The Fairy Godmother Part 132

“He’s lost his no claims bonus,” said James as they sat down in front of the tv to watch the news after tea.

“I should help with the dishes,” said Mary, standing up.

“No need to,” smiled Myrtle. “We have a dish washer. That has made a total mess of that car,” she added. “What happened to it.”

“I hope it isn’t a fault,” said Mary. “We’ve got a car like that. It’s only just back from a recall.”

“What was wrong with it?” asked James. “I hadn’t heard of any recalls lately.”

“I don’t know, James said he’d sort it out,” sighed Mary.

“Maybe this one hadn’t had the recall,” said Myrtle.

“It does look very familiar,” said Mary, sitting down.

“They’ll make lots of cars that model and that colour,” said James.

“But only one with that number plate,” said Mary, going very pale.

“Are you sure that’s the number?” asked Myrtle.

“I’d remember it anywhere,” said Mary. “There was something about it that stuck in my mind.”

“Try ringing him,” suggested James. “He may not have been in the car. Someone might have stolen it.”

“It was parked outside a prison,” said Mary. “They aren’t exactly short on security there.”

“True,” said James. “But there are a lot of thieves there.”

“Mostly behind bars,” said Mary, fishing out her phone and ringing James senior.

“This number is not on the network,” the mobile said.

“What the hell does that mean?” asked Mary.

“He might have his phone turned off,” suggested James. “Myrtle,” he added as she picked up her mobile phone.

“I’ll go in the kitchen for this,” she told James.

“What should I do?” James asked following her.

“You’re a Doctor and she’s in shock,” Myrtle replied. “I would’ve thought you’d have a better idea as to what to do than me.”

“And what are you going to do?” James asked.

“I’m ringing security to see what they know about it,” Myrtle replied.

“Like they’ll know anything, this is at the other end of the country,” said James.

“They have their sources,” said Myrtle.

“And they’re going to tell you anything,” James added.

“I am a Fairy Godmother,” said Myrtle. “They will tell me everything they know.”

“Or else?” asked James.

“I’ll set Mother on to them,” Myrtle smiled.

“That should work,” sighed James, heading back to see his Mother.

“I should do the dishes,” Mary said. “It was so good of you to feed me, but I don’t want to be an imposition.”

“It’s OK,” smiled James. “We have a dishwasher.”

“But, I want to help,” Mary said as the twins began to cry.

“Sounds like they need a change,” said James. “Myrtle is on the phone, so if I do one, will you do the other?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve done a nappy,” said Mary.

“I’m sure it will come back to you,” laughed James.

The twins were asleep and the dirty nappies sorted out when Myrtle joined them in the living room.

“James was right, it didn’t take long to remember how to change a nappy,” smiled Mary.

“What did they say?” asked James.

“I contacted security,” Myrtle explained to Mary. “To see what they knew about the car on the news.”

“It was him, wasn’t it?” Mary asked.

“So sorry,” said Myrtle.

“Am I supposed to identify his body or something?” Mary asked.

“Normally, yes, but there was a bomb,” said Myrtle, trying to think of the best way to say it. “They were wondering if you could give them a DNA sample, hairs from a brush or something like that.”

“I shouldn’t have left him,” Mary sighed.

“Then you’d both be dead,” said Myrtle.

“But he was alone,” said Mary. “No one should die alone.”

“There were two people in the car,” said Myrtle. “It seems one of the prison officers left with him, he was driving the car.”

“James wouldn’t let a stranger drive his car,” said Mary. “There’s something fishy about this, about that prison officer,” she added as Myrtle’s phone rang.

“Hello, this is security,” said the voice. “I rang the prison to ask after the person who is thought to have been in the car with your father-in-law.”

“What did they tell you?” asked Myrtle.

“That the officer took your father-in-law to his car and drove him away at 4pm. Another officer went to check on the prisoner Peggy Brown, shortly after this time. She was found dead in the interview room,” said the person from security.

“How did she die?” asked Myrtle.

“It would appear that she had been stabbed,” came the reply. “But the weapon was not to be found.”

“There was nothing wrong with her when I left the room,” said Mary. “There was a prison officer with us all the time.”

“No one is saying you did this,” said Myrtle.

“If the prison officer died in the car with James, then there is no one to say that I didn’t,” said Mary.

“That is true,” said the person from security. “However, there was a CCTV camera in the room and that shows that Peggy Brown was alive when your mother-in-law left the room. It also shows the prison officer coming back into the room and pushing Peggy Brown to a part of the room not covered by the camera and leaving shortly afterwards. As that is the place she was found, it is assumed that he killed her and then took your father-in-law to his car which was rigged to blow up when put into fifth gear.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” said James. “Why would the prison officer get into a car which he knows has a bomb in it?”

“Perhaps he didn’t know about the bomb,” said Myrtle.

“Why would anyone want to kill us?” asked Mary.

“They may have thought that you knew too much,” suggested the person from security.

“The prison officer seemed to know a lot more than I would have thought he should,” said Mary. “He knew what had happened to the people who were supposed to be given baby James.”

“Was there any CCTV footage of the car park?” asked Myrtle.

“Yes, it showed the car arriving and leaving,” said the security person.

“But no one going to it in between?” asked Myrtle.

“What are you getting at?” asked James.

“I was just wondering if the bomb was planted in the car whilst they were at the prison,” said Myrtle.

“It must have been, or they wouldn’t have got there,” snapped James.

“You said the bomb went off when the car was put into fifth gear?” asked Mary.

“According to the insurance company, the onboard computer sends data on the driving to them so they can assess the ability and safety of the driver,” said the security person. “The data stopped when the car was put into fifth gear and that coincides with the time it was blown up.”

“Your Father was a very cautious driver, he rarely used fifth gear and he was driving especially slowly, I think he hoped that I’d change my mind about the visit,” sighed Mary.

“So the prison officer probably didn’t know about it, or he wouldn’t have used fifth gear,” said Myrtle.

