The Fairy Godmother Part 7

“She’s coming,” the mirror hissed at me.

“What,” I mumbled, trying to wake up.

“She’s coming, Sybil is coming,” the mirror repeated ever more urgently.

“But, it’s nowhere near dawn,” I muttered looking at my watch. I must get a second hand for it, or rather one that tells you which hour it is. I held the clock to my ear, it wasn’t working.

“I had to get a Fairy Godmother with a non working clock,” moaned the mirror.

“I’ll hide you in the wardrobe,” I said grabbing the mirror.

“And what will you do?” it asked.

“I’m betting that someone like that wouldn’t be able to pick her maid out of a line-up of people in maids clothes,” I said. “I’ll put some of the maids clothes on.”

“She was a good six inch taller than you,” said the mirror. “You’ll never get away with it.”

“So, I’ll grow a bit,” I said. “I’m a Fairy Godmother, I can do this.”

“But,” said the mirror.

“I just need to keep her in the dark till after dawn,” I said.

“Good luck,” said the mirror as I shut and locked the wardrobe door and then put the key in my pocket.

It was easy to find the maids room, problem was it was the room for all the maids, so I had to guess as to which was the right uniform. I had just changed when the door to the suite of rooms was flung open.

“Where are you maid?” Sybil’s voice bellowed through the rooms. I dashed through to assist.

“My Lady,” I stuttered, the sight before me wasn’t quite the same as the one which had left only a few hours earlier. My Lady was carrying her shoes, they had been white, with thin delicate straps atop stiletto heels, the heels were broken as were several of the straps and they were covered in what I was hoping was mud, but the smell confirmed it was something a little less pleasant. Her dress was splattered with the same stuff and the hem was ripped badly. Her hair, which had been piled high on top of her head, was sliding down one side, hair clips were sticking out and the odd strand was making a bid for freedom. Her make-up, which had almost been a work of art, was running down her face making her look like something from a horror film.

“Don’t just stand there, do something,” Sybil shouted.

“Would you like me to run you a bath?” I asked, taking the shoes from her and putting them outside the rooms. Someone would have the job of doing something with them in the morning, but that was for them to think of what. I would have thought the bin would be a good solution, but My Lady would probably expect them to be cleaned and repaired.

“A hot bath would be a start,” she said. “I would like to complain about the car they sent for me. The idiot took me to a convent of all places and they were holding a vigil, a silent vigil,” she added with a shudder, following me into the bathroom, discarding what was left of the dress as she went.

“Tell the manager I want that cleaned and repaired for tomorrow, I hold him totally responsible for the state it’s in,” she shouted.

“Of course My Lady,” I smiled, putting in the plug, turning on the taps and pouring some heavily scented bath oil into the running water.

Once my Lady had got into the bath, I thought I could leave her to it, but first she wanted her hair washing, then her back scrubbing, her feet massaged. I thought she’d finished when she demanded clean hot towels, but then she wanted her dressing gown and she had to have her hair dried and brushed. I was beginning to think that a maid could die of exhaustion working for her, when.

“I want feeding,” Sybil shouted. “Get me some food.”

“Of course My Lady,” I smiled. “What do you want”?

“Something to eat,” she shouted. “You decide what.”

“OK,” I said ringing room service.

“My Lady requires food,” I told the reception.

“What would she like?” the receptionist asked.

“Good question,” I said.

“Like that,” said the receptionist. “We’ll think of something. It will be along shortly.”

“And I need a drink,” Sybil shouted, walking into the sitting room in her bath robe, which was somewhat wet.

“Of course,” I said, pouring out a stiff drink with a large dose of the sleeping potion in it.

“That’s better,” said Sybil after she’d taken a large swig from the glass. “You keep those coming and I’ll forgive you anything.”

It took half an hour for the drink to have any effect, but by the time room service had arrived with the food, she was fast asleep and snoring loudly on the sofa.

“I’ve brought some food for your Lady,” said the person from room service, standing with a trolley at the door to the suite.

“Thank-you,” I smiled. “I’ll make sure that she gets them.”

