The Fairy Godmother Part 37

“Not important!” I shouted at Enid as she waved her wand and we reappeared in her office. “How can you say something like that and dismiss it as not important?”

The others in the office looked up and disappeared quickly, I think they knew that now was not a good time to be there.

“Your Mother couldn’t carry you, so I took over,” said Enid. “It’s not that important.”

“It is to me,” I shouted.

“You are being hysterical,” Enid replied and with a wave of her wand I found myself in a small white walled, ceiling and floored room, with no windows or doors. It had nothing in it, not even a light, though soft light was being emitted from all surfaces.

“You can’t do this to me,” I shouted hitting my hand on the nearest wall. It was surprisingly soft considering.

“The room wont allow you to hurt yourself, so there is no purpose in hitting it,” said Enid.

“There is plenty of reason to hit it,” I said, throwing myself of the floor and pounding it. The floor took the pounding without hurting my hands or my feet. After ten minutes, I gave up, rolled over onto my back and lay there.

“I told you that was pointless,” she said.

“So was sending me here,” I replied.

“You were hysterical,” she said.

“And now I see clearly,” I replied. “You are no more my mother than the kettle and you have no more feelings for me than anything else you use.”

“I have never used you,” shouted Enid. “I have always done my best for you, I have been protecting you from criticism for years.”

“If that’s your idea of looking after me, I’d hate to be on your wrong side,” I shouted back. “And who was it that was criticising me anyway.”

“Lily,” Enid admitted grudgingly. “She thought I was stupid for taking you on.”

“Lily!” I shouted. “Aunty Lily, the one who caused all these problems in the first place.”

“She didn’t cause the problems, she was trying to solve them,” Enid tried to explain.

“The one who isn’t here to answer for her meddling,” I snapped.

“I will not have you talking like that about her,” said Enid, appearing in the room next to me.

“Seems like I’m the last person to be considered in all of this,” I replied glaring at her.

“I think you’ve been amongst humans too much, they have contaminated you with ideas of happy families,” said Enid, sighing.

“I wouldn’t say they were all happy,” I said. “I would imagine Jessie will have a few things to say to her Mother when she next meets her.”

“Why?” asked Enid.

“Giving someone permission to drop in an extra baby,” I said.

“That was supposed to be removed after birth and she was never supposed to see her,” said Enid.

“And that is supposed to make her feel better?” I asked.

“I don’t see that it was anything to do with her,” Enid replied.

“Nothing to do with her, carrying two babies instead of one!” I snapped.

“It wouldn’t have made much of a demand on her,” said Enid.

“And you would know?” I asked.

“I carried you for six months and I barely noticed you were there,” said Enid.

“That isn’t the way with humans, being pregnant takes quite a bit out of them and can be quite risky,” I replied.

“She was pregnant anyway,” said Enid.

“The more babies the greater the risk,” I replied. “She should have been told, it is her life.”

“Maybe,” Enid agreed grudgingly. “But that wasn’t my decision.”

“No,” I agreed. “But you didn’t even see why she should have been part of that decision, so if you were in the same position you would do just the same.”

“This is getting us nowhere,” said Enid trying to close down the subject.

“And where do you want to go?” I asked. “You put me in here, there are no exits and I still don’t have my wand back. I would have thought you should be asking the council for that at least after all, I can’t do my job properly without it.”

“You were managing better than I thought you would,” said Enid.

“You haven’t answered my question, where do you want to go,” I asked, my eyes following her pacing the room.

“I need to think,” she said and with a wave of her wand she was gone.

“That’s typical of you,” I yelled at nothing. “You never answer the important questions.”

“You aren’t the only person under my care,” she replied.

“But I’m the one you gave birth to,” I replied. “Not that that means anything to you.”

“You were taken to the nursery as soon as you were born,” Enid replied. “I wasn’t needed.”

“Did you even see me?” I asked.

“It wasn’t considered necessary,” she replied.

“Did you want to see me?” I asked.

“It’s a long time ago, I don’t remember,” she replied. “Now, I have work to do.”

“So do I,” I snapped, though I didn’t know what it was.

“I shall sort that out,” Enid replied.

“Always have to have the last word,” I thought, but there was no reply, I did consider thumping the floor, but it did nothing, so I went to sleep.

I woke up somewhere else, on a very dusty roof beam if I wasn’t mistaken. I sat up carefully and peered over the edge to the Hall of the Fairy Council, which seemed like a long way down.

“And to what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?” asked the fairy who had demanded our presence earlier.

“I have come here to request that the council return the wand to one of my Fairy Godmothers,” said Enid. “The last head of council took the wand away as punishment for over use, but in my judgement she has learned the error of her ways and will be more circumspect in her use of it from now on.”

“So you think the punishment should be lifted?” the fair asked.

“Yes,” Enid replied. “She can not perform her job to full efficiency until it is returned.”

“Your request will be considered,” the fairy replied, returning her gaze to the paperwork which she had been dealing with when Enid had walked in.

“And when will I get a decision?” Enid asked.

“Good question,” I thought, wondering what the answer would be.

“In due time,” the fairy snapped. “We have other things to do.”

“Such as?” asked Enid, never one to waste words.

“We need a new head of the council,” the fairy replied. “In case you hadn’t noticed, we are missing one.”

“Hard to tell, since you are sitting in Lily’s seat,” Enid replied. “I assumed you had taken on the job.”

“I would not do such a thing,” she replied indignantly.

“What options do you have?” Enid asked. I presume she was hoping to sort that problem out in order to speed up the return of my wand.

“Yours was the only name that came up,” sighed the fairy. “We have been looking through the possible options, but as yet there are none.”

