The CBB :: View topic - Alone (Now Titled!)

#1: Alone (Now Titled!) Author: Caeli, Location: West Midlands

Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 6:43 pm

Just to make sure you know, THIS ISN'T MY DRABBLE! It's another CBBer who wants to post anonymously. Oh, and thanks to LizB for beta-reading!

The Alps were as tall as usual. Strong and beautiful, they filled the view from the window of the Lower IVa Common room. The snow was as white as usual. Crisp and glistening, it gave the whole scene a brighter appearance. The wind was as brisk as usual. One of the lower forms was running around, and she could see their hair being blown around by the wind. She rose from the window seat, and let the tears wet her face. There was only one thing different, and it would stay different for a long time. Forever, she realised sadly. As the tears dried fresh ones came, and she didn’t even attempt to stop them. The door creaked open, and Con Maynard walked in. She gave the girl a hard look, and then spoke.
“Why are you crying?” she said stonily. “You seem to have done a lot of it recently. It's not as if you’re the one who has anything to be crying about. Is it?” It was Emerence Hope who looked into Con’s hard face, and a pitiful Emerence too.
“I – I’m not crying!” she said with effort. Con didn’t even seem to care what she said. “Look, Con,” said Emerence, trying to be reasonable for a change. “Can’t we talk? I mean, with everything that’s happened, I’d like to get to know you better – “
“Shut up!” shouted Con, searching for something, anything that would stop the hot tears from flowing. “I’m Con, not Margot and I will NEVER replace her! And you’ll never find anybody who will, Emerence!” Emerence crumpled. She had thought Con would be glad to have someone to talk to, and also admitted that she had thought being friends with Con would take away some of the pain she had felt over Margot. She hadn’t taken into account Con’s thoughts. “You know what’s worse? You probably will find another best friend. She won’t be Margot, but she’ll be a nice person. You can’t find another triplet though, can you?” As Con stormed out the room, the tears streamed down Emerence’s face. She was going to have to go on without Margot, and also keep the secret Margot had trusted her with. But Con didn’t care that she’d hurt Emerence. In fact, she wanted Emerence to hurt, and to feel some pain like Con herself had been experiencing.

I just edited this because there was a Laughing

smiley at the end. Had that always been there??? It doesn't really add to the effect of the story does it?

Last edited by Caeli on Fri Jul 22, 2005 6:30 pm; edited 18 times in total

#2: Author: Marianne, Location: Lancaster

Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 6:53 pm

beautiful thank you.

#3: Author: Laura, Location: London (ish)

Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 7:23 pm

Eek. But a fab drabble, oh mysterious drabble writer! More would be much appreciated - if there is more?

#4: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 8:27 pm

Would this be The Chalet School Does it Again? Did Margot not survive her dip in Lake Lucerne?

Looking good.

#5: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 8:31 pm

Thanks Caeli and mysterious drabbler Very Happy

Liz

#6: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 9:27 pm

*intrigued*

thank you Caeli for posting and mysterious drabbler for writing

#7: Author: Lisa_T, Location: Belfast

Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 2:15 pm

*joining the intrigued and curious queue forming outside this drabble* Actually, scratch the queue. I'm going to find a trampoline or sofa and wait in comfort.

This is really good!!!!

#8: Author: aitchemelle, Location: West Sussex

Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 2:26 pm

Lisa_T wrote:

*joining the intrigued and curious queue forming outside this drabble* Actually, scratch the queue. I'm going to find a trampoline or sofa and wait in comfort.

This is really good!!!!

*Joins Lisa sitting patiently waiting for more*

#9: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 2:31 pm

When will there be some more of this? Please.

#10: Author: Sophoife, Location: down under Down Under

Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 7:06 pm

Joins the sea of people sitting waiting patiently (more or less) for more!

#11: Author: Liane, Location: Manchester

Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 8:00 pm

Oh wow this looks really good.
*wondering about this secret*

#12: Author: Caeli as guest,

Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 9:46 pm

It's not based on anything that *really happened* Lesley.

“Con! Con!” Con walked on in a dream. Life seemed to be full of people calling her, wanting to talk to her, joke with her, and just interact in general. Con didn’t mind interacting with the triplets, and her family, but other people fazed her. Her mind went back to a particular time when her sisters had been calling her.
“Con! Con!” Len had shouted in desperation.
“Con! Get out!” Margot had screamed as the roof began to fall in. Con had remained silent. Her heart had stopped, and she was in a dream world of her own. The orange flames leapt in a lurid pattern around her, and a poem was already forming in her mind. She inhaled more smoke, and watched this monster eat her sisters.
“Get out!” Margot had screamed for a final time, before one of the beams from the roof smashed down onto her head. Con didn’t seem to care. She had sat down on the floor of the burning house, and kept silent. She could hear Len fumbling around; trying to escape, but she didn’t care about that either. Con was in a bubble of her own, like a snail in a shell, she couldn’t see what was happening around her. And then, it was over. Con was sitting on the grass outside the new house, and there were hundreds of people milling around, trying to be nosy and find out what had happened. Con knew her triplets were dead, although they hadn’t been officially pronounced dead or anything. But Con knew for sure, she could feel that the bonds between them had gone and that they weren’t with her any more. Con was bundled into a car, and taken to the San. to be checked over. Con didn’t want to be checked over. She wanted to be left alone; to cry, to help herself realise what had just happened. It all seemed unreal, and Con didn’t want it to be real.

#13: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 9:54 pm

Oh how terrible - to have lost both of them. Poor Con. bawling

And thanks Caeli for answering my query.

#14: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 1:52 pm

Poor Con

Thanks Caeli and Question

Liz

#15: Author: Caeli, Location: West Midlands

Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 4:31 pm

*Mystery Drable-Writer* sends the updates to the story every day to me (and I get to read them first Laughing

) but she says her e-mail is broken so she probably won't get the next one to me until tomorrow or Tuesday.
SORRY

#16: Author: nikkie, Location: Cumbria

Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 6:48 pm

Thank you to both of you.

#17: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 8:21 pm

Len and Margot are dead? Poor Con......

hope the mystery drabbler's e-mail gets fixed soon

#18: Author: Kat, Location: Swansea

Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 8:39 pm

Thank you, writer - I hope your email is up and running soon, because I'd like to read more of this!

