Oooh, intriguing start! I can't wait to read more
Thankyou!
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| Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7767 |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Wed Apr 28, 2010 1:00 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
Okay, this is by way of being an experiment, as I don't normally post WIPs. I usually wait until the whole story is finished before posting. But I'm going to have a go at the posting in parts thing, and start publishing this as a WIP - I currently have a handful of scenes complete, and will start posting them every week or two, and see if I managed to keep ahead of myself or not. Then again, if no one likes the thing, I might just give up! I think this is the appropriate section for this story - it's in keeping with the CS universe, but definitely not EBD's style. This is the perspective of the next generation again. Small beginnings in this introductory part, but more and more detail will slowly be added as the story progresses. Title: Jenny of Glendower House Author: Llywela Fandom: Chalet School books, written by Elinor Brent-Dyer Rating/Genre: PG. Gen. Disclaimer: The characters and scenarios depicted herein are the property of sundry people who are not me. I am merely borrowing them, with no intent to defraud, and make no profit from this. Summary: Almost 20 years after the series ended, a great-granddaughter of the Chalet School ponders life, the universe and everything during a year at Carnbach. Jenny of Glendower House Was it possible for a human being to melt? What might it look like if they did? There'd been a film on the television last Christmas, The Wizard of Oz. The whole family had watched it together. At the end of the film, the girl Dorothy had thrown a bucket of water over the Wicked Witch and she'd melted away into nothing. All that was left were her clothes. Maybe it would look something like that. Jenny Entwhistle pondered this possibility for a moment with all the seriousness of her ten years, but then decided against it. Skin and eyeballs might melt, but bones probably wouldn't. She'd seen Mum boiling up joints of meat to make soup, and all the flesh fell apart but the bones always stayed bones. Also, she knew that when bodies were buried the bones were the very last things that turned into dust, because that was how you got skeletons. So maybe the skin and eyeballs would melt into a puddle of jelly, and the bones and clothes would be left behind in a big heap? Dad would probably know. He was a doctor, so he knew everything there was to know about bodies and bones. It definitely felt hot enough to melt, anyway. This was the hottest summer Jenny had ever known, and even now that summer was nearly over, it was still just as hot as ever. It hadn't rained at all for weeks, so that all the flowers in the garden were dying and the lawn had turned brown. Mum was quite sad about that. Jenny was, too, because if you fell over on the lawn when it was dry like this, it hurt almost as much as falling down on tiles or concrete out in the street. She'd never known before that the garden could dry out as hard as iron. "Aren't you coming, Jen? Dad's got the pool ready now," a chirpy voice called out, and Jenny turned to see the small, freckled face of her sister Kate, which was all scrunched up because the sun was in her eyes. "Where's your hat?" she immediately demanded, because being the oldest meant she had certain responsibilities, and making sure that Kate and their little brother Tommy wore their sunhats when they played in the garden was one of them. "My head's too hot to wear a hat," Kate complained. Jenny couldn't really argue with that, because her head was hot too. She did point out that not wearing a hat in the sun was how you got sunstroke, which was why she still had hers on – even though she wasn't really sure what sunstroke was – but didn't bother nagging too much because it was too hot to quarrel. Then when they wandered back through the garden to where Tom was already splashing about in the paddling pool Dad had set up, Dad took one look at Kate and demanded to know where her hat was. Jenny felt a little bit smug that she'd made sure to keep hers on, and then Kate got cross and kicked her. It was just one of those days. Mum said it was the heat that made everyone so cross, and that made sense. It was definitely much harder to put up with Kate being naughty when you were all sticky and melting. Still, Jenny made herself not kick back, because there was no point in both of them getting into trouble, and as her reward she got to jump straight into the pool with Tom while Dad ticked Kate off and sent her back into the house to find her hat. Kate had a red-headed temper, Mum said. It was always getting her into trouble. Aunt Margot had been just the same when she was a little girl, according to both Mum and Gran, but Jenny found that hard to believe. She'd never actually met Aunt Margot, because she was a nun and a missionary and lived in Africa, but they got letters from her sometimes. You had to be a very good person to be a nun, Jenny knew, so Aunt Margot couldn't have ever been as much of a pain as Kate sometimes was or she wouldn't be doing her missionary work right now. When Kate came racing back out into the garden with her sunhat pulled down tight over her curls, her face was scarlet from running around in the heat. Kate never had understood that if you ran around when you were already hot you ended up getting even hotter still. Feeling sorry for how hot and sticky her sister looked, Jenny splashed her good and hard, which made her yell and giggle. Tommy joined in the splashing, just because he liked splashing, and then Kate jumped in and splashed them back, and they all shrieked so loudly that Mum came outside to laugh at them. Paddling pools, Jenny decided, were the best thing that had ever been invented. Splashing about in the water was the coolest she'd felt all morning. It had been quite a boring summer, as well as hot. They hadn't gone away for a holiday, and were supposed to be going on outings instead. But it had been so hot that the few times they had gone on day trips they'd felt like they were being baked to death in the car, and then Mum hadn't been well for most of the summer anyway, so they'd hardly gone anywhere. Most days all they did was catch the bus across town to the beach if Mum was feeling well enough – Jenny still wasn't allowed to take Kate and Tommy that far by herself even now she was ten – and if not they just