“I think we had better increase the security for your rooms till the person who planted the bomb has been arrested,” said the person from security. “I shall sort that out now and let you know of any further developments.”

“Thank-you,” said Myrtle.

“If you could provide us with a DNA sample,” security added.

“He didn’t clear out the loose hair from his hair brush this morning,” said Mary.

“If we could have the brush, that would be helpful,” security replied.

“We’ll get it to you straight away,” said Myrtle.

By Janice Nye © 2021

The Fairy Godmother Part 131

 

“Are you sure you want to go?” James senior asked his wife for the umpteenth time since they had received the letter saying they could see the person who stole their baby.

“I’m not going to get any answers sitting here,” Mary replied, putting her coat on.

“OK, but if you feel uncomfortable at any time, or you want to change your mind, just say,” said James, picking the car keys up.

“I don’t expect it will be a comfortable visit,” said Mary. “I suspect there will be things said that I’d rather weren’t true. But I want to know the truth. So are you going to drive or shall I?”

“I’ll drive,” said James heading for the door.

“Are you still sure you want to go through with this?” James senior asked as he parked the car in the prison car park.

“We are here now,” said Mary. “It would be stupid to turn back now.”

“No one would think any less of you if you didn’t go in,” said James.

“I would,” said Mary, getting out of the car.

“I was just saying,” said James, locking the car and following her. “It’s a very imposing building.”

“I know,” said Mary. “So lets get this thing over with.”

“I don’t think Myrtle should have asked you to do this,” said James. “It’s too much.”

“I don’t want to hear any more of this,” said Mary. “I’m beginning to think that you don’t want me here.”

“Of course I do,” stuttered James. “There are things we need to ask her.”

“We’ve come to see Peggy Brown,” Mary told the prison officer.

“This would be restorative justice?” the officer asked.

“Yes, that’s what it is,” said James senior.

“I’m afraid that we only allow one person to speak to the prisoner,” the officer explained. “Your wife can wait for you in the room over there,” he added nodding towards a side room.

“Why do you assume that it will be my husband who is going to talk to her?” asked Mary.

“I, er, it can be very upsetting, in a case like this,” the officer said, looking round him for someone else to explain.

“I shall speak to Peggy Brown,” said Mary. “My husband can wait in that room.”

“Do you really think that is a good idea,” said James, hurriedly. “You will be in there, by yourself with her.”

“If I am with her, I wont be by myself,” said Mary. “And I should think there would be someone in there to make sure I don’t kill her or anything like that.”

“Of course, the visit will be supervised at all times,” said the officer, happy to get onto familiar ground.

“Then there should be no problems,” said Mary.

“I just don’t think you should put yourself through this,” said James. “I know what questions you want answering, I can tell you what she said.”

“I want to look her in the eye and see how she reacts to what I ask,” Mary replied.

“The prisoner has just arrived in the side room,” said the officer. “If you would care to come this way.”

“Thank-you,” said Mary.

“I’ll be waiting,” said James as she headed off into the prison. When the door closed behind her he went to the side room to wait.

“The prisoner is in here,” said the officer, unlocking a door for Mary to walk through. “I shall be here to supervise,” he added following her into the room.

“Thank-you,” said Mary as he pointed to a chair. Peggy Brown was sitting on a similar chair on the other side of the table.

“I thought James was the one who was coming to ask the questions,” Peggy said to the prison officer.

“He offered, but they are my questions,” said Mary. “Anyway, it shouldn’t matter who is asking them.”

“No, of course not,” said Peggy, looking to the officer, who shrugged his shoulders. “I just thought.” her words trailed off.

“You thought you could flannel him,” said Mary.

“No, of course not,” stuttered Peggy.

“Why did you take my baby?” asked Mary.

“There was a couple, they wanted a baby, but they couldn’t have one and you had two,” said Peggy.

“They could adopt,” said Mary.

“They tried, but there is so much bureaucracy to go through,” said Peggy.

“They were turned down for adoption?” asked Mary.

“It is a difficult process and so easy for things to go wrong,” said Peggy.

“So it was easier to steel one?” asked Mary.

“It wasn’t like that,” said Peggy. “Your husband said that you couldn’t cope with two, your finances would be stretched just looking after one, and the strain on you.”

“Who told you this?” asked Mary.

“Your husband,” said Peggy.

“Who were these people, the ones who couldn’t adopt by the normal channels?” asked Mary, doing her best to stay calm.

“I can’t remember their names,” said Peggy. “I don’t think that I ever had them, just Mr and Mrs X.”

“You left my baby at an orphanage, why?” asked Mary.

“Mr and Mrs X, they died,” Peggy explained.

“There was a drive past shooting, they were having lunch outside at a restaurant, a motor bike drove past and the pillion passenger opened fire on the diners,” the prison officer explained.

“I was supposed to meet them there,” said Peggy.

“Did you see what happened?” asked Mary.

“Yes,” Peggy sighed.

“Did you stop to help?” Mary asked.

“I didn’t think it would be a good idea,” said Peggy.

“So you took my baby to the orphanage?” Mary asked.

“Seemed like the best thing to do,” Peggy smiled.

“You could have taken him back to the hospital and us,” said Mary.

“Then I’d have had to explain what I was doing with him,” said Peggy. “I’d have lost my job.”

“Which one, the one at the hospital or the one steeling babies?” asked Mary.

“Both,” said Peggy.

“Do you want to ask any more questions?” asked the prison officer to Mary when she had not said anything for a couple of minutes.

“Just one last question,” said Mary. “Who told you which babies to steel and where to take them to?”

“I don’t think it would be very wise of me to answer that question,” said Peggy, looking at the prison officer, not Mary.

“Why not?” asked Mary.

“I’d like to go back to my cell,” Peggy said to the prison officer. “I’ve said all that I’m going to say.”

“Wait here and you will be escort you back to your cell,” the officer said to Peggy. “If you will come this way,” he said to Mary, holding the door open for her.

