to use it for something else and they were trying to harass them out of the place, hence it would by like taking a cruse on the Mary Celeste,” I replied. “Added to that, Enid followed me there!”

“Well, I should think that’s sorted, thanks to you,” said Velvet. “You could always go back.”

“It wouldn’t be quite the same,” I sighed. “They’d be giving me progress reports or asking my advice on things.”

“Not exactly restful,” Velvet agreed. “But surely there is somewhere else you could go?”

“This was my third guess as to where you would be,” said Enid appearing next to the washing line. “Someone missed something there,” she said pointing to the sheet that the new girl had spent ages straightening.

“Elsa,” said Velvet, the girl came scurrying out. “This sheet needs washing again.”

“Why?” asked Elsa.

“There is dirt here,” said Velvet.

“There isn’t much,” Elsa said. “It’s still fairly damp, I could give it a quick scrub on the line, no one would see.”

“You shock me!” Velvet replied. “This laundry has a very good reputation which would be lost if anyone herd you say that, let alone did it!”

“You will be on hand washing nappies for the next month,” Velvet replied.

“Oh, but!” Elsa exclaimed.

“One more word and you will be on them for two months,” said Velvet. “Go this very instance and take this sheet with you.”

“That was rather hard, wasn’t it?” I asked.

“She’s been winding me up from the moment that she got here,” said Velvet.

“I find it hard to imagine anyone being able to wind you up,” said Enid. “Me, it’s a doddle and I’ll admit to it, but you, I’ve never seen you so angry what’s wrong?”

“Nothing you can help me with,” she snapped and walked back into the laundry.

“Well!” said Enid. “Perhaps you can sort this out,” she said to me. “At least that side of your family is fairly straightforward.”

“Not like your side of the family,” I sighed.

“We are nothing if not interesting,” Mum laughed and disappeared.

“What is it?” I asked Velvet as soon as I found her in the laundry’s office.

“It’s your father,” Velvet sighed.

“What has he done?” I asked.

“It isn’t what he’s done,” she sighed again.

“That seems to be the way with my family, then again, he is a bit different to most of them,” I said.

“If you mean he has a great talent as opposed to a great ego,” said Velvet.

“Something like that,” I smiled. “So what is the problem.”

“I was thinking how quiet the house is, now the kids have grown up,” Velvet said.

“And?” I asked.

“I said it would be nice to have some more little ones running about the place,” Velvet sighed.

“And?” I asked.

“He reminded me of all the problems I had, working in the laundry whilst pregnant,” she sighed. “And the difficulties of breast feeding whilst still working, the sleepless nights and a million and one other things.”

“But you find the house too quiet when you get home?” I said. “You miss the sound of children.”

“Yes,” she sighed. “And I know he’s right, but.”

“Have you thought of fostering?” I asked. “Then you can skip the sleepless nights, the potty training and go straight to the time when you can talk to and reason with them.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” said Velvet.

“You would be great,” I said. “I would have loved to have you as a foster mum.”

“I’ll talk to your father tonight,” she said.

“Why don’t you talk to him now,” said my father.

“I think that’s my queue to leave,” I said, giving my wand a quick wave and taking myself back to my rooms.

“You’ve done it again,” said Enid, settling herself down on my sofa.

“All I did was suggest a solution,” I replied.

“And I think it will be the perfect solution,” Mum agreed. “An instant family without all the morning sickness. I couldn’t have done better myself.”

“I just thought how good she would be for so many children,” I said.

“I sometimes think that about you,” said Mum.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen, not for a while at any rate,” I replied.

“Aren’t there any likely men in your life?” she asked.

“I am far too busy,” I said.

“You can say that again,” Mum said.

“And I don’t need you trying to play cupid for me,” I said.

“Someone needs to,” she said.

“When I want your help I’ll ask for it,” I replied. “Meanwhile, I have some tidying to finish.”

“Well, you know what you want tidied,” Mum replied. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“Thanks Mum,” I sighed. I had said it to get her to leave, but somehow, I wish it hadn’t been quite so effective.

By Janice Nye © 2020