The CBB :: View topic - A Christmas drabble for Tiffinata

#1: A Christmas drabble for Tiffinata Author: CBB Secret Santa,

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 8:59 pm

The train pulled into Interlaken Bahnhof and glided to a stop. The doors swished open and a sprightly nun in her sixties swung down and looked eagerly around her. The station hadn’t changed a great deal from the last time she was here, she saw, though the track was electrified now. She began to walk along the platform towards the exit, and although she was keeping her eyes open she nearly missed the two people she was looking for. She was almost bowled over by the whirlwind that was her two triplet sisters.
“You two haven’t calmed down at all, have you?” she teased. “You still behave like giddy school-kids!”
“OK Margot! Just because you don’t have any grandchildren to keep you young!” Len retorted.
“Haven’t I just. What about all the kids in the orphanage?”
“They don’t count,” said Con. “Come on Margot. The train won’t wait you know, and there isn’t another for an hour!”
The three women marched briskly over the bridge to the platform where the little mountain train was waiting, and scrambled aboard just before it pulled out. It ran along the valley for a little way and then began to climb steeply, needing the cogs placed under the engine to pull the coached up the incline. When they finally arrived on the Gornetz Platz both Con and Margot were feeling the difference in altitude, though Len, living at that height, was unfazed. Walking slowly at first until they acclimatised, they walked along the road till they reached their old home, now the home of Len and Reg.
“Oh how different it looks,” cried Margot as she entered the hall.
“I’d forgotten how long it’s been since you were here Margot. We decided to do a complete renovation some years ago - I’m sure I wrote and told you.”
“You did, but you need to see the changes to appreciate them.”
The divested themselves of their outdoor things and Con and Margot moved into the big lounge, with it’s wonderful view of the Jungfrau. Margot went over to the window and stood staring out.
“Missed it Margot?” asked Con coming up behind her.
“Of course. This view is one of the best in the world, and I’ve seen quite a bit of that one way or another.”
Len arrived from the kitchen pushing a familiar trolley laden with coffee and cakes.
“Tuck in. then we can go across to the school. If you think this has changed, wait till you see that Margot!”

It was less than an hour later that the three left Freudesheim, walked through the old rose garden, and along the path to the gate that their father had put in so many years ago. They passed though it and strolled along the path between the great flower beds, filled with gaily nodding seasonal flowers.
“These look as good as ever. Are they still done by the various forms?” asked Margot.
“Oh yes. Our gardening mistress, Andrea, is very good with them, and the girls enjoy it - quite surprising really for this day and age,” Len said. “Andrea can’t be far away; there’s her cat.” She pointed at the biggest cat Margot had seen, a big ball of orange fur that seemed to roll along the path towards them.
“Tiff where are you?” a voice that was distinctly Australian could be heard, and then the owner came round the corner only to come to an abrupt halt when she saw the three women. “Oh! I’m sorry Len, I didn’t hear you. Are these your sisters?”
“Yes, Con and Margot. “ They stood and chatted for a while before moving on to the school proper. They could hear the noise long before they could see the girls, and Len grinned.
“They have a good deal more freedom than we had,” she said. “We don’t try to keep them quiet and lady-like when they’re outside.”
Just then something dressed in navy trousers, white top and gentian blue jumper positively hurtled around the corner and just managed to prevent herself from crashing into the party.
“Sorry Mrs Entwistle,” she gasped, and dashed off again.
“Is that the new uniform?” asked Con. “It looks good, and a lot more practical than those dresses we were lumped with. I couldn’t say anything, since Mama was so keen, but I hated those things, especially all that smocking!”
The others laughed in agreement, but said nothing. They entered the main part of the school through the front door, and headed down the corridor to the head’s suite. This room though still bright and sunny, now sported modern office furniture, including the inevitable computer. What had been Rosalie’s office also had a computer, and an efficient-looking woman was busy tapping away on it.
“Now you seen the office, come and look at the rest of the place,” said Len, clearly wanting to show the modern school off to her two visitors. Margot and Con grinned at each other, and agreed, knowing that they wouldn’t get a moments peace until they had. The whole school was so familiar and yet so different. The rooms and corridors as they remembered them, but the furniture and decorations new and strange. The dormitories still had curtained cubicles, but the cubicles were bigger, having their own small wardrobe, chest of drawers and desk, so that there were fewer girls in the room. The soft furnishing were no longer flowers Margot noticed, but modern patterns that gave a much livelier feel to the rooms.
“They do their prep up here now,” explained Len. “The cubicles are like their own rooms. They don’t often betray the trust we put in them to get on with their work properly. Also, when they are separated from their friends, even by a curtain, it does seem to stop a lot of the fooling around. Most of them have music playing anyway. I gather it helps them to concentrate!”
By the time they returned to the Head’s study both Con and Margot were totally confused by al the changes. They settled down in the comfortable chairs set out round the stove, but giving a good view out of the French windows. Len rang for some refreshments, and Con leaned back in her chair with her eyes closed. Margot, however, looked out of the window to the wonderful views of the mountains, reflecting that she had not realised how much she had missed them. Suddenly she jerked upright, hardly believing what her eyes were seeing.
“Len! What’s that out there? It looks like a rabbit of some sort by it’s shape, but the colour is all wrong! I’ve never seen a rabbit that’s pale pink and violet before!”
Len wandered over and looked at the creature as it hopped quickly across the lawn and vanished into the shrubbery.
“Have you forgotten so much of your childhood Margot? She said laughingly. “Mama had one of those, don’t you remember? It’s a Plot Bunny! That’s why its an odd colour! I wonder if it’s going to the Plot Bunny meeting, to say farewell to Rampant before he goes to Scotland.”
“But without a Bunny, what will happen to us?” asked Con.
“Without a Bunny, there is no drabble,” replied Margot, as the room dissolved around them.

(With grateful acknowledgements to Carolyn, Pat and Rachel, and the Advent Drabble)

#2: Author: Chalet_school_lover, Location: Gloucester

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:10 pm

Hehehe

That was great!! I really enjoyed that! Thank you Santa! Very Happy

#3: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:53 pm

What a brilliant drabble and the twis at the end is fantastic. Tiffinata is a very lucky girl.

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

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:31 pm

That was just brilliant! Very Happy

#5: Author: tiffinata, Location: melbourne, australia

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:06 am

Oh how wonderful!!
Thank you very much.
I'm speechless.

#6: Author: MaryR, Location: Sale Cheshire

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:53 am

I certainly didn't expect the twist at the end. Laughing

Wonderful.

#7: Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!!

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 7:54 pm

*giggles*

That was great Santa!

#8: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:03 pm

Thanks, Secret Santa. Tiffinata is very lucky and it was lovely to see how the CS had changed over the years.

#9: Author: Róisín, Location: Vancouver for now

Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 2:27 pm

Wonderful snapshot of a future Chalet School, Santa. And very cleverly written, specially the ending. Lucky Tiff!

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