“Thank-you,” she smiled, getting up and walking out. The officer closed and locked the door behind her and they headed back to the little room where James senior was waiting.

“Are you OK?” asked James senior as soon as he saw Mary. “You look very pale.”

“You told her that I couldn’t cope with two babies,” said Mary.

“You struggled with just one,” said James.

“I struggled because I had lost one baby,” Mary replied. “You don’t know how I would coped if I had been allowed to take both my babies home. You didn’t give me a chance.”

“I,” stuttered James.

“Always you isn’t it,” said Mary, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

“Who are you ringing?” asked James.

“Myrtle,” said Mary. “Could you get me out of here?”

“Of course,” said Myrtle, waving her wand.

“Thank-you,” said Mary as she materialised in Myrtle and James juniors living room.

“Mum, are you OK?” asked James junior.

“He told the midwife that I wouldn’t be able to look after two babies, so she took you,” said Mary. “He tried to justify himself by saying that I struggled looking after one baby!”

“Of course you struggled, you’d lost one of your babies,” said Myrtle. “I don’t know how I’d cope if someone took one of my two precious little one.”

“Exactly,” said Mary. “I hope you didn’t mind me ringing. I couldn’t stand being in the same room as him for one minute longer.”

“You can stay here as long as you want,” said Myrtle.

“I just need to sort out what to do next,” said Mary. “That and help get to the bottom of all this baby steeling.”

“Did you find out anything from the person who stole me?” asked James junior.

“The couple you were to be given to were killed, just before the handover, so she fled and left you at the orphanage,” Mary replied.

“Why didn’t she just take the baby back to the hospital?” asked Myrtle.

“She thought she’d loose her job,” said Mary, slowly. “The prison officer knew how they had died,” she added. “I didn’t think of it at the time, but, why would he know that? It didn’t come up in the court case.”

“That is a very good question,” said Myrtle. “We need to talk to that officer.”

“I think your wife smells a rat,” said the prison officer, as Mary disappeared.

“What are you going to do about it?” asked James senior.

“I need to have a word with Peggy,” said the officer. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“I’ll be heading off,” said James as the door shut behind the prison officer and James heard the key in the lock.

“I don’t suppose Myrtle would get me out of here,” he thought pulling his phone out of his pocket and then putting it back ask he heard the key in the lock again.

“I will walk you back to your car,” said the prison officer, taking James senior by the arm and pulling him out of the room.

“But,” stuttered James.

“Just act natural,” said the officer as they walked to the car. “Car keys,” he said holding out his hand.

“What are you doing?” asked James.

“You are too emotional to drive, so I am going to drive for you,” said the officer, taking the keys from James’s hand and pushing him into the passenger seat.

“You can’t do this,” said James as the officer fastened his seat belt and then got into the drivers seat.

“There’s no one to stop me,” said the officer as he stuck a knife through James heart into the seat and then drove out of the prison.

“The pay wasn’t very good,” he thought. “And this has tied up a few ends that needed tying up.”

He accelerated down the road, putting the car into fifth gear as soon as he got to some clear road and as he did so the bomb under the bonnet exploded and the car was engulfed in a ball of fire.

By Janice Nye © 2021

The Fairy Godmother Part 130

“You’re home?” said James senior as his wife walked in through the front door.

“I’ve been for a walk and now I’ve come back. It’s what I said I was going to do,” said Mary. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

“I thought I’d lost you for good,” James said, watching as she filled the kettle.

“So I’ve been told,” said Mary.

“She rang you, putting more poison into your ear,” James replied.

“No, she spoke to our son and he rang to make sure I was OK,” Mary replied. “Though why you rang her in the first place is a mystery to me.”

“The fairies, they’re trying to get between us,” said James.

“And why would they want to do that?” asked Mary. “If their intention was to deprive us of our son, that’s been well and truly achieved.”

“I suppose you think that’s my fault. I’ve done nothing but try to protect you, all these years,”

James replied.

“Protect me from what?” asked Mary. “You tried to make me believe that there was only, ever, one baby and when I could prove that there were two, you tired to tell me one of them had died.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” said James.

“You tried to make out I was delusional and then you just didn’t talk about him, for years, you didn’t mention him,” said Mary.

“I thought you’d forgotten about him,” stuttered James.

“Like I was ever going to do that,” said Mary.

“You didn’t mention him,” said James.

“Because there was a row every time, it was easier not to say anything,” sighed Mary. “Then Mark brought Rose home and the two of you talked for hours about fairies and suddenly you had it in your head that they had stolen our baby James.”

“It was something that she had heard about and it seemed so logical, it fitted the facts, it was the only explanation,” James explained.

“It may have fitted the facts that we had, but we didn’t have all the facts and when you put those in, it doesn’t fit at all,” said Mary. “It doesn’t matter how much you want them to fit, the fairies didn’t steal our baby, I don’t see why you find that so hard to understand.”

“Because, it was easier to believe that they had taken him,” sighed James.

“Why?” asked Mary.

“Because, if they hadn’t taken him, then he’d been taken by humans,” sighed James.

“And why is that so much harder to take?” asked Mary.

“Because they are our own,” said James. “And we still don’t know who or why.”

“We know who took baby James,” Mary replied. “We saw her in court.”

“But she didn’t say why,” James replied.

“No, she didn’t,” Mary agreed. “I’d like to know that one as well. The whole thing did fall short in not pursuing the question as to why the babies were stolen and where they went to.”

“That’s why I keep going back to the idea that the fairies were behind all of this,” said James.

“You think that the fairies got human’s to steal babies for them?” asked Mary.

“Can you prove otherwise?” he asked.

“Not at this moment,” said Mary. “But I think I know where to start finding the answers.”

“You can’t ask her,” said James.

“Why not?” asked Mary.

“She wont tell you the truth,” James replied.

“That wasn’t my question,” Mary replied. “Why can’t I ask her?”