“Are you saying either I take on the job or the Council sits in limbo?” asked Enid.

“About sums it up,” said the fairy.

“And what about my job?” Enid asked.

“Job?” the fairy looked confused.

“I am the head of the Fairy Godmothers?” Enid asked.

“I’m sure you could do both,” the fairy smiled. “You are good at getting things done.”

“Looks like I’ll have to,” Enid replied. “Now, get out of my chair, we have work to do.”

“Yes,” said the fairy quickly shifting herself to the chair furthest away from Enid.

“Right, we have work to do,” Enid said to the whole of the council, whilst flying over the table and settling herself in Lily’s chair. “These cushions can go,” she added flinging them across the room. “I have no intention of making myself too comfortable.”

“They’re going to wish they hadn’t done this,” I thought.

“And you,” Enid said looking up to the rafters. I floated down, trying to look like I had every right to be there.

“Here is your wand,” Enid said. “Use it with care, you don’t want it taken away again.”

“Of course,” I said.

“You have work to do,” Enid replied.

“I’m on my way,” I said heading for the door.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 36

“Where have you been?” snapped an angry voice as soon as we reappeared in Enid’s office.

“We have been working,” Enid replied coldly. “What business is it of yours?”

“I am a member of the Fairy Council and we demand your presence in the Hall now,” she replied, looking from Enid to me as if she wasn’t sure which of us she was talking to.

“The Fairy Council has no right to demand my presence or that of anyone working under me,” Enid replied.

“At the moment,” came the reply

“And what do you mean by that?” Enid asked.

“Things may change when a new Head is appointed,” the fairy replied, trying to sound threatening, but somehow, the lopsided ring of wilting flowers on her head did rather spoil the effect.

“Things change whenever a Head is elected,” said Enid. “Why should this be any different?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But they want you there and you weren’t in your office.”

“I don’t sit in my office waiting for the call,” Enid snapped, pointing the fairy towards the door. “I have work to do.”

“But,” said the fairy starting to look bewildered.

“I will come this time, as will my assistant, but do not use the word demand in my presence ever again,” said Enid.

“I just thought,” the fairy stuttered.

“Well, don’t think, it doesn’t suit you,” Enid replied. The fairy looked about to burst into tears and I was glad that we had come to the doors to the Fairy Council Chamber. The footman standing by the door opened it and the fairy ran off sobbing.

“Was that necessary?” I asked as we stood waiting to be announced.

“No,” said Enid. “But neither was demanding my presence.”

“Enid,” said someone sitting where Lily normally sat.

“Yes,” replied Enid walking towards the table.

“We have been looking at a list of the names put forward for the appointment of Head of the Fairy Council,” said the Fairy whom I think had been sitting two seats to the right of Lily.

“What has that got to do with me?” asked Enid.

“Your name has been put forward by at least six members of the council,” she told her.

“I thought you had to be a member of the council to be a contender?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“Strict rule of the council, speak when you are spoken to or not at all,” Enid told me.

“Thank-you,” said the fairy, but we can enforce our own rules. “One more word from you,” she added looking at me, “And you will be asked to leave.” Personally I didn’t think it was much of a threat, but I decided it was best not to argue about it.

“I am not a member of the Fairy Council,” said Enid. “So why was I nominated.”

“We have decided that as Head of the Fairy Godmothers, it is about time you had a seat on the council,” she replied. “And so, as a member of the council you are eligible for election as head of the council.”

“So you gave me a place on the council just so that you could make me it’s head,” Enid snapped.

“It might sound like that,” said the fairy looking uncomfortable. “But Lily was the only one who stopped you being on the council, she vetoed it every time it came up.”

“And you think that now my sister is dead, I’m going to leap in and take her place,” said Enid. “Well she didn’t want me on the council, for whatever reason that was, so I shall respect her wishes.”

“What do you mean?” asked the fairy councillor.

“You can take your seat on the council and,” Enid started to stutter. “Give it to someone else.” With that she turned round and walked out of the door, I followed closely behind. It was only the presence of two footmen holding tightly onto the Chamber doors that stopped Enid slamming the doors behind her.

“I suppose you think I should have taken the seat,” said Enid an hour later, when she finally stopped walking. I hadn’t realised that the gardens went on quite so far.

“I wouldn’t have done, had I been in your position,” I replied.

“That is unlikely to happen,” Enid replied. “And anyway, you didn’t answer my question.”

“I would have been very surprised if you had taken the seat,” I said, hoping that I was going to get the right answer this time.

“You are still avoiding the question,” Enid snapped.

“As Head of the Fairy Council you could have changed a lot of things,” I said.

“That’s what Lily thought when she took on the post,” Enid sighed. “She soon found out that what she could do and what she thought she could do where two different things. The more she tried to change things the more she found out that they couldn’t be changed. She was getting bogged down in the whole red tape of the thing.”

“Is that why she vetoed you taking up a seat on the council?” I asked.

“Yes,” Enid replied. “At least I think that is why, she was never much on talking to me,” she sighed and sat down on a bit of moss.

“Is that why you are so upset about all of this?” I asked.

“No.” Enid snapped. “She never once acknowledged who I was when she was alive, why on earth should I be upset about her passing.”

“I, I’m sorry,” I muttered, it was hard to know what to say without putting my foot in it.

“She didn’t want me as a sister,” Enid sighed.

“She might have been trying to protect you,” I suggested. “You know what councils can be like, all that infighting, she probably didn’t want to have you dragged into it.”

“We could have worked together on things,” Enid replied. “And now we never can.”

“Shame” I said.

“Yes, but we are fairies,” said Enid. “We do not do family ties.”

