Away With the Fairies (3 page)
Read Away With the Fairies Online
Authors: Jenny Twist
Lucy looked blank, but June put her hands to her own face in a gesture of horror. “Lucy,” she said, “your face has gone green.”
They said no more because at that moment a terrible screaming noise came from downstairs and all three rushed down to see what was going on.
They arrived at the foot of the stairs at the same moment as a policeman came running in the front door and they all headed towards the kitchen in a confused mass.
Granny McCurdle got there a short head in front of the others. “Oh my goodness,” she cried. “The cat's got something.”
She pounced on Mitzy and snatched away the small green creature. It lay completely still in her hands. Lucy burst into tears. “She's killed a fairy!” she cried.
“No, I don't think so,” said Granny McCurdle, bringing the little man up to her face and putting her ear to his chest. “I think he's fainted.”
She checked him over for injuries and could find none. “Well, would you look at this?” she said. “What a bonny wee man! Whatever is he doing here?”
“It's a fairy.” Both girls spoke at once.
The policeman, convinced he had just walked into a madhouse, backed away and bumped into Ben and Monica, who were just coming in from the hall.
Granny was crooning over the fairy, who had opened his eyes and was looking up at her adoringly.
“Will you be hungry, then?” she said and pulled a handful of beans out of the vegetable basket. The little man grabbed at one, sniffed it and then stuffed it in his mouth.
“There you are, then,” Granny crooned.
“Put that fairy down!” shouted Monica from the doorway.
The policeman pushed past her and went to sit on the front doorstep. It had been a hot day and very stressful. He'd be all right in a minute. He just needed to sit quietly for a bit.
THE END
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is the product of friendship. It owes its existence to
Lynette Sofras
, a friend I made very recently on the Internet. She is the author of wonderful romance novels and hugely supportive. She persuaded me I could self-publish and told me how to do it. Find out more about her here:
Then there is my granddaughter,
Emily,
who has been my friend all her life (naturally) and is a great joy to me. She has been working as an editor for some time but has just started editing independently. I am so proud that this little book is her first professional independent edit.
http://emilyevaediting.weebly.com/
The stunning picture,
Green Man with Wren
, which appears on the cover, was painted by my dear friend,
Caroline Ritson
, to whom this book is dedicated. We go back a long way, probably longer than either of us would care to admit. We misspent a lot of our youth together. It was fab.
If you would like to see the original painting, go to Caroline's website:
http://www.carolineritson.co.uk/greenmen.htm
And finally,
Su Halfwerk
, another very new friend, and author of superb horror stories. I didn't realise at first that she is also a highly talented cover designer, amongst other things, under her company name,
Novel Prevue.
You can find out about her cover art here:
and her other personae here:
These are the people who contributed directly, but there are many, many others who have been a constant support. Too many to mention. You know who you are. I love all of you.
Jenny Twist – September 2012
About the Author
Jenny Twist was born in York and brought up in the West Yorkshire mill town of Heckmondwike, the eldest grandchild of a huge extended family.
She left school at fifteen and went to work in an asbestos factory. After working in various jobs, including bacon-packer and escapologist’s assistant (she was The Lovely Tanya), she returned to full-time education and did a BA in history at Manchester and post-graduate studies at Oxford.
She stayed in Oxford working as a recruitment consultant for many years and it was there that she met and married her husband, Vic.
In 2001 they retired and moved to Southern Spain where they live with their rather eccentric dog and cat. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, knitting and attempting to do fiendishly difficult logic puzzles.
She has written two novels - Domingo’s
Angel
– a love story set in Franco’s Spain and harking back to the Spanish Civil War and beyond - and
All in the Mind
– a contemporary novel about an old woman who mysteriously begins to get younger
She has also written an anthology of short stories -
Take One at Bedtime –
and co-written the anthology Bedtime
Shadows –
with the inimitable Tara Fox Hall.
She has contributed short stories to many
other anthologies, of which two –
Doppelganger
and
Uncle Vernon
have recently been released as short ebooks.
Her first self-published ebook,
Away With the Fairies
was released in September 2012. Her second,
Mantequero,
was originally published in
Winter Wonders
by Whimsical Publishing and has just been released as a short ebook.
Visit Jenny on her Facebook page. She loves talking to her readers.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jenny-Twist-Author/291166404240446