“They probably wont let you see her,” said James.

“You still aren’t answering my question, why can’t I ask her why she took our baby, what went wrong and why did she dump him in an orphanage instead of bringing him back to us,” Mary asked.

“You might not like the answer,” sighed James.

“That sort of implies that you know what it is,” said Mary.

“I said something at work, about how hard it would be, looking after two babies,” said James. “The cost of all that stuff,” he looked pleadingly at her.

“So someone took baby James and you think it might have been because of that!” asked Mary.

“It’s the only thing I can think of,” said James.

“Did you get any reward for this?” asked Mary.

“Not as far as I know, but there were promotions that came my way, I don’t know,” James sighed.

“So, the two things may be totally disconnected,” said Mary.

“Or it could be that someone heard what I said and thought I’d be OK if one of our kids just disappeared,” said James.

“So you’ve been thinking, all these years, that it was your fault?” asked Mary.

“I thought you’d blame me, I thought you’d hate me for what I’d done,” James muttered, shaking his head and looking at the floor.

“I might have done, at the time,” said Mary. “I was into blaming anyone and everyone, myself included.”

“How could you blame yourself?” asked James.

“Perhaps I didn’t want them enough, maybe, when we found out they were to be twins, maybe I didn’t sound eager enough. I was in a pretty dark place after the birth,” said Mary. “But now I want answers, answers that that court case didn’t provide. Answers that I’m sure that woman has.”

“But what if she says they were acting on what I said?” asked James.

“You didn’t give them permission to take one of our babies,” said Mary. “If you had done, they wouldn’t need to steel him.”

“That’s true,” said James.

“So, we go to see this woman, together,” said Mary.

“We will need to get permission,” said James.

“If we get that,” said Mary.

“We will go together and see what she has to say for herself,” said James.

“In the meantime,” said Mary, pulling the phone out of her pocket.

“Are you going to ring James junior?” asked James senior.

“He was very worried about me,” said Mary.

“As was Myrtle,” said James junior, his voice coming from the phone in Mary’s hand. “We asked her to stay on the line to make sure she was OK.”

“Did you think I would hurt your Mother?” asked James senior.

“We didn’t know,” said James.

“The way you have been, blaming the fairies when all the evidence pointed to them having nothing to do with it,” said Mary. “It wasn’t the you I know and love.”

“We couldn’t risk Mary getting hurt,” said Myrtle.

“I thought you’d be behind this,” said James. “Getting them to gang up on me!”

“Hard though it may be for you to believe, I want the truth, the whole truth, about what happened and why,” said Myrtle. “I want the answers to the questions that the court didn’t ask. I want whoever it was that organised all of this to be brought to justice and I think that is what you want as well.”

“Fine words, but what if it turns out that there are fairies behind all of this?” asked James.

“Then they should be brought to justice,” said Myrtle. “I think we could work together on this to get justice for all the babies and their true parents.”

“Do you want to come with us to talk to this woman?” asked James senior.

“I don’t think we would all be allowed to see her, not in one visit,” said Myrtle. “But you can tell us all about it afterwards.”

“And what will you do?” James senior asked.

“I shall go and talk to the tooth fairies,” said Myrtle.

“You don’t expect me to believe in them do you?” asked James senior.

“I used to be one,” said Myrtle.

“What can they do to help?” asked Mary.

“They have an extensive archive of information on all children,” said Myrtle. “They should be able to get together a list of all children who moved, suddenly, to a new address, without any of their siblings going with them and whose parents changed at the same time.”

“They have that information?” asked Mary

“The tooth fairy needs to know where all the children are,” said Myrtle.

“Why didn’t they tell the court?” asked James. “There are people trying to find all the missing children, or at least the ones they know about.”

“Probably no one thought to ask them,” said Myrtle. “There are so many people who don’t want to admit that they exist. No one who wants to be taken seriously is going to ask them for evidence and they wont volunteer the information.”

“So, we talk to the prison authorities and you talk to the tooth fairies,” said James. “And we’ll let you know how we get on.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Mary, hanging up the phone call.

“Sorry,” said James.

By Janice Nye © 2021

The Fairy Godmother Part 129

“They are summing up the court case today, or starting to,” said Myrtle.

“It was a bigger case than even I thought,” sighed James. “And it isn’t over yet, they need to trace all the stolen children and their parents. Not an easy task.”

“I would have thought your parents would have been in touch by now,” said Myrtle.

“Why?” asked James.

“They seemed keen to have you in their lives,” said Myrtle.

“They know where we are,” said James. “If they want to contact us, no one is stopping them.”

“There’s no one stopping you contacting them either,” said Myrtle.

“I know that,” James replied.

“But they wont think that,” Myrtle sighed. “They’ll think that I am stopping you from talking to them.”

“Does that bother you?” asked James.

“Part of being a Fairy,” Myrtle replied. “I don’t like people thinking badly of me or my kind.”

“Dammed if I do, dammed if I don’t,” sighed James.

“So the truth of it all is that Fairies didn’t steel baby James,” said Mary, looking out of the window of their home.

“That’s what they want us to think,” said James senior.

“We have just sat through a year long court case, we have gone through the evidence so many times that I am seeing it in my sleep and we have listened to the confessions of several of the people involved,” Mary snapped. “How much more evidence do you need?”

“You didn’t have to sit through all of that,” James senior responded.

“I know that,” Mary replied. “But I chose to and I wanted to look the woman who stole my baby, in the eye and ask her why she did it.”

“I don’t know why you put yourself through that,” said James senior. “We know that the Fairies took him and that this is nothing but hog wash.”

“No, we don’t know that the Fairies took him. All I knew was that he was taken,” said Mary. “All the evidence and confessions point to him being taken by humans.”

“Are you doubting my word!” asked James senior.

“I am doubting your impartiality,” said Mary. “You saw the same evidence as I did, you saw the video footage of babies being taken and you saw them traced and identified by DNA and none of them were taken by fairies or given to fairies, yet you still persist in blaming them.”

