A large heavily
decorated Christmas tree took up most of the space in the shopping
centre. As she looked up from the ground floor, the angel on the top
was just a circle of silver with pink dangling legs. It was probably
a Barbie doll or maybe one of her lesser friends. Angie shrugged.
Christmas was meant to be so magical but all it meant for her was a
crappy toy to open and family rows all day that were even worse than
usual.
She wondered if her Dad
would come over, but after what happened last year she doubted it.
She took the moving
staircase to the next floor. As she drew level with the Christmas
tree fairy she could see its magic wand complete with silver star.
The wings were softest white swans-down and moved gently in the air.
They fluttered as the fairy turned her head with its silver crown,
winked, and turned away again. Angie turned to look back at the fairy
but by then she was at the top of the escalator and had to jump off
quickly.
The top of the tree was
out of sight at this level and the down-escalator was the other side
of the store. She ran through the crowds of shoppers, drawing angry
looks and a "Do you mind?" as she pushed past. Down the
escalator, across the store through another mob of people, then back
to the tree again. She looked up through its tinsel branches. There
was no silver circle, no dangling legs. The fairy had gone.
Disbelieving, she rode the up-escalator again but sure enough, the
treetop was bare.
Angie shrugged. She
must have imagined it. She had wasted all that time and she still had
all her presents to buy. They would be a load of tat but she had to
get something. She gave a deep sigh. Why was Christmas so miserable?
***
When she got home, Mum
was in the living room with her feet propped up on the settee and a
fag in her hand. "I've just sat down," she said. "It's
egg and chips tonight; the chips are keeping hot in the oven. If
you're doing yourself an egg you can do one for me too."
Angie went through into
the tiny space that was her bedroom. The high window let in a little
light, and there was just room for her bunk bed and her one book- and
toy-shelf. Her clothes lived in her Mum's bedroom which wasn't much
bigger but took a double bed. It used to belong to Mum and Dad but
now he'd moved out. At least that meant that the rows had mostly
stopped, except when Nan came over or Mum had a boyfriend staying.
The current one, Steve, wasn't too bad. He didn't talk much to Angie
except to say, "How was school then?" but he didn't hit her
Mum or make her cry, and he didn't make her feel creepy like some of
Mum's boyfriends had.
Angie wrapped the
presents she had bought: some hair stuff for her Mum, a keyring for
Steve, perfume for Nan and a bracelet for Auntie Jean. She liked the
bracelet best. It was so sparkly it was a shame to have to give it
away.
She thought again about
the fairy. If only it had been real. "I could really do with
three wishes," she said to herself.
"And you shall
have them." The voice sounded faint and high, like bells or
birdsong. Angie looked up at the shelf above her and there, perched
on top of a Harry Potter book, was the fairy from the shopping
centre. She smiled and waved her magic wand sending out silver
sparkles that glittered and fell through the air. Then she spoke.
"You can close
your mouth.”
Angie felt a small
shiver go down her back. “How did you get here?” she asked.
“I flew,” the fairy
said. “Now come on, I haven't got all day. What do you want? Oh,
and you can't wish for more wishes or any of that crap.”
Angie had not known
that fairies said "crap". "Can I wish that there won't
be any rows on Christmas Day?" she asked.
"Well, you can."
The fairy shook her wand again sending out red sparkles this time. "I
wouldn't advise it though."
"Why not?"
"Wishes have side
effects. The smaller the wish, the smaller the side effects. Now for
a big wish like that, I might have to make you or your Mum seriously
ill, whereas if you just wished for fewer rows, I could get your Mum
too drunk to start anything, although it wouldn't stop your Nan
arguing with your Auntie Jean."
I might have guessed,
Angie thought. Fairies turn out to be real and they're no better than
the rest of my crappy life.
"What can I wish
for then?"
The fairy flew down and
settled on the bottom bunk next to Angie. She fluffed out her skirts
and looked up with a confidential air on her face. "I can do
favourite foods, better presents, and slightly better moods
especially if alcohol is involved."
"That's a bit
limited."
"Take it or leave
it. Or wish for something bigger but you might not like what you
get."
Angie sighed. She was
used to having to settle for things. "Can we have trifle, and no
Brussels sprouts, and a nice present." It would be better than
nothing.
"Done!" the
fairy said with a smile. "It's been a pleasure doing business
with you." She waved the wand sending rainbow sparkles
throughout the room. "I'll even throw in a little bit of
happiness as a free gift."
"Free gift? But
I'm not paying you!" Angie said.
The fairy looked
embarrassed. "Ah. About that. All those times you put a tooth
under your pillow for the tooth fairy and you didn't get anything
back, that was me. Times were hard and I knew you'd blame it on your
mother. Now there's been a complaint and the Fairy Counc- Let's just
say, I decided to make it up to you. You'll get your wishes. Have a
nice day!"
She flew up and out the
window, which Angie was sure she'd left closed. All the magic seemed
to leave with her and Angie was left with nothing but a heap of
badly-wrapped presents and the sound of her mother calling out, "Are
you going to do those eggs or not?"
***
Christmas Day dawned
bright and cold. Angie was awake and into her Mum's room before she
remembered that she was supposed to knock and wait. Mum and Steve
were both asleep; he was snoring gently.
"Mum, is it time
to get up now?" Angie shook her Mum's shoulder gently.
Her mother stirred and
grumbled. "Go back to bed. It's too early."
"I'll make you a
cuppa tea, Mum," Angie said hopefully. To her surprise, her
mother said, "Oh, all right then. But don't wake Steve. He came
in late."
Angie's feet were cold
on the kitchen floor and she shivered. She put tea bags into two mugs
and added the hot water, leaving the tea to stand just like her Mum
liked. Then she carried the tea carefully into her Mum's room.
Her Mum sat up, took
the tea, and smiled. "You're a good girl, Angie," she said.
"I know it's been hard for you lately but Steve had a bit of a
win last week so I think you'll like what you've got from us. Auntie
Jean's bringing trifle, too. I know that's your favourite. I think
we're going to have a good Christmas this year.”
“What about the
sprouts?”
Her Mum laughed. “You
and your sprouts! Iceland were out of them so you're let off this
time.”
Angie heard a sound she
recognised. "Did you hear that, Mum? It sounded like little
bells." Or fairy laughter.
"Oh, you! You're
always imagining things. I'd have thought you'd be big enough now to
know better. Still, it is Christmas. Snuggle under the duvet with me
and when we've had our tea, we'll get up and start making the dinner.
We've got some cabbage we can have instead of the sprouts."
Angie pulled a face.
Still, two out of three wishes wasn't bad. Maybe there would be a bit
of magic around this Christmas after all.
