The Fairy Godmother Part 49

“I suppose you expect me to be grateful,” Enid scowled as we walked back to the Fairy Godmothers office.

“You have never have been grateful for anything, I don’t expect you to start now,” I replied, holding the door open for her.

“This was all of your doing,” she snapped.

“How do you work that one out?” I asked.

“You made me do it,” she said. “If you’d just accepted the job non of this would have been necessary.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, I do not want to be Head of the Fairy Godmothers, it is all admin and I don’t want to do it,” I shouted, the office staff looked up from their work and then made themselves scarce.

“You would be ideal for the job,” she replied. “Things have run so smoothly since you have been standing in for me.”

“I told you that was a temporary thing and I have had Violet to help me,” I replied.

“Her,” Enid snapped.

“She is good at organising,” I replied. “And what is more she likes doing it, I don’t see what you have against her, Ethel said that you liked the way she sorted out the laundry problems and getting a discount from our suppliers.”

“Yes, well she was bound to be able to tackle something like that, her Mother used to work there,” Enid replied.

“What did she do?” I asked, slightly sidetracked.

“She was one of the menials, I don’t know what she did,” Enid replied dismissively. “It isn’t important.”

“You remember her, so she is important,” I replied.

“She was a flirt and she didn’t know her place,” Enid snapped.

“And the result was Violet?” I asked.

“Yes and then she insisted on bringing the child up herself,” Enid replied.

“What did the Father think of that?” I asked.

“He left me for her,” Enid replied.

“And you’re taking it out on Violet?” I asked.

“He should have been helping me look after you,” Enid snapped. “If he’d been there I could’ve managed, I wouldn’t have given you to the nursery.”

“I thought you were carrying me for your sister?” I said, my mind spinning.

“So I lied,” she said.

“You couldn’t even admit to being my Mother!” I shouted. “Well this petty revenge has gone far enough, the best one for the job is Violet. You shut me out of your life when you dropped me off at the nursery, so don’t think you have any right to tell me how to live my life.”

“I was only doing it with your best interests at heart,” Enid replied. “If it wasn’t for her Mother Violet wouldn’t exist and I would have brought you up.”

“Excuses,” I replied. “If it hadn’t been Violet’s mother, it would have been some other reason. I know you too well, you were just looking for a reason. Anyway, it ends here. If you interfere with the running of this department again then the file of all of this will go forward and you will be prosecuted and you know where that will end.”

“You wouldn’t do that to me, I’m your Mother!” Enid screamed.

“Only when it suites you,” I snapped. “You know the terms, either you agree to them or you know what will happen.”

“If that’s what you want,” she said looking deflated.

“That is what I want,” I replied.

“There are other jobs available, other departments that need heads,” said Enid. “I could put in a good word for you.”

“I don’t want to be head of anything,” I told her. “Don’t you understand, being head of anything is all admin and I don’t want anything to do with admin, it does my head in.”

“You could delegate the admin side of things, I always have done,” said Enid.

“I take any job I do seriously, I don’t delegate the boring bits to someone else,” I said.

“Are you saying you’re better than me because of that,” she snapped.

“No, you are,” I replied. “Now, much as I’d like to debate this, I have work to do.”

“Are you telling me to leave?” Enid asked.

“No, I am,” said Violet. “We will have to work late to catch up with what we should have been doing today and I will have to find my office staff who seem to have gone missing thanks to you being here. Be gone by the time I get back or I will call security.”

“Are you going to just stand there and let her talk to me like that!” stuttered Enid.

“No,” I said, taking my phone out. “I’m going to call security.”

“Of all the ingrates,” shouted Enid slamming the door after her.

“Thanks Sis,” said Violet.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” I said. “Us being sisters, or half sisters.”

“He did want to bring you up, Dad that is,” said Violet. “And Mum was happy with it.”

“But Enid wasn’t,” I guessed.

“No,” said Violet.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” I sighed.

“Are you OK?” Violet asked.

“We have work to do,” I said. “I will think about how I feel later.”

True to her word, Enid didn’t cause any more trouble for the rest of the month and soon it was time to hand over the ceremonial tiara and wand. It was not a very big ceremony, but had some significance for the office. Five minutes before Violet was due to start work I got a call from Enid.

“Lost my voice,” she said when I answered the call.

“I can hear you taking,” I said.

“Talking, I’m croaking,” she snapped.

“You are supposed to be here to hand over the tiara and wand,” I reminded her. “You were the last Head of the Fairy Godmothers.”

“You’ve been doing the job for the last few months,” said Enid. “Are you sure you don’t want to carry on doing it.”

“You know what I’ve said,” I snapped.

“Is that Enid?” Violet asked.

“Yes, she says she’s got a sore throat,” I replied. “She’s just trying to get out of handing over the tiara and wand.”

“I heard that,” Enid shouted so loud I nearly dropped my phone.

“Doesn’t sound that bad to me,” I replied.

“I have a migraine as well,” Enid added.

“Don’t worry,” said Violet. “I’d rather the Fairy Godmother hand them over to me anyway,” she told Enid. “Hang up,” she said to me.

There was a whirl and suddenly there stood a slightly dishevelled Enid, looking in the wrong direction. She turned round to face Violet.

“Here is the tiara,” said Enid, pulling it out of her hair. It took a couple of minutes to disentangle it and she thrust it in Violet’s direction. Violet placed it carefully on her head and it looked as if it had been made for her. Enid grunted and fished the wand from a pocket, it was rather battered and somewhat dull in appearance, most wands have an inner glow, this lacked any sort of light, yet as soon as Violet took hold of it a glow appeared from the centre spreading out to the edges until it shone brightly.

“Looks like even the wand thinks you are the right one for the job,” Enid muttered.

“Thank-you,” said Violet.

“Do you promise to obey all the rules of the department?” asked Enid.

“All of them, said Violet. It looked as if Enid was going to say something about that, but changed her mind when she caught a look in Violet’s eye.

“Then I shall wish you good luck as Head of the Fairy Godmothers,” said Enid, bowing low and walking out with as much pride as she could muster.

“Thank God that’s over,” said Violet, sitting down at her desk. “Now we can get on with the work of the day. Have you thought about what you want to do next?” she added turning to me.

“I was thinking of taking a holiday,” I replied.

“Any thoughts on where you want to go?” Violet asked.

“There were some people I met, they had a hotel on the coast,” I replied. “They said anytime I was passing they’d find a room for me, I can stay for as long as I like.”

“Sounds idyllic,” said Violet.

“If you need me, not that I think you will,” I said holding up my phone.

“Same goes for me, Sis,” she said.

“I’ll let you know what I’ve decided, when I decide it,” I added, then waved my wand and there I was standing in front of the hotel, my bag packed by my side.

By Janice Nye © 2020