R. Fairy Wings - Part 8

Tuesday morning and Wallace turned up for work in good time
for once, his briefcase still with him. After Adrielle had mentioned
the smell he had kept the fairy in his fridge at home but now had to
bring it in so her buyer could see it. He was nervous about trusting
her with it and had been woken up that morning by a genuine nightmare
of the Nymph running off with it and laughing at him (somehow both far
too far away to ever reach whilst still in clear earshot). For the
moment he stowed it safely in his locker and drank coffee in the
cafeteria whilst the other engineers drifted in.

Bronwyn was the only one there when he arrived and she asked
him, pointedly he thought, what he had done last night.

"Stayed in." He said.

"Really?"

"Yes." He said petulantly. She probably thought he was out
poaching frogs again, little did she know.

Langton came in then and cut the conversation short. He was
followed later by Brian who announced that Jim would be
late.

"Car broke down apparently." He said, hitting the last word
with just enough emphasis to betray his doubt. "Wallace can you stay
downstairs and watch the Longitude curve, Langton can work the top deck
with me and Bonwyn can stay here on call. "

They nodded in agreement.

"Send Jim up to the top deck when he gets in would you
Wal."

"Sure."

Jim arrived about eleven o-clock and found Wallace
watching the dials and pendulums whilst trying diligently to completely
empty the inside of his nose.

"Brian says you're to go to the top level and meet him there."
Said Wallace.

"Yeah Bronwyn told me. But I needed to see you
first."

"Huh?"

"I've got the answer to your problems."

"What problems?"

Jim dropped his voice to a whisper. "Your fairy
problems."

"Oh yeah?"

"Come with me. There's someone I want you to
meet."

Wallace followed Jim into the lobby where a gnome Wallace did not
recognise was examining the skyhook posters with a critical expression
like he knew another five hundred metre high tower next door that would
do it cheaper.

"Dimitri this is Wallace son of Chris son of Olafson son of
Albersnatch son of Blind King Dragonswort." Said Jim. "Wallace this is
Dimitri son of Boris son of Prince Shapovalov the short
tempered."

"Thank you Jim." Said the strange gnome and extended a hand which
Wallace allowed his own to be squeezed in. "How are you
Wallace?"

"I'm fine." Said Wallace. "How are you?"

"I'm glad you think you are fine Wallace." Said the gnome. "It is good.
But I hear you have a problem regarding a
fairy."

Wallace looked at Jim who avoided his gaze. Secrets were meant to be
kept secret not told willy-nilly to strangers.

Dimitri said "Jim. Would you excuse us please. Wallace, let us
walk."

They walked around the perimeter of the lobby.

"Wallace." Said Dimitri. "Fairy wings is a very valuable property. A
top quality fairy wings can charge maybe as much as one hundred
thousand Marks. Do you know why they cost this
much?"

"Because they are so rare." Wallace suggested.

"Many things are rare Wallace. And many things are beautiful. But a
fairy is a magical thing and fairy wings is what makes it magical. You
know they are falling upwards?"

Wallace nodded his head.

"Do you know why?"

"No."

"Nobody does. It is not supposed to happen. It is a phenomena and they
are phenomenal. To own a fairy wings is to own proof that there is
magic in the world. Is to know that everything they are telling you is
bullshit."

Wallace looked at the other gnome, as he warmed to his subject his
voice had become louder and his hands gesticulated
wildly.

"These ski-hooks you have here?"

"Skyhooks."

" Yes yes. Ski-hooks. They are very clever. They all work by science
and engineering, a satellite drops great cables and men fly on the
cables. Elsewhere freight is transported, men are lifted into space,
all is done efficiently and is done cheap.
Yes?"

Wallace shrugged, to him the hooks was no more than a job, he was a
Gnome so he worked with machines, that was
all.

"They are amazing and are great but they are just engineering, all it
takes is materials and mathematics and money. With just that it is
done. At first it is impossible, when we cannot build such things, and
would seem magic to us, then it is possible, and because it is possible
we achieve it, then it is done and it is nothing, it is everyday, it is
life." He stopped and gripped Wallace by the arm. "But the fairy wings
remains impossible, even when you are holding them in your hand. And
that is why they are so expensive."

Wallace nodded and gently pulled his arm away.

"We sit here." Said the gnome. "I am not used to walking. I am used to
driving more."

They sat on a bench at the edge of the lobby. Wallace spotted Jim still
standing where he had been left, he was watching them both
intently.

"Wallace." Said Dimitri. "If a Gnome such as yourself finds himself a
fairy wings he might consider himself very lucky, but if he wants to
sell them he finds he is not so lucky. It is because of their great
value that they are hard to sell. The buyer assumes the worst. He
assumes they are fake or stolen. He will not buy except for far less
than they are worth."
Dimitri stopped and looked at Wallace. Wallace said
"Uh-huh".

"But for me it is not too hard because I am a businessman. I understand
how things are done."

"What kind of business?" Asked Wallace.

"Many businesses. Wallace you think you were lucky to find the fairy
but it is not so, you are lucky that I am finding you. I can sell this
thing for you and make you much money."

From across the lobby Jim gave him a guarded thumbs up, concealed
beneath his other hand.

"We have deal?" Said Dimitri extending his
hand.

"Err." Said Wallace. "Not really."

Dimitri left his hand hanging there. "What you mean not
really?"

"I've err? kind of already arranged to sell it. You know. To someone
else."

"But Jim tells me you cannot sell it."

"I didn't tell Jim. Sorry."

"You sell to Jim and now you sell to other Gnome." Dimitri looked
genuinely troubled. "This is not good business. Always with business it
must be constant, it must be sure."

Wallace decided not to tell him it was not a Gnome. "I'm sorry." He
said. "But Jim told me he could not sell the
fairy."

"This is why I am here." Said Dimitri, still holding his hand there.
"You sell to Jim you sell to me, it is the
same."

"I'm sorry." Wallace said again. "But we've already made the
deal."

Dimitri immediately cheered up. "No." He said.

"Um."

"You still has fairy and other Gnome still has money. Deal is not
final. Not until he has fairy and you have money
right."

"Well?"

"You tell him I give you more. Whatever you get from him if give you
ten percents more. You tell other Gnome this and come back to me.
Yes?"

Wallace said nothing, not sure what to say.

"Good." Said Dimitri, and he stood up and seized Wallace's hand from
his lap, shook it vigorously and walked straight back across the lobby
towards Jim.

Wallace looked down at his freshly shook hand and up at the retreating
Gnome and wondered exactly what had just
happened.

From the other end of the lobby Bronwyn observed
everything.