Me, myself and Margot
The CBB -> St Clare's House
#1: Me, myself and Margot Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 6:37 pm

The bit in italics is from Exile – just before Madge receives the news that Len, Con and Margot have been born.

“Do you know how Joey is today?” asked Madge, leaning back in her chair.

“Simply splendid. You know, Madge, you’re worrying yourself most unneccessarily about her. There’s nothing wrong with Jo.”

“I’ve been mother to her so long,” said Madge. “And for so long her health was such an anxiety to me.”

“Well there’s nothing to be anxious about now. She’s as strong as a moorland pony.”

“Jem tells me the same thing. I’m glad to hear you agree. But I do worry over her.”

“No need to think of it.”

“I can’t help worrying,” said Madge defensively.

“Well, don’t. The time for worry is over!”

“What?” gasped Madge, suddenly galvanised into an erect position. “Do you mean - it’s happened?”

“Over,” his eyes wandered to the pretty old cuckoo clock on the wall, “just three and a half hours ago.”

“Impossible!” Madge fell back into the chair, deprived of breath.

“Not at all,”

“Why wasn’t I told?”

“Joey wouldn’t have you worried. There wasn’t any need. But, Madge…”

“Yes?” Madge’s heart quickened. “She’s well, isn’t she? And the baby?”

“Your niece is fine, and so is Joey, physically.”

“I don’t understand,” Madge said, bewildered.

“Her mind is….shaken,” Peter Chester said seriously. “Jo’s convinced that she’s had more than one baby. It was a long business, several times she was convinced the baby had arrived. It hadn’t. It happened twice before the baby was in fact born. She thinks she’s had triplets.”

Madge’s face fell.

“Triplets,” she repeated incredulously. “Are you sure?”

Peter Chester nodded. “Sadly yes. In her head she’s drawn level with you.”

“Well what are we going to do?” Madge asked.

“For the time being nothing. Just play along until we decide what’s best to do next.”

The situation was explained to the kindly priest at the Roman Catholic Church who agreed to waive precedent and baptise the baby three times, with three different names and three different sets of Godparents.

At Joey’s insistence a telegram was sent to Jack, away in France, informing him of the birth of his three daughters. Jem, Madge and Peter agonised long and hard over whether to inform him of the reality or not, eventually deciding that they couldn’t without letting on how serious Joey’s condition really was. They agreed that when Jack returned Jem would break the news to him and then they would decide what to do.

By the time the Mary Helena Constance Margaret Maynard was five, and had been joined by little Stephen, it was accepted by her family, all the staff and the pupils of the Chalet School that Joey had been right. She learned to live with the erratic demands, which grew more and more implausible as Joey became more and more convinced that the girls were no longer identical. She learned that Len had grey eyes, red hair and was the most serious, responsible triplet. Connie was darker and dreamier. The youngest, Margot as she was called when she was good had red-gold curls and bright blue eyes. It was hard doing the work of three people, but her Papa impressed upon her the importance of keeping Mamma happy and she tried her best to succeed.

Of course the real problem came when she started school. Influenced by Joey the entire school had come to believe that they had triplets in their midst and the staff expected the little girl to complete three times the amount of work. Mary usually tackled Len’s work first, working steadily and conscientiously. She would then turn to Connie’s which was generally of a good standard but excelled in composition. By the time she reached Margot’s prep however she was usually so tired that the work was often careless and of a very low standard.

Mary learned as time went by that it was better to agree with her elders, and counted the days until she could leave home to go to university. However before that happy day could arrive the last year of school had to be endured. Miss Annersley in her infinite wisdom, and conditioned by years of Joey’s tales, decided to bestow up Len the Head-girlship, Con editorship of the Chaletian and make Margot Games Prefect. Ruey Richardshon, who had been living with the family for three years now and was well aware of the stress placed upon Mary immediately volunteered to take over Margot’s duties so the burden was less than it could have been.

Finally there came a time when Mary was forced to decide which triplet she would like to be. A young doctor at the San began to pay a great deal of attention to her, and naturally she was flattered. Joey was delighted by this, and immediately assumed that Len would be marrying Reg Entwhistle, as the young doctor was called. However she simultaneously conceived the idea that Margot should become a nun, and Mary was faced with a dilemma. Obviously, only being one person, she could not do both, and there was Con to consider….the question was- which should she choose?