“What are you saying?” asked James senior.

“That you went into that court case having decided that fairies were guilty of all of those child thefts and it didn’t matter what the evidence was, you weren’t going to change,” said Mary.

“Do you really think that I’m that close minded?” James senior asked.

“In most things, no, but in this one thing, yes, totally,” said Mary.

“I was only trying to protect you,” James replied.

“Worked well didn’t it,” she said, heading for the door.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“For a walk, I need to clear my head,” Mary replied.

“Where does this leave us?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she sighed.

“Can’t we talk about it?” he asked.

“Not now,” she replied. “You need to think about what you’ve done and why.”

“But?” he asked as the door shut behind her.

The sound of a phone ringing woke the twins.

“Is that your phone or mine?” asked James as they both leapt up from their chairs to locate the source of the sound.

“Mine,” said Myrtle frowning. “It’s your Father!” she added answering the call.

“I hope you’re proud of yourself, poisoning my wife’s mind against me,” he yelled. “She’s walked out on me now!”

“I haven’t been in touch with Mary in over a year,” Myrtle replied. “So how am I supposed to have poisoned her mind?”

“You fairies have your ways,” shouted James senior.

“Is that your response to everything, don’t bother about the facts, blame the fairies whatever?” asked Myrtle.

“I don’t have to listen to rubbish like this from you,” stuttered James senior.

“Neither do I,” said Myrtle hanging up and then blocking the number.

“I’m sorry about that,” said James junior.

“It’s not your fault,” Myrtle replied. “But I think it might be an idea for you to check up on Mary.”

“You don’t think he’d hurt her?” asked James junior.

“I don’t know,” replied Myrtle. “But if she’s walked out on him, then she may need some help.”

“Your right,” said James junior, ringing his Mother.

“Hello,” said Mary. “You are the last person I expected to hear from.”

“James, your husband, rang Myrtle, my wife and just blamed her for you walking out on him,” James junior explained.

“I told him I was going for a walk to clear my head,” said Mary.

“So why did he think you’d left him?” asked James.

“The verdict of the trial has been reached,” sighed Mary.

“He didn’t believe it?” asked James junior.

“Not one single word of it,” Mary sighed. “He sat through the same evidence as me and dismissed it all as lies. He is so determined that the fairies where behind it that he wont listen to anything that says otherwise. He was asking where we stood, as a couple, just before I went for a walk and I said I didn’t know. It was part of what I wanted to sort out, in my mind. All these years and he’s either pretended that you weren’t taken or insisted that it was the fairies that did it. You begin to wonder if you really know someone.”

“It isn’t as if he lied to you,” said James junior, not really sure what to say.

“At first he tried told me that I was mistaken, I’d only had one baby. I showed him the photo from the ultra-sound, it clearly shows two babies,” she explained. “Then, for a week, he said that the baby had died and he thought it was better for me to think that there was only one son and that I should concentrate on him. It didn’t wash then, but I was too tired to argue with him. The idea that the fairies stole you, that is fairly recent.”

“Can you think of what triggered it off?” asked James.

“It was just after your brother brought his wife to be home,” Mary replied. “She spent ages talking to your Father about fairies.”

“Could it be something that she said to him?” asked James junior.

“I think it could be,” said Mary. “It is the only explanation that makes any sense.”

“What are you going to do?” asked James.

“I shall have to talk it out with him,” said Mary. “This stupidity has gone on too long.”

“Will you be safe?” asked James.

“You would know that your Father is not a violent man if you’d been left with us,” sighed Mary.

“You’ve said yourself that the things he has been saying, you begin to wonder if you know him,” said James.

“That’s true,” sighed Mary. “But, I still need to talk to him.”

“Leave the phone on,” said James. “If we hear anything alarming we can get you out of there.”

“Are you sure Myrtle will do that for me?” asked Mary.

“I would do the same for anyone whom I thought was in danger,” said Myrtle.

“Thank-you,” said Mary. “It’s more than I deserve.”

by Janice Nye © 2021

The Fairy Godmother Part 128

“You are thinking about something,” said James as they sat at the table having breakfast.

“I’m trying to come up with a resolution,” Myrtle replied.

“I don’t know why you are bothering,” said James. “I’ve lived happily till now not knowing they exist. Now I’ve found out that they are a pair of arseholes, I can put them out of my mind and carry on with life.”

“Can you really?” asked Myrtle.

“I wont say it wouldn’t have been nice to play happy families with them, but all the doubts and suspicions. I’m surprised they even accept me as their son,” he sighed.

“I could ask the Tooth Fairy about that,” said Myrtle.

“What do you mean?” asked James.

“The Tooth Fairy’s records cover all children,” said Myrtle. “You will be in their books along with who your parents are and what happened to you.”

“Are you saying that they will know if these are my parents?” asked James.

“Of course,” said Myrtle. “It’s where Enid will have got the information from to find them in the first place. She just may not have gone into the details of what happened to you after birth.”

“Mary said that I was taken away and she was told that I was dead, presumably they will have made a big thing about my brother being alive in the hopes of her forgetting there were two babies,” James added.

“That worked well,” said Myrtle. “But you weren’t dead, so the question is, who took you?”

“Do you think that the Tooth Fairies will have a record of that?” asked James.

“Bound to, they have to know where all the children are so that they can collect the teeth,” Myrtle smiled.

“Sounds nice, but I don’t suppose they’ll believe any information coming from a fairy,” sighed James.

“They wont, I know that,” said Myrtle. “But, I have no intention of passing that information on.”

“So, what use is it?” asked James.

“If we know who took you, we could try talking to them,” said Myrtle. “Or at least finding out about them.”

“What good will that do?” asked James.

“We wont know the answers till we ask the questions,” said Myrtle picking her phone up and contacting the Tooth Fairy.

“You want me to go into the archives?” the Tooth Fairy asked after Myrtle had spent at least ten minutes explaining the situation.