#19: Author: Guest,

Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 4:43 pm

“It’s not true!” she burst out. Her father and Jem Russell, who were in the car with her, turned around startled, their eyes full of sympathy.
“It’s okay now, Con, we’re going to the hospital, and you’ll soon be fit!” said Jem, trying to be calm. Jack was too traumatised to speak; he knew as well as Con that Len and Margot were dead, or as good as. He knew if he spoke, he would break down, so he kept his eyes to the road, even though Jem was driving. Jack took a deep breath. Dealing with his own pain was hard enough, but he knew he would soon be dealing with Joey’s and Con’s as well.
“Jem?” he muttered quietly, as they drove on. “I think I’ll stay at the San. tonight. Working. I can’t cope with Joey, not today!” It was a plea for help, one that Jem fully understood.
“Joey will be looked after,” he assured Jack. “But just to tell you, you’re going to have to go back and support your family. Everyone will be expecting you to. It’s your duty!” Jack sighed, and held back the sobs which rarely overtook him. Jem saw, but tried to keep everything quiet and peaceful.
‘This is going to be hard on Jack, however tough he is. I’ll have to keep an eye on him, he’ll really be ill if those women put too much pressure on him.’ They arrived at the San., where Joey was waiting for Jack..
“Jack! They’re gone! Help me Jack! I can’t do it any more!” Joey collapsed into awful, noisy sobs, and Jack held her tight. A solitary tear trickled down his face as he was handed the death reports of his two daughters. After reading them, he led Joey into a relatives’ room, and proceeded to comfort her the best he could. When Jem looked in, they were both asleep, and he was relieved.
“It’s going to be a long, hard time ahead. For the Maynards and for the school.”

#20: Author: Kat, Location: Swansea

Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 4:50 pm

I hope Joey is not going to be selfish and will realise that they are Jack's children too....

#21: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 5:27 pm

Anonymous wrote:

A solitary tear trickled down his face as he was handed the death reports of his two daughters.

Thank you Anonymous

Liz

#22: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 7:17 pm

What can't Joey do anymore?

Be a mother to her remaining children? Especially Con who will be far more traumatised.

Be a wife and partner to a man who will be feeling just as devasted as her, but who will be expected to be 'the strong one' and to banish all emotion.

Joey, the role of an adult wife and mother means you have to do these things, otherwise you have just been playing at the role.

Thank you Guest.

#23: Author: Katie, Location: A Yorkshire lass in London

Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 7:27 pm

Thank you Guest, this is so good. I hope the Maynards can learn to cope with this horrible situation. Crying or Very sad

Don't be shy - we love your drabble and would like to congratulate a real person! Smile

#24: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 8:18 pm

It's my drabble. Thanks for the comments

#25: Author: Katie, Location: A Yorkshire lass in London

Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 8:20 pm

Yay Cecilia! Well done on such a good start Very Happy

#26: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 9:06 pm

Cecilia this is great!!!

And what happened to some of your other drabbles...especially len the stripper?!

#27: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 9:49 pm

Glad you've confessed Cecilia - much better to say well done and thank you than to 'Guest' Laughing

#28: Author: Alice, Location: London, England

Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 9:08 am

This is very good Ceclia, thank you.

#29: Author: Kat, Location: Swansea

Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 12:40 pm

Well done for 'coming out' Cecilia!!

Hope you post more for us soon *hint* Laughing

#30: Author: Caeli, Location: West Midlands

Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 3:33 pm

Just thought I’d post the last little bit I have!

Miss Annersley received the news with horror. The house Joey and Jack had bought for guests to stay in had burnt down. The triplets had been inside it. Len and Margot were dead, and Con very badly hurt, although she didn’t seem to realise it. Hilda shut the door of her study, and went to sit down in her chair. The Maynard triplets had been shining lights of the Chalet school, and now they were dead. Well, Con wasn’t. Hilda would have to inform the school herself, and she wasn’t looking forward to it at all. She had become very close to the three girls, and wasn’t feeling ready to face anybody. Rosalie came in with a cup of tea and a roll.
“Why was Jem here?” she queried. Hilda gulped, and tried to force her reply out. Instead there was a strangled sob. “Hilda?” Rosalie said warily. “What’s happened? Are you all right?” Hilda wiped her tears away.
“It’s the Maynards. There was a fire. Len and Margot are dead, and Con – she’s bad.” Rosalie gasped at the statement, and Hilda’s blunt way of putting it.
“That’s awful!” she said, with a wobble in her voice. Everybody had known and loved the Maynard triplets, and Rosalie was no exception. “Does the school know?”
Hilda sighed. “No,” she said bitterly. “And I’m the one who has to tell them.”
Rosalie looked searchingly at Hilda. “When are you going to tell them? At Abendessen?”
Hilda nodded. “I suppose I’ll have to, won’t I?” she said, in the same, bitter voice that worried Rosalie. She knew Hilda had been very close to the Maynard triplets, but still, something seemed wrong. Rosalie wondered if she had missed anything.
“It’ll be okay. Does the staff know? Or the Millies?“
Hilda turned to look at Rosalie, with an almost frightening hardness in her eyes. “You tell the staff. I’ll let Nell know.”
Rosalie, after one last glance, left the study and went off to the staff room to break the sad news. Hilda picked up the phone.
“Nell?” she said. “Do you remember what I told you about Margot Maynard? Well, now she’s gone. Dead in a fire, with Len. Con’s okay at the moment.” At St. Mildreds, Nell was another to gasp at Hilda’s blunt statement
“I’ll be down as soon as I can,” she replied, and hung up the phone with a thud.

#31: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 10:02 pm

what did Miss A say about Margot? Did I miss something?

Cecilia............please may we have some more?

#32: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 6:09 pm

Abendessen seemed as happy a meal as usual for the girls, although some of the more perceptive ones noticed the staff were not their usual cheerful selves. The Maynard triplets weren’t missed, because they had been over at Freudesheim for the weekend anyway. Cecil had been born recently, and the triplets still liked to admire her little fingers and toes, and how like Con/Joey she was, depending on whose opinion you shared. It was early Sunday evening that the triplets had begged to see the new guest house that had been built. Some chairs were delivered whilst the triplets were upstairs, and the delivery man carelessly dropped his lit cigarette on the wooden floor, not realising the damage it would cause. Fire and, ultimately, death had ensued, as the triplets tried to make their way out of the burning building. Hilda failed to eat much, worrying about the announcement she was about to make. They said a grace, and she stood up, along with the rest of the school and staff.
“Girls,” she said, trying to keep her voice from trembling. “This evening, I am sorry to be the bearer of some tragic news. I should think that most of you knew the Maynard triplets, at least by sight. There has been a fire at the new guesthouse the Maynards had built, and the three girls were inside. We have been informed that Len and Margot are no longer with us, and Con is not- very good.” There were audible gasps at this unexpected news, and many of the girls were in tears. The Maynards had been popular members of their respective forms, and were definitely going to be sadly missed.
“We will now all pray together, pray for the souls of Len and Margot, and pray that Con may recover from this accident. Dear Lord, please accept Len Maynard and Margot Maynard into the gates of Heaven. We pray that their souls may rest in peace, in the glory of God. Amen.” The girls answered with their own Amen, and then were sent to their common rooms for the rest of the evening. Some of the girls who had known the triplets better went to bed under the orders of Matron, where they cried themselves to sleep.

