The Fairy Godmother Part 52

“What have you done?” I demanded of Enid when the people and everything else outside the gate house vanished, leaving a milky white nothingness.

“I just put everything on hold,” said Enid.

“What!” said Jim and Derek.

“I just pressed the pause button, that’s all,” said Enid acting as if she hadn’t done anything wrong. Then again, she probably didn’t think she had done anything wrong.

“You’ve got to undo it,” I said. “That is abuse of power and you know that.”

“They are going to break in and wreak havoc on Jim’s home,” Enid replied. “You don’t want that now do you?”

“Of course I don’t,” I replied. “But there has to be an alternative to this, it isn’t as if it’s sustainable.”

“No, but it does give us some time to think about what to do next,” Enid smiled.

“That’s true,” said Jim.

“I know,” said Derek. “But I have been thinking about it since Burns night and not come up with any answers, they want to buy the place out and they aren’t going to stop till they’ve got it.”

“But the people in the big house,” I said.

“Can’t or wont do anything to help us,” said Derek. “I keep asking and all I get is, “you must do what you must do”, a great deal of help that isn’t.”

“And why do they want the hotel?” I asked.

“They don’t,” said Derek. “They plan to demolish it, it’s the land they want for a golf course.”

“Golf! I agree with whoever it was that said it is a waste of a good walk,” said Enid.

“Wont they need a club house?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Derek. “But they didn’t want the hotel, they have plans for something, they think it’s going to win lots of architectural design awards, it will be ground breaking and make their names.”

“It will be an eyesore,” said Enid. “They always are.”

“They are using the situation to benefit themselves,” I said.

“We know that,” snapped Derek. “What we don’t know is how to get them to back off. It’s doing my head in.”

“We need to find a way to get them to help you do the hotel up, find a way that is beneficial to all concerned,” I replied.

“How are we going to do that?” asked Jim.

“We need to talk to them,” I said.

“And how are we going to organise that?” he asked.

“I don’t suppose you have a phone number for them?” I asked. “Then we can arrange a meeting.”

“What about that lot out there?” Derek asked, glancing at the window. “It doesn’t matter what we agree with the architects, it’s going to take a while for the message to get through to them and they could do quite a bit of damage in the meantime.”

“We could move them elsewhere,” I suggested.

“They may smash that place up as well,” said Jim.

“I could move them to the architects office,” said Enid.

“That would be interesting,” said Jim.

“OK,” said Enid waving her wand. The view returned to the window, but the people were no longer there. Derek’s phone rang

“It’s them,” he muttered.

“Answer it,” I said. “Put it on speaker and record the call.”

“Can you do that?” asked Enid.

“Yes,” said Derek, putting the phone down on the table.

“Derek,” said a voice, in the background we could hear other voices raised voices.

“Hello Dean,” said Derek. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“We went where you said and something weird happened and suddenly we are here,” said a voice in the background.

“Can’t you keep that lot quiet,” Dean hissed.

“Sorry about that, a school visit, my colleague is taking them to another part of the building,” Dean said to Derek.

“I don’t think so,” said Enid.

“Who’s that?” asked Derek.

“I am,” Enid paused for a moment. “I am Derek’s Fairy Godmother, Enid, and I just returned your people to you.”

“Enid, your Fairy Godmother!” Dean stuttered.

“Enid!,” said the voice in the background. “We’re off, don’t bother contacting us again.”

“But,” said another voice.

“We know Enid and I for one am not going to do anything to upset her,” said one of the people we sent there.

“They’ve gone!” Dean was told.

“We need to talk,” said Enid.

“I don’t know,” said Dean.

Enid waved her wand and Dean and his colleague were standing in Jim’s living room.

“When I say we need to talk,” said Enid. “It is not open for debate.”

“She is my Fairy Godmother,” said Derek with a smile.

“Oh shit!” muttered Dean’s colleague.

“The golf course,” said Enid.

