1

home from school

the quiet house was quiet no longer! the four children were back from boarding school, and wereeven now dragging in their trunks, shouting to one another. kiki the parrot joined in the generalexcitement, of course, and screeched loudly.

‘aunt allie! we’re back!’ yelled jack. ‘be quiet, kiki! i can’t hear myself shout!’

‘mother! where are you?’ called dinah. ‘we’re home again!’

her mother appeared in a hurry, smiles all over her face. ‘dinah! philip! i didn’t expect youquite so soon. well, lucy-ann, you’ve grown! and philip, you look bursting with health!’

‘i don’t know why,’ grinned philip, giving mrs cunningham a big hug. ‘the food at school isso frightful i never eat any of it!’

‘same old story!’ said mrs cunningham, laughing. ‘hallo, kiki! say how do you do!’

‘how do you do?’ said the parrot, solemnly, and held out her left foot as if to shake hands.

‘new trick,’ said jack. ‘but wrong foot, old thing. don’t you know your left from your rightyet?’

‘left, right, left, right, left, right,’ said kiki at once, and began marking time remarkably well.

‘left, right, left …’

‘that’s enough,’ said jack. he turned to mrs cunningham. ‘how’s bill? is he here too?’

‘he meant to be here to welcome you all,’ said mrs cunningham, bill’s wife. ‘but he had asudden ’phone call this morning, took the car, and went racing off to london all in a hurry.’

the four children groaned. ‘it isn’t some job that’s turned up just as we’re home for the easterhols, is it?’ said lucy-ann. ‘bill’s always got some secret work to do just at the wrong time!’

‘well, i hope it isn’t,’ said mrs cunningham. ‘i’m expecting him to telephone at any moment tosay if he’s going to be back tonight or not.’

‘mother! shall we unpack down here and take our things up straight away?’ called dinah. ‘fourtrunks lying about the hall leave no room to move.’

‘yes. but leave two of the trunks downstairs when they’re empty,’ said her mother. ‘we’regoing off on a holiday tomorrow, all of us together!’

this was news to the children. they clustered round mrs cunningham at once. ‘you never saida word in your letters! where are we going? why didn’t you tell us before?’

‘well, it was really bill’s idea, not mine,’ said mrs cunningham. ‘he just thought it wouldmake a nice change. i was surprised myself when he arranged it.’

‘arranged it! and never said a word to us!’ said philip. ‘i say – is anything up? it seems funnythat bill did it all of a sudden. last time i saw him, when he came down to school to see us, hewas talking about what we’d all do at home in the four weeks’ easter hols.’

‘i don’t really think there’s anything peculiar about it,’ said his mother. ‘bill gets these suddenideas, you know.’

‘well – where are we all going to, then?’ asked jack, pushing kiki off the sideboard, where shewas trying to take the lid off the biscuit jar.

‘it’s a place called little brockleton,’ said mrs cunningham. ‘very quiet. in the middle of thecountry. just the kind of place you all like. you can mess about in old things all day long.’

‘little brockleton,’ said philip. ‘brock means badger. i wonder if there are badgers there. i’vealways wanted to study badgers. lovely little bear-like beasts.’

‘well, you’ll be happy then,’ said dinah. ‘i suppose that means you’ll be keeping a couple ofbadgers for pets before we know where we are! ugh!’

‘badgers are very nice animals,’ began philip. ‘clean and most particular in their habits, and…’

lucy-ann gave a little squeal of laughter. ‘oh dear – they don’t sound a bit like you then,philip!’

‘don’t interrupt like that and don’t make silly remarks,’ said philip. ‘i was saying, aboutbadgers …’

but nobody wanted to listen. jack had a question he wanted to ask. ‘are there any decent birdsround about little brockleton?’ he said. ‘where is it? by the sea?’

jack was as mad as ever about birds. so long as he could do birdwatching of some kind he washappy. mrs cunningham laughed at him.

‘you and your birds, jack, and philip and his badgers! i can’t tell you anything about the birdsthere – the same ones as usual, i suppose. now – what about these trunks? we’ll unpack the lot;take the boys’ trunks upstairs, and leave the girls’ to take with us to little brockleton – they arenot quite so hard-used as yours!’

‘can we have something to eat after we’ve unpacked?’ asked philip. ‘i’m famished. the schoolfood, you know, is so …’

‘yes – i’ve heard all that before, philip,’ said his mother. you’ll have a fine lunch in half anhour – yes, your favourite – cold meat, salad, baked beans in tomato sauce, potatoes in theirjackets, heaps of tomatoes …’

‘oh, good!’ said everyone at once, and kiki hopped solemnly from one leg to another.

‘good!’ she said. ‘good! good morning, good night, good!’

the unpacking began. ‘kiki was dreadful in the train home,’ said jack, struggling with anarmful of clothes, and dropping half of them. ‘she got under the carriage seat to pick over someold toffee papers there, and such a nice old man got in. kiki stuffed the toffee papers into the turn-ups of his trousers – you should just have seen his face when he bent down and saw them!’