“Don’t we?” I asked, wishing I knew who my family were, assuming I had some. “At least you knew she was your sister and you know who your Mother is.”

“So?” she asked. “This would not have been a problem if it wasn’t for family ties.”

“But it wouldn’t have been solved without them,” I replied.

“Human’s, just because they give birth to someone, they feel that they must take care of them,” Enid sighed.

“If you gave birth to someone wouldn’t you want to make sure they were OK?” I asked. “Even if it wasn’t your baby.”

“I do,” she snapped. “I take care of you,” she snapped. “God knows how many times I have saved you from the Fairy Council.”

“Your my Mother?” I asked stunned.

“Not exactly, Lily and I had another sister, I’ve forgotten her name, anyway, she was frail, she wasn’t well enough to carry you, so I carried you for her,” said Enid, looking at anything but me.

“Why was I never told?” I asked.

“It wasn’t important,” Enid replied. “Anyway, we’d better get back to the office, see what is going on.”

by Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 35

“So,” I smiled at Judith. “What do we do now?”

“Wait,” she suggested.

“But do we sit here and watch the clock or do we get on with something useful?” I asked.

“What do you mean useful?” she asked.

“Well, I’m sure you had plenty of things lined up for today till Jessie and Ella turned up on your doorstep,” I said.

“Of course,” Judith snapped. “What of it?”

“Well, Jessie isn’t here to help you, so I could give you a hand whilst we’re waiting,” I suggested.

“Why would you do that?” she asked.

“They could be gone for a while, it saves us getting board, time passes quicker if you have something useful to do and the work needs to be done sometime, so I may as well give you a hand with it. Stop me when you’ve heard something that sounds reasonable, I have been told that I can keep going for hours and that I do tend to repeat myself after a while,” I paused for breath. “Or we could try baking, I am told that I am very good at Fairy cakes, but then I wouldn’t be much of a Fairy Godmother if I couldn’t bake a few Fairy Cakes.”

“I did have a full day of house work planned till all this happened,” said Judith. “I’m sure Jessie would have given me a hand.”

“But things have gone pants,” I smiled.

“This wasn’t how I thought today would pan out,” Judith smiled.

“If they hadn’t taken my magic wand away, I could have waved it and everything would do itself,” I said. “So, just tell me what you want doing and how you want it done and they will be back when we are right in the middle of something.”

“Or when we are just ready to start something,” Judith laughed.

Enid waved her wand. Jessie and she vanished to appear outside a large detached house, set in a large well tended garden.

“I can see why you wanted to bring Ella here,” said Jessie, when Enid looked confused Jessie added. “It’s so much better than we could ever give her.”

“It wasn’t my decision to bring Ella here,” said Enid.

“If it had been?” asked Jessie.

“I would not have taken your daughter anywhere without your consent,” Enid replied. “Either daughter,” she added quietly. The front door opened before she could say anything else.

“What have you brought her here for?” a man demanded of Enid.

“This is Ella’s mother,” said Enid.

“I know who she is,” snapped the man. “We don’t need her, we need Ella or Rosie will die.”

“Then it’s about time you started being polite to me,” snapped Jessie. “Because Ella wont be coming here without my say so.”

“You aren’t helping anything,” said a woman emerging from the shadows.

“Rosie,” he started.

“I know how Rosie is,” snapped the woman. “And the longer we argue the less likely it is for Rosie to be OK.”

“I’m only trying to help,” he muttered.

“Well, you’ve failed,” said the woman.

“But,” he muttered.

“You are wasting what little time Rosie has,” said the woman turning her back on him, he sighed and walked back into the house.

“You forced me to carry your child, stole her from me at birth, then tried to kill me and my husband so that you could get hold of my daughter to stop yours from dying,” said Jessie.

“That about sums it up,” said the woman.

“So why should I do anything to help you?” Jessie asked.

“This isn’t for you,” said the woman. “It’s for Rosie.”

“And if the shoe was on the other foot,” asked Jessie. “Would you do this for Ella?”

“It isn’t,” said the woman. “And it is difficult to say how I would react in your position.”

“At least you didn’t say what you thought would give you that right result,” said Jessie.

“Why did you come here?” asked the woman.

“I want to see Rosie,” said Jessie.

“Why, she is nothing to you,” said the woman.

“I carried her, I gave birth to her, she is not nothing to me,” snapped Jessie.

“But,” said the woman.

“If I don’t see her, I wont believe that she exists,” said Jessie. “If she doesn’t exist then there is no reason for me to stay here and no reason for me to bring my daughter here.”

“OK,” said the woman, stepping to one side. “You can see Rosie.”

Enid and Jessie followed the woman into the house, up the stairs and into a large darkened bedroom. In the darkest corner there was a child’s bed and in it a very small frail child.

“Rosie?” said Jessie. The child stirred, but did not open her eyes. Jessie sat next to her.

“She looks so like my Ella,” Jessie said to no one in particular.

“If you could bring yourself to help her,” said the woman.

“Would you leave us alone?” asked Jessie.

“I could say yes,” said the woman. “But this condition might recur.”

“And then you would need Ella again,” said Jessie.

“I’m sorry,” said the woman.

“Then we need to organise communication between the two of us,” said Jessie. “Don’t think I am doing this for you.”

“You will agree to the treatment!” the woman sighed.

“Can it be done whilst my daughter sleeps?” Jessie asked.

“She has only a few hours left,” said the woman, looking at Rosie. “We can’t wait till the night.”

“Then it better be done now,” said Jessie. “We’ll get Ella,” she added looking at Enid.

“Thank-you,” said the woman and Enid waved her wand.