“We have a client who has great plans for the area,” said Dean.

“Don’t you think it would be better if you got agreement from the people here rather than threaten them into submission?” I asked.

“It isn’t the way our client works,” said Dean’s colleague.

“John!” Dean hissed at him.

“Don’t try to shut him up,” said Enid.

“Who are your clients?” I asked.

“Client confidentiality,” said Dean.

“Do you want to get out of this building in the next hundred years?” asked Enid, tapping her wand on the back of a chair.

“See the building up there,” said Dean.

“But the people there have been helpful to us,” said Jim.

“The old man may be, but he’s not long for this world and his son hates the place,” said Dean.

“So it is the son who is behind all of this,” said Enid.

“I didn’t say that,” said Dean.

“I think his Father needs to know this,” said Enid, waving her wand and we appeared in his office.

“Enid,” said the old man sitting behind the desk.

“Would you care to explain to my son why it is not a good idea to build a golf course here?” he said.

“You know him?” Dean asked.

“Yes,” Enid replied. “I am also his Fairy Godmother.”

“You don’t look old enough,” said Dean without thinking.

“I shall take that as a compliment,” said Enid. “Most things wouldn’t be a problem, but a golf course, there are a group of imps living in the woods, down there,” she added pointing out of the window.

“So what,” muttered the old man’s son. “They’re at the edge of the course, they wont be effected.”

“Normally they collect small stones and throw them about a bit. If they see golf balls, they may not notice the difference and start collecting them. Generally they are perfectly harmless, but this particular group can get rather aggressive if someone tries to take back anything they have collected,” said Enid.

“In other words they might start pinching the golf balls and get aggressive with anyone who tries to get their balls back?” asked the son.

“Something like that,” said Enid.

“But I want to make a golf course,” he said sounding something like a spoilt child.

“Is this a map of all your estates?” I asked the old man, pointing to a map on the wall.

“Yes,” he smiled. “Though it isn’t as impressive as it might seem, that island there, the soil isn’t every good, there are even pockets of sand around it, not enough to make it worth excavating though.”

“Is this map to scale?” asked Dean walking over to take a better look at it.

“Oh yes,” said the old man. “It’s quite a big island, but it doesn’t have much going for it.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” said John, joining his colleague. “We’ll have to take a look at it, but going by this map, I think it might be a better site for the golf course. It would have an added angle of exclusivity in that you could control who went to the island.”

“I like the sound of that,” said the old man’s son. “If that’s OK with you,” he asked his Father.

“It’s fine by me,” said the old man. “You know where I am if you need any help.”

“Thanks Dad,” he said. “Shall we go to the island?” he asked Dean and John.

“Certainly,” said Dean.

“Will you stop pestering us about the hotel?” asked Derek, as Dean, John and the old man’s son seemed set to walk out.

“Of course,” said the son.

“I think Derek and Jim deserve an apology at the very least,” I said, standing in the doorway.

“I’ve said we aren’t interested any more, isn’t that enough?” said the son.

“No,” I said. “You’ve made their lives a misery for the past few months, your thugs smashed up the hotel bar and wrecked their first attempt at getting the place back on it’s feet, just because you had other plans for the land.”

“I’ll sort it out,” said the old man, reaching for his wallet.

“No, I don’t think that is the solution,” I said. “Your son needs to learn that throwing money at something isn’t going to make it go away. He needs to do something to make amends, show that he’s learnt that you can go pushing people around when you feel like it.”

“So what do you suggest?” asked Enid.

“He doesn’t get the island until he has helped fix the hotel up, and by that I mean actual work as well as paying for the materials needed,” I replied.

“Sounds reasonable,” said the old man.

“But!” the son stuttered.

“I would not advise arguing with Fairy Godmothers,” said his Father.

“The sooner you start, the sooner you get your island,” I said.

“This should be interesting,” muttered Jim.

“We will be there to supervise,” said Enid smiling.

By Janice Nye © 2020