Last edited by francesn on Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:54 am; edited 3 times in total

 

#2:  Author: Liane, Location: Manchester England PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 6:42 pm

This is fantastic fran, thanks.
Poor Margot though!

 

#3:  Author: RuthY, Location: Anyone's guess PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 6:49 pm

This is brilliant Frances but don't let it keep you away from Christine (hint, hint) Exclamation Exclamation
Poor, poor Margot look forward to seeing more of this

Thanks again Ruth

 

#4:  Author: Katie, Location: A Yorkshire lass in London PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 6:51 pm

Ooh, interesting concept Fran. Looking forward to seeing how she copes with this!

 

#5:  Author: nikkie, Location: Cumbria PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 7:01 pm

Oooooooh This looks interesting, Thanks Frances

 

#6:  Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!! PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 7:27 pm

Ooooh tis good to see this at last such a clever idea Very Happy

Cant wait to see what Mary decides!!

 

#7:  Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 7:34 pm

Poor kid! And love that the entire School are brainwashed. Laughing

 

#8:  Author: Kat, Location: Swansea PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 7:50 pm

Shocked

Wow! Poor Mary Sad

Thank Frances - another brilliant drabble!

 

#9:  Author: aitchemelle, Location: West Sussex PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 8:05 pm

Thank you Fran!

Loving your work hon! Very interesting brainwashing going on here!!

 

#10:  Author: Sophoife, Location: down under Down Under PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 8:38 pm

Bizarre!

Frances, this looks really interesting...but, um, Christine????

 

#11:  Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 10:43 pm

Brilliant idea Fran!

 

#12:  Author: Alice, Location: London, England PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 11:00 pm

Ooo, interesting idea Frances.

 

#13:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 12:08 am

Wow! What an amazing bunny - I'm looking forward to seeing where this takes us Frances Very Happy

Liz

 

#14:  Author: Miss Di, Location: Newcastle, NSW PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 5:55 am

Sophoife wrote:

Frances, this looks really interesting...but, um, Christine????


Yes, what she said.

A fascinating intriguing idea...but what about The Secret? Even if it's not 'zactly a secret now.

 

#15:  Author: Nineveh,  PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 12:22 pm

Completely barking and enormous fun! I look forward to seeing what little Len/Con/Margot decides to do.

Nineveh

 

#16:  Author: Laura, Location: London (ish) PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 2:23 pm

Wooah... bizarre! This looks v interesting Frances!

But - how many drabbles do you have on the go??! I make it at least....5??

 

#17:  Author: Ann, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 7:30 pm

Weird... but very funny!

ROFL ROFL ROFL

 

#18:  Author: Joey, Location: Cambridge PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2005 10:22 am

Very odd (just for a change, Frances!) More please.

 

#19:  Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2005 2:21 pm

LOLOLOL!!! Laughing

 

#20:  Author: RuthY, Location: Anyone's guess PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2005 5:01 pm

Could we maybe see some more of this s oon Frances Exclamation Exclamation

Ruth

 

#21:  Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2005 4:02 pm

The bunny's stopped biting!!!! She gave me the idea, then when I wrote it she pointed, laughed and ran away.

Ann - if you want to put Millicent on trial for abandonment and witholding crucial information then feel free!!

 

#22:  Author: RuthY, Location: Anyone's guess PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2005 4:53 pm

Sends bunny treats to tempt the bunny back.

Hope it returns soon and bites hard because this is great!!!

Ruth

 

#23:  Author: pygmy, Location: glasgow PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2005 12:17 pm

Hilarious - and totally surreal. I love it.

 

#24:  Author: Kate, Location: Ireland PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2005 12:44 pm

Ohhh, so funny! Smile I'm getting funny looks in the library for giggling. Smile

 

#25:  Author: Josie, Location: London PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 1:57 pm

Ooo - this looked good!

Thanks fran - looking forward to more Very Happy

 

#26:  Author: Ann, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:13 pm

francesn wrote:
Ann - if you want to put Millicent on trial for abandonment and witholding crucial information then feel free!!


At this rate you won't have any bunnies left, Fran!

 

#27:  Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:36 pm

Len

I am, or I was, the responsible one. I kept the other two in order, hard at times admittedly, and, unsurprisingly, things usually went my way. Being the biggest it was my work that was done first but also upon my shoulders lay not only my problems but it seemed everyone else's too.