played out in the garden. When Dad brought the paddling pool home one day, it was the most exciting thing that had happened all summer. The only trouble was that they couldn't put much water in the pool for the same reason they couldn't water the garden properly. There was a drought, which meant there wasn't much water, which meant they had to be careful how much they used and why. Dad had explained it. All they had was a couple of inches and it didn't last long with all the splashing. But because the pool was set up on the lawn, at least they could cool off by splashing around and water the garden a little bit at the same time, which Mum said was very thrifty. The grass was getting a good watering today. Tommy tended to get quite enthusiastic when he started to splash and could make the water go a long way – Mum even had to retreat back into the house after he started aiming in her direction, while Dad had already made sure he was well out of range. But then Bonnie the dog ran over and jumped in with them, which made them all shriek even louder than ever, and the side of the pool got knocked down so that all the water ran out onto the grass, and that was the end of that. At least they were all a little bit cooler now. Maybe they wouldn't melt today after all. |
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| Author: | JellySheep [ Wed Apr 28, 2010 1:12 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Nice beginning - will be interested to see how this develops, esp. as Glendower House is something I wish there were more of... |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Apr 28, 2010 1:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Oooh, intriguing start! I can't wait to read more Thankyou!
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Wed Apr 28, 2010 3:19 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Wondering who the old girl is, one of Maynard girls perhaps, and whether she is ill or just "busy" ? An interesting start. |
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| Author: | cal562301 [ Wed Apr 28, 2010 3:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Interesting start. Looking forward to more. |
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| Author: | Lesley [ Wed Apr 28, 2010 4:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Jenny is daughter of Len and Reg? Interesting. |
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| Author: | Lyanne [ Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
I guess this is set in '76? Apparently this summer is set to rival it! |
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| Author: | Abi [ Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
That was sweet.
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| Author: | 2nd Gen Fan [ Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:50 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Great start, really interested to read more. |
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| Author: | Elbee [ Thu Apr 29, 2010 2:16 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Looking forward to more of this. Thanks, Llywela. |
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| Author: | charli [ Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:14 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
This is looking good. I enjoyed that. Eagerly awaiting more. Jenny sounds a fun character! |
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| Author: | shazwales [ Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Looking forward to reading more of this,thank you.
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| Author: | JS [ Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:23 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Hmm, I remember that summer - and what happened next! Thanks Llywela. |
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| Author: | Liane [ Fri Apr 30, 2010 2:37 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Great start. I like the look of this. |
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| Author: | MaryR [ Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
JS wrote: Hmm, I remember that summer - and what happened next! I remember that summer too - but what DID happen next, JS?  Thanks, Llywela |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Sat May 01, 2010 1:51 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Would love to see more of this. Thanks |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Sat May 01, 2010 6:57 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
This isn't an update - that'll come in a couple of days, since I can't let myself post too much too soon or I'll catch up with myself in no time! This is an experiment to see if posting in parts before completing the whole thing proves motivational. But I wanted to say thanks for the early encouragement and also... PaulineS wrote: Wondering who the old girl is, one of Maynard girls perhaps, and whether she is ill or just "busy" ? An interesting start. Lesley wrote: Jenny is daughter of Len and Reg? Interesting. Lyanne wrote: I guess this is set in '76? Apparently this summer is set to rival it! JS wrote: Hmm, I remember that summer - and what happened next! How clever you all are.  Although I'm a little nervous now that I'm going to get all the fine detail wrong, since I wasn't actually born till '77. Setting the story in the middle of the '76 drought happened more by accident than anything else - I worked out roughly how old I wanted Len to have been before she started her family (and located her in Carnbach quite deliberately because I didn't want her stuck on the Platz all her days!) and then how old I wanted Jenny to be in this story, and those calculations landed me in the region of 1976, which gave me the heatwave and drought as a backdrop for the early parts of the story...and then it became rather more of a feature than I'd intended! I am doing research, just because, but you can expect most of the 'historical' details to be on the hazy side, since the focus of the story is Jenny and her family. I was interested in playing with the perspective of the next generation, who wouldn't have the advantage of our intimate knowledge of the school and the MBR clan and their long, interwoven history.Part two coming up in a couple of days! |
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| Author: | shazwales [ Sat May 01, 2010 7:44 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Thanks Llywela, looking forward to reading it. 