“What!” said Judith, as we heard a noise in the living room. We had been in the kitchen washing the dishes.

“I’ve agreed to taking Ella to them,” said Jessie.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” asked Judith.

“Rosie, she looks so much like my Ella,” said Jessie. “I’m doing it for her.

“You’re talking like Rosie is a real person,” said a sleepy Ella standing at the foot of the stairs, still in her nightie.

“She is,” said Jessie. “And she is very poorly. She needs your help to make her better.”

“Then we’d better go to help her,” said Ella. “Should I get dressed first.”

“You will be fine just as you are,” said Enid.

“We’d better go,” said Jessie, picking Ella up. “Get this done before I change my mind.”

“We’ll finish the washing,” I said to Judith as Enid waved her wand.

We had just finished the dishes when Jessie arrived back with a rather tired Ella.

“I’ll put her to bed,” said Judith, taking Ella out of Jessie’s arms. “You look all in.”

“Will she be OK?” Jessie asked Enid.

“She will be now,” said Enid.

“And if she isn’t?” asked Jessie.

“I shall let you know,” I said. “And then the decision is all yours.”

“It better had be,” said Jessie.

“You need to rest,” said Enid. “I’ll give you my phone number, if you have any questions.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll ring,” said Jessie, escorting us to the door.

“Will they be OK now?” I asked Enid.

“Should be,” she sighed.

“How did you talk her into doing it?” I asked.

“I didn’t,” said Enid.

“But?” I asked.

“She looked at Rosie, said how much she looks like Ella and agreed,” Enid sighed.

“So what do we do now?” I asked.

“Go back to the council and see what’s going on,” Enid replied, waving her wand.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 34

“Easy?” I asked Enid.

“Piece of cake, walk in the park,” Enid replied without looking at me.

“We are asking a woman to put her child through a bone marrow transplant for a child whom she was told died at birth,” I said.

“She thought she was expecting one child and she got one child,” said Enid.

“But she was delivered of two, one of whom was taken away without her even seeing them,” I replied.

“It happens all the time with fairies,” said Enid.

“These aren’t fairies we are talking about and they don’t expect it to happen,” I replied.

“We’re here now,” said Enid opening the gate to the garden of a rather average semi-detached house, built around the early 1970’s.

“Are they here?” I asked.

“Hello,” said a lady standing at the door. “And who are you?”

“One of them is the woman from the home who warned me that they were likely to spirit Ella away,” said Jessie. “She got her to me before they could,” she added picking Ella up and holding her closely.

“And the other woman?” she was asked.

“I don’t know,” said Jessie.

“There are a few things we need to talk about,” I said to the woman standing in the doorway.

“I’m not sure,” she said.

“We just want to talk,” I said. “There may be a solution, but it’s going to take a lot of explaining.”

“I’ll listen,” said Jessie. “I’m not making any promises though.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” I said.

“You can come in,” said the woman, looking at me.

“What about Enid?” I asked tilting my head in her direction. “I couldn’t have got Ella out without her help.”

“OK,” the woman agreed, but she didn’t look happy about the idea, can’t say as I was either.

“Have I got this right,” asked Jessie about ten minutes later. “You are saying that I gave birth to twins and that one of them was taken from me shortly after birth!”

“Yes,” I said.

“You’d know if you’d given birth to twins,” said Judith, the woman whose house we were in.

“My memories of the birth are sketchy to say the least,” said Jessie. “I was in so much pain, there are gaps. I remember two babies being taken out of the room, there was a problem, but I don’t know what it was. Only one of them was brought back, but everyone told me that there was only the one baby and that I was probably seeing double or something. It was very confusing.”

“Ian would know,” said Judith.

“He didn’t arrive till an hour later,” said Jessie. “He got away from work as soon as he could, but the traffic back, it was horrendous and there were so many delays.”

“There must have been someone in there with you,” said Judith. “Your Mum wouldn’t let you go into Labour on your own.”

“That’s right, Mum was there, she’ll know what happened,” said Jessie, picking up the phone.

“Mum,” Jessie said, when the phone was answered.

“Is it wise you ringing here?” she asked quickly before Jessie could say anything else.

“I’ve been talking to some people, the woman from yesterday and her friend,” said Jessie trying not to name names.

“What did they want?” asked Jessie’s Mum.

“They want to sort out all this mess,” said Jessie. “To start with they say I gave birth to twins.”

“They can’t prove that,” Jessie’s Mum snapped.

“So they were right,” said Jessie. “And you knew about it.”

“You have to understand, you weren’t supposed to know about the second baby,” said Jessie’s Mum, slowly.

“So what went wrong?” asked Jessie coldly.

“Everything,” sighed her Mum. “You shouldn’t have seen her.”

“But I did, I saw her and you’ve been denying her existence ever since,” Jessie snapped.

“It isn’t as if she was your baby,” her Mother tried to explain.

“No, I just carried her for, how many months?” Jessie asked.

“About seven,” said her Mother.

“About seven months, I was a surrogate and no one bothered to tell me about it,” Jessie shouted down the phone.

“It was half fairy,” said her Mother. “A changeling, it isn’t as if it was any sort of drain on you.”

“That isn’t the point,” said Jessie. “You knew about all of this and you didn’t tell me.”

“I wanted to, but your Father thought it best not to burden you with the information,” her Mother replied.

“I am an adult, I was an adult then, I should have had the say in this, no one else,” Jessie shouted at the phone.

“You were under fifty,” said Enid. “A fairy of your age wouldn’t get to make a choice like that.”

“I am not a fairy,” snapped Jessie, glaring at Enid.

“No, well it wouldn’t be a problem if you were,” Enid replied.