“Yes,” Myrtle smiled.

“We do have a Fairy who is very good at that, gets through them quicker than anyone else and is always totally accurate,” said the Tooth Fairy.

“Could I speak to her and explain the situation to her?” asked Myrtle.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” said the Tooth Fairy. “She doesn’t do talking to people or fairies, she just stays in the archives looking for things for us.”

“Doesn’t she ever come out?” asked Myrtle.

“We tried to get her out once, but she was very bad tempered and wasn’t happy till she was back in the archives,” the Tooth Fairy sighed.

“And you haven’t tried to get her out since,” said Myrtle.

“There doesn’t seem to be any point to it,” said the Tooth Fairy. “I’ll tell her this is urgent, not that that will make any difference to her, and I’ll contact you when she’s found out everything.”

“Do you know how long it will take?” asked Myrtle.

“Not really, though the longest she has taken has been one week,” the Tooth Fairy replied and then hung up.

“Thank-you,” said Myrtle to the phone.

“What did they say?” asked James.

“They’ve sent someone to look and it could take up to a week,” Myrtle smiled.

“In the meantime we put it on the back boiler and get on with enjoying life with these two little bundles of love,” said James, looking at the twins as first one and then the other let loose a loud, resounding and smelly fart.

“I’ll get the changing bags,” said Myrtle.

“Your phones making noises,” Mary said to James senior.

“It’s the hospital,” said James senior, taking the call and walking out into the garden.

“Is this the DNA stuff?” asked Mary when he came back into the kitchen ten minutes later.

“Yes,” he muttered.

“And are you going to tell me what they said?” asked Mary.

“James is my son,” said James senior.

“I told you he was,” said Mary.

“He’s also your son,” James senior added.

“You gave them my cup as well?” asked Mary.

“Of course, we have to check all possibilities,” James senior replied.

“Anything else you checked?” asked Mary.

“He’s the twin brother of,” James senior began to say, but the look from Mary stopped him. “I was only trying to stop you from getting hurt again.”

“Instead you have made things much worse,” Mary sighed.

“I had to,” James senior started.

“I’m going for a walk, I need to be by myself for a bit,” said Mary.

“Is that your phone or mine?” asked James junior as they were getting the breakfast ready the next day.

“It’s mine,” said Myrtle answering her phone.

“Hello, this is the Tooth Fairy replying to your earlier query,” the phone said before Myrtle could say anything.

“Hello,” said Myrtle.

“A report is being sent to your e-mail address, I hope it answers all your questions, if not please do not hesitate to ring us,” came the Tooth Fairy.

“Thank-you for your assistance,” said Myrtle as Tooth Fairy hung up.

“They need to learn some phone etiquette,” muttered Myrtle reaching for her laptop.

“You can get e-mails on your phone,” said James.

“I know,” said Myrtle. “But it will probably be easier reading a report on the laptop.”

“Most people know,” James junior started.

“These aren’t most people, these are the Tooth Fairies and they had only just got one computer when I was there and the only ones allowed to touch it didn’t even know how to turn the thing on, let alone use it,” replied Myrtle.

“So have you managed to open the report?” asked James junior.

“Yes,” said Myrtle. “I think you will want to read this,” she added handing the laptop to him, along with his glasses.

“This can’t just stop here,” said James. “I wasn’t the only baby to be taken, it seems to have been a regular thing. I was dumped at an orphanage because the person who took me got spooked.”

“You need to pass this report on to someone,” said Myrtle.

“The question is, who?” muttered James junior. “The moment they find that the report came from the Tooth Fairy they are going to file it under crank and nothing will happen.”

“Then we need to find more evidence and hand it to a reporter because they will know how to blow this all open,” said Myrtle.

“We could do with a whistle blower who is prepared to tell things as they are,” said James junior.

“Or we need video evidence of it happening,” said Myrtle. “I’ll ring Ethel and see if she can find something, if we can catch someone being filmed steeling a baby, they may be persuaded to tell all in exchange for clemency or something.”

“What will they be able to tell us?” asked James junior. “Apart from who they were steeling that baby for.”

“They will be just one of many,” said Myrtle. “And the person we want is the one who organised it and the ones who have been turning a blind eye to what has been going on all these years.”

“Does the Tooth Fairy know how many babies have been taken?” asked James, looking through the report again. “There’s a number, at least 15,000!”

“Hello Ethel,” said Myrtle answering her phone.

“I have just sent live video from the hospital to that nice inspector who investigated when you were poisoned,” Ethel informed her.

“Why did you do that?” asked Myrtle.

“One of the babies was being stolen,” Ethel explained. “I thought if he went there and caught them red handed.”

“You are brilliant,” said Myrtle.

“I’ve also dropped a tip off to a reporter,” said Ethel.

“Not the one who’s like a terrier when he’s after a good story?” asked Myrtle.

“Seemed like a good choice,” said Ethel hopefully.

“None better,” Myrtle replied. “You have done very well.”

“Would you like me to forward the report from the Tooth Fairy to him?” asked Ethel.

“I don’t think it would do any harm,” said Myrtle. “I’m sure he’ll be able to find evidence to corroborate what it says.”

“No sooner the word,” said Ethel.

“Thank-you,” said Myrtle, hanging up. “The wheels are in motion,” she said to James junior.

“So we sit back and watch as everything unfolds?” he asked.

“It isn’t the easiest of things to do,” said Myrtle. “But sometimes it’s the best thing to do.”

“And if something goes wrong?” James junior asked.

“Then we give it a nudge in the right direction,” smiled Myrtle. “Meanwhile, I think we have some nappies to change.”

“How do they fill them so quickly?” asked James junior grabbing the changing bags.

By Janice Nye © 2021

The Fairy Godmother Part 127

 

“I’m sorry,” said James junior as soon as he appeared in the living room.

“Is that all you have to say,” asked Myrtle after she’d waited a couple of minutes for him to elaborate.