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| Author: | clair [ Sun May 02, 2010 12:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
Interesting, looking forward to more of this
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| Author: | Llywela [ Mon May 03, 2010 9:12 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House |
After Dad had gone to work the next day, Mum made Jenny and Kate come up to the bedroom to try on their school uniforms ready for the start of term. They had to check both their summer frocks and their winter uniforms, as this was a term that started warm and ended cold, and it was a horribly long job. Even with all the windows wide open the room was stuffy and airless, so that Kate very quickly became crotchety and fretful, and Jenny, too, couldn't keep from grumbling over how hot she felt pulling on thick winter skirts and woollens. They had both grown out of almost everything. Some of Jenny's would still do for Kate, but they were both going to need new things, so Mum started making a list for a shopping trip. Jenny and Kate looked at one another in dismay and groaned loudly just at the thought of it…until Mum offered them ice cream at the end of the shopping trip in exchange for best behaviour and no complaining. Then they both cheered and fell over themselves to promise to be good. When they had finished, Mum took them downstairs, checked briefly on Tommy in the playroom, then poured three big glasses of lemonade and carried them through to the dining room on a tray. They all sat down at the table and sipped at the lemonade, which was scrummy, and then Mum looked at Jenny and Kate very seriously. "While I've got both you girls together," she said. "There's something I want to talk to you about." "It wasn't my fault the lamp got broke!" Kate immediately squealed. Jenny glared at her. "Yes, it was!" "But it was Jenny's fault as well," Kate insisted. "Girls." That was Mum's teacher voice, the one no one dared disobey. Jenny bit back the angry retort she'd been about to fling at her sister and gave Mum her full attention. So did Kate, whose eyes had gone big and wide. "We've already talked about the lamp," Mum reminded them. "It's over. We're not talking about it again. I want you to listen to me now. There's something I want to tell you." "Okay," said Jenny, since Mum seemed to be waiting for a response. Mum sighed. "This hasn't been much of a fun summer for you, has it, between this heat and me being so under the weather." "You said you were feeling better today," Jenny anxiously reminded her. Mum being sick hadn't been fun at all. Mum gave her a reassuring smile. "A little better today, yes. I'll feel better still when the weather cools off a bit, so let's hope that happens soon. My poor garden could use a good drink!" "We should do a rain dance," Kate rather unexpectedly suggested, and Mum laughed and asked where she'd got that idea. "I heard it in school," said Kate. "Miss Johnson told us. It's American. The Indians did a special dance when they wanted it to rain, and I think we should try." Mum was still laughing. "And you think that would work, do you?" Kate nodded determinedly. "It would. Def'nitely." "Well, perhaps you could give that a try later on, and let me know how you get on," Mum suggested with a smile, before becoming serious once more. "I wanted to talk to the two of you before you go back to school about the reason I haven't been well these last few weeks," she said, and Jenny started to feel anxious again. "You said it was just the heat making you sick and it wasn't anything to worry about," she protested, suddenly scared that there was something to worry about after all. What if Mum was really ill? That would be terrible! "It is the heat making me sick," Mum nodded. "Partly. But there's another reason as well. You see, girls, in a few months time – not until a while after Christmas, in fact – you're going to have a new baby brother or sister. Isn't that exciting?" "A new baby?" While Kate immediately went into raptures of excitement, Jenny just sat and stared at Mum in amazement, not sure whether to feel pleased about this news or not. Kate and Tommy were fun to have around most of the time, but they could also be the most awful nuisance, both of them, and surely the two of them were more than enough for any sister to have to look after. And although she didn't remember Kate as a baby, she'd been five when Tom was born, and remembered vividly how he'd cried all day and all night for months and months, so that no one in the family ever got any sleep at all. She also remembered how cross everyone got when they were that tired, worse than in this heat, even. If the new baby was like Tommy'd been, that didn't seem like much to be looking forward to at all. "You're very quiet, Jenny. You are pleased, aren't you, sweetheart? I'm going to be relying on you to be my big, helpful girl, especially when the baby comes." Mum was looking anxious, which made Jenny feel like the most selfish creature there ever was. Mum had been the oldest of twelve children, counting Auntie Claire, who was adopted, and there had been other children living with them half the time, as well – in fact, Jenny had so many uncles and aunts, she found it hard to keep count of them. She couldn't even imagine what it must have been like with so many babies in the house all the time, or having so many younger brothers and sisters to look after…but if Mum had managed as the oldest of so many, surely it wasn't so much to ask Jenny to be the oldest just of four. Even if the new baby did cry all the time and even if it would be years before it was big enough to play properly. Jenny threw her arms around Mum and gave her a big hug. "Of course I'm pleased, Mum," she said. "I'll help with the new baby all the time when I'm at home. It'll be fun." |
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| Author: | cal562301 [ Mon May 03, 2010 9:20 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
A lovely update, thanks, Llywela. Len of all people should understand how Jenny feels. |
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| Author: | Abi [ Mon May 03, 2010 11:03 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
Jenny and Kate are so sweet. Hope Len will understand how she feels. Thanks, Llywela! |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Mon May 03, 2010 5:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
That was a lovely update - though I can sympathise with the baby nerves! Thankyou. |
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| Author: | sealpuppy [ Tue May 04, 2010 12:19 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
This is an interesting one, looking forward to the next bit. Like Len, I was pregnant that year and remember how blissful it was to be able to hang nappies on the line every day and have them dry so quickly. |
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| Author: | JS [ Tue May 04, 2010 12:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
I was 10 that summer, so don't remember enough to pick anyone up on historical details! Thanks for the update. |
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Wed May 05, 2010 3:04 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
Had to google the summer of 76 to see what was so bad. And am quite amused at the difference between British and Australian opinions on what constitutes a heat wave and a drought! Enjoying the story BTW! |
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| Author: | brie [ Thu May 06, 2010 9:40 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
Thanks, I'm really enjoying this so far! |
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| Author: | Millie [ Thu May 06, 2010 11:44 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
This is lovely, really enjoying it, I'll be watching out for more! |
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| Author: | hac61 [ Sat May 08, 2010 11:15 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
What does this "pulchritudinous" mean? Is it a real word or is it the creation of the forum spelling nanny? If so, what on earth are you all typing it that it has this sudden outcrop all over the board? I feel as though it's a joke that everybody knows except me. 