“No,” I said. “They don’t have maternal instincts.”

“I’ve never had a problem with it,” said Enid.

“I don’t think this is helping any,” I replied glaring at Enid.

“I’m sorry,” said Jessie’s Mother. “But I hoped, once they had the baby, then everything would be OK.”

“It would have been,” said Enid.

“But?” asked Jessie.

“The changeling got ill,” said Enid.

“How ill?” asked Jessie

“We have tried everything, but without a bone marrow transplant from Ella, Rosie is going to die,” said Enid.

“Is that where they were taking her?” asked Jessie.

“Yes,” said Enid.

“And when they were done what would they have done with her?” Jessie asked.

“She was to be adopted by the changeling’s human Mother, just in case other transplants were needed,” said Enid. “They would explain to her that they were twins separated at birth.”

“You got it all sorted out, so neat and tidy and then things went wrong,” said Jessie.

“Yes,” said Enid looking at me. “Then things went wrong.”

“So you think you have the solution,” said Jessie.

“I think so,” said Enid.

“So what is it?” Jessie asked.

“Rosie needs the transplant, now,” said Enid.

“That’s a big thing for a little girl,” said Jessie.

“Well, for humans,” said Enid.

“Ella is human,” Jessie reminded us.

“But Rosie is part Fairy,” said Enid. “So, in this case the methods we use will work.”

“Which are?” asked Jessie.

“We take Ella to Rosie,” said Enid. “Then a bit of Fairy dust and the wave of a wand, simple transportation.”

“What happens after that?” asked Jessie.

“Ella comes home to live with you,” said Enid. “The family who were going to adopt her wont.”

“But they will have Ella’s twin,” said Jessie.

“Yes,” said Enid.

“I want to see her,” she said hanging up the phone.

“Is that wise?” asked Judith.

“I want to see the baby I gave birth to,” said Jessie. “Because if I don’t, then non of this happens.”

“It is irregular,” said Enid. “But then all of this is.”

“Is that a yes?” asked Jessie.

“Yes,” said Enid.

“Right, well there’s no time like the present,” said Jessie.

“Shouldn’t you talk to Ian about it?” asked Jessie.

“He’s busy fighting through the courts, he said he’d speak to me after it has all been sorted, that way Ella can’t be traced,” said Jessie.

“Only she has been traced,” said Judith.

“But not by the law,” said Jessie.

“If you think you are doing the right thing,” said Judith.

“I want to see my other baby,” said Jessie. “And until I do, Ella stays here,” she added as Enid brought out her wand.

“OK,” said Enid.

“And this one stays here till it is sorted,” she added looking at me.

“You and I will go to see her,” said Enid.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 33

With a wave of her wand Enid had transferred us back to the home, at our normal, fairy size, about three inches tall. It was odd seeing myself disappear with Ella, just as I got back, it seemed so long ago. The head of the home opened the door just as Ella and I vanished.

“I hope she didn’t see that,” I thought, but my luck was not in.

“I should have guessed,” she said. “There has been a whiff of Fairy magic in this right from the start.”

“She knows something about us,” I whispered to Enid.

“She would have to,” Enid replied. “She has been in on this right from the start.”

“But she’s human!” I said.

“So are all the people you’ve dealt with,” said Enid. “Didn’t stop them benefiting from your work.”

“I don’t understand,” I replied, shaking my head.

“It will unfold,” said Enid. “At least I hope it will.”

“Have you got the girl?” a voice shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

“Now what do I tell them,” asked Mrs Walters, the Head of the Home, looking in our direction.

“Does she know we are here or is she talking into thin air?” I asked Enid, it was something I had seen humans doing though I couldn’t say that I saw much sense in the action.

“I know that you are there,” the Head of the Home said. “You may as well show yourselves and we can talk this out reasonably.”

“We want answers,” said Enid, becoming more solid and visible, but staying her usual size and keeping close to the ceiling where she was out of reach of the Head of the Home.

“And your friend,” said the Head of the Home.

“Do you need a hand?” asked the voice which was now making it’s way up the stairs.

“Send them away,” said Enid.

“They’ll need an explanation,” said Mrs Walters.

“Tell them Rosie is running a temperature and that it would be unwise to move her today,” said Enid.

“You are asking me to lie to them,” said Mrs Walters.

“It isn’t as if it is something you haven’t done before, with regard to Ella,” Enid reminded her.

“True, but why should I do it now?” Mrs Walters asked.

“Because they wouldn’t believe the truth if you told them it,” said Enid. “In fact the truth would be likely to have you certified. That would be your job and career blown in one go, think about it.”

Mrs Walters left the room and met the voice on the stairs.

“I’m so sorry, but Rosie is running a bit of a temperature, it’s probably nothing, but she’d better stay here till she’s over the worst,” Mrs Walters explained.

“And if the parents solicitor gets his act together, she could end up back with them,” said the voice. “You know what the plan was, to get the child away and the paper trail destroyed so that they couldn’t trace her.”

“They may not be able to trace her, but they’d trace me and then I would be in trouble because one of my children had vanished,” Mrs Walters replied. “I am beginning to think that I have been set up to take the fall for this.”

“She’s not so daft as she looks,” said Enid, as we watched it all from about six foot above her head.

“I hope she’s not out of her depths,” I said.

“What do you mean?” asked Enid.

“I’ve seen him before,” I replied. “He’s a fairly regular visitor and she’s always pretty rattled after he’s been.”

“Self, self,” the man replied. “There’s more in this than just you.”

“I’m the one on the pointy end of this,” Mrs Walters snapped back. “And I get the strong impression that I’m being hung out to dry here.”

