A Girl's Guide to Fairy Tales

Chapter Eleven (part 1)

Chapter Eleven - Maddie

Monday, Monday, oh how I dread thee.

Today had more trepidation attached to it than most Mondays as Adam was back in the office, meaning I was sure to be called in for questioning about that unfortunate email I sent last week.

Luckily he had been away on business on Thursday and Friday, which meant I was permitted one last weekend as an employed woman.

‘Madeline, would you desist from that incessant drumming,’ Lesley hissed from across the room. I looked at my fingers, which had frozen in a claw-like position. I heard Grace snigger in the background.

It was now ten o’clock and I had still not been summoned. Adam was definitely at work today - I had seen his black Audi in the car park so now it was just a waiting game, passed by drawing yet more cake sketches and writing the word boobies in the calculator using the numbers 5318008 and turning the calculator around.  

I also contented myself with watching my solar-powered plastic flower try and dance. It usually bobbed around with gusto when the sunlight was permitted to shine through the windows but Lesley had insisted the blinds stay shut until the morning sun had risen a little more. I believed the reason to be because the extra heat would have made her hot sweats even worse – but the absence of natural light just made this place seem even more like a prison.

In fact, every time a phone rang I felt like a convict who had just heard the wailing of a police siren and as a result I had been forced to strategically place tissue under my armpits to prevent dark patches appearing through my blouse.

‘Madeline, are those advertisements ready for the two houses on Kilbourne Close?’ Lesley called over her shoulder.

Bollocks. I should have had them done by Friday. ‘Just putting the finishing touches to them now,’ I said sitting bolt upright.

‘And Danielle, have you finished compiling the property details for 15 Frogmore Way?’

‘Erm, yes nearly,’ she replied, her fingers typing frantically away at her keyboard. We glanced at each other and pulled the same ‘oh shit’ face.

At least today we had something in common.

‘Come on girls it’s Monday not Funday,’ Lesley scowled.

I immediately opened the relevant files and began to type inane crap such as the property benefits from a very attractive and well maintained garden to the rear...double glazed windows throughout... and a sense of the property’s original features are retained, such as fireplaces and light fittings.

Just then, the sound of impending doom pierced the room. I froze. It was an internal call.

‘Are you going to get that?’ Lesley asked in the highest audible tone she could muster before her head exploded.