The Fairy Godmother Part 66

“So, you want to talk to me,” Enid said smugly.

“I’ve spoken to Adam’s parents,” I said.

“I thought Velvet would organise something,” she muttered.

“It was nice to meet them,” I said. “Now I’d like to meet your parents.”

“I don’t know where they are, haven’t been in touch with them for years,” Enid replied.

“You rang your Mum when Lily died,” I reminded her. “Now you arrange a meeting or I will go to the Fairy Council and ask them to intervene.”

“That’s no way to talk to your Mother,” Enid snapped.

“You are preventing me meeting my Grandparents,” I said.

“I don’t know why you want to meet them, they’re old and,” she looked round for inspiration.

“Old and average?” I suggested. “Are you ashamed of them?”

“No, it’s just,” she paused again.

“I want to see them,” I repeated. “Now, are you going to arrange this or?”

“OK, I’ll do it, but it might take some time,” she replied.

“OK, I want to see them in a weeks time,” I said.

“I think I will need a bit more than a week,” said Enid. “Maybe a month, or a year, they can’t just get here at the drop of a hat.”

“A week,” I repeated. “You are a fairy godmother, if you chose to you could drop a hat and get them here before that hat got to the ground.”

“Yes, I am that good,” Enid smiled.

“So, you can get your parents here in a week,” I said. “And if you keep on trying to procrastinate, I shall change that to tomorrow.”

“OK, a weeks time,” said Enid. “But,”

“No buts,” I interrupted.

“I don’t know what they’d think of you, my own daughter, talking to me, their daughter, like that,” she stuttered with rage.

“We’ll find that one out in a weeks time wont we,” I smiled and walked out of the Fairy Godmother’s office.

“You do still work as a Fairy Godmother,” said Enid as I got to the door.

“Which is more than you do,” I replied.

“I’m sure Violet has some work for you,” Enid replied, looking in Violet’s direction.

“That I have,” said Violet. “I have sent the details to her mobile phone and she is on her way now, aren’t you.”

“Yes,” I smiled and waved my wand.

“As for you,” said Violet to Enid. “Is there any reason for your presence?”

“I think I may have left one or two things here,” said Enid.

“Yes, there’s a box with them in over there,” said Violet pointing at it. “And, could you shut the door on your way out, there’s a cold breeze coming in from somewhere.”

Enid picked up the box and slammed the door on her way out.

The wand took me to a book shop, I don’t know where, but the shop assistant was standing in the middle of it and very few of the books were on the shelves, the place looked as if a hurricane had hit it and hurled the books all around. The assistant kept picking up books, then putting them on shelves, but she didn’t seem to be making a great deal of headway.

“What happened?” I asked, looking round.

“These people came in, something to do with a magazine, they said they were going to take a few photographs in here,” she looked around the room, holding a few books in her hand.

“Why didn’t you tell them to leave?” I asked. “It isn’t as if they own the shop, they don’t do they?”

“No they don’t own the shop and I tried telling them to leave, but she wouldn’t listen, she just pushed me out of the door and locked it,” she shop assistant sighed.

“And now they’ve gone and left the place in a mess,” I said.

“The owner’s going to be in to shut up the shop soon, I’m going to loose my job, I just know I am,” she sat down sobbing.

“This is not your fault,” I stated. “First, you were out numbered, there should be more than just you here to man the shop. What if they had been robbers?”

“If she thinks that I can’t do the job, then I’m going to get the sack,” the girl replied, her sobs increasing.

“Then we need to ask the question, do you want your employer to remonstrate with this arrogant photographer and the magazine woman or do you want the shop tidied up and forget the whole thing ever happened?” I asked.

“I want to make the shop tidy,” she sighed. “But, I’m not sure about forgetting about the whole thing.”

“Yes, they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it, such arrogance, taking over a shop and trashing it,” I said, waving my wand and rising all the books in the air. “You’d better move away from the bookshelves,” I told her.

“OK, but why?” she asked, stepping towards the shop door.

“That’ll do,” I smiled, then I told the books to go home.

“Oh My!” she exclaimed as the books started flapping and heading back to where they had been. There was a great whoosh of air, which raised the dust, I pointed for it to go out of the nearest window and then, when the last book had found it’s place, there was calm once more.

“It would have taken forever to do that,” she sighed. “I can never thank-you enough.”

“That’s OK, just pleased to be able to help,” I replied. “Though I do think we should do something to make them think twice before they do this to someone else.”

“I would like to do something, but the question is what,” said the shop assistant.

“What sort of magazine are they?” I asked, sitting down and thinking.

“I suppose it’s a sort of society magazine, they tell you what and who are in, what to wear, cook and eat, basically, how to live,” said the girl.

“Not the sort of people who would come in here buying books?” I asked.

“Some of the models didn’t seem to know which way up to hold the books, I’m not sure if they even knew how to read,” she replied. “I wouldn’t imagine their readers would know what the inside of a book shop looks like, which is why I don’t know why they wanted to take photo’s in here.”

“It does seem odd,” I agreed. “How about I go to the head office and see if I can find out what this is all about,” I added.

“How would you get in?” she asked. “They have very heavy security in there.”

“I am your Fairy Godmother,” I replied. “Where I want to go, I go, nothing and no one stops me from doing what I want to do.”

“Wow!” she said.

“What’s your name?” I asked. “I don’t feel properly introduced till I know someone’s name.”

“I’m Myrtle,” she muttered. “I know it is a stupid name, but I seem to be stuck with it. By the way, what’s your name?”

“I know how you feel about the name,” I said. “My name is Myrtle and I feel like I have to apologise about it each time I introduce myself.”

