Taking Time Out from the Day Job
The fairy checked and rechecked there was nobody about. As all was clear, as she’d already checked three times, she took out her wand. Its light lit up the street. Still nothing and nobody in sight. Good. She’d been itching to do this for ages but somehow, something or someone (sometimes both) had got in the way.
Reaching her target, she gazed inside its window. There in a display case were the objects of her desire, just waiting for her to reach out and take them. She checked around again and then aimed her wand at the glass. A hole big enough to for her to reach through appeared. She did reach through and grabbed as many of the objects as she could. The moment she’d finished, the hole healed up and she vanished. It was best not to hang around.
Up in a tree a mile away, the fairy surveyed her haul and picked up the one she most liked the look of. For the next few minutes, all that could be heard in that tree was the sound of the fairy munching away on the biggest bar of Dairy Milk available.
The fairy knew she should be ashamed.
She wasn’t.
And that was despite the fact she was the Tooth Fairy.
Starlight and Fairy Dust
The fairy on the Christmas tree had been in the Smith family for decades. Every year, just before being placed on the tree in the lounge, she’d be given a new dress (as childish hands were never that gentle or clean).
The fairy shuddered as she recalled the year she’d ended up head first in the cranberry sauce jar. That was young Adam having a tantrum. If only that had happened before Christmas Day - she’d have used the starlight to tell Santa and someone would have been on the naughty list for that year.
Still, Mum made Adam clean the fairy. Mum was on the good list for the following year and received a bottle of Chanel Number 5. Mum was thrilled. Dad was less delighted given he hadn’t bought it. That told the fairy to be careful of using magic around humans. These days, she used her powers to influence the thoughts of the chosen humans so they would always think it was their idea to buy a certain gift. She’d been a novice back then.
And now here she was once again at the top of the tree, wearing a sparkling new dress. She liked it. She always liked her new dress. She just knew it wouldn’t remain untorn or food splattered. She’d be doing well to get through Christmas Day itself with the dress in a good state. The boss, the Fairy Queen, would drop by to see how she was doing and always seemed to catch the fairy out just after the latest disaster to hit her precious frock. These wretched random government inspections got everywhere. And there was nothing to say to the boss who would take one look at the splattered dress, raise a regal eyebrow, and vanish.
But maybe this year was different. There was Adam in his usual chair, though it was much bigger now. She watched him rise and come towards the box she lived in for most of the year. To her surprise, he picked her up gently.
‘I know you’re alive,’ he murmured. ‘I put you in that cranberry sauce jar because I wanted to prove you were alive. I thought you’d be bound to react to that.’
The fairy used all her powers to stop herself from reacting now. Humans weren’t supposed to know. How did…?
‘I saw you once. Years ago it was. You moved from the top branch down to look at your reflection in the golden bauble and then hopped back up again.’
She’d been checking out how her latest dress looked, she recalled. What had the boss said about not being vain? Oh well, maybe it served her right to be caught out then.
The fairy jumped out of Adam’s hands and placed herself on the top of the tree.
He smiled. ‘It is okay you know. I’m not putting you in the cranberry sauce again but I would like to make a wish.’
The fairy looked wary.
‘Oh it’s not the endless wishes one or riches or anything like that. I’d like Mum to join me for Christmas one more time, especially now Dad has gone.’
The fairy looked sad. Adam was a grown man now with a wife and children of his own she knew, his father died earlier this year, and his Mum had been in a home for some time now. Dementia, she’d heard someone say.
‘Is she coming here?’ the fairy murmured. She wasn’t supposed to speak to the clientele but she thought the boss would allow an exception here. Dementia was so sad.
‘No. She can’t. I thought I’d take you to see her. She kept that Chanel bottle you know. It’s still in her room now, out of her reach, but where she can see it.’
The fairy smiled. Maybe that had been a better Christmas than she thought then. Maybe there had been a point to the cranberry sauce jar! ‘We had better go then, young Mr Adam. I’ll have no problem with the boss granting that wish. Christmas is special. Will your own family be there?’
‘Of course. I think you granted another wish you know. I wanted to meet someone kind who would get on well with her own family and mine. I couldn’t have asked for more in Sandy. She did so much to try to help Mum before…’
The fairy tapped Adam on the mouth. There were times words were inadequate.
He nodded.
This time the fairy tapped them both on the shoulder. They vanished. It was time to show love while the time was still there to do so.
An Unexpected Stop
'You do know at what speed you were travelling, sir?''Er... no... officer, I'm afraid I was concentrating on getting to my next destination. I have to cover everyone on my list, you see, and I don't have much time. Was it important?'
'I'll say so, sir. You will cause chaos flying at that speed. If everyone did that there'd be accidents galore.'
'But, officer, it's Christmas Eve, I'm Santa Claus, there's nobody up here except us and I'd love to know how you got here.'
'Have I passed the MOT then, young man?' The elderly gent peered at the guy, who could easily have been his grandson. 'Can I resume my duties now?'
'Oh yes, Grand...er... sir. And you are getting the correct CPM out of your chosen fuel source too.'
'CPM?'
'Carrots Per Mile, sir. You must be feeding your reindeer well.'
The elderly gent smiled. 'Quality will tell;, it always does. I don't suppose there is anything you can do about the lead one's red nose is there? I swear it stands out even in the thickest fog and I know Rudolph is embarrassed by it.'
'Sorry, sir, you will have to go back to the manufacturer on that one.'
The elderly gent sighed. 'That will have to wait. I've got places to go, people to see, and the big boss will want me to get that done first.'
And with that Santa and his reindeer took off as Christmas Eve broke. It would be a busy night.
Up To Scratch
'Have I passed the MOT then, young man?' The elderly gent peered at the guy, who could easily have been his grandson. 'Can I resume my duties now?'
'Oh yes, Grand...er... sir. And you are getting the correct CPM out of your chosen fuel source too.'
'CPM?'
'Carrots Per Mile, sir. You must be feeding your reindeer well.'
The elderly gent smiled. 'Quality will tell;, it always does. I don't suppose there is anything you can do about the lead one's red nose is there? I swear it stands out even in the thickest fog and I know Rudolph is embarrassed by it.'
'Sorry, sir, you will have to go back to the manufacturer on that one.'
The elderly gent sighed. 'That will have to wait. I've got places to go, people to see, and the big boss will want me to get that done first.'
And with that Santa and his reindeer took off as Christmas Eve broke. It would be a busy night.
About the author
Allison Symes, who loves quirky fiction, is published by Chapeltown Books, CafeLit, and Bridge House Publishing. She writes for Chandler’s Ford Today and Writers’ Narrative.
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