#33: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 10:03 pm

Thanks Cecilia Crying or Very sad

Liz

#34: Author: Alice, Location: London, England

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 10:25 pm

It's so sad. Thank you Cecilia.

#35: Author: Miss Di, Location: Newcastle, NSW

Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 4:23 am

Poor Miss A having to break the news to the school. And what was the rotten delivery person doing smoking inside someone elses home?!! Grr, I hope he is charged with murder.

#36: Author: Sophoife, Location: down under Down Under

Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 7:27 am

Wow Cecilia!

What did Miss Annersley say to Miss Wilson about Margot???

#37: Author: RuthY, Location: Anyone's guess

Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 4:32 pm

Thanks Cecilia Crying or Very sad

This is so sad Exclamation

What did Miss A say to Miss Wilson about Margot Question

Ruth

#38: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 7:10 pm

Meanwhile, Con Maynard was alone.. She wouldn’t speak or respond to anybody, except for the occasional demand to see Len and Margot.
“Maybe it would do her good,” mused Jem, thoughtfully. “I hope Jack is back soon, I think he would help Con a lot.” Jem was speaking to himself, and Jack heard him as he approached the doorway.
“I’m here Jem,” he said. “Joey’s asleep. I don’t think Con should see her sisters. They’re in a bad way, and don’t look at all peaceful. It’s not a good idea.”
“Well, I realise that Len received some terrible burns. But Margot isn’t so… she isn’t as burnt!” Jem ended, for want of a better term. “Maybe she could go to Margot? It might help her accept things better in the long run!” Jack sighed, and nodded.
“Do what you like, I’m too exhausted to argue.” Jem made his way to Con’s room, as Jack picked up a pile of paperwork. Jem opened the door, and saw to his amazement that Con was gone. Jack looked at the paperwork, which turned out to be Len and Margot’s death reports, and the statistics that had been taken when they had first been admitted to hospital. He studied them carefully for a moment.
“Well, at least they’re correct.” He walked slowly out of Jem’s office into the corridor, and walked down to the room where Len and Margot were. He saw Con sitting by Margot, holding her hand. He quickly bent and checked both pulses, but even before he had he knew there had been no mistake. It was almost a reflex.
“I wish Len wasn’t dead,” she said sadly. Then she seemed to notice Jack.
“Papa?” said Con, standing up slowly. “I’m sorry! I just wanted to – to see them before they go away, and –“ Jack went over and hugged her.
“It’s all right Con. Are you coming now?” Con nodded, and went hand in hand with Jack out into the corridor. Jack was relieved; seeing her triplets had seemed to do Con good. As they walked slowly down the passage, Jem looked on, with the biggest smile he could muster after the hard day.
“Things are beginning to sort themselves out. Well, it’s a start, things can only get better, I suppose.”

#39: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 7:26 pm

Thanks Cecilia

Liz

#40: Author: Caeli, Location: West Midlands

Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 6:24 pm

Well, as it's not me posting any more, I can now say that: I like this, and thank you Cecilia. Very sad. Crying or Very sad

#41: Author: RuthY, Location: Anyone's guess

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 2:02 pm

THANKS CECILIA Crying or Very sad

This is so sad Crying or Very sad

More when you can (hint,hint)

What did Miss A say abotu Margot Question

Ruth

#42: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 7:24 pm

And things had got better. Slowly but surely, Con herself had begun to recover, accept what had happened and get over it. Well, not get over it exactly, more get used to what had happened, used to living without her sisters. And after the funeral, even Joey began to return to her former self. She had lost a lot of weight, and was spending all her time with her remaining children, rather than doing any work. But she was getting better. Con still found herself getting upset at things she hadn’t even stopped to think about before, and getting hurt a lot more easily. But, as horrible as it sounds, Con was vaguely enjoying being known as Con and not just Len and Margot’s sister. There was one thing that was annoying her beyond all else though; Emerence. Emerence had reacted almost as badly as Con had to the death of Margot (and of course, Len, but it was Margot Emerence was most upset about). Con had been walking around like a ghost for the past few weeks, not speaking to anybody very much. A lot of people had been avoiding Con, unsure of what to say or how to act. But Con hadn’t minded, she hadn’t felt the need to converse anyway. Now, though, Con was feeling ready to get involved in things again, and to care. And that was when she had noticed Emerence skulking around, seeming as upset as Con had been for the previous six weeks. If it had been anything else that Emerence had been upset at, Con wouldn’t have minded at all. But whenever she thought about it now, a fierce, angry feeling welled up inside her. ‘They’re my triplets, not Emerence’s! She’s just being stupid! I always hated Emerence!’ And her thoughts would travel on like this until she suddenly realised what she was thinking. It wasn’t the sort of thing the old Con would have ever said, or even thought. And she would turn her thoughts to something else. But the angry feeling would still overtake her sometimes, and she knew that she was not as well as everybody thought she was.

#43: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 5:57 pm

Poor Con

Her anger is quite understandable and natural. I hope somebody can help her with her grief.

Liz

#44: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 5:43 pm

It was Joey who had thought of it. The time flew, and soon enough it was the triplets’ birthday Con had assured everybody that she didn’t want any presents, and most people were obeying her wishes, but Joey had other ideas. So when Con came down the stairs on her birthday morning, there were no presents as there had been every other year. However, after the customary happy birthday hugs and kisses, Joey had slipped out of the room in the direction of the garage. Con had been too preoccupied to notice, she had never expected to have a birthday all to herself, without any sisters to share it with. She had thought she would be able to handle it, but this theory was proving wrong. She was close to tears for the first time in at least a month, when Joey came back in, holding a basket. She went round and tapped Con on the shoulder. Con jumped, and turned. A stray tear leaked out of her eye. She wiped it quickly away, but Joey just handed her the basket. Con looked at it curiously, her tears gone. She slowly pulled the blanket away. A tiny ginger tabby kitten jumped out at her. Con jumped backwards, and dropped the basket. There was aloud meow, and a second kitten, black and white, stepped out of the basket. Con held the tabby and gasped. If asked, this would have been the last thing she would have wanted for her birthday, but now they were here and she was holding one, they were the most perfect things on earth.
“Do you like them?” asked Joey quietly, with a tiny smile on her face.
“They are beautiful.” Con placed the tabby down and picked up the other.
“What will you name them?” Jack asked, gently picking up the ginger tabby.
“Easy,” said Con, taking the tabby and holding it along with the black and white. “The black and white is Len, and the tabby is Margot.”