“What Ivy, Roses Mother, said was totally unforgivable,” said James. “I was stunned. I didn’t believe my ears, but I should have said something. I am so sorry that I just stood there like some sort of stuffed dummy. I should have defended you. I know that you would never have done anything like that, there are times, during the birth, when I wished you had. It’s hard to watch the woman you love going through so much pain, but even then, I knew that you wouldn’t because you believe that sort of thing is wrong. I am so sorry that you thought that I doubted you for even one second. Please say something.”

“Your silence hurt me, hurt me deeply,” Myrtle replied.

“I will regret that to my last day,” said James. “If I could take back those words, I would.”

“And, if something like this happens again?” asked Myrtle. “Because it could do, people look at fairies and make assumptions based on nothing.”

“I am not going to promise that it will never happen again, because as you say, people make assumptions about fairies and I may be taken by surprise again, but I shall do my best to stand up for you in everything,” James replied. “Please believe my, you are my world, I’m lost without you.”

“I’m lost without you,” said Myrtle as the babies started crying.

“Shall we do this together?” asked James. “We do work well as a team.”

“OK,” said Myrtle, glancing towards the twins. “We’d better get started before they become a bio-hazard.”

“Yes,” said James fetching the changing bags. “There is a bit of a ripe smell about them.”

“They’ll need fresh clothes,” said Myrtle, picking some up from a pile of laundry.

“So where do we go from here?” asked James as they stood by the twins watching them sleep.

“I don’t know,” said Myrtle.

“If you don’t want me to see my family,” James started.

“I wouldn’t ask that of you,” said Myrtle. “But I hope you understand, if they are going to snipe at me for what I am, then, I won’t go with you.”

“I’ll talk to them, they shouldn’t be like that, wheeling out the stereo types after all that you did for them,” said James.

“I know that people don’t think things through when they are stressed, but I didn’t think they’d be like that,” said Myrtle.

“Do you want to be with my when I ring them?” James asked.

“I don’t know,” said Myrtle. “I might join in and say something that I’ll regret.”

“Perhaps we aught to leave it till tomorrow,” suggested James. “They might want to ring to apologise.”

“Tempting, but they might not ring,” said Myrtle. “And I don’t think it is something that we should leave over night, this sort of thing can fester.

They had had their evening meal, the twins had gone to sleep and were being put down in their cots when James’s phone rang.

“Hello,” said Mary cautiously.

“You’d better take that into the other room,” said Myrtle as the twins began to stir.

“Hello Mother,” James whispered, walking back to the kitchen.

“If this is a bad time,” said Mary. “I just wanted to know if you were OK.”

“Of course I’m OK,” said James. “I’m surprised that you should even feel the need to ask that.”

“We didn’t think she turn you into a frog,” Mary laughed slightly.

“So why did you even mention it?” asked James.

“Well, you never know with,” Mary paused slightly, realising that her attempt to lighten things had only made them worse.

“When you are down a hole, stop digging,” said James.

“She’s got you under the thumb,” James senior’s voice came over the phone.

“I thought you had rung up to apologise,” said James junior. “Not to slag my wife off.”

“I rang because I wanted to know that you were OK,” said Mary. “I didn’t want to cause any more trouble.”

“Then perhaps you need to rethink your attitude to fairies,” said James junior.

“Why wont she let you see us if we aren’t nice to her?” snapped James senior.

“I will never stop James seeing you,” said Myrtle. “But I don’t see why I should go with him if you are going to spend all your time snipping at me. If I want family hostilities, I can see my relatives, they make you lot look like rank amateurs.”

“I thought I was talking to my son, not his, what exactly is your relationship to him?” asked Mary.

“I am his wife,” said Myrtle. “Do you want to see the marriage certificate?”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” said Mary.

“I don’t know, I’d like to see this so called certificate and check it out for authenticity,” said James senior.

“That’s enough,” said James junior. “I thought we could get through this, but clearly you aren’t prepared to try, so I see no future in this,” he added and hung up.

“That didn’t go to well,” said James.

“That’s one way of putting it,” said Myrtle.

“I’m sorry,” said James.

“It isn’t your fault,” said Myrtle. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have pushed you into seeing them.”

“You weren’t to know what they’d be like,” James sighed.

“You couldn’t just keep your big mouth shut,” Mary shouted at James.

“She’s got him wrapped around her little finger,” said James senior. “He couldn’t even talk on the phone without her adding her two penny worth.”

“You didn’t exactly stay silent,” snapped Mary. “It might have been better for everyone if you had done.”

“And my input isn’t wanted,” James senior replied.

“At that point, no,” said Mary. “Thanks to you, we might not get to see two of our grandchildren.”

“That’s if they are our grandchildren, we don’t even know if he is our son,” said James senior.

“What do you want, a DNA test,” snapped Mary.

“I’m doing that,” said James senior.

“What!” shouted Mary.

“Remember the coffee he had at the hospital,” James senior smiled.

“What about it?” asked Mary.

“The cup,” said James.

“The one you said you were binning?” asked Mary.

“I didn’t,” he said. “They are testing the DNA on it to see if he is my son.”

“I do not believe that I am hearing this,” said Mary.

“You have to admit that it’s a bit to neat and tidy, him turning up, now after all these years,” said James senior. “You wouldn’t expect me not to check.”

“I would have expected you to be honest about it and ask if he minded,” Mary replied. “This is just so underhand.”

“So you don’t want to know the results?” asked James senior.

“Of course I do, if only to confirm what I already know,” Mary replied sitting down heavily.

“I just want what is best for you,” said James senior. “You know that don’t you?”

“Of course,” sighed Mary. “When do you think you’ll have the results?”

“Tomorrow afternoon sometime,” he smiled.

“Right, we’ll see what we do then,” said Mary.

By Janice Nye © 2021

The Fairy Godmother Part 126

 

“Myrtle?” James’s voice came over the phone. “Visiting is over at the hospital.” He watched as the scene around him changed from the hospital to his parents home. “Where is Rose’s Mother?” he asked cautiously.