“I’ll give them a ring, see what they have to say,” he said. “But I’m not happy and I doubt they will be either.”

“Neither am I,” said Mrs Walters as he stomped down the stairs and out of the building.

“We need to talk and talk quickly,” said Mrs Walters, looking up at us.

“We need to know everything,” said Enid.

“Ask Lily,” Mrs Walters replied. “I think she’s the Head of the Fairy Council, if that means anything to you.”

“She was,” Enid sighed.

“Is she OK?” asked Mrs Walters. “I know she wasn’t keen on doing any of this, but we could think of no alternative.”

“She’s gone,” said Enid.

“What do you mean gone?” asked Mrs Walters.

“She hung herself,” I said quietly, making myself a bit more visible.

“I thought you’d be here somewhere,” Mrs Walters said. “You always did seem to be too good to be human.”

“This is not solving anything,” I replied. “And there is only so long that he is going to be talking on the phone.”

“Can’t you stop time or something, Lily could,” said Mrs Walters.

“Or we could leave you with him,” Enid snapped.

“OK,” said Mrs Walters. “I had a sister, very dreamy, she went walking in places that people said were frequented by the fairy folk. She met a man there, he was everything she wanted. She said he even took her to the fairy kingdom one night.”

“Fairy Kingdom,” Enid grunted. “It’s been run by a council for as long as I can remember.”

“Whatever,” said Mrs Walters. “He made her happy.”

“So?” muttered Enid.

“What went wrong?” I asked.

“He stopped coming and she started to put on weight,” said Mrs Walters. “My sister was no longer happy when she came back from her wanderings, she was desperate, deranged we worried for her sanity and the safety of the baby.”

We waited.

“One evening she came back with another girl, least we thought she was a girl, turned out to be your Lily,” Mrs Walters replied looking at Enid. “She said we needed to talk, we needed to come up with a solution, not an easy thing to do when she wanted to be with him and he didn’t want to be with her.”

“He dumped her?” I asked.

“Yes,” sighed Mrs Walters. “And my sister Lily didn’t take it too well.”

Enid shuddered.

“It was decided to move the baby,” said Mrs Walters.

“Move it!” said Enid. “But that is a total no no.”

“That is what Lily said,” Mrs Walters agreed. “But my sister Lily said it was that or she didn’t want to live any more. So the baby was moved, to a couple who were expecting a baby at the same time.”

“Wouldn’t they see the difference?” I asked.

“Lily cast a spell, to make the changeling look like the other baby, it’s sibling,” said Mrs Walters. “It was thought that everything was going well, until the birth.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“My sister Lily decided that she wanted the baby,” said Mrs Walters.

“Is that why it was taken away from the delivery room?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Mrs Walters. “And we thought everything was going OK, but eight years on something wrong with Rosie, the changeling, she needed a bone marrow transplant from Ella, to put it right. It was either that or watching Rosie die.”

“So why didn’t they just ask?” I asked.

“How would they explain knowing that there was a match?” Mrs Walters asked. “It was impossible.”

“So how come, once you had her at the home, you did nothing for over a year?” I asked.

“Lily, my sister, she thought she’d come up with a cure, some crackpot religious person talked her into making donations to his church and God knows what else, so they put the bone marrow transplant on hold whilst we tried to talk some sense into her,” Mrs Walters sighed.

“And now you’ve made her see sense?” I asked.

“Something like that,” said Mrs Walters. “Not that it matters now, now that Ella is gone.”

“The changeling is OK?” I asked.

“Getting weaker with everyday,” said Mrs Walters.

“Would the transplant still work?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Mrs Walters. “It would if we had and Lily was here to sort it out, she knew what needed to be done.”

“I know what needs doing,” said Enid. “If we brought Ella here, would you let Ella be with her parents?” asked Enid.

“If that is what it takes, then I could sort that,” Mrs Walters agreed.

“We shall talk to Ella’s parents, you talk to that man, whoever he is,” Enid said.

“He’s Rosie’s step-father and he’d do anything to keep her alive,” said Mrs Walters.

“I think this can be sorted,” said Enid.

By Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 32

“Ethel,” I said following her into Enid’s office.

“I can’t cope with this,” she said, not even looking at me. “It didn’t happen. That’s it, it didn’t happen.”

“But it did,” I said turning her around.

“This was not my fault,” she said, looking frightened.

“Of course not,” I assured her. “The fault lay with whoever did what they shouldn’t have done and was compounded by the Head of the Fairy Council, for reasons only she knew, trying to cover it up.”

“But if I hadn’t found out about the cover up,” Ethel started, looking round the room wildly.

“If they hadn’t tried to cover it up, you wouldn’t have found out that there was a cover up and therefore something that need covering up,” I reminded her, hoping it didn’t sound as unconvincing to her as it did to me.

“If I hadn’t done, what I did, she wouldn’t be dead,” she shrieked.

“She didn’t have to end it that way,” I said. “She could have explained why she did what she did, the council might have understood. As it is we don’t know what she was trying to cover up or why. All we can say is that she chose to do this rather than explain herself.”

“Like knowing that is going to make a difference,” Ethel muttered. “She isn’t going to be any less dead is she?”

“No, she isn’t,” I agreed. “But there are people in shock and grieving now. Don’t you think they need answers, don’t you want some answers?”

“Me?” she asked, stopping shaking for a moment.

“Yes, you,” I replied. “She left you feeling like it was your fault. Do you think that is fair?”

“But,” Ethel looked bewildered. “She was never anything other than nice to me.”

“You were lucky,” I thought, but didn’t say.

“You, Enid and everyone else deserve answers,” I said.