“Your called Myrtle too!” the girl stuttered.

“My Mother chose the name for me, then dumped me at the orphanage,” the Fairy Godmother admitted.

“That’s what mine did too,” said the girl. “And it sucks. Worse than that, she now wants me to be friends with her. Like that’s ever going to happen.”

“Mine’s like that as well,” the Fairy Godmother admitted. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know,” the girl admitted. “Half of me wants to tell her to take a hike, she hasn’t wanted to know me for years, why should I be interested now.”

“But the other half says, for good or bad, she is your Mother and only she has answers to the questions you want to ask.”

“How did you know?” the girl asked.

“It’s how I feel,” I sighed. “Thing is, she doesn’t make it easy to like her.”

“So, what do we do?” the girl asked.

“First we tackle this magazine, it’s about time they knew they aren’t god almighty and we aren’t here just to buy their magazines and do what we are told,” I said.

“Sounds good, but how do we do that?” the girl asked.

“I shall go there and find out what they are doing,” I said.

“And?” she asked.

“Then we will draw up a battle plan,” I said.

“Do you think we’ll get to meet the photographer?” she asked.

“Why, do you want to see him?” I asked.

“He did say sorry for the mess,” she sighed. “And every time I think of him, my brain goes to mush and I start thinking of weddings.”

“You didn’t hit your head on anything did you?” I asked.

“No,” she sighed. “But I would love to hit my lips against his lips.”

“So, you want to see him again?” I asked.

“Oh yes please,” she said.

“OK, I’ll have to factor that into the plan,” I replied.

“Can you do that?” she asked.

“I am a Fairy Godmother, I can do what I want to,” I replied. “I’ll be back,” I added waving my wand and departing before the owner arrived to close up the shop.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 65

“Sulking,” I muttered to myself, walking deep into the park. I knew there was only so far that she would follow. Too many examples of his art and too much nature for her comfort.

“All these questions and I was still no wiser,” I thought. “So who do I ask next?”

“If I was trying to get to the bottom of some problem with a company, I’d go to the next level, someone higher up the tree. If I go higher up the tree with family, that must be Enid and Adam’s parents. The problem is finding out who they are and where they are. It took long enough finding out my parents.”

“Hello,” said a voice, bringing my back to the here and now.

“Violet!” I said with a jump.

“Dad asked me to find you, he was worried with how you would react to what your Mother had to say,” she said.

“Well, it’s nice to know someone cares,” I replied.

“There are a lot of people who care,” said Violet. “Dad’s parents are coming round this afternoon for tea, would you like to come along?”

“Are you sure I wouldn’t be in the way?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t have invited you if I’d thought that,” said Violet. “I just thought you might like to meet them and they may be able to answer some questions for you.”

“I wouldn’t want to monopolise them,” I said.

“I think they would like to meet you as well,” said Violet. “They’ve known you existed for a long time, but they weren’t allowed to meet you.”

“OK,” I said. “But kick me out if I’m taking over things or you’ve got fed up of me or whatever.”

“Come and meet the olds,” said Violet.

There were scones and cups of tea and some people who didn’t look particularly old, but they did look a bit like Adam.

“Nana, Granddad, this is Myrtle,” said Violet.

“We are your Father’s parents,” said Nana. “God knows why Enid saddled you with that name. Sorry, but I can’t imagine that you like it.”

“I’d done a pretty good job of forgetting it, till Enid reminded me,” I said.

“It’s interesting that you should call her Enid and not Mother or Mum,” said Granddad.

“I’ve been working with her for quiet a while and she managed to hide who she was,” I replied. “Now I find it hard to see her as anything other than Enid.”

“Would you like a cup of tea?” asked Velvet, handing one to me.

“Thank-you,” I said taking the cup.

“And a scone, you must have a scone, Velvet bakes the best scones I have ever eaten, better even than my own,” said Nana.

“That is high praise in itself,” smiled Granddad.

“Thank-you,” I said taking a plate with a nicely buttered scone on it.

“Do you want jam as well?” asked Violet.

“I think she’d just like to sit down,” said Velvet, ushering me to a chair with an occasional table next to it for me to put the plate and teacup down on.

“I feel sure you have a lot of questions to ask,” said Granddad. “Adam said he’d been talking to you, but there will have been things you thought about afterwards. We may be able to help you.”

“There are a few things,” I said slowly and taking a sip of tea to help calm my nerves and focus my mind.

“Fire away,” said Nana. “We’ll do our best to answer them.”

“How did you feel when Enid and Adam got married?” I asked.

“It was never really that formal,” said Nana.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“She proposed to him and he said yes,” said Granddad. “But they never actually got married. I think she was relying on fairy tradition, if the bride says they are married, then they are.”

“But it was never legalised?” I asked.

“No,” said Nana. “That is why she could ban your Father from seeing you and there was nothing he could do to question it. His name was not on the birth certificate, so he had no rights.”

“I wondered about that,” I said. “How did you feel about it?”

“I didn’t feel as if it was our place to comment,” Nana said.

“That doesn’t mean you didn’t have any opinions about it,” I said.

“No, it doesn’t,” said Nana. “We weren’t happy. OK we hadn’t met her and so couldn’t judge, but the way she was going about things, it smacked of being rushed, something just wasn’t right about the whole thing.”

“When we met her,” Granddad said slowly. “I thought, if we got to know her, it would be all right.”

“But it wasn’t,” I said and bit into the scone. “This is delicious,” I smiled at Velvet, not that it was a surprise, I couldn’t imagine her doing anything badly. Enid baked something once, for the office, the recipe called for choc chips, she put granite ones in instead, didn’t understand the difference.