#45: Author: aitchemelle, Location: West Sussex

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 6:06 pm

*wibbles weebles and urples*

(That's me trying not to completely burst into tears by the way)

This is so good Cecilia. Thankyou Crying or Very sad

#46: Author: RuthY, Location: Anyone's guess

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 7:08 pm

This is great Cecilia. Thank you!!
Crying or Very sad

Ruth

#47: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 8:31 pm

*sniffles*

that's so beautiful Cecilia

#48: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 11:15 pm

I think the kittens could be very therapeutic for Con

Thanks Cecilia

Liz

#49: Author: Cath V-P, Location: Newcastle NSW

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 11:45 pm

What a lovely gift...

#50: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:36 pm

The birthday had been a very hard time for all three of them. Con had stayed at home for a while after that, finding herself upset at the smallest things. She spent her time playing with the kittens. Jack looked on worriedly.
“I like the fact that she is really going for these kittens,” he said to Joey one day. “But I don’t like the way she calls them Len and Margot. It’s almost as if she thinks they can replace them, and I definitely don’t think that’s a good thing!” Usually a comment like this would cause Joey to panic about her remaining triplet but today she remained calm.
“Oh no, there’s no need to worry about that any more. Look!” Jack looked back over at Con, who was now saying,
“Come here, Fred! You shouldn’t rip the furniture like that!” Seeing Jack’s puzzled face, she smiled.
“They are boy cats. And after all, I can’t really call them Len and Margot can I? They're Fred and George now.” Jack didn’t fully understand the reasoniong behind this, but he let it pass. That was one worry out of the way.
“Oh, and dad?” Con said, looking up as Jack left the room.
“Yes?” he replied, turning round.
“I want to go back to school tomorrow.”

#51: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:42 pm

Thanks Cecilia

Hope going back to school is the right thing for Con to do - will she be allowed to take the kittens with her?

Liz

#52: Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:42 pm

I know Con's lost her sisters but I hope someone will look after Emerence - her parents are on the other side of the world and Margot was her only close friend.

#53: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2005 4:21 pm

Sorry I took forever to give you this update, but I had some slight problems with things. Well here it is, and thanks so so much to LizB!!

Things were beginning to take a turn for the better, and Con herself had stopped feeling upset or angry at everything, even Emerence. But now she remembered the thing Margot had told her the night before she had died, and she was worrying about that more than anything else. She believed she was the only one who knew about it, and it was weighing her down as if she had a huge weight attached to her chest. However, there was another person who knew about the secret, in fact two. One had forgotten about it, and she was wandering around as morbidly as she had been ever since Margot had died.
The other person was Miss Annersley. When Margot had told Miss Annersley her secret, she had expected Miss Annersley to insist that she told her mother, in a firm but gentle voice. And Joey would have been upset at first, but then comforting, and she would tell Margot that everything would be okay. But Miss Annersley had told Margot she would see her when she came back from her weekend at Freudesheim, and tell her what she was going to do. And the only person Miss Annersley had told before Margot had died had been Nell Wilson.
When Margot left the study, Hilda had sighed a deep sigh, one that she hadn’t expected to ever come from her. It was the sigh of a person who had no idea what to do. But when Hilda didn’t know what to do, Nell always did. She picked up the phone.
“Hello?” Nell’s voice crackled.
“It’s me,” she said heavily. “Hilda.”
“What’s up with you?” Nell asked. Hilda sighed the same deep sigh.
“Margot Maynard has just been to see me.”
“What has she done this time?” Nell queried. “It doesn’t sound like a good thing, at any rate!” Hilda shook her head, then realised she was on the phone.
“Margot is pregnant.”

#54: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2005 4:29 pm

Thanks Cecilia - glad you decided to use what you'd written.

Poor Con and Hilda and Margot and Emerence and everybody Crying or Very sad

Liz

#55: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2005 11:48 pm

well I didn't see that one coming.

thanks Cecilia

#56: Author: Cath V-P, Location: Newcastle NSW

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 12:30 am

Well, that was unexpected!

#57: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:36 pm

Sorry this update is short, I might post some more tonight but if not then tomorrow.

Hilda had hung up the phone after saying that. It was almost as though it was something Hilda ought to be ashamed of, or that was how she felt. Nell vaguely understood, and decided to make her way over to see her troubled friend.
“Trust Margot Maynard to put all this pressure on Hilda!” she thought crossly as she grabbed her coat and bag and set off. “At this time, she could really do without it!” And then Nell put all her thoughts to the back of her mind. This was no time to be thinking about Hilda’s problem, especially as Hilda evidently wasn’t.
Meanwhile at the school, Hilda was pacing up and down her study. For the first time in her life, she really had no idea of what course of action to take. It had been her gift, knowing what to do with the most troublesome of girls, and yet here she was thrown. And by a little girl who had somehow got herself pregnant. She wondered.

#58: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:19 pm

hilda has a problem?!

Yikes!

#59: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:42 pm

Thanks Cecilia

Glad Nell is going to go to talk to Hilda.

Maybe it's a good thing Hilda's distracted from her own worries?

Liz

#60: Author: Caeli, Location: West Midlands

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:01 pm

Feel a bit stupid posting on this because it says that I'm the author, but:
Thank Cecilia this is great! Very curious about Hilda's problem.

#61: Author: Sophoife, Location: down under Down Under

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 7:34 am

More and more curious now.

Thanks Cecilia!