“Enid was the one who pushed me to find all this stuff out,” she snapped. “If it wasn’t for her Lily wouldn’t be dead.”

“She knew her name,” I thought. “There is more to this.”

“She didn’t expect her sister to do this though,” I said.

“I had forgotten they were sisters,” said Ethel.

“We all need answers,” I said. “And you are the one who can find them.”

“But,” Ethel stuttered.

“It isn’t as if you can make it worse for anyone, not anyone that doesn’t need it to be made worse for,” I sighed. “But you could make it easier for some.”

“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.

“You saw how Rosemary reacted, I think the Doctors had to sedate her, God knows what she will do or say when she wakes up,” I said.

“She was threatening to have Lily thrown off the Council. The Council, it meant everything to Lily, she would have been devastated,” Ethel sobbed.

“How come she knows so much about the Head of the Fairy Council?” I thought.

“If Lily had been in Rosemary’s position she would have done the same,” I said.

“You can’t know that,” snapped Ethel.

“I know that she was a stickler for the rules. If any rule was transgressed then she would come down on the guilty person like a ton of bricks. That is why it is so hard to believe that she could do something so serious as what she was accused of doing,” I couldn’t bring myself to mention it. “And that is all the more reason to get to the bottom of what did happen.”

“You think she is guilty?” asked Ethel.

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “The evidence says what she did, but not why and that may explain everything.”

“So you think, if I find out what happened, right from the start, then it could help,” said Ethel slowly.

“Yes,” I smiled.

“Couldn’t someone else do it?” she asked.

“You are the one who knows all about computers, you know where to look for the answers, the rest of us wouldn’t even know where to start or what questions to ask,” I said. “We need you to find out what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again.”

“OK,” she said slowly. “But, I’m going to need access to Lily’s laptop and things she had with her whilst working on it, they may give clues as to passwords and stuff.”

“The Council have said that you can work in her office,” said Enid, standing in the doorway, I hadn’t even noticed her arrive, she didn’t look too well. “They are offering you any help that you need, all you have to do is ask. They have even given you an assistant.”

“What do I need an assistant for?” Ethel asked.

“To get you anything that you might need,” I said.

“And to remind you to sleep and eat,” Enid added. “By the way, when did you last sleep?”

“I went to sleep early on Monday,” Ethel replied defensively.

“And what time is early?” asked Enid.

“About 3am,” Ethel admitted, trying not to make eye contact.

“Would that be on the Monday or after the Monday?” Enid asked.

“Does it matter?” asked Ethel.

“Yes it does,” said Enid. “Because it happens to be Wednesday today.”

“What happened to Tuesday?” asked Ethel.

“I don’t know, but you may have slept through it, but that is why you need an assistant, so that you can sort out your sleep,” Enid sighed. “In the meantime, I suggest you go to Lily’s office and get to work finding out how we got to this state of affairs.”

“What about the work I normally do?” Ethel asked.

“What can be done by others will be, the rest will be waiting for you when you have finished this,” said Enid.

“OK,” said Ethel, picking up her laptop and heading off to Lily’s office.

“If there’s anything else you need, send your assistant,” said Enid.

“Aren’t I welcome here?” asked Ethel, stopping in her tracks.

“You are always welcome,” Enid smiled. “But this work takes priority, we need answers.”

“Right,” she muttered and the door closed behind her.

“You look like you need a cup of tea,” I told Enid, guiding her to a comfortable looking chair and heading off to make the tea and see if there were any chocolate biscuits to be found.

“A cup of tea would be good,” Enid sighed, sitting down at her desk and then turning the chair away from it.

“How was your Mother?” I asked cautiously.

“Angry,” Enid sighed. “She blamed me.”

“But it wasn’t your fault,” I stated.

“I could have done things differently,” she replied.

“So could Lily,” I said.

“I know, but somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better,” Enid sighed. “Mum said we always faced it different directions, that we never worked as a team.”

“It takes two to do that,” I reminded her, handing a mug of tea to her.

“But perhaps I could have done more,” Enid sighed, taking the mug.

“Ethel is working on getting some answers,” I sighed. “Till then it doesn’t help anyone if we all go round blaming ourselves.”

“So what do you suggest we do?” Enid asked.

“We need to find out what is going on at the home,” I said.

“What!” asked Enid.

“Things haven’t stopped just because we aren’t there to oversee,” I replied. “Ella has been spirited out of the home to her Mother, before the home can send her off to adoption. The Head of the Home has found out that she is no longer there. So we aught to find out what is happening.”

“I suppose it might help pass the time,” Enid sighed.

“Or it might shed some light on what has happened here,” I replied.

“As if that is likely,” muttered Enid.

“The cover up of what happened there is what brought about what happened here, it is therefore very likely that what is still happening will hold some clues or even answers as to why she chose to end it all,” I told Enid.

“And we wont find that out here,” said Enid, putting down her mug of tea and standing up. “We’d better go,” she added waving her wand.

by Janice Nye © 2020

The Fairy Godmother Part 31

“Don’t think for one moment that you’ve won,” said a voice in my ear.

“What I muttered,” instantly awake, I leapt to my feet looking round for the person who had spoken.

“What is it?” asked Enid, yawning loudly.

“I heard a voice,” I said.

“Who?” Enid asked.

I paused for a moment to think.

“It sounded like the Head of the Fairy Council,” I said slowly.

“She has not moved from the waiting room,” said the footman, he was presumably coming to see what the noise was all about.

“I think you aught to check up on her,” said Enid.

“Of course,” said the footman bowing slightly to Enid and heading off to do that. I followed him, though I can’t say why.

“I think you should stay out here,” said the footman, pausing at the door.