“No,” said Nana. “She arrived late, to start off with.”

“That isn’t fair, she said the traffic was bad,” Granddad said.

“It was a Sunday, there’s never any traffic on a Sunday,” said Nana. “She barged past us and walked round the house as if she was inspecting the place. Told us that she knew a good interior designer who could bring the décor up to date and then criticised the tea and scones!”

“Sounds true to form,” I replied. “It is very good tea, by the way.”

“I’m so glad you like it,” said Velvet.

“I am afraid Enid is about as subtle as,” I paused trying to think of something. “A hurricane.”

“And has a very similar effect,” said Granddad.

“She made me feel as if nothing I had in the house was worth the effort of dusting,” Nana sobbed.

“I’m so sorry she made you feel like that,” I said. “And I’m sorry to remind you of it.”

“It isn’t your fault,” said Granddad.

“No,” Nana sniffed. “Please forget about it, I didn’t want it to be like this.”

“Enid hurt you,” I said. “I know how that feels.”

“Yes, she hurt you more than most,” Nana sniffed.

“How did Adam act when she came to tea?” I asked.

“Like the world revolved around her, he was so attentive, he couldn’t do enough for her,” said Nana.

“And when he saw you were upset?” I asked.

“That was the problem, he didn’t see,” said his Mother. “It was like she had him under a spell.”

“That could have been what it was,” I replied because it was the sort of thing she would do, without a thought to anyone else.

“What was he like when he found out that I was due?” I asked.

“I don’t think he realised anyone else existed,” his Mother sighed. “She had him under her control, we never saw him without her.”

“And when I was born?” I asked.

“You were his world, suddenly, he had forgotten about her, at first I thought this was good, but I was beginning to get worried, no one likes to be replaced by someone younger than them,” said Nana. “Then, she sent you to the nursery, banned him from seeing you and threw him out on the street. He was a mess when he turned up on our doorstep.”

“He’d been sleeping rough for a couple of weeks, didn’t want to be far from the nursery and you,” Granddad added.

“She told me that I was distracting him from his work and that was why she took me there,” I explained.

“Couldn’t she have looked after you?” asked Violet.

“Then I would’ve been in trouble,” I laughed.

“But,” said Violet.

“Have you ever seen her pick a baby up?” I asked.

“Come to think of it, no,” said Violet.

“She did once, that I can think of, some argument between her and a wicked fairy over a baby, she picked the baby up and put it on one side, if the wicked fairy hadn’t been quick that baby would’ve had it’s chips. She handed the baby to it’s Mother, said you have enough to cope with with your helpers and promptly left. Enid claimed it as a great victory, but it wasn’t so much her winning as the wicked fairy giving up. I met her a few years back, she wasn’t all that wicked, really quite nice compared with Enid.”

“I shouldn’t laugh at your Mother,” laughed Nana.

“I wouldn’t worry,” I said. “If you don’t laugh, you cry or hit your head on a brick wall, whatever, it doesn’t have any effect on her. She doesn’t see that anything she has done could possibly be wrong and I think that is the big problem. If she was in the least bit repentant, it might help understanding her, but she isn’t and I can’t see her ever changing.”

“What will you do?” asked Velvet, gathering up the dishes, the tea and scones having all been consumed.

“I shall help you with the dishes,” I replied.

“I meant about Enid,” Velvet replied. “Though I never turn away an offer of assistance with the dishes.”

“I’ll wash,” I said.

“You’ll get no arguments there,” laughed Velvet. “But Enid, she isn’t going to go away?”

“I know,” I sighed. “This is one problem that I don’t as yet have a solution to, but I haven’t spoken to everyone yet.”

“Who else do you need to talk to?” asked Nana.

“Enid’s parents,” I replied.

“Do you know who they are?” Granddad asked.

“No, but I know she spoke to her Mother when Lily died,” I replied. “So I think I have a way in, if the direct approach doesn’t produce any results.”

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 64

“Well?” asked Enid.

“Well what?” I replied.

“You’ve seen your Father,” she said. “And?”

“I’m thinking,” I said.

“Thinking! What’s to think about? He dumped me when I needed him most,” she snapped.

“That’s not the way he saw it,” I said.

“Yes, well, he’s bound to paint things differently,” Enid said. “I know what happened.”

“So, tell me, from your point of view, what happened,” I said.

“This is ancient history,” she said. “Why go over old ground.”

“Because we haven’t gone over it before,” I said. “And because, if you don’t tell me the story, from your view point, I’m going to assume his is the right one.”

“OK, so where do you want me to start?” Enid asked.

“Start at the beginning,” I said. “Start with when you met.”

“He’ll probably have told you it was when he was trying to get a statue through a door which was too small for it to get through,” she sighed.

“This is your side of the story, you start it where you choose to, don’t go second guessing what Adam had to say,” I replied, getting myself comfortable, we were sitting under one of Adam’s sculptures in the park.

“I first saw him in this park, it looked a lot different then, the sculptures weren’t there for a start off. It was spring and there were tons of daffodils everywhere. He was with a group of students from the art college, I think they had been told to make sketches or something, gather inspiration from the park. As a crowd, they were nothing special, but he stood out, I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. I had things to do that day, but I forgot what they were and just followed him, watching everything he did, listening to everything he said. He was obviously a student, but he was helping the others with whatever they were doing, yet still managing to do something himself, I hovered behind him, his work had me spell bound, the day passed quickly into night and still I couldn’t leave,” she sighed.

“You would have been an apprentice?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “And the Head of the Fairy Godmothers was not best pleased with me. I spent the next two years at the North Pole organising Santa’s lists of naughty and nice children. I have never been so cold in all my life.”