#62: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 4:16 pm

And the next day they went to Freudesheim. People said goodbye to the triplets, and knew they would see them in a couple of days. But unfortunately only one Maynard triplet returned to school after their visit to Freudesheim, and that was Con. Margot hadn’t got round to telling her parents about her pregnancy, and now she never would. Because she was dead.
Miss Annersley called Con to her study one day.
“Hello, Con. Sit down.” Con nervously took a seat, wondering what would happen next. She couldn’t remember doing anything wrong.
“You’re probably wondering why I’ve called you here, but there’s really no need to worry. I just need to ask you a simple question, and I hope I don’t upset you. Anyway, no need to beat around the bush. The day before you and your sisters went to Freudesheim, Margot came to see me.” Con momentarily thought of the cat, then hastily remembered the cat was called George and felt very guilty. “She told me about a problem she had that was worrying her. I was wondering, do you have any idea what I might be talking about? Do you know of anything that Margot may have told me?” Con’s mind zoomed backwards to the day that had seemed so long ago, and remembered when Margot had told her about it. Con was back with Margot, who was crying.
“Tell Mama, Margot!” Con urged, sitting on the end of Margot’s bed waiting for her to stop crying (and breaking at least two rules). “Tell Mama and everything will be okay! Tell Mama!” Margot finally stopped crying.
“I can’t tell Mama,” she said stonily. “Because she would tell Papa.” She said that as if it was the end of the matter.
“Well Margot, they will know in the end if you have the baby and then they might make you disown her and if you don’t they might disown you and-“
“Okay,” Margot butted in before Con had a chance to finish. “I will tell them. You’re right. But I’ll tell them when I’m going back to school again, and I’ll tell Len too.”
“Yes,” said Con, and then went silent.
“Well, I’ll assume we’re thinking about the same thing,” said Miss Annersley. “And ask you a question. Does your mother know?” Con thought for a moment. She was almost certain her mother didn’t know, simply because there hadn’t been a big uproar in the house, and that was what she was fully expecting when Margot finally gave her secret to her parents to look after.
“No, she doesn’t, and neither does Dad. She was going to tell them though.” Miss Annersley rose, and looked gently at Con.
“Thank you Con. You may go now.” Con rose, curtsied and left with a feeling of relief. It was Miss Annersley’s secret more than hers now.

#63: Author: Caeli, Location: West Midlands

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:05 pm

Thanks Cecilia: Happy for Con and sad for Hilda, and still wondering what her problem is! Tell us pleease!!!

#64: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:07 pm

Thanks Cecilia

Glad Con has been able to get that burden off her shoulders slightly.

Liz

#65: Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 7:38 pm

I'm guessing Hilda's problem is that she knows (or thinks she knows) who the father was.

#66: Author: Sophoife, Location: down under Down Under

Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 11:32 am

Curiouser and curiouser (me that is)!

#67: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 4:07 pm

Sorry this isn't a very... explaining? explanatory post but it will come soon...

“You’re not pregnant!” said Emerence incredulously.
“I am!” said Margot. “Do you think I would make something like that up?”
“Well, no,” Emerence admitted. “But I just didn’t think you were the type. You know, being a Maynard and everything!” When Margot had told Emerence her secret, she had been relieved. Emerence had somehow transformed it from something for everybody to worry about into something to laugh and joke about. The only thing she was worrying about was telling her parents. She had told Con before Emerence, but she hadn’t even dreamed of telling Len. It wasn’t that she preferred Con in any way, except the fact that she could just hear Len’s voice in her head.
“You tell Mama and Papa, or I will!” When she had told Con, she had just gently persuaded her to tell her parents, she hadn’t put any real pressure on her, but she had still managed to change her mind. She was grateful to Con.
Everybody thought that Joey didn’t know about Margot’s pregnancy, but she did. Margot had told Joey, and Joey had found out everything, and took it surprisingly well. She had managed to get Margot to tell her everything. She had told Jack about it too.
“She said she didn’t want to worry me by telling me, Jack!” Joey grumbled. “She said that she didn’t think it was a good idea! Really, Jack, some people just think all I’m good for is fainting, collapsing, getting pregnant and eating Anna's cream cakes!” Jack laughed. That had been the last good evening of his life, one where he wasn’t worrying about anything, or comforting someone or feeling upset. Even at the San everybody was okay.

#68: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 4:09 pm

Thanks Cecilia

Liz

#69: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 6:49 pm

Hilda was alone in her study. Margot Maynard’s secret had gone straight out of her mind as her own problem became more and more pronounced.
“Nell, it’s getting worse,” she told her friend when she came to visit her one Saturday afternoon. “So much worse.” Nell was sympathetic, and seemed to think it was nothing to worry about. So when she was with Nell, she felt normal again, like it was something that happened to every woman. But inside, Nell was at least as anxious as Hilda was. She had never heard of anything like this before, and all the worry about everything happening seemed to make it worse. Hilda picked up a book off her desk, one she had got out to show Nell, and Nell couldn’t help looking on worriedly as she picked it up. Hilda looked up quickly, and saw Nell’s glance. She felt her cheeks burn.
“So you think I’m odd too now, do you?” she said. And then she opened her mouth to apologise. She had never argued with Nell, not once in the long time she had known her. “No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I know it is unusual, and you can’t help looking.” It was Nell’s turn to blush.
“Yes, but I shouldn’t just go round staring at something you’re self-conscious about. Look, it doesn’t matter anyway, I’m sure everything will sort itself out, in the same way that everything has with all the other problems at school.” Hilda nodded, and both knew that inside the other was as anxious as they were feeling.

#70: Author: nikkie, Location: Cumbria

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 7:07 pm

Whats wrong with HIlda?
Thanks Cecilia

ETA-Don't say its her eyes?

#71: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 9:34 pm

Thanks Cecilia

Curious to know what Hilda's worry is

Liz

#72: Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 8:32 pm

They wouldn't be ignorant of the 'change'? Would they?

#73: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 7:22 pm

Your comment Lyanne... do you mean Menopause (says the confused little girl...)?
It's not that anyway! HERE IT IS THOUGH.

Joey was attempting to find out how to make Anna’s lemon biscuits by watching her every move, but could only remember the squeezing the juice of half a lemon into a bowl step. The phone rang.
“Hello?” said Joey.
“It’s Nell,” said Nell. “I’m ringing to talk to Jack, actually Joey, and sorry but I don’t have time to Jack. I mean, chat,” she continued, blushing at her mixing up of words.
“Well, sorry but he’s not here, he’s at the San. Shall I tell him you rang?” asked Joey.
“No,” said Nell. “I’m going down there. See you soon Joey, goodbye for now.” She hung up the phone.
At the San, Jack had almost managed to balance a seventh plate on his head in the staff break room. As Nell entered the room (which was strictly forbidden), there was a clatter of china.
“Jack,” said Nell. “I need to talk. Now, sorry if you’re busy.” Jack rose and came out of the room quickly.
“What’s happened?” he inquired anxiously. “Joey okay?”
“Fine,” said Nell briskly. “I’m here about Hilda. She doesn’t want me to tell anyone, but I’m worried, and I have to. It’s for her good.”
“Why, what’s wrong with her?” asked Jack.
“It’s hard to explain,” said Nell. “I’ve never come across anything like it before, but basically when she picks things up, she has to touch them eight times first.” She had originally been hesitant to tell Jack all this, but now it suddenly came flowing out of her. “I noticed it without her telling me, and when I asked her she explained it better. She said she can’t help it, and that it will go with time, but that was at least three months ago now, and there’s no sign of it going. When she’s really stressed, she touches things sixteen times, or sometimes even sixty-four. Eight plus eight, and eight times eight, you see,” Nell was quick to explain, as she saw the confusion on Jack’s face when she told him the ultimate good numbers. Jack looked concerned.
“I’ve never heard of anything like it either. Everyone is in a bad way these days, and I always think, one day it will be me, and then what will all these sick people do?” Jack looked suddenly tired and pale, and Nell could see the strain of being a doctor, spending every day fighting to save lives, beginning to take its toll on him.
“Well, you shouldn’t think like that Jack, it’s bad for your mental health, and that’s something I do know, even if I have no idea about Hilda’s affliction.”
“Will she come in for tests, do you think?” he asked. Nell nodded.
“She won’t at the moment, but I’m sure I can persuade her, though it may take a while. Thanks for the help anyway, Jack, even if you are as unsure as I am.” Nell took a step backwards, and turned towards the exit.
“Goodbye,” called Jack. Nell turned back to him and smiled, but she couldn’t help noticing how ill he looked one she had seen it to begin with.
“Maybe it will be him next,” she thought to herself.

