It was lunch time before things quietened down in the canteen. The news had gone round about Maud sacking the canteen lady and soon she had re-hired a lot of the staff who had left soon after she had arrived.
“I should have realised what the problem was,” said Maud whilst we ate. She thought scrambled eggs on toast was OK for Enid, but toast and tea wasn’t enough for me. So I had mushrooms on toast.
“Will her Aunt give you any problems?” Enid asked. I got the impression that she knew the Aunt.
“I took the girl on as a favour to her, but she wont cut up rough because it didn’t work,” Maud insisted.
“If you have any problems let me know,” said Enid. “I may not exactly be flavour of the month at the moment, but I do know where there are a few skeletons buried, so I can call in a few favours.”
“Thank-you,” said Maud. “There shouldn’t be any problems, but it is nice to know that I have support if I need it.”
“What will happen to her,” I asked.
“The obnoxious canteen lady?” asked Enid.
“Yes,” I said. “What will she do next?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Enid replied, wiping up the last of the scrambled egg with the last piece of toast and finishing the last of her cup of tea.
“Despite everything her aunt says, she will try and find her another job, just to get her out of her Mother’s hair,” Maud replied.
“I can’t think of anything she’d be good at,” I said, my mind going through all the possibilities I could come up with.
“Why would you want to find something for her, the ungrateful little madam?” asked Enid.
“Because there has to be something that she’s good at,” I replied.
“Well, she isn’t good with people,” Maud sighed.
“That’s who she reminded me of,” I said leaping up.
“Who?” asked Maud.
“Natasha!” I replied.
“She was more into redesigning the place than serving the customers,” Maud agreed.
“Do you think she’d be interested in working as an apprentice to Natasha?” I asked.
“Would Natasha take on an apprentice?” asked Maud.
“Depends on the apprentice,” I replied. “If they were prepared to worship the ground that she trod on, possibly.”
“I don’t see that Natasha would need an apprentice,” said Enid.
“I’m not sure,” I replied. “But I think it is a possible solution to a couple of problems at least.”
“We should check up on Malcolm,” said Enid.
“Yes,” I said as Maud’s people came back to work.
“Who’s been in here tidying up?” we heard Natasha yelling before we had even got up the garden path.
“Perhaps I miss read the situation,” I said, then a partially dressed female form ran down the path past us.
“I didn’t tidy anything up,” she muttered to us trying to get an arm in a sleeve whilst ducking as a large saucepan came flying over her head.
“You again!” snapped Natasha, glaring at Enid. “This is the second time this decade that you’ve come to see us, what have we done to deserve this.”
“We were checking up on Malcolm,” I said. “We were worried that he wouldn’t be able to cope whilst you were away.”
“He’s coping a little bit too well,” said Natasha glaring at the direction the woman had taken and throwing something else in her direction. It must have made contact as there was a distant howl of pain.
“Serves the little strumpet right,” muttered Natasha. “I just have to go away for a day and she’s round here. She’s never done the tidying before.”
“I tidied up,” I said. “When I came round here yesterday the place was a tip. I didn’t want you to come back to such a mess. I know you are very house proud.”
“You were thinking of me?” asked Natasha.
“Yes,” I said. “I got the impression that you like your home to be just so. A place for everything and everything in it’s place.”
“I do,” Natasha agreed. “But I know what Malcolm is like as far as housework goes. He hasn’t the first idea. Never has had, I knew what to expect when I got back. It was quite a shock to find the place so neat, even with last night’s take away debris strewn across the living room along with that randy old goats clothes.”
“I had no idea that my Father was like that!” stuttered Enid.
“Your Father!” said Natasha. “If memory serves me right, he was Lily’s Father, but he wasn’t yours. Yours got into mountain climbing and fell off, I think.”
“Is that why you aren’t that bothered about what Malcolm’s done?” I asked.
“It keeps him happy whilst I’m away,” said Natasha. “It was just the thought that she’d tidied up the house, that’s one step towards moving in and taking over.”
“I’m not going to move in,” I said. “I just wanted to help.”
“It came from a good place,” Natasha smiled. Enid looked as if she’d been hit with a large caste iron frying pan. Meanwhile, Malcolm stood by the open back door ready to duck or run.
“You know me,” he said cautiously. “I get board when I don’t have you to keep me in order.”
“Yes, well, it looks like I’m going to be around a bit more,” Natasha told him.
“What happened with the job?” I asked.
“I’m not as young as I was,” Natasha sighed. “I was running out of energy half way through the afternoon and falling asleep. They said I should go home for a rest.”
“How would you feel about an apprentice?” I asked. Enid looked at the door and edged in that direction.
“An apprentice!” Natasha shouted.
“You know more about interior design than anyone I have ever come across,” I explained. “You would make a great teacher. Second to none.”
“Don’t you think I am busy enough as it is?” Natasha snapped.
“An apprentice could do all the leg work,” I explained. “You have the ideas and they run around after you doing all the hard work, whilst learning your craft.”
“They would be a very lucky person to learn from you,” said Malcolm, looking a little more relaxed.
“That is true,” said Natasha, modesty does not seem to be a problem for her. “Do you have an apprentice in mind?”
“Yes,” I replied. “I shall go and talk to her.”
“Bring her here, I’d like to talk to her as well,” Natasha smiled.
“Of course,” I replied. “You have the final say in everything.”
“As long as you understand that,” she said.
“I’ll be back soon,” I said waving my wand.
“You!” snapped the ex-canteen lady as soon as I appeared.
“Me!” I smiled.
“What are you doing here?” she snapped.
“I got the impression that canteen work is not your forty,” I said.
“No, but my Aunt said I had to do something, sitting at home was no longer an option,” she said.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“There are some people who sit around all day doing nothing,” I said. “But I don’t think you are one of those.”
“I had ideas on how to re-vamp my aunt’s house, she didn’t see any need to change anything,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
“Can I see these ideas?” I asked. “I am assuming that you made sketches.”
“OK,” she said. “You’d better come in.”
“Have you heard of Natasha?” I asked.
“She is the greatest,” she said. “Her ideas are so good.”
“She needs an apprentice,” I said.
“That person will be the luckiest alive,” she said, handing over a sketch book. I looked through the pages.
“They remind me of her work,” I said. “But there is something extra. An apprentice should bring something of themselves to the work.”
“I wish I stood a chance, but I know I don’t,” she sighed.
“Would you like to meet her, now?” I asked.
“Are you taking the piss?” she asked. “Of course I would love to see her, but I know it isn’t ever going to happen.”
“It is,” I said. “But be on your best behaviour, with great talent comes great ego.”
“I just want a chance,” she said. “No way am I going to blow it.”
With a wave of my wand we were back at Natasha’s home.
“I’d like you to meet someone,” I said to Natasha. “What is your name?” I asked the ex-canteen lady.
“Natalie,” she stuttered.
“Natalie,” said Natasha. “Someone called Natalie sent me some sketches a year ago, but they didn’t put there address on.”
“It was me,” Natalie replied. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
“Nonsense, they were very good,” said Natasha. “I have been thinking of taking on an apprentice, would you care for the post?”
“It would be a dream come true,” Natalie stammered.
“Good,” said Natasha. “You can start now.”
“We’ll leave you to it,” I said as Enid and I carefully made our way to the door.
“I hope you know what you are doing,” Enid hissed.
“I’m making sure that Maud doesn’t get talked into taking her back in the canteen,” I said.
“You are solving problems,” said Enid. “It’s what you’re good at.”
By Janice Nye © 2020
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