“I can push it into the room,” he offered.

“I can manage, thank-you,” I smiled, pulling the trolley into the room and closing the door on him. Then waved my wand to erase his memory and to put a large tip in his pocket.

The cock was just starting to crow when I finished the last of the food that had been sent up. Sybil was still spark out and looked to be staying that way for a while. I slipped into the bedroom and pulled the mirror out of the wardrobe.

“Where is the Head Fairy,” I asked the mirror.

“I’m right behind you,” I heard her say. “And where are my gems?”

“Sybil is wearing them but she’s out cold on the sofa,” I hissed.

“Then it should be easy to get them,” she said snapping her fingers. They flew through the air and into their box, pulling the lid shut behind them.

“You’ve got them well trained,” I said as she put them in her pocket.

“Where to now?” she asked.

“You’ve got the Jewellery and I’ve got the mirror,” I said putting it into a shoulder bag. “I think it’s time to make a quick exit before someone wakes up.”

“I’d like to give her a piece of my mind,” muttered the Head Fairy.

“But, I think we’d do better leaving,” I said.

“I have to get these gems back,” said the Head Fairy. “And we need to do something with that mirror.”

“I promised it a place of honour on the wall of the Fairy Hall,” I said.

“I think I can organise that,” said the Head Fairy, taking the bag with the mirror in. “I shall be in touch,” she added before flying out of the window.

“I’d better get back to the shoe makers house and see how everyone is getting on,” I thought to myself waving my wand and finding myself standing in front of the shoe makers house.

“What took you so long?” asked the shoe maker. “We’ve been here for hours.”

“He’s in a grumpy mood because his wife is angry with him for letting their home get in such a mess,” said the ex door man.

“Have you seen inside this place?” asked the shoe makers wife.

“It was a mess,” I agreed, waving my wand again.

“Look,” said the wife, opening the door to a clean tidy house.

“I hope that is better,” I said.

“It is,” she smiled, giving her husband a big hug.

“Now, you two,” I said turning back to the two men.

“I need a job,” said the ex door man looking hopefully.

“And I want to get back to the village,” said the other.

“I can understand that, it looked a nice place, peaceful,” I said.

“The best beach in the country,” he said. “Golden sand that goes on for miles. I have a hotel there, now the curse is gone I can do it up and reopen it.

“I don’t suppose you’ll need a door man?” the ex door man asked hopefully.

“Of course,” said the other man. “And if you’d like a holiday there,” he said to me.

“A holiday, I could really do with a holiday,” I sighed.

“All we have to do is get there,” he said.

“That could be a problem,” said the ex door man.

“Not really,” I said waving my wand and suddenly we were standing on a beach next to a rather run down hotel, but the sun was shining and there were deck chairs which didn’t collapse when I sat on them.

“You enjoy the sun,” he said. “We’ll get you a drink.”

It wasn’t the hotel owner or his new door man who returned with a drink, it wasn’t exactly a drink either, it was a bucket of ice cold water thrown at me by the Head Fairy.

“What do you think you are doing lolling around in the sun?” the Head Fairy snapped.

“I had to make sure all the loose ends were tied up,” I said, trying to ring some of the water out of my dress.

“Elucidate,” the Head Fairy snapped. “I see you sleeping on a deck chair, not tying up loose ends.”

“I had to make sure that everyone got back to the shoe makers house. Then I had to stop the row between the shoe maker and his wife,” I explained.

“It wasn’t necessary to use your wand,” she snapped.

“It speeded up the clean up job,” I said. “And then the two other men, one wanted to go home, he owns a hotel and offered the ex door man a job there.”

“Did you have to go back with them?” she asked.

“Had to check that the village was back to normal,” I said.

“And I have to explain all of this to the Fairy Council,” the Head Fairy snapped. “So you are coming with me to explain your part in this whole sorry affair.”

“Now?” I asked.

“Now,” she said and with one snap of her fingers we were standing in front of the Fairy Council and the looks on their faces looked anything but happy.

By Janice Nye © 2019