#74: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 7:24 pm

Poor Jack... hope he is OK Sad

#75: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:37 pm

at Jack balancing plates on his head

But poor Hilda if she's suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder Crying or Very sad

Thanks Cecilia

Liz

#76: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:43 pm

Hilda was pacing up and down the study.
“Margot was pregnant!” she kept repeating over and over again, as though she had only just found out the news. She said the sentence in groups of eight, and every time she said it she would take a step. And when she had taken eight steps she would turn and go in a different direction. “How could she be? How could she be? How could she be? How could she be? How could she be? How could she be? How could she be? How could she be?” And a calm feeling welled up inside her as she finished saying it for the eighth time. And she was happy.
“Hey! Emerence!” a girl called as she walked down the corridor. “Want to play tennis?” Emerence shook her head miserably. She never felt like doing anything any more. The girl walked on, shaking her head. It had been ages since Margot had died now! Surely she must be feeling even slightly more cheerful. The girl in question hadn’t actually known Margot Maynard, as she had been new just the week after, as her parents had to quickly fly to Egypt for an unknown reason. Under these special circumstances, she had been allowed into the school just in time to feel the aftermath of Len and Margot’s deaths, without having known them personally. Her name was Katy-Jane.
Emerence was walking around the school. She wasn’t going anywhere in particular, just walking in general. She saw no one she wanted to talk to, there were no activities she wanted to do, she just wanted to sit down, and be alone, and mope around. At the Chalet School there was no time for such things, for instance Emerence and her form were registered to go on a walk in an hour’s time. Meanwhile, all the other girls were making use of the free half hour. Emerence, on the other hand, was walking.
“Hi, Emerence,” said the girl who had just spoken to her. She had been calling Emerence, chasing after her, for the past five minutes, but Emerence had been too preoccupied to notice. “Are you all right?” Emerence nodded, with the same miserable look on her face that she had had when she had been asked to play tennis.
“I’m all right, thank you, Katy,” she said, as politely as she could. Katy-Jane shook her head.
“No you aren’t,” she said sympathetically. “Look here, Emerence.” Emerence forced her head round to look at Katy-Jane’s eyes, which were full of empathy as well as sympathy. “Two weeks before I came to this school, my best friend died. She was called Lucy, and was one of the nicest girls I’ve ever known. I was angry enough about having to leave her to go to Switzerland, but I never dreamed- not once! That she would be gone even before I was. It was the worst day of my life when she was killed.” Katy’s eyes shone bright with tears, and so did Emerence’s. Finally, here was someone who might understand how she was feeling. “How did she- I mean, what-“ stammered Emerence hesitantly.
“She was knocked down by a motor car,” said Katy sadly. “And I saw it happen.” Her voice sounded suddenly dull, and she was silent for a moment as she remembered her lost friend. But then she continued with what she had come to tell Emerence in the first place.
“When I came away to this place, I thought that it would be easy to just forget about Lucy, and start a new life away from all my bad memories. But I was wrong. I will never forget Lucy, because she was so good to me, and was always kind and sympathetic. But forgetting her isn’t the same of thinking about her, moping about her and wishing she was here, all day every day! You don’t need to be always thinking about her, because you will still remember her if she was a true friend to you! And that matters so much more than crying about her all day!” Katy grabbed Emerence’s wrists, and span her round to look into her eyes earnestly. “Do you understand what I mean?” she said quietly. Emerence nodded, and then felt her tears and gloom melting away. Maybe this girl was right.
“Maybe I will play tennis!” she said happily.

#77: Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2005 9:37 pm

Sorry Cecilia, yes i did mean the menopause. i wrote the change because i didn't think Hilda etc would call it the menopause. Embarassed

#78: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:50 am

Thanks Cecilia

Glad Katy could get through to Emerence a little *hugs both girls*

Liz

#79: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 8:59 pm

Didn't mean to embarrass you Lynne, I understood why you called it the 'change', I was just hoping I hadn't got the wrong end of the stick.

As the new doctor walked up the passage, he heard someone talking. He looked into the restroom, where the talking was coming from, and Doctor Maynard was in there. Alone. He wondered who had been talking. Surely not Maynard?
The room was empty, after all.
“Maynard?” said the doctor, Jack wasn’t sure of his name. He stood up. “There’s an old lady in here, she’s asking for you. Doctor Maynard, and no one else, that’s what she said!”
“Who is the lady?” asked Jack.
“Helen something or other, I think she said.” Jack jumped.
“Nell,” he said. “Or Hilda?” The young doctor looked at him strangely.
“Yes,” he said, still staring. “Well, she’s by the admitting desk, anyway.” He half-walked, half-ran out of the room, leaving Jack alone once more. But not for long, as Jack stepped into the busy corridor. He spotted Nell at the other end.
“Hi! Nell!” he called. She turned, spotted him and smiled. He walked quickly down the passage towards her. “Everything okay?” Nell nodded, then shook her head.
“It’s Hilda,” she replied. “Remember what I told you?” Jack nodded grimly. How could he forget? “Well… today, she was- she was crying. A lot. Do you know why?” Jack shook his head. “Well of course, you wouldn’t. It was because she didn’t touch a letter eight times before giving it to Rosalie. She was nearly hysterical.”
“I’ve been looking into this, you’ll be glad to hear,” replied Jack. “And I think I might have a diagnosis. In times of stress, and when they are afraid something will go wrong or something bad will happen, sometimes people develop things like what Hilda has. The doctor I was speaking to calls it obsessive-compulsive disorder, and he says there are different types, though I think the one I described fits Hilda the best. The doctor says it is treatable, which is good news.” He looked up as he finished speaking, and saw the relief shining in Nell’s face. It made him feel good, like he was doing something right, which he felt he didn’t do very often.
Back in her study, Hilda was pacing up and down. Eight steps, turn, eight steps, turn. She couldn’t get it out of her head that Margot had been pregnant before she died. Who had been the father? She didn’t want to tell Joey, she hadn’t planned on telling Joey, but after picking up the phone and replacing it again eight times, she pressed the button.
“Joey?” she said. “It’s Hilda. There’s something I have to tell you?”
“What is it?” asked Joey anxiously, sitting down and placing her lemon biscuit on the table. “Everything okay at school? Con all right?”
“That’s all fine,” said Hilda. Then she decided to just say it. “Before Margot died, she was- pregnant.” And suddenly she felt as though a weight had been lifted off her chest. She could share her troubles with someone who had a right to know, someone other than Nell. Nell had tried to help, but there were some things that just required Joey.
She was duly surprised to hear laughter ringing down the phone.