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| Author: | Mia [ Sat May 08, 2010 11:23 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
hac61 wrote: What does this "pulchritudinous" mean? Is it a real word or is it the creation of the forum spelling nanny? If so, what on earth are you all typing it that it has this sudden outcrop all over the board? I feel as though it's a joke that everybody knows except me. See 'Completely Off Topic' This looks really good! I really like the retro feel to it. Thanks Llywela. I hope you can post more soon. |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Sun May 09, 2010 6:48 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 3/5/10 |
Thanks again, everyone. This is a bit slow-moving, I'm afraid, so thanks for sticking with it! sealpuppy wrote: Like Len, I was pregnant that year and remember how blissful it was to be able to hang nappies on the line every day and have them dry so quickly. Heh, my mother was pregnant with me that summer, too - but Len's pregnancy is more like hers than yours, in that it's still early stages so she has all the discomfort of morning sickness amid the heat and water restrictions, and none of the advantages of the washing drying so fast! Okay, parts 3 and 4 in one go, here, as 4 is so short. **3** When she'd finished her lemonade, Jenny wandered back out into the garden, past the crumpled paddling pool, and past Mum's vegetable patch and the flowerbeds. Down at the far end of the garden, she threw herself down onto the grass in the patch of shade provided by a big old tree and stared up at the cloudless blue sky, thinking worriedly about how much she liked her family as it was right now and how much it might change when the new baby came along and disturbed everything. She was also worried that she might have been lying when she told Mum she was pleased, because although she wanted to be – she really did, if only because it was what Mum wanted – she didn't think she really was. Telling lies even to make Mum feel better meant she had a sin in her heart, and it wasn't a good feeling. She was still wondering what to do about it when gleeful yelling nearby interrupted her thoughts, and she tilted her head to see Kate and Tommy running and hopping around like mad things in the full glare of the afternoon sun. It looked as if they were having a go at that rain dance Kate had been talking about. Jenny thought they were both mad, jumping about like that when it was so hot – she certainly wasn't about to join in, even if she did wish it would rain so they could all cool down. She was too comfy where she was to even think about moving. Rain dances probably weren't real anyway. If they really worked, other people would have already tried it by now. Probably. Maybe it was for the best that Kate and Tommy were trying, though. Just in case. After a while, Kate ran over and threw herself to the ground alongside Jenny, panting hard. After running around in the sun like that, she felt hot and sticky where their bodies touched, but Jenny was too comfortable and sleepy to move or protest…and anyway, she didn't really mind that much. Kate had lost her sunhat again. Jenny could see it over by a rosebush where it had fallen while Kate had been jumping around. But since Kate was in the shade now, it wasn't worth saying anything. They could pick it up again later. At least Tommy still had his. A few minutes later, Tom also ran over and dropped full length across both their tummies, and they gasped in unison at the sudden weight! Neither one pushed him off, though, even though he was horribly hot and heavy. Maybe Kate didn't really mind, either. It was very quiet and still all of a sudden, now that Kate and Tom weren't running around yelling their heads off. There wasn't even any breeze to stir the branches of the tree up above them. A tiny cloud drifted into view, the first they'd seen all day. Jenny watched it for a while as it slowly floated across the sky. It looked like a dragon, she decided. Or maybe a cat. "What are clouds made of?" Kate suddenly asked. That was a good question, Jenny thought to herself, and she had to admit that she didn't really know. She had vague memories of Miss Pemberton talking about clouds in a geography lesson once – something to do with water and, and…what was the word? Condensation? Or…evaporation? Geography lessons and school seemed far away right now, though. Too far away to think about. "They look like candy floss," Kate sleepily said. "Candy floss is pink," Tommy startled them both by piping up. Jenny'd thought he was asleep. "Well then, clouds look like candy floss would look if it was white," Kate insisted. "Candy floss is yum," Tommy mumbled, and then started to snore. Jenny and Kate looked at each other and giggled. "He's right," said Jenny. "Candy floss is yum." This was nice, too, she thought – the three of them out here in the garden together on a day when it felt like the summer would last forever and ever. She'd been wondering how she could possibly keep her promise to Mum when she was so worried about how things were going to change and how noisy and messy the baby would be, how much attention it was going to need from everyone, but suddenly realised that she knew the answer. The important thing, she thought, was to not think about all the bad things she remembered about having a baby in the house, because Tommy wasn't so bad now that he was bigger, not most of the time, even if he did need to be watched all the time, and that was the part that mattered. They could put up with the noisy, smelly, demanding part, because afterward there would be a new little person to share days like this with – someone to play with, as well as look after. And that really wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Except that by the time the baby got big enough to really be interesting, Jenny would be about fourteen or fifteen already, and that seemed an awfully long way off. So maybe it was best not to think about it too much at all. **4** They had to go into Swansea to get all the things they needed for school, and it was a horrible day. Sitting in the car was like sitting in an oven that was turned on full blast, the engine overheated twice and they had to stop three times for Mum to be sick. Then to top it all off, Kate wandered off and got lost in one of the shops and scared everyone half to death. It seemed like forever before they found her again. Nobody got to have any ice cream in the end, and they were all thoroughly miserable by the time they got home. |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Sun May 09, 2010 7:19 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