“I wouldn’t have thought you’d like being there,” I said.

“The only thing that kept me going was the thought of him and now I find out that he hadn’t even noticed me!” Enid snapped.

“You’ve always said, that when you are following someone you should never let them know that you are there,” I reminded her.

“That’s true,” she said. “I suppose that was what I was doing.”

“What happened when you got back from your stint with Santa?” I prompted her.

“I was walking through the park on my way to do something, I forget what,” she sighed. “The students were there again, most importantly, so was he, his hair was longer and his clothes tattier, but then students don’t tend to look smart. But it was him, I spent the rest of the day following him. The Head of the Fairy Godmothers was equally unamused, but I managed to talk my way out of a return visit to Santa or a job at the south pole, it involved a research team there, I can’t remember the details.

Next day, I saw him with the statue, trying to get it through a door that was obviously too small for it to go through. I was wondering how to explain this to him when he threw something down in anger, he probably thought it only just missed me, I had to deflect it or I wouldn’t be here today. Anyway, that is the point at which he first knew I existed, I’d know about him for a few years by then. What did I see in him? I don’t know, but he dominated my every waking thought and chased me through my dreams.”

“Who proposed to who?” I asked.

“Proposed?” she asked.

“Who brought up the subject of marriage?” I reworded the question.

“It was a leap year, so I asked him,” she said.

“And he said yes?” I asked.

“Eventually,” she said.

“How many times did you ask?” I said.

“The first time I asked, it had just struck midnight,” she sighed. “He finally agreed about ten minutes before the end of the day.”

“How many times did you ask?” I repeated my question.

“I don’t know, about ten or twenty times an hour,” she said.

“You couldn’t take no for an answer?” I asked.

“Of course not, I had to have him, I didn’t care about all the gossip liking him with Velvet, he was mine, I couldn’t live without him, I wouldn’t,” Enid said.

“Did you tell him that?” I asked.

“Yes,” Enid replied smiling. “That was when he told me that he would marry me and that we would always be together.”

“Is that what he said?” I asked.

“Something like that,” she smiled. “It doesn’t matter about the exact words, he was mine and that was all that mattered.”

“And the honeymoon?” I asked.

“Was a honeymoon,” said Enid. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not talk about I with you.”

“But it was a good time?” I asked. “You were both happy at the end of it.”

“I thought so,” she said. “He was annoyed when Mother turned up, I don’t know why?”

“Maybe he thought the honeymoon was for you two to get to know each other?” I suggested.

“He needed to meet the family as well,” Enid said.

“Perhaps he thought that could wait till after the honeymoon,” I suggested.

“I don’t know why,” said Enid.

“After the honeymoon, were you both happy?” I asked.

“He didn’t like what I said about his work,” Enid admitted. “I was only trying to help, but he didn’t want my help, he kept saying he knew what he was doing which was more than I did. We argued and he walked out on me, but he came back when I suggested that we try for a baby. He seemed happy to do that and when you were due, he was more than happy. I thought life was perfect.”

“But?” I asked.

“No one told me that birth was so painful!” she admitted. “I used to worry about you marrying some man and getting pregnant,” she shuddered. “But I realise now that you are too sensible to do something like that.”

“Thanks,” I muttered to myself

“Did you say something?” she asked.

“No,” I replied. Not that it would bother her if she had heard me. The thought that she didn’t think I would ever have a child, was somehow disturbing, not that I’d ever thought about it, but I might.

“After giving birth to you, I didn’t want him anywhere near me,” said Enid. “I didn’t want you either, but practicality meant that we had to go home and someone had to look after you, so I let him do that, he did seem to be totally besotted with you.”

“And how did that work?” I asked.

“At first I left him to look after you, I had my work as a Fairy Godmother and that kept me busy,” Enid replied. “But, he wasn’t doing his usual art work, he was just drawing pictures of you, pretty enough, but nothing to bring in any money.”

“So?” I prompted her.

“I started telling him what to do, finding people who wanted to commission art works, that sort of thing. He said he already had an agent and he didn’t need me to try and do her work for him, especially as I didn’t know what I was doing. I realised it wasn’t working, so I decided you had to go,” Enid said.

“Why me?” I asked stunned.

“Looking after you was taking his mind off his art work,” said Enid. “And I couldn’t look after you, so I took you to the nursery with instructions that there was to be no contact with your Father. After all, the idea was to remove the distraction from him, that wouldn’t work if he still had contact with you.”

“And he agreed to this!” I asked.

“It wasn’t his decision to make,” she said. “You were my baby, I made the decision.”

“I was his baby as well!” I said, trying to keep my voice under control.

“That’s what he said when he left,” Enid replied, sounding rather puzzled.

“Did you expect him to leave, after what you’d done?” I asked.

“All I did was remove a distraction so that he could concentrate on his work,” said Enid.

“And you thought that would make him happy?” I asked.

“I don’t know why it didn’t,” said Enid. “But he went off with Velvet and she seemed to make him happy.”

“And what about me, in all of this?” I asked.

“The nursery did a perfectly good job of bringing you up,” said Enid. “I don’t see that there’s a problem.”

“Except I never knew who my parents were,” I replied.

“You do now,” Enid smiled. “Though I have no idea why you wanted to know about that waste of talent of a Father.”

“He is a very talented artist,” I shouted.

“He would have done so much better if he’d listened to me,” said Enid. “Velvet, she has no ambition, she just let him do what he wanted, that’s why she is still working in the laundry.”

“You are impossible,” I shouted.

“I don’t see the problem,” she said.

“You are the problem and I don’t want to be around you at the moment,” I said, turning my back to her.

