The business empire 9/10

Jennifer Jane spent the next couple of days racking her brains, trying to think of a way that George could earn a good living without upsetting the witches.

The problem was that he had no training in any skill other than fighting dragons and of course he wasn’t able to do that any more. In a way it was all her fault and she felt responsible for his situation. In the end she had to give up and asked her father if he could think of an idea.

Dave sat and thought for a while, then slowly a smile spread across his face. “Seems obvious once you’ve thought of it. Set up as a carrier of goods locally. In those mediaeval types of communities, people had to rely on travellers coming round maybe once every six months or so, to order goods that they couldn’t produce themselves. So maybe a farming community wants some pots and pans, or perhaps the blacksmith is running out of iron bar to make horseshoes. Anything that they might want to sell at a higher price than they could get at the local market might be taken away in part payment."

“Gosh dad thanks, that’s already given me an idea to help him start up without too much expense. I’ll ask Abigail if she can help get his old cart out of our woods and take it back to him, although I bet his horse won’t be too pleased with the idea!”

Abigail was only too pleased to help. “I don’t know where he’s got to, but at least this idea of yours should keep him out of mischief. I must admit I was a bit worried about how he intended to make a living now that we’ve stopped him moving between worlds.”

She came to the woods the very next night and after a quick twiddle, took the cart back to the Witches’ Home for Jennifer Jane to collect the next day.

Jennifer Jane used a lightening spell and flew to the Swan at Lower Dene towing the cart on a long piece of rope behind her scooter.

George looked really surprised when she took him outside and showed him what she’d brought over. He listened carefully as she explained the idea of setting up as a carrier and then sadly shook his head.

“Wouldn’t work I’m afraid, there’s too much competition in that trade already. I’d have to find some way of being better than everyone else and as you know I’ve had no experience in these matters.”

He went back into the pub and came out a moment later with a drink for them both. They sat down together on the bench outside, George gloomily drinking his ale, while Jennifer Jane sipped her ginger beer and tried hard to think of a way for him to gain some sort of advantage over all the other traders in the area.

He finished his drink and went back to get another, this time coming out with some bread and cheese to go with the drinks. Jennifer Jane shook her head when he offered her some; after all she’d had her breakfast only an hour ago.

George began breaking up her share of the bread and idly threw it down on the ground for the birds to come and eat. The smaller birds began to fly down and timidly pecked at the crumbs, while bigger birds were bolder and hopped up quite close to get at the bigger bits.

Jennifer Jane suddenly jumped to her feet, making all the birds fly away in a flurry of wings. “That’s it,” she exclaimed, “carrier pigeons!”