#80: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:36 pm

Thanks Cecilia

*wonders if Jo has gone mad*

Liz

#81: Author: Squirrel, Location: St-Andrews or Dunfermline

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:40 pm

*Wonders if Joey finds this so unlikely she decides it's bizarre.* Its a natural reaction to that, or her being rather emotionally upset about things which would also be rather surprising. Whatever the case, I hope her reaction doesnt hurt hilda even more

Thanks Cecilia

#82: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 1:24 pm

Thanks Cecilia I have only caught up with this.

Hope Jo is gentle with Hilda when she tells her she knew.

#83: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 4:54 pm

“What?” asked Hilda anxiously. “What’s funny? Are you okay? Joey, speak to me!” But still that laughter rang down the line, and it seemed to get louder and louder in Hilda’s ears until she only had one choice.
“She’s gone!” Joey exclaimed in surprise. She put the phone back to her ear, and Hilda had picked it up again, only for Joey to hear her clank it down again. She kept listening, and the phone went down six more times before silently it was down for good. Joey rang back quickly.
“Hello?” said Hilda. “Calmed down yet?”
“Yes. Oh, I’m sorry Hilda, I didn’t mean to laugh so much, I just couldn’t help myself. Margot told me that too. You know, it sounds very rude, but there really should be a lesson at schools that tell you about all the things that girls go through as they go up, don’t you think?”
“Yes, maybe,” said Hilda impatiently. “But I don’t understand, why were you laughing?”
“Oh,” said Joey and giggled again. “Margot thought she could get pregnant by kissing a boy!” And she burst out laughing again, expecting Hilda to join in. But she didn’t.
On the other end of the line, Hilda was furious. She had spent weeks worrying about this, she suspected that it was this that had made her ‘problem’ worse, and this that had made her so short tempered and generally stressed, worrying about what to do over a dead girl and her baby.
When she put it that way, it seemed irrational. Having worried so much about something that had gone. If she had just told Joey in the first place, maybe everything would have been so much easier. She slammed the phone down eight times, then left the room. That was the last time anybody saw her.

#84: Author: Squirrel, Location: St-Andrews or Dunfermline

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 5:01 pm

Oh dear, I'm not sure I like this cliff at all. It looks a bit jaggedy and the like. Poor Hilda, Joey, and Margot. Poor all of them. Cecilia - come back and sort this mess out, Please.

Thanks

#85: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 10:11 pm

*wibbles about Hilda*

Thanks Cecilia

Liz

#86: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 5:11 pm

“Hello, Con!” called Emerence. Con was walking down to the practise rooms for her music lesson on the cello.
“Hello, Emerence,” she replied. “How are you?”
“I’m fine!” she answered. She appeared to be springier than usual, happy and with the strange glow that comes from having fun with a friend. “I was just wondering if you wanted to come and play tennis with Katy. Katy-Jane, you know, the new girl? Well, she’s not exactly new any more, she came just after-“
“Yes, I know,” said Con. “I’m not totally dreamy, just sometimes go off for a while. Not long enough to miss a girl who’s been here four months or so.” Four months, she thought. I’ve been living without my sisters for four months. She looked out of the window and saw the snow that showed it was late January, and her sisters had died in late September. So that was four months. An anniversary, though she couldn’t remember the exact date.
Couldn’t remember the date her own sisters had died? That was disgraceful! And feeling thoroughly sad, and determined to find out the date and remember it, and also very guilty mixed it for good luck, she hurried off down the corridor to her lesson, quite forgetting that she had been talking to Emerence.
Emerence stared after her down towards the doors of the practice rooms.
“Never mind,” she said aloud, and ran off back towards the tennis courts that had become the haunt of herself and Katy.
“Have you seen Hilda, Rosalie?” asked Nell, entering the office where Rosalie was sorting out letters.
“No, she’s not been in here for a while,” replied Rosalie vaguely, sifting through the piles of letters. “As a matter of fact, I thought she was with you!"
“Well, never mind, I’m sure she’s around somewhere,” said Nell. “I’ve got some good news for her, you see. No, I can’t tell you!” she said, seeing the look on Rosalie’s face. “This is news for Hilda! Sorry, Rosalie!” And she left the study laughing.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!” muttered Hilda over and over again, walking around aimlessly between a bunch of eight trees she had found. Then she looked at her hands.
“Ten fingers,” she said quietly, then louder and louder until it was echoing around the valley where she had found herself after wandering in a daze for many miles. When the echoes finally stopped, she thought for a moment.
“I need eight, really,” she said to herself, and looked in the rucksack she had packed to bring on her walk. A knife, a fork and a s***n fell out onto the grass. “This will do.” And picking up the knife and fork, she dug the fork into her finger and began to rub the knife backwards and forwards. She didn’t feel any pain; she just knew she had to keep running that knife backwards and forwards until that finger came off. She sat for about ten minutes, cutting and cutting, and although the finger bled, it didn’t come near to coming off. Then a man approached her.
“Bonjour,” he said in pretty French.
“Hello,” said Hilda.
“Oh, you’re English!” said the man, his face shining in relief. “That’s handy, as my French pretty much runs out after Bonjour!”
“Who are you?” muttered Hilda, sounding like she was talking to herself.
“I’m Doctor Harold Darlington, and I run a-“ he cut himself off at the words mental home, deciding that this lady was obviously in need of one. “A community back in England!” he said. “Who are you here with?”
“Eight,” said Hilda. “How many people in the community?”
“At the moment I think there are seven,” he replied.
“I would be number eight. Yes, yes yes yes,” she exclaimed. “I want to live in the community! Can I come?”
“Certainly,” said the man, and he took her hand. “Allow me to lead you to my hotel?” Hilda allowed herself to be led.