“She is in her home,” said Myrtle. “And your brother is in his.”

“Why am I here?” asked James.

“It was that or your brothers home,” said Myrtle. “If you would prefer that, it can be sorted,” she added and hung up.

“She’s upset,” said Mary.

“I don’t know why,” said James senior.

“You heard what Rose’s Mother accused her of,” said James.

“It’s what fairies do,” said James senior.

“And it’s the last thing Myrtle would do,” James replied. “Which is why the accusation hurt her so much.”

“She shouldn’t be so thin skinned,” said James senior.

“You think that she should brush it off, like it was never said or something,” James junior asked, turning to his Father.

“I was expected to forget you, like you were never born,” said Mary.

“It would have been less painful for both of us if you had,” said James senior.

“I can’t believe you just said that,” said Mary with a sob, dashing from the room

“See, you’re crying again,” James senior shouting after his wife. “If you hadn’t turned up,” he said turning to James junior.

“If I hadn’t turned up, she would still be missing a son who disappeared just after birth and Rose would have given birth on the way to the hospital, which, given the fuss that we heard going on in the delivery room, could have been dangerous for Mother and babies,” said James junior. “You could be faced with Mark loosing all of them if Myrtle hadn’t been there with a wand to get them to the hospital quickly.”

“Things would have been different if,” said James senior.

“They would have been, but that isn’t the reality we are living with,” said James junior. “We can’t go back and change what happened then, but we can try and sort out the mess we have made of things today.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” snapped James senior.

“Perhaps you need your hearing checked out,” said James junior. “Because your wife is sobbing her heart out, she thought you understood her loss, now she’s found out that you were just humouring her all these years.”

“It’s no good crying over spilt milk,” muttered James senior.

“Losing a child hardly equates to spilling milk,” James junior replied.

“I lost my child as well,” James senior replied. “Or at least I think I did.”

“How dare you even think that,” Mary shouted at him.

“Look these fairies don’t bother asking permission when they get someone to carry their child,” snapped James senior.

“If I was a fairy child,” said James junior. “Enid would have found the fairy parents, not you.”

“Can you be sure of that?” asked Mary.

“Enid was checking up my family tree to make sure that I wasn’t related to Myrtle,” said James junior. “If you had just carried a fairy baby, she wouldn’t have even bothered finding out your names.”

“So why were we told that you were dead?” asked James senior.

“Some people will do anything for a baby,” said James junior.

“But you ended up in an orphanage,” said Mary.

“Maybe something went wrong and I got dumped,” said James junior. “Anyway, you two need to talk and I need to go home and try to save my marriage.”

“Whys she upset with you?” asked James senior.

“She thought I would defend her when Rose’s Mother was so nasty to her and I stood there stunned,” said James junior. “I didn’t think anyone would say anything like that to her, especially after all she did to make today go smoothly.”

“Ivy, Rose’s Mother’s name is Ivy,” said Mary.

“Myrtle has an Aunty Ivy, vicious cow she is,” said James. “Last time we came here she kidnapped the twins, that’s why we had to leave so suddenly.”

“I think we need to talk to Ivy as well,” said Mary. “What she said was pure prejudice.”

“You don’t think that Myrtle would do such a thing?” asked James.

“If you say she didn’t, then I trust you,” said Mary.

“It’s a shame you don’t trust Myrtle,” said James junior.

“We don’t know her,” said James senior. “And you have to admit it, they do have a reputation for that sort of thing.”

“I am going home to try and save my marriage, if I can,” said James. “I’ll be in touch,” he said ringing Myrtle.

“Please can I come home, we need to talk,” James said when Myrtle answered.

“OK,” said Myrtle. “But I reserve the right to send you to wherever I decide to.”

“Ivy,” said Enid

“Have you spoken to Myrtle yet?” asked Ivy, answering her phone.

“Not the most common of names, Ivy,” said Enid, ignoring her question.

“No, I looked around and only found the one,” said Ivy.

“Lives about 500 miles away and has a daughter called Rose,” said Enid.

“Yes,” said Ivy. “How come you know about her?”

“You’d be amazed,” said Enid. “What is your connection with her?”

“When our Mother chucked me out for being such a nasty daughter,” Ivy replied.

“When she realised you were too much like her,” said Enid.

“That as well,” laughed Ivy. “She decided that she wanted a replacement.”

“This would be this other Ivy?” asked Enid.

“Yes, even reused the name,” said Ivy.

“So she’s our sister,” said Enid.

“Half sister,” said Ivy. “Mummy dearest had taken a fancy to the boyfriend of the girl who she chose to carry Ivy. The boy disappeared off somewhere, I think he died, anyway, Mummy decided to leave the girl to carry their child and told her, in a dream, to call it Ivy.”

“Does Ivy know that she is part fairy?” asked Enid.

“Yes, she thought there was enough fairy in her to enable her to foist any baby she conceived onto someone else, didn’t work out that way, as she found out when Rose was due,” Ivy laughed. “Why are you interested?”

“Her daughter Rose is married to Myrtle’s husband’s twin brother,” said Enid.

“And?” asked Ivy.

“That Ivy gave a load of bile out to Myrtle about fairies and their babies,” Enid replied.

“That wouldn’t go down well,” said Ivy.

“Not when Myrtle had speeded them all to the hospital and probably save the day,” said Enid.

“What do you want me to do about it?” asked Ivy.

“I don’t know, other than stay out of Myrtle’s way,” said Enid. “Thanks’ for the information. I’ll be in touch as soon as I’ve got my head around it and worked out how to break it to Myrtle.”

“Does she need to know?” asked Ivy.

“If I don’t tell her she’ll find out,” said Enid. “Nothing is secret for long, not in our world and not when Myrtle is looking for answers.”

“Good luck,” said Ivy hanging up.

“I’ll need it,” said Enid to herself.

By Janice Nye © 2021