‘and then she began to bark like a dog,’ said lucy-ann with a giggle, ‘and the poor old manleapt off his seat as if he’d been shot.’

‘bang-bang,’ put in kiki. ‘pop-pop. pop goes the weasel. wipe your feet and shut the door.’

‘oh, kiki! it’s nice to have you again with your silly talk,’ said mrs cunningham, laughing.

kiki put up her crest and sidled over to her. she rubbed her head against mrs cunningham’s handlike a cat.

‘i always expect you to purr, kiki, when you do that,’ said mrs cunningham, scratching theparrot’s head.

the unpacking was soon done. it was very simple really. dirty clothes were pitched into theenormous linen-basket, the rest were pitched into drawers.

‘can’t think why people ever make a fuss about packing or unpacking,’ said jack. ‘kiki, takeyour head out of my pocket. what’s this sudden craze for toffees? do you want to get your beakstuck so that you can’t talk?’

kiki took her head out of jack’s pocket, and screeched triumphantly. she had found a toffee.

now she would have a perfectly lovely time unwrapping the paper, talking to herself all the while.

‘well, that’ll keep her quiet for a bit,’ said dinah thankfully. ‘kiki’s always so noisy whenshe’s excited.’

‘so are you,’ said philip at once. dinah glared at him.

‘shut up, you two,’ said jack. ‘no sparring on the first day of hols. gosh, look at lucy-anngoing up the stairs dropping a pair of socks on every step!’

the telephone bell rang. mrs cunningham ran to answer it. ‘that will be bill!’ she said.

it was. there was a short conversation which consisted mostly of ‘yes. no. i see. i suppose so.

no, of course not. yes. yes. no, bill. right. yes, i’ll explain. see you tonight then. goodbye.’

‘what’s he say?’ asked lucy-ann. ‘is he coming soon? i do want to see him.’

‘yes, he’s coming this evening, about half past five,’ said mrs cunningham. the four childrendidn’t think she looked very pleased. she opened her mouth to say something, hesitated, and thenclosed it again.

‘mother, what was it you said you’d explain?’ said philip at once. ‘we heard you say, “yes, i’llexplain”. was it something you had to tell us? what is it?’

‘don’t say it’s anything horrid,’ said lucy-ann. ‘bill is coming away with us, isn’t he?’

‘oh yes,’ said mrs cunningham. ‘well – i hope you won’t mind, my dears – but he badly wantsus to take someone else with us.’

‘who?’ asked everyone at once, and they all looked so fierce that mrs cunningham was quitesurprised.

‘not his old aunt?’ said dinah. ‘oh, mother, don’t say it’s someone we’ve got to be on our bestbehaviour with all the time.’

‘no, of course not,’ said her mother. ‘it’s a small boy – the nephew of a friend of bill’s.’

‘do we know him? what’s his name?’ asked jack.

‘bill didn’t tell me his name,’ said mrs cunningham.

‘why can’t he go to his own home for the holidays?’ asked dinah in disgust. ‘i don’t like smallboys. why should we have to have him? he’ll probably spoil everything for us!’

‘oh no he won’t,’ said philip, at once. ‘small boys have to toe the line with us, don’t they,jack? we get enough of them and their fatheadedness at school – we know how to deal with themall right.’

‘yes, but why has he got to come to us?’ persisted dinah. ‘hasn’t he got a home?’

‘oh yes – but he’s a foreigner,’ said her mother. ‘he’s been sent to school in england to have agood english education. i should imagine his family want him to have a few weeks in a britishfamily now, and experience a little of our homelife. also, i gather there is some difficulty at hishome at the moment – illness, i should think.’

‘oh well – we’ll have to make the best of it,’ said lucy-ann, picturing a very little, homesickboy, and thinking that she would comfort him and make a fuss of him.

‘we’ll park him with you then, lucy-ann,’ said dinah, who didn’t like small boys at all, orsmall girls either. ‘you can wheel him about in a pram and put him to bed at night!’

‘don’t be silly, dinah. he won’t be as small as that!’ said her mother. ‘now – have youfinished? it’s almost lunchtime, so go and wash your hands and brush your hair.’

‘wash your hands, brush your hair, wipe your feet, blow your nose,’ shouted kiki. ‘brush yourhands, blow your feet, wipe your – your – your …’

‘yes – you’ve got a bit muddled, old thing,’ said jack with a laugh. kiki flew to his shoulder,and began to pull at jack’s ear lovingly. then, as she heard the sound of the gong suddenlybooming out, she gave a loud screech and flew into the dining room. she knew what that soundmeant!

‘jack! kiki will peck all the tomatoes if you don’t keep an eye on her,’ called mrs cunningham.

‘go after her, quickly!’

but there was no need to say that – everyone had rushed to the dining room at the first sound ofthe gong!