Not that I resented that of course. In fact I merely gave Con more time to spend in her dream world - maybe I was a teensy bit jealous of her ability to lose herself in a story, but I soon got over it - and as for Margot I let her sulk. It gave me more time to devote to everyone else as Mamma expected me to.

Con

I was the quiet triplet. The unimportant one. Always off in a dreamworld. I suppose it was more exciting to be Len or Margot, but just occasionally I had to do something of note. Unfortunately that usually backfired - a tendency to sleepwalk, that howler about Daniel in the lions den.

Not quite with it that one, everyone thought. Well given the circumstances were you really suprised?

Margot

The naughty one. With the convenient devil. Every single bit of wickedness the other two repressed managed to find an outlet in the one girl. As a child I was the most interesting - my delicacy, my naughtiness, my position as favourite....not that the other two will admit it. I was the only triplet allowed to have a special friend. Emerence.

Secretly I think we all found her rather interesting. That was the best thing about being a triplet - we could be friends with whoever we liked cos there'd be one of us to get on with. Anyhow, Emerence fell to my lot. And great fun it was too......

Then Mary-Lou stuck her oar in. In fact she was one of the few people that really wasn't fooled by Mamma, Anna, everyone at school. She saw right through me, and it all came to a head when Ted joined the school.

That interview was odd. She talked to each of us in turn, although I didn't move a muscle and then she added some words just for me.

"Marys are very special people," she said "don't get so wound up in Len, Con and Margot that you forget who you are."

How could I not be wound up in the triplets? They were who I was, who I'd spent the last fifteen years perfecting. They were legendary. And this girl was telling me to give it all up, to go back to being me.

 

#28:  Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:45 pm

It seems strange that the whole school could believe that one girl was all three triplets. I am enjoying this story.

 

#29:  Author: Alice, Location: London, England PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:52 pm

This is so bizarre, but very good. It reminds me of an early Sweet Valley twins book (book 6?) where the twins pretend they have a triplet.

 

#30:  Author: Joey, Location: Cambridge PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 5:14 pm

This is an extremely interesting idea, Frances - hope bunny doesn't abandon you again!

Thank you.

 

#31:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 5:34 pm

Thanks Frances

Poor Mary - and trust Mary-Lou to not be fooled!

Liz

 

#32:  Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 5:43 pm

Alice wrote:
This is so bizarre, but very good. It reminds me of an early Sweet Valley twins book (book 6?) where the twins pretend they have a triplet.


The book is Number 6 and it is called 'The New Girl'. The new girl is Brooke Dennis and Elizabeth and Jessica pretend their imaginary triplet is called Jennifer.

 

#33:  Author: Josie, Location: London PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 10:05 pm

ooo - an update!

Thanks fran. A very original idea - and a great one I have to say!

 

#34:  Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 12:06 am

Really enjoying this Fran - thanks

 

#35:  Author: Róisín, Location: Galway, Eire PostPosted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 10:59 pm

Oh Fran don't abandon this - it's clever in the extreme and deserves exploration!

 

#36:  Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England PostPosted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:57 am

Trust Mary Lou to come out with it!

It's bizarre and fascinating. Thanks Fran.

 

#37:  Author: RuthY, Location: Anyone's guess PostPosted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:41 pm

Great update, thanks FRan!

Ruth

 

#38:  Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries PostPosted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 1:37 am

Of course it was more and more difficult as we entered the Sixth. Len became a prefect, the Head Girl. Con was given the post of magazine prefect and Margot was slated for Games. I simply didn't have time to do all this work, so I took a few of my fellow prefects into my confidence and they helped me out as much as they could.

At this time we were deciding our future careers. Mamma had this strange fixation in her head that one of us was going to write, that fell to Con - she was the imaginative one of us. Papa wanted one of us to become a doctor, which fell to Margot for some reason, mostly because my real passions was languages, which Len was to read at Oxford.

About this time, however, I felt a deep spiritual yearning but it had already been decided that Len would come back to the Chalet School to teach. Much as I tried to suppress the desire to be a nun grew within me, and eventually Margot revealed that she planned to become a medical missionary. I was torn between what I felt was a True Call and my own selfish wish to study. Matters were further complicated by Reg Entwhistle who had begun to pay rather a lot of attention to Len. I rather liked him, though it was at odds with Margot's plans for the future. I couldn't see what I could to and it was with a heavy heart that I boarded the train for England. I would decide in London, I promised myself. I could go to Edinburgh, be Mary Margaret, train as a doctor and become a medical missionary or I could go to Oxford.....

