The Fairy Godmother Part 76

“It hasn’t been this clean and tidy since,” and Enid paused. “Since I don’t remember when.”

“I would like to argue the point,” I said. “But it is the first time I’ve been in here. Got to say I would have thought that your rooms would be spotless and organised.”

“I have a busy life,” Enid replied.

“You’ve been suspended as Head of the Fairy Council for a few weeks now,” I replied. “There were take away containers that had mummified remains in them, you could at least have thrown out the rubbish!”

“After a while they stop smelling,” said Enid.

“And they start developing their own ecosystem,” I replied.

“It’s not that bad,” Enid replied.

“There was a line of ants taking the contents of one box away!” I said.

“I hope you haven’t deprived them of whatever it was,” said Enid, looking slightly worried.

“No, I traced where they were coming from and took the box to them, it’ll save their little legs,” I sighed. “However, this lack of cleanliness isn’t good.”

“OK! I stuffed up!” said Enid.

“I know what Eve would have said if I’d let my room get in that state,” I said, not that it would’ve, the rooms were checked daily and nothing could be out of place.

“Probably the same as she said to me if there was any rubbish in my room, even if it was in the bin,” said Enid. “I don’t know why we had bins, we had to empty them as soon as we put anything in.”

“I know what you mean,” I sighed. “But you know the standards she set, why did you let it get to this?”

“I don’t know,” said Enid, sitting down suddenly, on the floor.

“Was it when Lily died?” I asked cautiously, though I knew that wasn’t the case, the dates on some of the rubbish went way back before then.

“No,” said Enid. “Though I think it has got worse since then.”

“So when do you think it all started?” I asked, sitting down opposite her.

“Difficult to say,” said Enid. “Lily was always the perfect one, when she went to school, she was immaculate. I tripped up and landed in a puddle, mud all down my dress and frogs in my hat! When we got home, I got put in the bath and was sent to bed without any tea, she had fruit salad and ice-cream. Everything she did was perfect, I stuffed up every time, but she was my sister. Now she’s gone, they act like she never existed and I’m still the failure.”

“I think what you need is something the humans call closure,” I said.

“It’s a bit hard to have a funeral without a body, anyway they seem so maudlin,” Enid replied.

“A memorial service,” I suggested.

“No one else has suggested it, Mum and Dad definitely wouldn’t go, so what would be the point,” Enid replied, shrugging her shoulders.

“The point would be to enable you to move on,” I said.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because this isn’t good for you,” I snapped.

“Who cares?” she asked.

“I do,” I replied. “Isn’t that enough?”

“I thought you hated me,” she said.

“You are my Mother,” I said.

“That doesn’t mean much,” she said.

“It does to me,” I replied. “And much as I may have arguments with you, I don’t want to see you like this.”

“You could always leave,” Enid replied.

“Or I could shake you till you have something to feel sorry for yourself about,” I said.

“I have lost my sister!” she shouted.

“So you need to do something to express that loss or it will consume you,” I shouted back at her.

“Like what?” she asked.

“We could go to the back of beyond and yell at the moon,” I suggested.

“And what good will that do?” asked Enid.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “I think it might be to let out all the anguish or something, some human’s do it.”

“So?” asked Enid.

“We could give it a go,” I suggested.

“What if someone saw us, it would be so embarrassing,” Enid replied.

“So we make sure there is no one there,” I said.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“No, but that doesn’t mean I’m not prepared to try,” I said.

“When should we do it?” Enid asked.

“Now,” I said waving my wand.

“Where the hell are we?” asked Enid, looking round carefully because we were on the top of a mountain.

“We are at the top of the back of beyond,” I said, looking down. “And the sun is in the process of setting.”

“So how long do we have to wait before we can howl at the moon?” asked Enid. “And what do we do whilst we are waiting? I’m getting cold!”

“We build a campfire,” I said.

“With what?” Enid asked. “If you hadn’t noticed, we are quite a distance above the tree line.”

“And I am a Fairy Godmother,” I said, giving my wand a little twitch and a campfire appeared in the centre of a circle of stones.

“What about reducing the use of your wand?” Enid asked.

“What about it?” I replied.

“What are we going to do whilst we wait for the moon?” Enid asked changing the subject.

“We could talk,” I suggested.

“About what?” she asked, sitting down on one of the stones and leaning towards the camp fire.

“Why didn’t you tell Natasha that I was due?” I asked.

“She’d want me to get someone else to carry you, like she did with me and Lily,” said Enid.

“And you didn’t want to do that,” I said.

“No,” snapped Enid.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I wanted to be closer to you than I was to Natasha,” Enid snapped.

“So what happened?” I asked.

“Things weren’t easy,” said Enid.

“One thing I’ve learnt, life is never easy,” I replied.

“I turned to my family for help,” Enid said.

“With most families that would work,” I said.

“But not ours,” snapped Enid.

“So, what happened?” I asked.

“Any time I had problems, all I got was other people manage or drop the brat off at the nursery,” said Enid. “Sorry.”

“And you get that told enough and you finally do it,” I said.

“I’d had a really bad week, you were teething and I hadn’t had any sleep. Natasha took me there,” said Enid. “She did the talking and got me to sign the papers.”

“How did you feel when you had?” I asked.

“I felt like shit,” she said. “Like I am the worst mother in existence.”

“Well, you aren’t,” I said. “Natasha is.”

“Natasha kept us, I didn’t keep you,” she yelled.

“You may have been in the same house as her, but you didn’t know who she was,” I said. “I wouldn’t call that keeping you. Also, she let you down when you need her most.”

“I should have known what to do,” said Enid.

“You had Natasha as an example,” I said. “How are you expected to learn about maternal instincts from her, a cuckoo could give her lessons on child care!”

“But,” said Enid.

“You tried,” I said. “And you said you wanted to make things right with me.”

“If it’s possible,” said Enid.

“That’s the difference between you and Natasha,” I replied. “She will never admit to doing anything wrong and until she does that, she can’t even start making things right.”

“Does this mean I have a chance?” Enid asked.

“That is a glorious full moon,” I said pointing at it. “Come on Mum, lets howl at the moon.”

By Janice Nye © 2020