La Petite Fee Souris

Tis pointed her foot and twisted it in an arc, up and down; up and down. Although glad to be a Senior and able to wear the smart new uniform, Tis wasn’t enamoured with the workload it entailed.  A tiny scuff in the carpet on the floor in front of her demanded her immediate detention, allowing her mind to block out the tirade of disappointment and empty threats the Headmistress was currently dishing out.

“And your excuse this time?”

“Sorry Miss?” Tis bobbed her head upward and stared blankly.

“Your excuse?”

Tis ran through her ready list of excuses.  

Dog ate it?  No, she’d used that last week.

Eyebrows pinched and puckered across the wooden expanse of the headmistresses table. “Are you chewing gum?”

“Err, no Miss.”

“I cannot abide bad manners. Not amongst my gells” 

Tis sniggered inwardly. The headmistress either called her class 'gells' - strongly pronounciating the ‘g’ sound or “Ladies”

“Well then. Speak up. I don’t have all day.”

Twiddling her golden curls, Tis bit her lip. 

I left it in my other uniform and it got washed? No - its made of an impervious material and the old battle axe would just make me go and get it to prove it. 

“Tis eyes to the front and tell me where it is.”

Alien attack - humm hadn’t used that for a while, but judging the look on the headmistresses face, it might not go over well this time.

I put it in my shoe and it had a hole in it and it fell out?  No - that won’t explain the letter of complaint. 

Tis brushed her uniform straight and smiled.

humm try the empathy angle.........

Taking a breath she looked at the narrowing eyes of the Headmistress. 

“Well Miss, I know how busy everyone is around here. I mean you said yourself yesterday at assembly that you haven’t had a day off for centuries.”

“Not quite that long, but go on.”

“Well, with all the extra legislation now; what with the paperwork and  health and safety checks on our wings, log book checks, equality amongst the pixies and elves, the weights not being standardised and the exchange rate going crazy because of the volatility of the market, I didn’t pick the tooth up last night because I didn’t want to add to your already heavy workload”

Tis flickered a hopeful glance up at the softening face in front of her and continued.  “ I thought one less might give you that breather you are always after.  You might even have time to skip out in the sunshine with the flower fairies.”

The head mistresses’ face froze and solidified into an impervious wall of granite. “You nearly had me till you mentioned those little ingrates.”

She clicked a pen.

“Back to work Tis.  You have a double shift tonight and a very upset little girl who has begun to doubt the existence of the Toothfairy.  Her extra payment is coming out of your bonus.”

The headmistress began to scribble in an oversized book.  Tis kicked the hole in front of her again with her satin slipper.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go and pick up that tooth.”

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Prompt - Why did the ToothFairy fail to show up last night?

This prompt was inspired by my daughter - as "mother of the year" failed... and sent out a plea via facebook for assistance to explain why the toothfairy hadn't turned up.. With such a vairety of responses, I thought I'd submit it as a prompt for WA.

La Petite Fee Souris  is apparently the French name for the toothfairy.. but they have a 'Little Fairy Mouse"
how cute is that?

Story inspired by the [Fiction Friday] prompt at Write Anything and submitted to JM Strother’s #FridayFlash  via Twitter. This story will be recorded and posted up for Spoken Sunday via  Audio Boo