Emerald Oasis 8/18

"I don't know how you can eat that muck," Victoria said, starting at Joyce's plate, "Marmite is nasty stuff."

"Nothing wrong with Marmite," Rodger said, "it's very good for you."

"Nonsense," Victoria laughed, "it's the foulest thing in existence."

He dropped the crust of his sandwich on his plate. You can't insult a great British staple like Marmite."

Whilst Victoria got locked in a staring contest with him, Joyce swapped one of her sandwiches with Victoria's to see if she would notice.

Victoria picked up the Marmite sandwich and nibbled around the corners. "This wasn't I ordered, but it's so nice, I'll eat it anyway."

Rodger chuckled. "That's Marmite you know."

"No." Victoria shook her head as the other two ladies smiled. "It's chocolate spread. Too sweet to be Marmite, but it's also got a kick to it. Perhaps there's chilli in it."

"Your taste buds are wrecked," Rodger told her.

"So what will we need for tonight?" Dorothy asked. "We'll need coats that's for sure and some money."

"Just a coat will do," Rodger replied. "I've got into the safe last night and took £800 out."

"Rodger!" Joyce gasped. "That's a lot of money."

"£200 for each of us," he said, "that will be enough for the night. "Just in case anything happens."

"Like what?"

"In case the car breaks down?"

"What car?"

"We'll take the night nurse's car," Rodger said, smiling, "She always leaves her keys hanging up in the office."

"How do you know all these things?"

"I've lived here for ages," he responded, "I know what they're like. I know their every movement, and their smoking habits. The ones that don't smoke will be sitting down on their phones."

"What time are we meeting?"

"Try to meet me here by nine."

"I'll knock on your doors if you aren't here."

"What if it's Shaun on?"

"He's not on," I've checked the rota. It's the Welsh nurse, Mauve."

"Why can't we go now?" Victoria asked.

"It's light! We'll be seen."

"We won't," Victoria grumbled.

"Oh stop it you two," Dorothy ordered. "Why don't we do what most people do and order a taxi?"

"Do you think the staff will let us do that"

"I'm off to the loo," Joyce lied. He wandered off into the garden. She called in to see King Fore, but he wasn't in – but Empress Fee and her son, Marcus were sitting in his seat.

"Have you seen King Fore?" Joyce asked.

"He's gone," Empress Fee replied, "but if you have anything to ask of him, you can ask us instead."

"I was wondering if you could help me."

"With what?" Empress Fee crossed her legs.

"Helping my friends get out of here..."

"We can't," Marcus said, gulping. "It goes against Iris Legend's beliefs. We're not supposed to help humans."

"But you have to support Serena Rainbow's beliefs now."

"Wait," Joyce said, raising her hand to them. "Is Marcus the Fairy King of the Rainbow Party now."

Empress Fee nodded. "It's very unlikely that Fore will be back."

"What happened to him?"

"He's been fired," Empress Fee hissed. "The fae folk simply had no confidence in him. He messed up at the public debate. Nobody in his party believed in him anymore. So I've replaced him with our son."

"But your son doesn't support Rainbow's ideas."

"Well. I'll leave it up to him to decide what to do."

"Serena Rainbow would have wanted us to help humans. So I will help you and your friends escape."

"Thank you," Joyce said, bowing. "How will you help?"

"I will have some fairies pose as you and your friends whilst you're away, but only until Friday. You must be back by the weekend. The decoy spell only lasts for two days."

"I think we'll be back by then," she assured the young fairy king.

"Thank goodness," King Marcus said with an overwhelming gasp. "I can't afford any scandals on my first week on the throne."

Judging by the way he twitched his lips and how his arms shook, it was clear to Joyce, that he didn't want to be there. She was sure that she wasn't imagining the tears dripping from his cheeks.

"Look at what you're doing to him," Joyce pleaded to Empress Fee. "The poor boy, is it worth putting him in so much agony for the sake of some throne?"

