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
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