“OK, you have a sulk,” she said. “I’ll be around when you want to talk.”

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 63

“I am Adam,” he said. “Didn’t Enid tell you anything about me?”

“It’s taken her long enough for her to admit to being my Mother,” I said.

“I am an Artist,” he said.

“Adam,” I said, the name rolling round my head. “You aren’t the Adam who did the sculptures in the park?” I asked.

“That’s me,” he smiled. “What do you think of them or shouldn’t I ask.”

“They are,” I said and stopped because I couldn’t think of the words. “They make me stop and think.”

“That’s what they are meant to do,” he said.

“Time seems to pass rather quickly when I’m looking at them, but, they do help me put things into perspective and see through to a solution,” I said. “Sorry, I’m not good at talking about art, they seemed to miss out on that when I was at school.”

“I think you described it very well,” Adam replied. “Not so much what it looks like, but the effect it has on you. I like it. Perhaps we should talk more about art, but not now.”

“Later, perhaps,” I agreed. “At the moment I want some answers, but the questions seem to have gone out of my mind. You aren’t quite what I thought you would be, not that I had any ideas what you would be like. I’m sorry, I’m babbling. I think I didn’t really expect to see you. You’ve been a mystery for so long, someone that was never spoken about, it was like you never existed.”

“It’s OK,” he said. “I think I can probably work out what you want to know. Perhaps we should talk somewhere else,” he added. “It’s rather busy and noisy in here.”

“Yes,” I agreed and we went to the park.

“This is the first of the sculptures,” he said pointing to one which had a large hole in the middle.

“Sorry, I find this one very bleak,” I said.

“Why?” he asked.

“I feel as if there is something missing, as if it has been ripped out and this is all that’s left,” I replied. “Sorry, like I said, I don’t know anything about art, so I’m probably saying all the wrong things.”

“I created that shortly after I left Enid and she forbade me to have any further input in your life,” Adam replied. “I hadn’t realised that I’d put so much of how I felt, at the time, into my work, but you are right, there is a sense of something being ripped out of it.”

“What did you think had been ripped out of your life?” I asked cautiously, not entirely sure how I would feel about the answer to that.

“You,” he said. “Enid was so controlling, she was always telling me what to do, where to go, almost what to think. She didn’t want any of my work to have a detrimental effect on her career. It’s hard to explain, I spend ages working on a new project, she’d walk in and tear it to shreds, it would make her look bad, in the eyes of the Fairy Council, she’d never be taken seriously if I produced work like that, not that she knew anything about art.”

“There’s only so much of that you can take,” I agreed.

“She’s been like that with you?” he asked.

“She was Head of the Fairy Godmothers,” I replied.

“I heard,” he said.

“I am a Fairy Godmother,” I continued.

“Can’t be easy working under her,” Adam said.

“Everything I do is wrong,” I sighed. “Doesn’t matter what the results are, I’ve always gone about it the wrong way.”

“I only point out these things for your own good,” said Enid. “If you want to do the job to the best of your ability, you have to do things right. That statue’s a bit on the melodramatic side,” she added. “You could have done so much better, perhaps a small fountain or something.”

“It is perfect the way it is,” I snapped.

“I’m sure that’s how he’d want you to think,” said Enid. “And I suppose he’s told you some great sob story about it and you are both saying how wicked and evil I am.”

“Never allowing us any time together to talk without you interrupting us,” I added to her rant. “Then again, that bit is true, isn’t it.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” said Enid, trying to sound hurt.

“You’ve had plenty of time to talk to me, but you chose not to, now I want to talk to my Father, so I’d appreciate it if you’d just butt out,” I snapped.

“Well, if you are going to be like that,” Enid replied, giving her wand a quick wave and she was gone.

“Never could get used to that,” said Adam. “We would be in the middle of talking about something and she’d wave that wand and I’d be talking to myself, like some sort of idiot.”

“The thing I find hard to get used to is the way she just appears,” I sighed. “If I ever get married, I can picture her appearing, in the honeymoon suite, just as we are turning in for the night, with a little reminder to do something or other when I get back to work and totally destroying any romantic atmosphere.”

“That is just the sort of thing she would do,” Adam replied. “Her Mother did that after our wedding, then spent the next hour or two going through something with Enid. I don’t know what was worse, her Mother turning up or Enid not seeming to think there was anything wrong with it.”

“She is very good at steeling the limelight,” I said.

“How do you mean?” asked Adam.

“We were just starting to talk about us, how you felt when you left her, and she comes along and makes everything about her again,” I said.

“Like it or not, she’s a big part of you,” said Adam.

“And so are you,” I said. “And that is what I want to talk about now. If I want to talk about Enid I’ll talk to her, she wont answer my questions, but I’ll try. Now I want to know about you.”

“So what do you want to know?” he asked.

“How did you meet?” I said. “That would be a good starting point.”

“I was putting up an exhibition,” he smiled, thinking back to the day. “I was trying to get a statue in through a door which I hadn’t realised was too small for the task at hand. I threw something down in frustration because it was just a fraction of an inch too big and I heard an angry voice saying “Have a care, that nearly hit me!” and there she was, the most perfect creature I have ever seen hovering a couple of feet in front of me.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“I apologised profusely and explained the problem,” he said. “She said it was merely a question of scale, she shrunk the statue down by ten percent and then told it to walk to where it was being exhibited and then go back up to full size. I was totally blown away and invited her out to lunch. Things sort of moved on from there and before I knew what was happening we were having the fairy tale wedding and I was her husband.”

“And then everything went wrong,” I said.