Thanks, am really enjoying this, though I can't imagine England in a drought at all. |
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Sun May 09, 2010 7:32 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
Thanks, this is a really lov... er gentle family story. |
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| Author: | Chelsea [ Sun May 09, 2010 2:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
Quote: Rain dances probably weren't real anyway. If they really worked, other people would have already tried it by now. Probably. Maybe it was for the best that Kate and Tommy were trying, though. Just in case. I love this thought process! |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Sun May 09, 2010 2:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
This is a very gentle and relaxing drabble! Though I'm wibbling about how they'll all react when the baby is born. Thankyou! |
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| Author: | shesings [ Sun May 09, 2010 2:35 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
I like this little family - thank you! |
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| Author: | Mrs Redboots [ Sun May 09, 2010 3:09 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
I well remember how hot it was that summer, and how worried the farmers were. I remember being really, really, REALLY angry with the ministers at the church I went to in those days who pooh-poohed the very idea of farmers in this country needing prayers. I am a farmer's daughter, and that summer, my father certainly did. I do like to think that they would be more sensitive today, but have my doubts. Thank you for this story; I am enjoying it. |
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| Author: | cal562301 [ Sun May 09, 2010 3:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
Really enjoying this. Thanks. |
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| Author: | brie [ Sun May 09, 2010 4:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
I'm really enjoying this. It's so nice to hear everything from jenny's viewpoint. Thanks |
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| Author: | JS [ Mon May 10, 2010 12:19 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
This is really atmospheric - I can really feel the heat and I think you've got the child's voice really beautifully; it's taking me back.... |
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| Author: | marni [ Mon May 10, 2010 1:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
I remember being 11 in the summer of '76 and the heat that went on for weeks. I also remember the lawn dying and trying to conserve the bath water in order to put it on the flowers. It's very atmospheric and it brings the Chalet School into my lifetime in a way that I can imagine. Thanks Llywela, I'm enjoying each episode. |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Fri May 14, 2010 12:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
Thanks, everyone for the comments. Using a child's perspective is challenging, being somewhat restrictive as there is so much she is unaware of...but that was more or less exactly why I wanted to use that perspective. We as readers know the books and the universe they represent inside out. Joey's generation are intimately acquainted with the history of the school and their family, because they lived it. Their children, too, know most of the school's history, because they are so close to it, and again have lived a large chunk of it - but only so much information gets passed on by each generation to the next, so I wanted to explore the perspective of the next generation again, use that perspective to explore just how much has or hasn't been passed on. This is only a small update - more to come soon. If we're lucky the actual plot might kick in sooner or later!:) **5** On the Friday before school started, it rained for the first time since before the holidays began – since a long time before the holidays began. It started out as just another day like every other day that summer – hotter than hot – but then the sky went black all of a sudden and there was a ginormous clap of thunder that made everyone jump. Kate screamed, because she was scared of thunder, and then Tommy got scared because Kate was scared, but while Mum was calming them both down, Jenny heard a pattering noise at the window and saw that it was raining. Not just raining, either – it was absolutely pouring down! She'd never known before that rain could be so exciting. "Quick!" said Mum. "Outside!" They all ran downstairs and out into the garden and started dancing around in the rain, and even Mum didn't seem to care how wet they were getting, because she laughed and danced with them and turned her face up to the sky to enjoy the rain all the more. There was more thunder, and some lightning too, and Kate screamed a little every time, but she was laughing and singing too, so Jenny supposed she was more excited about the rain than she was scared of the storm. Tom had forgotten all about being scared and yelled his head off as he bounced about all over the place with Bonnie, who was barking madly at all the excitement. Mrs Davies arrived to do the cleaning in the middle of the excitement, running up the path into the house faster than Jenny had