The Fairy Godmother Part 78

“Where am I?” I thought, my eyes gradually focusing on a ceiling that I didn’t recognise. There was a knock on the door.

“Are you awake?” came Enid’s voice and then I remembered where I was.

“Only just,” I replied with a yawn.

“What do you normally have for breakfast?” Enid asked.

“Tea and toast,” I said. “But don’t worry, I can always go to the canteen.”

“I can do tea and toast,” Enid replied. “I don’t have any jam or marmalade though.”

“It’s OK, I just have toast and butter,” I replied, getting dressed quickly. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

“The bathroom’s across the hall from your room,” she said. When I looked out the hall was empty, but there was a clean towel in the bathroom, so I set about tidying myself in readiness for tea and toast.

“What are your plans for today?” Enid asked after we finished the tea and I took the dishes to the sink.

“Shall I wash and you dry?” I asked.

“OK,” she sighed. “But I was just going to wave my wand over them.”

“And you complained to me about excessive wand use,” I said filling the sink with hot water, there were a few dishes in there that looked as if they’d been there a few days at least. I don’t know why I missed them the day before.

“You needn’t bother with some of the older dishes,” Enid said. “I’ll do them later.”

“I’ve got a sink full of hot water,” I smiled. “I may as well wash those as well,” I added, putting the plates to the bottom in the hope that the hot water would loosen up whatever it was that was stuck to them.”

“If you must,” she sighed, looking round for a clean tea towel, fortunately there was a knock on the door.

“Hello Enid,” said Velvet holding out a bag of laundry. “You brought this lot down yesterday.”

“Thank-you,” said Enid, opening up the bag probably looking for tea towels, there didn’t seem to be any clean ones in the kitchen.

“I was beginning to think you’d found someone else to do your washing for you,” said Velvet, not moving from the door step.

“No,” said Enid. “I don’t think anyone could wash anything cleaner than you. I’ve just been a bit busy lately and I forgot to take them down. Thank-you for being so prompt.”

“No problem,” Velvet smiled, finally walking away.

“If I knew anyone else who did laundry I’d take them there,” Enid muttered.

“Why?” I asked. “As you said, she does a very good job.”

“But she’s always asking questions,” said Enid. “Here are the tea towels, at the bottom of the bag!”

“There are some dishes to dry,” I replied pointing to the draining board. “You know where they all go.”

“Of course,” said Enid, picking up a plate, drying it and then searching through the cupboards to find out where to put it, just like I would have done. I carried on with the washing without comment.

“So what are your plans for today?” asked Enid again when she found a cupboard with plates in.

“I thought I’d better check up on the magazine, see how they are coping with Natasha,” I said.

“Good luck,” said Enid, almost dropping the plate as she reached up to put it away.

“Do you want to come with me and see her at work?” I asked.

“I’ve seen her at work before,” Enid replied. “I’ll miss on that, if you don’t mind.”

“I’m sure it wont be that bad,” I smiled, though I wasn’t entirely sure about the matter myself.

“They may be lucky, if they remember to worship the ground she treads on and do exactly what she tells them to do without questioning anything,” said Enid.

“What are you going to do?” I asked in return.

“I thought I’d potter round here, do any housework we missed out on,” said Enid looking around her.

“I’ll give you a hand,” I smiled.

“But what about the magazine?” asked Enid.

“They thought they could get along without me,” I replied. “I shall give them the chance to do that and come in at the last minute, so if they need some help, I’ll be there.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Enid smiled.

Everything was running smoothly when I arrived at the printing press. The magazine was being printed and the first batches were being loaded into vans for delivery. I have to admit to feeling slightly disappointed that my assistance wasn’t needed, then again, I had set it all up so that everything would run smoothly, so I should have felt pleased that my planning had worked.

“Natasha is wonderful,” said the Editor. “Everything ready to go, in plenty of time, I’m going to be home before midnight for the first time ever.”

“Glad it’s all worked so well.” I replied. “Where are the girls?”

“Georgie has gone off with my Grandson and Juliet has gone home,” said the Editor. “I would have thought they’d all go off together to celebrate, but for some reason Juliet thought she’d be a gooseberry if she went with them,” he added looking puzzled.

“Georgie and your Grandson seem to be a couple,” I tried to explain. “I think Juliet felt she’d be in the way.”

“Nonsense,” the Editor laughed.

“I think Juliet has her heart set on someone,” I said trying to turn the conversation away from the Editors Grandson and Georgie.

And he isn’t paying any attention to her?” the Editor asked much to my surprise.

“I don’t think so,” I replied.

“Then he’s an idiot,” the Editor replied.

“That I wouldn’t argue with,” I smiled. “The problem is to get him to notice her.”

“Who is this man?” asked the Editor.

“He is the photographer for the other magazine,” I tried to explain.

“You mean the ex-photographer for the other magazine,” the Editor smiled. “They sacked him this morning. The editor blamed him for the drop in sales.”

“From what I understand, he was the main reason the magazine was selling any copies in the first place,” I said.

“I was thinking of offering him a job, that is if he is prepared to work with Juliet,” the Editor smiled. “She is the one who has the best ideas for layout and photographs.”

“Sounds like she’s spending a lot of time here,” I said. “What does the bookshop owner think of that.”

“She packed in her job there, she’s working full time here now,” the Editor explained. “Hadn’t they told you?”

“I’ve had a few family issues to sort out,” I smiled. “And they seemed to be managing without me, so I left them to it. They knew how to contact me if they needed to.”

“They said you were upset,” said the Editor.

“The idea of the Fairy Godmother is to steer people in the right direction and let them get on with it,” I explained.

“I told them they aught to invite you to join in the celebrations,” said the Editor. “They said you wouldn’t want to, but I said it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

“Instead they left me sitting around waiting for them to come back and tell me how things had gone,” I sighed.

“Very inconsiderate,” he said. “So you’re here to see if they’ve mad a mess of things?”

“I know that makes me sound bad,” I said. “But, I didn’t leave it too late to sort things out.”

“But not without magic,” he replied.

“Like I said. Family problems, I forgot it was printing day today,” I replied smiling hopefully.

“I believe you,” he smiled.

“Tell them I called round,” I said.

“I will when I see them,” he smiled as I disappeared back to my room. Everything was sorted, but somehow it didn’t feel as if I had given them there happy ever after, it didn’t feel properly finished.

By Janice Nye © 2020