“I tried,” he sighed. “But it was never good enough. I could list all the things that went wrong, but I don’t think it would be very constructive, I’m sure Enid would have a different take on them anyway.”

“She always does,” I said. “Violet’s Mother said you moved out and then came back.”

“Velvet, Violet’s Mother, Enid was making all sorts of threats, so I split up with Velvet and went back to Enid. It was good for all over ten hours and then she started on at me again, she decided that the best thing for our relationship would be if we had a baby for me to look after. It wasn’t anything I had been thinking about at the time, but she said that you were on the way and I was getting into the idea of it, as the months ticked on and the day approached.”

“Where you there when I was born?” I asked.

“Yes and no,” he said. “I took her to the hospital, when she went into labour, then she threw me out, said she didn’t want anything more to do with me and I was escorted out of the hospital by security.”

“Velvet said you left when I was six months old,” I said.

“She allowed me back, to take the two of you home and she let me take care of you, nothing else,” he sighed. “Then, after six months, she threw me out again and took you to the nursery and I was forbidden any contact with you, she even forbade you to have any arts lessons.”

“That would explain why I missed out on art at school,” I said.

“She may have forbidden you being taught it,” he smiled. “But it’s in your blood.”

“And this statue,” I said, looking at it.

“When I couldn’t see you, all I could do was work and this was the result,” he said. “The parks people were looking for a series of sculptures, they saw this and had to have it. I then had the job of creating the rest. I suppose I used them to get out of the black hole that loosing you dropped me down.”

“This is a lot to take in,” I said.

“It was a lot to say,” he replied. “But it’s good to see you.”

“I need to think,” I said.

“Will I see you again?” he asked, looking into the distance, past the statue.

“Do you want to?” I asked, hardly daring to breath whilst I waited for the answer.

“Very much,” he said.

“Good,” I said, breathing again. “I would love to see you lots.”

“And Enid?” he asked.

“Will have to get used to it,” I smiled.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 62

“You’ve been back a week,” said Enid gradually appearing next to me.

“I’ve been thinking,” I replied.

“What’s there to think about?” asked Enid.

“A lot of things,” I replied.

“Such as?” asked Enid.

“You admitted to being my Mother because, well, I suppose, you’d been backed into a corner and didn’t have any choice,” I replied slowly. I wasn’t really sure how to say what I wanted to say without it coming out wrong.

“OK, so I’m your Mother,” said Enid. “I don’t see that it’s such a big deal.”

“Would you have told me, if you didn’t have to?” I asked.

“Probably not,” Enid replied. “It didn’t seem all that relevant to me.”

“It is to me,” I said. “I always thought you didn’t like me. You were always finding fault in everything I did. Nothing I ever did was ever good enough for you.”

“I knew you were capable of better,” said Enid. “I didn’t want you to ever do less than your best with any job.”

“You could have tried praising me when I did well,” I replied.

“How would you learn if I didn’t tell you where you could have done better?” asked Enid.

“How could I learn if you don’t tell me when I’m doing something right?” I asked in reply.

“I don’t see what this has to do with me being your Mother?” said Enid, changing the subject again, though I have to admit I was going off at a tangent a bit.

“I thought you didn’t like me because I’d done something to upset you,” I said. “Now I’ve found out that the one thing I did was to be born!”

“I don’t follow your logic,” Enid admitted.

“If I hadn’t been born, perhaps you and Dad wouldn’t have split up,” I said.

“Very likely,” said Enid.

“No, Mum,” I said. “This is the bit where you say it wasn’t my fault, he’d have left anyway or something like that.”

“But that isn’t the case,” said Enid. “I became pregnant and he wasn’t interested in hanging round. He left me for that woman in the laundry. He just didn’t want to be around children.”

“Yet, from all accounts, he didn’t leave her when she became pregnant,” I said.

“She wasn’t expecting you was she,” Enid snapped.

“Or was it that her baby wasn’t being carried by you,” I replied and waved my wand to take me somewhere else that she wasn’t.

It took me a couple of minutes to realise that I was in the fairy laundry, I think it was all the steam that did it. It felt like my eyes were steaming up and that I should have windscreen wipers on the insides of them or something.

“Hello,” said Violet’s Mother. “If you don’t mind my asking, what are you doing here, everything is running smoothly and if I remember rightly, Violet is Head of the Fairy Godmothers now?”

“Sorry, I was having an argument with Enid, my Mother, and it just got a bit much, I just wanted to be somewhere that she wouldn’t follow me,” I said.

“You chose a good place,” she smiled. “This would be the last place you’d find her.”

“I’d better leave you in peace,” I said. “You have work to do and I’d only be in the way.”

“Come to my office,” she smiled. “You look upset. Violet told me that you’d found out about Enid being your Mother.”

“She did a great job of keeping that secret,” I said.

“So I wouldn’t be wrong in guessing that this row has something to do with that?” she asked.

“Seems, it was all my fault, her and Dad splitting up,” I said.

“No,” said Violet’s Mother. “They split up long before you came along.”

“She said he left when he found out that I was on the way,” I explained.

“He wouldn’t have done that,” Violet’s Mother explained. “Your Father wanted children, she didn’t, so he left her. She went frantic, threatened all sorts of things if he didn’t go back to her, so he went back, in the hope that he could get her to realise that they wanted two different lives and that it was best if they parted as friends rather than they stay together to stop her doing anything silly.

“What did she do?” I asked.

“She said stay for a month and we can talk about it at the end,” Violet’s Mum said.

“And then she told them she was pregnant?” I asked.

“Yes,” sighed Violet’s Mother. “She told him that she couldn’t cope with a baby all on her own, that he had to stay with her. So he stayed.”