"What are you talking about?" Empress Fee cackled, stroking her son's golden hair. "This is the most important moment of his life. He'll be a great king for the Rainbow Party, and we'll form a coalition that will change the world forever."

"You're lying," Joyce hissed. "You're doing this so you can win votes. You promised a coalition before, but you never delivered it."

"Fore was an incompetent bastard," Empress Fee announced. "My son is more sincere and kind."

"This isn't the throne I wanted."

"Take it anyway," Empress Fee begged King Marcus, kissing his cheek. "You know it's rude not to accept gifts. You can find a nice bride to settle down with."

"You're the woman I love the most."

"How sweet," Empress Fee giggled, kissing his other cheek. "Such a mummy's boy, but you know we can't be together in that sort of way. Incest is forbidden."

"You can make it legal for us."

Joyce tensed up. "I must go now, I've got my sandwiches to finish off."

"Okay Sweetie," Empress Fee said, waving.

Joyce had been disturbed by King Marcus' behaviour and even more startled by Empress Fee using her son as a pawn for political gain. It seemed like an elaborate trap.

Empress Dee sacking her ex-husband as Fairy King, then placing her own son on the throne: who didn't even support the views of the political party and kingdom he was ruling. Joyce could see what she was trying to do: she was using her son to destroy the Rainbow Party's reputation. She did the same thing with the disgraced King Fore.

On her way back to the lounge she spotted Emily sitting in the cactus pot, she crouched down and became alarmed by the sound of crying.

"Emily..."

"I feared that this day would come," Emily admitted. "I didn't think that it would come this soon: King Fore has been dismissed."

"I know, I've just met the new king."

"I'm so scared for the world right now."

"Empress Fee is murdering the Rainbow Party."

Emily continued to sob. "Her son wrote a damning book about Serena Rainbow. She's always been my idol. Now I have to betray her... I can't vote for the Rainbow Party anymore."

"Who will you vote for then?"

"In this election, I'll be voting for King Fiddle Scotch."

"He seems to be the best one," Joyce said. "He reminds me of a politician that worked for the many and not for the few privileged."

"King Fiddle Scotch stands for truth and justice. Empress Fee can't sack him or else the fairies from Australia will cause a riot. Queen Mocha Chocolate and Queen Viola Latte better watch themselves because Empress Fee promised a coalition with them too."

"There won't be a coalition with Empress Fee in power," Joyce hissed. The mere thought of her made her blood boil. She never thought it would be possible to detest a fairy so much. Fore might have been an idiot, but he did not deserve to be treated the way he did.

"Maybe she'll stick to her promise this time," Emily said. "We'll end up being a communist community with absolute monarchy. There's going to be a great war between the fairies I can sense it. I don't know what to do. She'll only merge with the Rainbow Party to turn it into another right-wing feast for herself."

"She won't," Joyce promised. "There are lots of politicians in the human world like her. They're always lying – anything to get to the top."

"Is that really true?"

Joyce nodded. "Our current prime minister is one of the biggest liars you'll ever meet."

"And humans and fairies were meant to live together in harmony together."

"Humans can't even live in harmony with each other let alone everything else," Joyce admitted, "Makes me think of my children. They are my world – but they just can't stand each other."

"I hope they'll make peace with each other one day," Emily whispered.

"I think they're past it now."

"I wouldn't say that they both have one thing in common."

"What's that?"

"They both really love you – they just express it in different ways. It's easy to see that they love you."

"Cleo does. Not sure about Maxine."

Emily tilted her head. "Curious. Why do you think that Maxine doesn't love you?"

"When I called her on the phone she wasn't interested. She wanted me out the way. Now she's trying to take me out of here. She's trying to take me out of my home. I love it here – I really do."

"If you love it so much, then why are you trying to escape?"

"I... wanted to help my friends."

"I can see why Maxine wanted to take you home with her."

"Don't you like it here anymore?" Joyce asked.