ever seen her move before because she was soaked right through, but she didn't seem to mind, only laughed a bit and said how marvellous it was and wasn't it about time. Even old Mrs Beddoe next door came outside to feel the rain on her skin instead of just watching it through the window. It was as if everyone wanted to remember what rain was like, as they hadn't seen any for so long. After a few minutes, Mum ran back into the house and came out again with an armful of pots and pans, which she set out on the lawn to fill up with rainwater, and told Jenny to help Mrs Beddoe do the same. Jenny wasn't sure why, but did as she was told anyway. Later on, when they'd all gone back inside and changed into dry clothes, Mum explained that one day of rain wouldn't make up for a whole summer with none at all, so it was important to save as much water as they could while they could, because the reservoirs were empty, and it might go back to being hot and dry again tomorrow, and who knew how long that might last? That gave Jenny something to think about for the whole of the rest of the afternoon. What would school be like next week if it stayed as hot as it had been and there was no water? Or even if it wasn't hot but there was still no water? It had been bad enough just with the five of them in their house – a whole school full of people all sharing teeny tiny amounts of water sounded awful. It was still raining when Dad got home from work, though, so probably school was going to be okay. The reservoirs must be getting fuller again by now. |
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| Author: | brie [ Fri May 14, 2010 1:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - parts 3-4 added 9/5/10 |
thanks. Im really enjoying this |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Fri May 14, 2010 3:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 5 added 14/5/10 |
Thanks for the update!
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| Author: | cal562301 [ Fri May 14, 2010 3:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 5 added 14/5/10 |
Really enjoying this. Thanks. |
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| Author: | judithR [ Fri May 14, 2010 3:46 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 5 added 14/5/10 |
IIRC there was a Minister for Drought who managed to cause it to rain by taking his family to watch a Test Mach on Bank Holiday Monday! There were also floods later that year in areas which still had standpipes. Hansard reported that there were Questions pertaining to the efficacy of standpipes under water. |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Fri May 14, 2010 4:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 5 added 14/5/10 |
thank you for the update. I could not remember the summer, but have worked out I was Theatre sister that year and we were used to working in a warm environment. I also had a flat with not garden, and did my washing at a laundrette so water was not a major problem as I lived in an area which did not need stand pipes. I can remember other hot summers though were we went out in the rain just to enjoy it and to cool down. |
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| Author: | Abi [ Fri May 14, 2010 7:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 5 added 14/5/10 |
That was great, thanks Llywela.
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| Author: | Llywela [ Tue May 18, 2010 10:05 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 5 added 14/5/10 |
That was only a teeny little update the other day, so here's another, in which the story actually moves forward a tiny bit. **6** It was still raining on Saturday, and the rain made it cooler than it had been in what felt like forever, and then Sunday was wetter still. It was still too wet to go anywhere on Bank Holiday Monday, even though Mum was feeling well enough, but then it was dry again when Tuesday arrived and it was time to go back to school. Jenny sat on the front step, surrounded by cases and trunks, while Dad brought the car around and Mum finished getting Kate ready. Kate was always late, because although she did most things at great speed and was never really still, she could also be a terrible dawdler, and never, ever got ready for anything on time. Dad was driving Jenny and Kate to school for the first day of term, although ordinarily they would either cycle or walk. They only had to make the journey twice a week, once there and once back, because they were weekly boarders, which meant that they stayed at school during the week and then went home at weekends. It used to be that Mum always took them back and forth on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons, but now that Jenny was ten she was allowed to take Kate by herself, since it wasn't all that far, only fifteen minutes walking even when Kate was on a go-slow, and there were no really big roads to cross. It was a big responsibility that she was very proud of. For this first day of term, though, Dad was taking them in the car because they had to take their luggage for the whole term. School for Jenny and Kate was at Glendower House…although Jenny had a friend called Rhiannon Harries who'd told her that it should really be Tŷ Glyndŵr, only the English had made it more English-sounding because they couldn't say it properly, and that they'd done the same thing to a lot of other places in Wales and everyone should start using the proper names again. Non was Welsh and tended to say things like that quite a lot. Dad said that it sounded like her parents were bringing her up to be quite the political activist. Only not like the Nationalists Jenny had seen on the news, because if they were like that Non wouldn't be at an English school like Glendower House in the first place. Anyway, Non got confused about it quite a bit, because so many of their friends came from England and Scotland and Ireland and even further away than that, but mostly she was just very proud of being Welsh. Jenny