“When did he leave?” I asked.

“You were six months old,” said Violet’s Mother.

“I thought he left before I was born,” I said.

“He tried to stay with her, but she was too controlling. He even offered to take you with him, but she wouldn’t have that. She said, perhaps, if you’d been a boy, it might have worked, but a girl should be brought up by her Mother. Next thing he knew, you’d been dropped off at the nursery and he’d been denied any access to you,” Violet’s Mother explained.

“Would it be possible for me to talk to him?” I asked.

“The rules that prevent him from having any access to you have passed,” Violet’s Mother explained. “You can talk to whoever you want to and I know for a fact that he would like to talk to you.”

“So why hasn’t he?” I asked.

“I told him what I’d do to him if he came anywhere near you,” Enid hissed.

“I didn’t think you’d find me here,” I said, glaring at her.

“That’s what I was counting on,” said Enid. “He is and always has been, a total waste of space. I don’t know why you would want to waste your time on him.”

“You didn’t think he was a waste of space, not then, or you wouldn’t have tried to use me to keep him,” I said.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” said Enid.

“And which mistake would that be, falling for him or conceiving me?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Enid.

“If that’s what you think of me why have you gone to so much effort to make sure I don’t ever get to talk to him?” I asked.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she replied.

“So explain,” I said.

“You would have to be a Mother to understand,” Enid replied.

“Well then I’d better talk to him,” I said.

“I forbid it,” said Enid.

“Only I’m too old for you to do that,” I said.

“He’s in the laundry,” said Violet’s Mother. “I thought I’d ring him and tell him what was going on.”

“If you talk to him, then I shan’t ever talk to you again,” said Enid.

“Is that a promise?” I asked.

“You are impossible,” she snapped and with a wave of her wand she was gone.

“Are you sure that was wise?” asked Violet’s Mother.

“Wise,” I said. “She has never been able to stay away for more than a few hours, except when she dumped me at the nursery. We’ll see how long it lasts this time.”

“If you are sure,” said Violet’s Mother.

“Lead on,” I said. “It would be nice to meet my Father and hear his side of the story.”

“It may not be what you hoped it would be,” Violet’s Mother warned me.

“I have no expectations,” I smiled.

“This is your Father,” said Violet’s Mother as a man appeared at the office door.

“And you would be Myrtle?” he asked. “Not that there could be any doubt, you are the spitting image of your Mother at that age.”

“There’s no need to insult me,” I replied.

“She was beautiful then, just as you are now,” he said. “And I’m not just saying that.”

“You’re the only one who thinks so,” I replied. “But that’s beside the point.”

“The point being that you have a lot of questions to ask me,” he said.

“Yes,” I replied, trying to get them sorted in my head. “The first one being, who are you?”

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 61

The cups of tea were poured out, no one commented that the teapot didn’t look big enough to fill so many cups. The biscuits were handed round and the plate left on the table for anyone to take a second. Then everyone sat around, not looking at each other, but waiting for someone to say something.

“I am Jessie’s Mother,” she said.

“Thank-you for agreeing to help with Rosie,” said Rosie’s Mother, looking through the patio door to where the two girls were playing.

“I don’t think it was wrong to help,” said Jessie’s Mother. “But I think we went about it the wrong way.”

“I am Ian’s Mother,” she said. “And I think you,” she added looking at Jessie’s Mother. “Should have been more careful when they were being born. Jessie should never have known there were two babies.”

“You all know who I am,” I said. “And I think the mistake was made in not engaging Jessie and Ian in the discussion right at the very beginning.”

“There wasn’t time,” said Rosie’s Mother. “I was in a bad way and Rosie was in danger, she had to be moved straight away.”

“It wouldn’t have taken long to talk to us about it,” said Jessie, holding Ian’s hand. “It would have saved all that subterfuge when Rosie became ill.”

“She’s better now, thanks to the transplant,” said Rosie’s Mother. “So I don’t see that that is an issue.”

“She’d have got the transplant earlier if we had been in on this from the start,” Jessie replied, sticking to her guns. “That would have reduced the risks and made recovery quicker.”

“You are right about that,” said Rosie’s Step-Father. “It would have been better without that wait.”

“It isn’t the way we do things,” Rosie’s Mother tried to explain.

“So, if I had been a fairy?” asked Jessie. “Talk me through what would happen.”

“If you had been a fairy, you would have needed your Mother’s permission to become pregnant,” said Rosie’s Mother.

“Did you need your Mother’s permission?” asked Jessie.

“I am five hundred years old, I am old enough not to need her permission,” Jessie’s Mother replied.

“What went wrong?” asked Jessie.

“Rosie’s Father left me and I couldn’t cope,” she replied. “It was necessary to find someone to carry her.”

“Couldn’t you have chosen a fairy?” Jessie asked.

“I didn’t know any at the right stage of pregnancy,” she replied.

“I was at the right stage,” Jessie said.

“Yes. Also, one of your ancestors was a fairy, so you having some fairy genes in your make up meant it was more likely to succeed,” she said. “I don’t understand the problem.”

“The problem is that you transferred a fetus into me without my permission,” said Jessie.

“Your Mother was OK with it all and you were already carrying one child,” said Rosie’s Mother. “If you had been a fairy you would have just accepted this.”

“I am not a fairy,” said Jessie.

“You are part fairy,” said Rosie’s step-father.

“I am human and it is my body, you should have asked me,” said Jessie, her grip on Ian’s hand had increased and he had a slightly pained expression on his face.

“I think that is where we went wrong,” said Rosie’s Mother. “We forgot that you were human and we should have asked you and not your Mother. If you had been in the know right from the start it would have been simple when Rosie fell ill. Non of the rest would have happened and we are truly sorry that you have been put out in any way.”

