Did you think you'd got away with it Vikki? No such luck!
Vikki had solved her most pressing problem by asking her parents to send her a large quantity of doggy waste bags, something her parents were only too happy to do after the arrival of that parcel. Now all such waste was disposed of during gardening lessons, and no one was any the wiser.
Half term came, and the lists went up for the various trips. Vikki and the others in her form were going to Brunnen on Lake Lucerne, and Vikki could hardly keep from bouncing from excitement. Bouncing was not a ‘done thing’ at the Chalet School however, so she managed to control herself by a great effort of will, and presented a picture of the perfect Chalet School girl.
On Friday morning the form travelled to Brunnen by coach, with Kathie Ferrars and Nancy Wilmot in charge. the route took them round the outskirts of Lucerne to the corner of the lake where Brunnen nestled. To everyone’s delight the hotel was right on the edge of the lake, with a wonderful view towards Lucerne. As the journey had only taken a couple of hours, they had coffee, and unpacked as quickly as possible before setting out to explore.
“What’s that mountain over there?” asked Vikki, lowering her camera for a split second to ask the question and to allow her to point to her right.
“That’s the Rigi,” said Kathie. “We’ll take a trip up there after Mittagessen.”
“How do we get up there?”
“We’ll take the boat to Vitznau and then the cog railway to the top. The vews up there are wonderful.”
They returned to the hotel for Mittagessen, which consisted of a local speciality, Chugelipastete, a puff pastry shell filled with veal and mushrooms in a creamy sauce, and served with a salad. This was followed by chocolate puff, which were rich chocolate meringues. They all needed the rest after that meal, but by 14.00 hours they were all marching to the little jetty for the boat to Vitznau. The station was immediately opposite the landing stage, and Vikki eyed the steep gradient with a little alarm. She had reason to suspect that something might happen on this trip, and she really didn’t want it happening on this railway - it was far too steep for comfort.
“What happens if the power fails?” she asked nervously.
“The train stops, of course,” said Mary-Lou Trelawney, who was just as annoying as Vikki had expected. “The trains are locked onto the track and can’t go anywhere. Did you think that they’d fall down the mountain or something?”
“I just asked. It won’t roll backwards down the track, will it?”
“No of course not!” Vikki pulled a face at Mary-Lou, which went unnoticed by that lady, but caused Verity to choke with laughter.
To Vikki’s relief the journey up was completely without incident, and the views were as wonderful as they’d been promised. They spent the afternoon wandering around, and eating the wonderful tea provided by the hotel. Then crowded into the train for the journey back. Vikki heaved a sigh of relief when they arrived back at the hotel completely unscathed.
Saturday was spent in Lucerne, and by the time they had looked at all the sights, had another wonderful Mittagessen in a restaurant by the lakeside and arrived back at Brunnen Vikki was beginning to relax and enjo9y herself. ~She had so many photos to remind her of this weekend too. Everyone else had old fashioned cameras, and were taking black and white pictures, but for some reason Vikki had retained her modern digital camera when she had come to the school, and was very thankful for a large capacity memory card.
Sunday was the quiet peaceful day she had learnt to expect, gentle walks, Mass for the Catholics in the party and a discussion for the Protestant girls. A long boring day, made different by the surroundings. Vikki just wished they could go for a swim, but that was obviously out of the question.
Om Monday they all piled back into the coach for the journey round the lake to Alpnachstad, the start of the railway up Mount Pilatus. As they waited for the train at the foot of the mountain, Vikki eyed the ascent suspiciously; it looked very steep. They were going up by the train, and coming down by the brand new cable car. Too many things to go wrong, she thought dismally, knowing that there was no way that she’d be allowed to stay at the bottom on her own.
“This is the steepest cogwheel railway in the world,” said Miss Wilmot. “Remember the legend about this mountain? Pontius Pilate was supposed to be in the lake up there, and for many years no one would climb the mountain and risk disturbing him.”
the girls laughed at the superstition and scrambled happily into the train. As it struggled up the steep slope Vikki began to think that everything was going to be all right. What could go wrong? This was Switzerland, and nothing went wrong with their railways. She pulled a bag of sweets from her pocket and stood up to hand them round to the rest. At that moment the train stopped with a violent jerk, and Vikki went flying backwards to crash against the end wall of the car. Then she slid slowly to the floor, still, grey, and to all appearance dead.
The next thing Vikki knew was waking up in what was obviously a hospital room. Her head hurt, and so did her back, though to a lesser extent. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was able to move her feet - that was OK then. She could feel a bandage round her head, and guessed that she’d cut it. Just then the door opened and Miss Annersley came into the room.
“Hello Vikki. How are you feeling,” she asked.
“My head aches, but that’s about all,” replied Vikki.
“The doctors had to shave your hair away to stitch a cut on your head, but it will soon grow back,” said Miss Annersley with a smile.
“That’s all right, I’ve got plenty to cover it.” replied Vikki.
“Unfortunately you took so long to come round that Dr Maynard felt that all that hair was too much for you. He’s not a very good hairdresser I’m afraid, so we’ll have to take you to have it properly trimmed once you’re up and about again.”
Vikki put her hand up tp her head to see if she could feel anything. Some hair was poking out of the front of the bandage, and she felt it gingerly. None of it was more than two inches long.
