The Imposter 5/9

Finally he went over to the scooter, grinned at Jennifer Jane and bending down, pulled the mudguard away from the tyre with his bare hands.

Thought so. Flimsy!”

He picked the front of the scooter off the ground and spun the wheel. “Alright now, it should get you home as soon as you find your horse.” He laughed again, “three shilling and sixpence please miss.”

“Oh that’s alright, I don’t have to pay. My name is Jennifer Jane. Ever since I made the dragons eat coal, the people in this world have given me their services for nothing as a thank-you present.”

The blacksmith stood still for a moment in amazement, before bursting out laughing again. “You’re a witch I suppose and this is your special broomstick!”

Jennifer Jane nodded. The blacksmith laughed even louder. Eventually he wiped his eyes on a rather grubby handkerchief, stopped laughing and held out his hand.

“Good try kid, I’ll only charge you three shilling because I’ve had such a good laugh.”

Jennifer Jane walked happily over to her scooter, picked it up off the floor where the smith had left it lying and propped it up on its stand. Then she opened the luggage compartment and proudly took out her scroll.

“This proves who I am.”

The blacksmith wiped his hands as well as he could on his apron and took the scroll very carefully. “Lots of writing on it ain’t there? I think you’d better come with me to see the parson; he’s got the learning for this sort of job. Anyway, you’re certainly not Jennifer Jane whoever else you might be, everyone knows she’s nine feet high and travels around with a pet dragon!”

The parsonage was not too far from the smithy and the smith was soon knocking on the door. He explained the problem, while the parson read the scroll.

To Jennifer Jane’s absolute amazement he started laughing as well. “Very impressive young lady,” he said, “but I’m afraid this doesn’t prove anything, however grand it may look.”

He took a sheet of paper from his desk and began writing. “Here you are, this is a piece of paper that says I’m the Archbishop of Canterbury. Give me a bit more time and someone who can paint my picture and my piece of paper is as good as yours!”