“Put out,” said Jessie, slowly. “Someone tried to kill us so that our daughter would go to the children’s home and you could adopt her and therefore Rosie could have a bone marrow transplant.”

“Things got out of hand,” said Jessie’s Mother. “Lily said this was the best way to organise things.”

“What do you have to say for yourself?” Jessie asked her Mother.

“I didn’t think you would know anything about it,” she said. “They promised to make life easier for you after the birth, that life would go smoothly for you.”

“That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” I said. “I’d better get my Mother here to explain,” I added ringing her up. “It’s gone through to voice mail,” I muttered. “She’s avoiding me.”

“Perhaps I should ring her,” said Rosie’s Mother. “Voice mail,” she said.

“Can you lot wait a moment or two whilst I get her?” I asked.

“What if she wont come?” asked Jessie.

“She will,” I said waving my wand.

“You are coming with me,” I told Enid, grabbing her by the arm.

“Why?” she asked.

“You have some explaining to do, there were promises made that I don’t think have been delivered upon,” I replied.

“Lily made those promises,” she sighed.

“And you are her nearest relative, I think, so, you had better start explaining,” I said waving my wand.

“Hello,” said Enid. “I hope you are having less problems with your off spring than I am having with mine,” she added shaking my hand off her arm.

“We have come to the conclusion that we are at error for not discussing the arrangement with Jessie, it is her body and she should make the choices concerning it. She is not a fairy, she is human and they are different,” said Rosie’s Mother. “I would like to thank you for carrying Rosie and for coming to our aid when she needed it.”

“Because of you, I carried her and I couldn’t walk away when she needed help,” said Jessie. “She will always be a part of me, so I want to stay in touch with her.”

“We can understand that,” said Rosie’s Mother.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” said Jessie’s Mother. “Lily and Enid’s Mother was the child my great great grandmother carried and that is where the fairy genes came from, the connection which brought them to you.”

“And if you’d handled the birth properly,” said Ian’s Mother.

“They’d have still needed Ella for the bone marrow,” said Ian’s Father.

“Yes, but,” stuttered Ian’s Mother. “All this, it’s all her fault,” she glared at Jessie’s Mother who looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

“The promises Lily made, that Jessie and Ian would have an easy life?” I asked Enid.

“OK, she shouldn’t have made those promises,” said Enid.

“Not if she had no intention to uphold them,” I said.

“It isn’t as if anyone came to any harm,” Enid said.

“Jessie and Ian were both nearly killed, Ella ended up in a children’s home, you caused the family to be divided for a few years,” I said. “No harm!”

“I forgot about that,” said Enid. “I am sorry for the trouble my sister caused you,” she said smiling at Jessie.

“You are Head of the Fairy Council?” Jessie asked.

“I was, but the Council are considering some of the decisions I made,” she sighed. “They may not have been the best thought out.”

“So they are thinking of chucking you out,” said Jessie.

“Just like they were thinking of chucking Lily out,” I said.

“I think she was a bit hasty,” said Enid. “They hadn’t decided. She didn’t have to do what she did.”

“Whatever,” said Jessie. “I want you to go to the Fairy Council and make sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.”

“But what if a fairy fetus needs to be re-homed?” asked Rosie’s Mum.

“Then they talk to the one who they want to carry the fetus, not her Mother,” said Jessie.

“I will put that to the council,” said Enid.

“And I will make sure that you do,” I told Enid.

“This is not something open to discussion,” said Jessie. “I don’t want another woman treated the way I have been.”

“I fully understand,” I told Jessie.

“That’s fine then,” said Jessie. “I want to know exactly what they say.”

“We could bring them here to tell you in person,” I said.

“OK,” said Jessie.

“Where does that leave us?” asked Jessie’s Mother cautiously.

“I think I understand why you did it,” said Jessie slowly.

“But I shouldn’t have, not without talking to you,” she said.

“No, you shouldn’t, and this is going to take a long time to heal,” said Jessie. “But you are my Mother and I do want you and Dad in my life, in my children’s lives. I just don’t want you taking over.”

“Thank-you,” said Jessie’s Mother.

“I still think,” Ian’s Mother started to say.

“That you don’t know when to shut up,” said Ian’s Father.

“What!” she said, looking stunned.

“I am sorry there has been bad blood between us,” Ian’s Father said to Ian and Jessie.

“I understand, you felt the need to defend Mum,” said Ian.

“Yes, even if I didn’t agree with her,” Ian’s Father replied.

“Is this sorted?” asked Enid yawning.

“I think so,” said Jessie.

“Mothers!” I muttered.

“Tell me about them,” Jessie sighed.

“Mummy,” said Ella. “When is lunch time? Rosie and I are very hungry.”

“If that’s the case, lunch time is now,” said Jessie. “If you wouldn’t all mind helping to put the food on the table.

“That’s easy,” said Enid waving her wand and a table was set in the garden with all the food arranged on it, plus a bit extra. It was in a fairy tent garlanded with flowers surrounded by the most comfortable chairs and side tables, with fairies ready to serve the food.

“Well, if our neighbours start telling everyone about this, no one will ever believe another word they say,” Jessie smiled.

“And the easy life that was promised?” I asked Enid.

“They will have it and more,” said Enid. “Lily shouldn’t have promised it, but I will make sure it happens from now.”

“So they get their happy ever after?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Enid. “They deserve it,” she added watching as everyone moved out into the garden. “And us?” she asked quietly.

“You know who I want to know,” I said. “But we will talk about it tomorrow.”

by Janice Nye © 2020