wasn't sure what she was. She'd been born right here in Carnbach, in Wales, but Mum and Dad were both English. She supposed that made her a little bit of both. And then just to be even more confusing, Mum had grown up in Switzerland for half her life – Gran and Granddad still lived there, in fact. Some of Mum's brothers and sisters had been born in Switzerland, even, and some in Canada, as well, and Auntie Claire came from a French family before she was adopted. Even longer ago than that, Gran's family had lived in Austria and India…it all sounded terribly exotic. But now Jenny and her family just lived here in Carnbach and weren't any particular nationality, as far as she could tell. Jenny wasn't the only one in her class with a confused sense of national identity, though. There were quite a few of them in a similar situation. The worst off of all was Anouk McGeoghan, who had a Flemish mother and a Scottish father, had been born in Italy, currently lived in Ireland but had previously lived in a whole string of other countries because her dad was in the diplomatic service, and came to school here in Wales. When Jenny'd told Dad about Anouk and her family, he'd chucked and said that they sounded remarkably cosmopolitan. And then he'd said that it really didn't matter where a person came from or where they lived, because the only thing that really mattered was what kind of a person they were. "You look a bit lost in thought there, Jenny-Penny." It was Dad, coming to sit on the step alongside Jenny, leaving the car engine ticking over while they waited. "You're all ready to go?" Jenny nodded. "I'm ready." She'd been ready for ages, and couldn't understand why Kate wasn't. All she had to do was get dressed. "But Kate still isn't, I take it." It felt like Jenny had been waiting forever already, but Dad didn't look the slightest bit concerned that they might be late, so maybe it wasn't as long as it seemed. "Don't worry. There's plenty of time." He smiled fondly at her. "So, this is your last year in the Junior School, eh – this time next year, you'll be a very grown up Middle." "Only a Junior Middle. Not very grown up at all," said Jenny, even though the prospect of going up to the Middle School did seem terribly grown up and exciting now that it was only a year away. "Oh, well, that's all right, then," nodded Dad, that fond smile widening as he put an arm around her shoulders for a quick squeeze of a hug. "We wouldn't want you getting too grown up just yet, would we, pumpkin? I'd like to keep my little girl a while longer yet." Sitting there in the sun, resting her head against Dad's shoulder, Jenny felt so warm and safe that she no longer cared if they were late for school. Everyone would know it was Kate's fault, anyway. It was always Kate's fault if they were late. And anyway, it was only the first day, and being late on the first day didn't matter at all, because it was only the people who lived nearby that had to be there early – the coaches wouldn't arrive until nearly lunchtime. There was plenty of time. "I'm coming!" Kate's voice shrilled out from inside the house. "Shoes, Kate," Mum's patient tones followed. Dad gave Jenny a grin. "I'd better get all these bags loaded up then, I suppose." While Dad loaded the trunks and cases into the car boot, Jenny stood up and smoothed out the creases in her new uniform dress, hoping to keep it clean and fresh at least until they reached school, then kicked a tiny stone out of her sandal. A moment later, Kate came bounding out of the house looking about as neat and tidy as she ever could, also in a clean new dress and with her ginger curls at least temporarily tamed…although a few stray wisps were already starting to escape the ponytail Mum had pulled them into. Jenny cautiously touched a hand to her own head, but found her hair still just as smooth and tidy as when Mum had tied it back earlier. It was only lately that she'd started to really notice that her long, thick chestnut hair, so much like Mum's, was much easier to keep tidy than Kate's flyaway curls. Before she had envied her sister's ringlets, since her own hair was what they called wavy, which just meant it wasn't really straight and wasn't really curly, but was somewhere silly in the middle, but now she was glad for it – especially during term time when they didn't have Mum to help them in the mornings. Mum followed Kate out of the house, Tommy at her heels, and pulled both Jenny and Kate close for a double goodbye hug, dropping a light kiss onto the tops of each of their heads. "Have a good term, girls," she told them. "Be good. Try to work a bit harder this year, Kate. I'll see you both in a couple of days." With their goodbyes said, Jenny and Kate piled into the car, twisting in their seats to wave back at Mum and Tommy until they were out of sight. |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Tue May 18, 2010 11:22 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 6 added 18/5/10 |
Thankyou for the update - I can't wait to see how they get on at school! |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Tue May 18, 2010 1:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 6 added 18/5/10 |
Jenny is such a lovely mix of child and adult here. She knows that she want to stay young, but is mature about Kate Thanks for the update. |
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| Author: | cal562301 [ Tue May 18, 2010 2:05 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 6 added 18/5/10 |
A lovely scene. Thanks. Looking forward to seeing the girls at school. |
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| Author: | Elbee [ Tue May 18, 2010 2:11 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 6 added 18/5/10 |
Jenny seems a delightful girl! I'm looking forward to her adventures at school. Thanks, Llywela. |
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| Author: | Abi [ Tue May 18, 2010 8:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 6 added 18/5/10 |
Jenny is so cute.