#87: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 5:15 pm

I hope he can help Hilda - that's very worrying behaviour!

Thanks Cecilia

Liz

#88: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:09 pm

“Here are the notes on Helena Wilson, number eight upstairs?” Doctor Harold Darlington told the new nurse, handing her the sheaf of paper. “We’ve come to the conclusion that she’s suffering from some form of madness mixed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Hardly ever on its own will it make someone as bad as Nell seems to be.”
“Nell?” asked the nurse.
“She tells us to call her Nell. She says it’s what her friends call her, but when we ask her about friends and family she says she has none, so we don’t know what to do on that front. But nobody seems to be missing her, I’ve never seen her in the papers anyway, though she’s only been here two weeks.”
“We’ve looked everywhere!” said Nell dully when asked if there was any news on Hilda by Jack Maynard. “You know that. And we haven’t found her. If she was well, she would be back here by now. There has to be something wrong.
“I know, Nell, I know. I was just-“ As Jack spoke, Nell let her mind drift away onto other things. Since Hilda had gone, she had frantically looked for her, organising search parties and sending out advertisements all over Switzerland for newspapers, and also to Britain. Hilda was her dearest friend, and she didn’t know how she would feel if she never did find her. It was only that day that she had accepted this as even faintly likely to happen. Her thoughts continued in this manner until they faded away completely.
She felt herself being lifted up.
“What?” she asked, and realised she was being lifted from the floor.
“You just fainted, that’s all,” replied Jack slightly breathlessly.
“I’m all right, put me down,” said Nell, and Jack obliged. The room span around, and she was over come by another wave of dizziness. “No, I’m not all right!” she wailed, and Jack quickly grabbed her and placed her down on the chair.
“Sorry about that,” she said when the dizziness was over. “It’s just all this worry, I think, and-“
“Don’t worry about it!” replied Jack. “I’m a doctor, I’d be out of a job if it wasn’t for people doing things like that!”
“Well- thank you,” she said feebly.
“I’d better get back off anyway. There is an influx of new patients at the San., the past couple of weeks, at any rate! No idea why, though.” Nell wasn’t listening again. Then she noticed him leaving.
“Bye, Jack,” she called after him.
He trailed down the corridor, feeling old and depressed, until he bumped into Joey.
“Joey!”
“Jack! I was coming to find you, because I was bored and you were taking forever!”
“Let’s go home then!” he replied, and they walked down the corridor, hand in hand. And he felt young again.

#89: Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 11:07 am

Jo said to Hilda

Quote:

You know, it sounds very rude, but there really should be a lesson at schools that tell you about all the things that girls go through as they go up, don’t you think?”

Well no Mrs Maynard, to be honest, I think the parents should tell them!

#90: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:29 pm

So Hilda thinks she is/ is claiming to be Nell?

Thanks Cecilia

lovely last line Smile

Liz

#91: Author: Cecilia, Location: Brum

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 7:27 pm

And a quiet time ensued. From the outside of the school, it seemed perfect. The girls always managed to hand in work on time, and it was of the highest standard. Nobody dreamed of misbehaving, and nobody had to be reprimanded for the slightest things, like talking in lessons. And the staff carried on, as competent as usual, running lessons full of information for the bright young students.
But when venturing into the school, you saw the strained smiles and forced conversation about subjects which did not interest people any more, and hadn’t done ever since the day Hilda had left. You felt the tension in the atmosphere, that threatened everybody into a glum, morbid silence. You heard the staff quietly discussing the latest news of Hilda whenever they got the opportunity, whereas the girls tended not to talk at all. They were united in silence, the silence brought about by the disappearance and apparent death of somebody they had all known and loved. And this atmosphere continued, even after the brave assembly led by Nell Wilson.
“These are sad times at the Chalet School,” she said. “We are all missing our beloved headmistress Miss Annersley. We are all too afraid to talk about how we feel, even though each and every one of us is feeling the same way. We all feel sad, and we all feel as though school will never get back to normal again. We all feel like the slightest expression of sadness will be frowned upon, and yet sadness is what we are living in. In the corridors there is sadness, in the classrooms there is sadness, in the Speisesaal there is sadness. But remember what Miss Annersley always said, she said that she did not wish her Chalet School girls to grow up spineless jellyfish. And it is times like these when our bravery is tested, when we have to prove that we are more than spineless jellyfish. At the moment I feel like none of us are being very brave, we are letting the school grind to a halt just because we are sad. But we must prove that we can do better than that. You are allowed to feel sad, of course you are, and you are allowed to grieve. But you must not let it fill you to the exception of all else. And that is all I have to say to you today girls, you are dismissed.”
“Well done Nell,” said Kathy Ferrars when they were back in the staffroom. “That was quite a speech you gave!”
“So do you think she’s dead?” said Biddy O’Ryan abruptly. The staff all stared at her. “Well, someone had to say, because I can tell you’re all dying to discuss it and yet not one of you has said a word!”
“I do,” said Nancy Wilmot. “I think that she would have come back, or made contact by now if she was alive, even if there was something wrong.” And one by one most of the staff pronounced that they agreed with her.
“I think she’s alive,” said Nell Wilson unexpectedly. “I think that she’s alive and she’s out there somewhere. I know, I know,” she said impatiently when they all looked at her quizzically. “I know that when someone you’re close to dies, sometimes people don’t believe they really are, but it isn’t like that. I’m not saying she’s perfectly all right but I don think she’s dead. Of course, I’m not always right, and I’m not claiming I will be. But I don’t know, there’s something not quite right about all this.” And with this statement she left the room, not allowing anybody the chance to disagree with her.
“I don’t think she’s dead either,” piped up Kathy. “But I thought you’d all think I was bonkers if I said so. Now, I’m going to find her.” The staff all turned to look at her together. “Nell, I mean!” They all simultaneously turned away again.
“We’re such sheep these days,” remarked Nancy, and they all nodded.

#92: Author: Caeli, Location: West Midlands

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 4:52 pm

I haven't reasd this drabble for a long while, but when you read it all at once, it' like a soap opera with all the different things happening. But well done, it's very good and I hope more will come soon.

#93: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:24 pm

Thanks Cecilia - I like the way Nell told the girls not to be sad to the exception of all other things.

Liz

The CBB -> Ste Therese's House

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