“Why?” I asked, though I suspected something had happened to the Head of the Fairy Council.

“It may effect the Council’s judgement if they think you tried to influence the Head of the Fairy Council.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” I said, backing off.

The footman opened the door, walked in and then closed it after himself.

“There is something not right about this,” I said to Enid.

“It was probably nothing, just a dream,” Enid said, but the look on her face said otherwise.

“Fairies don’t dream,” I said absently repeating something we had been taught at the Fairy Godmother college. “Human’s dream, but Fairies don’t.”

“Trust you to remember that one,” muttered Enid as the Footman walked out of the waiting room.

“She’s dead!” he said.

“What do you mean, she’s dead?” asked Enid, pushing past him into the room, I followed before anyone could think to ask anything.

“Oh my God!” said Enid looking upwards. I followed her gaze and saw the Head of the Fairy Council hanging from the chandelier, a glittery rope tied tightly round her neck.

“But she can fly!” I said, the words escaping before I could work out what they where.

“Yes, it must have been how she got up there,” said Enid.

“She might be able to fly, but I can’t,” said the Footman.

“Of course not,” said Enid, looking puzzled by the comment.

“How am I going to get her down?” he said.

“I’ll go,” I said, heading for the ceiling before anyone could say anything.

“I shall tell the Council,” said the Footman.

“Shouldn’t you wait to make sure that she’s dead?” asked Enid.

“I don’t think there is any doubt about that,” said the Footman sadly.

I nearly bumped into the ceiling, I had got there quicker than expected. Somehow, seeing her up close didn’t make things any better. The inner glow, was fading, as was everything about her. I untied the rope from the chandelier and for a moment, I had her, dangling from my hand. Then I took hold of her and flew slowly down to the floor, resting her body on the sofa.

“I know that humans do this sort of thing, sometimes,” I stuttered. “But I didn’t think it was possible for a fairy.”

“They have to be very determined,” said Enid.

“What is all this nonsense,” said Rosemary walking in through the waiting room door. “You two should not be in here, it is most irregular, you do realise it could effect the council decision.”

“I don’t think that is going to have much baring on anything,” said Enid standing aside to let Rosemary see the Head of the Council.

“What’s that rope doing around her neck,” said Rosemary shaking the Head of the Fairy Council in an attempt to wake her up. “Why is she so cold?”

“She’s dead,” said Enid.

“But that can’t be,” said Rosemary, shaking the body even more.

“Could you call for the Doctor?” said another of the Councillors as she guided Rosemary away from the dead fairy.

“I think the Head of the Fairy Council is a bit beyond any help a doctor can provide,” said Enid.

“I meant for Rosemary,” she said.

“Fairies don’t die,” Rosemary said. “Not like this,” she added sobbing loudly.

“Get that Doctor quickly,” hissed the Councillor.

“Of course,” said Enid, dashing away.

Soon there was just me and the body of the Head of the Fairy Council in the waiting room.

“You spoke to me,” I said, looking at her. “You spoke to me as or just after you died.”

“Fairies don’t die,” I heard the Doctor saying as the door opened and he walked in. “They may grow old and fade away, but they don’t die.”

I stepped away from the sofa and he walked over to examine her.

“Except this one has and by her own hand,” he said picking up the rope. “What do you expect me to do, I deal with the living?”

“Rosemary, one of the Council members is in the Council room, she didn’t take this discovery well,” said Enid.

“Then I’d better go and see to her,” he said snapping his bag shut. “I don’t know why you bothered to bring me in here when there was clearly nothing I could do.”

“We might have been wrong,” I said. “She might not have been dead.”

“Highly unlikely,” said the Doctor. “If she hadn’t been dead she wouldn’t have left that thing round her neck, total colour clash.”

“Never did think much of his bedside manner,” said Enid as the door closed.

“What do we do?” I asked, looking from the body back to Enid.

“Old fairies don’t die they just fade away,” said Enid. “So I suppose that’s what she’ll do.”

“So do we just sit here till she fades away?” I asked.

“It’s the only thing I can think of,” said Enid. “I wouldn’t want her to be alone whilst it happens.”

“What was her name?” I asked, sitting down on a nearby chair.

“Lily,” Enid replied. “I always thought she got the better of the names.”

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“Enid, it’s not exactly a name I would have chosen,” she said. “I always thought Lily was much better, but Mum had two names in mind and I drew the short straw.”

“You were sisters?” I asked.

“Couldn’t you see the family resemblance?” she asked.

“No,” I said. “But then I wasn’t looking for any.”

“Mum always said we looked in two different directions,” she sighed. “Don’t know what she meant by that. I do know that she would never have wanted her to do this!”

“I don’t understand why she did,” I said as the body began to fade out.

“She knew what she’d done,” said Enid. “It must have gone deeper than even I thought, because what I found wouldn’t have been enough for her to do this.”

“Do you think we’ll ever find out how far it went?” I asked.

“There will have been evidence on her computer,” said Enid thoughtfully. “Hopefully she didn’t wipe the memory before she did this.”

“We’ll need to get Ethel to go though it,” I said.

Lily’s legs had faded away and her shoes had flopped down, her hands where turning translucent, the rings no longer had fingers in them.

“She always like rings,” said Enid watching as some of them fell to the floor. With a sigh her clothes fell empty and her hat fell off the sofa.

“She’s gone,” Enid sighed. “I’d better contact Mum.”

“She’s still alive?” I said without thinking.

“We’re not that old,” Enid snapped.

“I’ll go talk to Ethel,” I said, quickly, I thought she might need time by herself. To be honest, I couldn’t think of what to say.

By Janice Nye © 2020