 

#39:  Author: LadyGuinevere, Location: Leicester PostPosted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:57 am

Poor girl - what a decision to have to make!

 

#40:  Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England PostPosted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 2:20 pm

It's great to see this drabble updated again. I wonder which path she is going to choose?

 

#41:  Author: Tiffany,  PostPosted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 6:47 pm

Wow, fantastic to see more of this, thankyou! What a choice to have to make; the poor girl.

 

#42:  Author: Katherine, Location: London, UK PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 6:13 pm

I received an email this morning to say that a colleague was the proud father of a baby girl, Kim.

Then a little later another email went out saying it was a boy, Tim, which the guy who took the phonecall misheard as Jim.

By now we're suffering from Joey-style confusion. I believe there is just the one child; a boy called Tim, but perhaps it was really triplets.

 

#43:  Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:53 am

This seems to have taken a turn for the serious - when it's archived feel free to reclassify it if you think it's necessary!

I emerged from the train, blinking in the sunlight. I picked up my cases and turned resolutely in the direction of my new home. I had made my decision and now I was bound to stick to it. All around me people of a similar age were rushing hither and thither bound on some important errand of their own. For the first time in my life I felt very small and insignificant. The city was so big, so grand, so imposing and I was soon lost.

Still, I reasoned, it couldn't be that hard to find my way, and my bags were fairly light. I had managed, on the train, to condense the luggage of three people into one trunk and a shoulder bag, taking only what I needed and discarding the rest. However as I walked through the streets I realised that there was actually very little hope of finding my way on my own, and I felt as though I had failed myself. My first time out alone, as myself, and I had failed. I longed for Len's common sense, or Margot's ability to get something done without thinking of the consequences, even Con's willingness to talk, to ask for directions. Then I realised that I, me, all by myself, possessed these qualities and I immediately felt better.

Turning round I realised there was a map attached to a bus shelter, showing the local bus routes, and joy of joys there were street names. I soon found myself, and then my destination. It didn't look too far and I set off purposefully. With every stride my confidence grew and when I finally arrived and joined the queue of students at the entrance I felt I could deal with anything.

After what seemed an interminable age I reached the head of the queue.

"Name?" said a bored looking woman.

"Mary Maynard," I said, a trifle too loudly.

She looked up at me. ""Room 14. Ailsa will show you where to go."

"Come on, Mary," Ailsa laughed. "It's not too far, you'll see."

With a jolt I realised Ailsa was addressing me, Mary. With a smile I thanked the woman behind the table, picked up my bags and prepared to follow Ailsa into my new life.

 

#44:  Author: Cath V-P, Location: Newcastle NSW PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 2:13 am

Nice one Frances!

 

#45:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 8:21 am

Thanks Fran Very Happy

Glad she now has a new life with her own identity.

Liz

 

#46:  Author: Josie, Location: London PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:43 am

Thanks Fran. Great ending.

x

 

#47:  Author: LadyGuinevere, Location: Leicester PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:57 am

Awww Smile

 

#48:  Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 2:18 pm

Thanks, Frances. It's nice to see that she kept her name but she didn't have to make a choice between the three names - she just used the name that all three of the triplets had.

 

#49:  Author: Fatima, Location: The Middle East PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 4:00 pm

I'm so glad she managed to get away and become herself. She had spent so much time fulfilling everyone else's expectations she deserved some time for being what she wanted to be.

 

#50:  Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 8:56 pm

That is a great ending, using the best from all three. Thanks.

 

#51:  Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!! PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:24 pm

That was a great ending Fran, Im glad Mary found the chance to be herslef and take it Very Happy

 

#52:  Author: Miss Di, Location: Newcastle, NSW PostPosted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:49 am

Neat ending and resolution. You tied all three characters together really well.

 

#53:  Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries PostPosted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:42 pm

Thanks for all the lovely comments everyone. I couldn't think how to end it so it languished for ages and ages until it just popped into my head. I leave it up to you to decide where she went and which course she chose to study!

 

#54:  Author: RuthY, Location: Anyone's guess PostPosted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 8:43 pm

That was great fran, thanks.

Ruth

 

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