Page 54 of Fairy Godmothers Aren't Cheap

“So that means you didn’t capture all of my good deeds? What I did was actually worth more than a dollar-twelve?”

“Yes, I think so. The machinery probably needs recalibration. Planets, moons, universes. Even our sun moves around over time. They’re always on the go!” She gave me a cheerful grin and went to the dusty old desk in the corner. “It’s been a while since we’ve used that machinery, as most people pay in cash. I’ll ask the gnomes to make a few adjustments in their gardens, and you should be good to go.” She pulled something out of a drawer that looked like a tiny transistor radio, and spoke into its speaker after fiddling with the knobs and saying ‘hello, hello’ a few times.

“What are you doing?”

After receiving a garbled squeak back, and taking part in a quick conversation in a tongue I didn’t understand, she put it back in the drawer. “I asked the gnomes to recalibrate their sundials.”

“Sundials?” Was she kidding me?

“Not the kind you use,” she assured me after seeing my expression. “Ours are much more complicated, and measure things way beyond the sun and this universe.”

“So it heard a bit of good, and a bit of the bad? But in the future, both of those will be heard better?”

“Oh, it heard the bad just fine.” She read the notes in front of her. “It added fifty-three dollars to your amount owing.”

“What? How could it hear the bad stuff better than the good? That’s unfair!”

Estelle wrinkled her nose apologetically. “Maybe I can ask for a discount since our machinery wasn’t adequately calibrated.” She went to push the button that had summoned him the first time. “I’ll ask Igor if that’s possible.”

“No! It’s okay. Ask him later.” I didn’t think my nerves could handle seeing the ogre twice in one visit. I shifted forward in my seat. “So those cosmic energy waves. How do I get one going?”

* * *

Back in the car,I turned to Tamara.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” She turned off the CBC comedy radio show, and with her big chocolaty eyes pinned on me, waited for a reply.

“Not horrible. But not great. The window added more to my account than I took off with my small acts of service.”

She sighed and started her Sebring.

“Oh, and the whole ogre-eating-me thing was a joke or something. Not going to happen.” I swallowed hard, the fearful corner of my brain reluctant to let go of the idea.

“Are you sure?” She was watching me with round eyes. She shuddered involuntarily, and I was glad she’d stayed in the car.

“Yeah. And guys don’t have fairy godmothers, so James wasn’t impacted.”

“Whew. That’s good.”

“But like Josie suggested, I need to do something big to get this debt paid off,” I said, buckling my seatbelt. I’d filled her in on the idea earlier and she’d agreed it might be smart. We were both overwhelmed at the scope of the project though, from buying land to transforming it into a friendly public space.

“Estelle agreed that the park would be smart. It could start a cosmic energy wave.” Catching Tamara’s worried expression, I added, “That’s a good thing. Not without risks, but it’s solid. And since I have no better ideas…”

She nodded, starting the car. “Then I’ll help.”

“Really?”

She smiled at me before shoulder checking and leaving her parking spot. “Of course.”

“But how are we going to do something like that?”

“Are you kidding? We grew up in a small town. This community stuff is in our blood.”

“Yeah, but I was only in Eagle Ridge for a few years.”

She laughed at my expression. “I promise you, that town is in your blood. Plus, you’re totally a smalltown girl at heart.”

I crossed my arms, thinking of her meddling mom, sporting the same hairstyle for decades and being overly-focused on getting a husband for Tamara. I scrunched my nose. “No, I’m not.”

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