"Of course I do!" Emily stood up. "I just don't like what it's become."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Emerald Oasis had a bad inspection."

"No way!" Joyce dropped her jaw and covered her mouth. "This place is lovely." It took Joyce a while to get her composure back. "Why would it fail the CQC inspection?"

Emily sulked. "Ever noticed how some staff are kinder than others?"

"They don't mean to be nasty. They can't help it when they're short staffed and stressed out. Some of them work all day."

"Have you ever seen the bruises on some of the residents' bodies? Victoria's in particular..."

Joyce shook her head. "I didn't know she had any."

"That's because I use my magic to heal them. Empress Fee made healing humans illegal in the 1980's. I could be in big trouble if they find out. But the bottom line is, if I hadn't have healed Victoria, she might not have survived those falls." Emily turned away. "You better get back to your sandwiches. Rodger appears to be wondering what you're doing?"

She disappeared. Joyce spotted Hon taking a leisurely stroll in the corridor. He pushed up his glasses before hovering over Joyce's shoulder as he said, "Gosh! Isn't she a drama queen?"

"What are you doing?" Rodger called Joyce, raising his voice across the table. "You've got your sandwiches here. Finish them off before this madam here eats them."

"Be quiet," Victoria said, "I can't help it if I'm hungry."

Joyce watched her take another bite of her sandwich. "She can have them if she wants."

Larry chased Coco down the corridors. Both rabbits lept on the table and tucked into the leftover salad on the table. They ate like they hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Consider this a date then?" Larry asked.

"Don't be silly," Coco hissed, "is this really your idea of a date? It is not."

"Oh aren't they lovely?" Dorothy picked Larry up and he rubbed his fur against her chest.

Coco sniffed. "You tart," she said with lettuce hanging from her teeth.

"It's not my fault I'm so popular with the residents."

"You're not popular?"

Joyce sighed as she sat back with her friends. "Those two rabbits bickering like an old married couple."

Victoria steered her heard towards Coco's lips. "They're not saying anything."

Coco looked up at Joyce, as she continued chomping. "They can't hear us. They'll think that you're barking mad."

"Believe me, they already know."

Rodger swayed towards Victoria. "I bet they're fed up with all the fairy talk."

"I am indeed," Larry admitted, "just a shame you can't hear me."

After tea, they all returned to their rooms. Joyce was determined to follow Rodger Bentley's strict instructions. Joyce picked her best coat: she hadn't been on a night out for years. Her Maxine always told her she was too old to be adventuring. She had a feeling that the night would change everything.

She crept out of her room at quarter-to-nine. Rodger was in the lounge just as he said he would be. Dorothy and Victoria had their legs crossed on one of the sofas with matching red scarves and blue woolly hats.

He helped himself to a glass of juice as he peered outside the windows. He tore the curtains to the floor. "Look at this!"

Joyce was the only one who approached him. She smirked. The lights outside were scattered. Aqua flashes in the oak trees. Golden sparkles on the benches and neon lights forming a circle round the lane of tulips.

"The fairies are in full swing."

"I actually believe you for once."

"Can we go now?" Victoria asked.

"Not yet," Rodger said.

"Some of the carers were sitting down on their phones in the dining room," Dorothy mentioned. "They won't even notice we're gone."

"The night-staff will be hanging about waiting for their shift to start," Rodger whispered.

"You told us they're all at the back smoking," Victoria said.

"They're not there all the time. They do their checks every three hours; 9 PM, midnight, 3 AM and 6 AM. They all start on the blue unit first, then they make their way down to our one."

"How long does each check take?" Joyce asked.

"An hour," Rodger responded with his eyes fixated on his watch. "So I'll have a wander and once they start their checks, I'll let you ladies know."

Rodger was gone for fifteen minutes. Whilst the three ladies waited, they discussed their proudest achievements in knitting and how they wished they could get back into the habit again. Rodger sprinted back to them. "They've just finished handover. Let's go!"