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Wed May 19, 2010 1:30 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 6 added 18/5/10 |
Thanks, am enjoying this |
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Thu May 20, 2010 5:49 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 6 added 18/5/10 |
Really wanted to say how lovely this is but because I am attempting to expand my vocab I shall instead comment that it is splendid, charming, and jolly good. |
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| Author: | JS [ Thu May 20, 2010 8:54 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 6 added 18/5/10 |
Quote: "Shoes, Kate," Mum's patient tones followed. I know a little girl just like that. Thanks
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| Author: | Llywela [ Fri May 28, 2010 7:55 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 6 added 18/5/10 |
It's been a wee while since I updated this, sorry - Life got busy all of a sudden! It's still a bit slow and steady, I'm afraid, but if anyone is still reading, here's the next bit. **7** Glendower House wasn't the official name of the school, not properly. It was only the name of this branch of the school, the UK branch, here in Carnbach, so that properly it was called the Chalet School, Glendower House Branch. There'd been a new girl in Jenny's class last term, Jacqueline Wilder, and she'd said that Chalet School was a silly name for a school in Wales, because it wasn't a chalet at all, it was a big, old-fashioned stone-built house. It had never occurred to Jenny to question it before. She'd always taken the school and its name for granted – she'd grown up with all the stories about how the school first started, way out in Austria, before the war, and how Gran had been the very first pupil when she was only a year or two older than Jenny was now, how Mum and her sisters had all passed through the school in their turn. It was a funny name, when she came to think about it, but she liked it anyway. It was a name that had a history, and she liked that she felt so connected to that history. The other branch of the school, the one in Switzerland, didn't have another name like Glendower House. It was just called the Chalet School. But since it really was in an actual chalet building, that was probably okay. They were just around the corner from school when a cat ran across the road in front of the car. Dad braked very suddenly, with a curse that he hastily muffled, and both Jenny and Kate, who'd been chattering non-stop since they left home, fell right out of their seats with the jolt. "Did we hit it? Is it okay?" Jenny leaned out of the open window, anxious to see if the cat was hurt, but all Kate could do was giggle. "Do you remember when we went to stay with Auntie Fliss and a deer jumped in front of the car?" "It wasn't funny, we nearly crashed," Jenny protested. "It was funny," insisted Kate, chortling madly all over again just because she'd remembered it. "The thing almost landed on top of us," Dad recalled, starting to drive again. "Look, there's the cat, Jenny. It's fine." Jenny was only slightly reassured to see the cat glowering after them from behind a parked car nearby. It wasn't funny at all that they'd nearly hit it, poor little thing, just like it hadn't been funny when that deer leaped out of the bushes and almost landed on top of the car that time. Kate never took anything seriously. "Try not to worry so much, Jenny," Dad cautioned as they pulled up inside the school grounds. "You don't want to start out in a bad mood – you want to have fun this term, don't you?" He turned to Kate. "And as for you, my little apple: try to be good this term." "I'm too big to be an apple now, Dad," Kate objected, but she was giggling as she said it. Dad had started calling Kate his little apple a few years ago, Jenny remembered, when Kate had heard him calling Jenny his little pumpkin and asked what she was…but she didn't remember if there was a story for why she was called pumpkin, because it had been his nickname for her ever since she was tiny. He had promptly labelled Kate his little apple, because of her round, rosy cheeks, and had been calling her that ever since. That had been a funny day. Next, Kate had asked what Tommy was, and Mum had laughed as she joined in and suggested he could be a watermelon, and then Jenny had proposed banana. But then Dad said that they were all very silly, and wasn't it obvious that Tom was his little steam train? As soon as he said it, they'd all realised he was right, it was obvious that Tommy was a little steam train. He had just started walking then, and had what Mum called a one-track mind, so that when he set his mind to something he just charged right at it, and always tried to go through any obstacles instead of going around them. And then, of course, there were the days when he just kept breaking things…then Mum said that he was her little bulldozer! "Katie-Jo," Dad declared. "You will always be my little apple, even when you are a grand old lady of a hundred." That did it. Jenny completely forgot about all the reasons she'd been feeling disgruntled this morning and laughed as hard as Kate at how silly Dad could be. They were still laughing as Dad retrieved their cases from the car boot and walked them into the building to start the new term. They weren't even late, after all. |
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| Author: | brie [ Fri May 28, 2010 12:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
I'm still reading this! And really, really enjoying it |
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| Author: | cal562301 [ Fri May 28, 2010 2:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
I'm another one who's reading this and enjoying it. Thanks, Llywela. I think it's great to have such a good mixture of drabbles on the board - from the light-hearted to the more serious and various shades in between.
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Fri May 28, 2010 4:38 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
Thanks for the update, it moved up the board yesterday and I was sorry when I saw it was not an update and was pleased to come home today and find it had an update. |
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| Author: | Abi [ Fri May 28, 2010 6:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
I do hope Jenny's first day at school goes well. Thanks for the update. |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Sat May 29, 2010 6:06 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
Thanks, am really glad this is back |
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| Author: | marni [ Sat May 29, 2010 11:32 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
Nice to see it back too - Thanks |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Sat May 29, 2010 12:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
I love the narrative voice in this - thankyou! |
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Sun May 30, 2010 11:34 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
You've captured a charming family here. Thanks for coming back to them! |
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| Author: | shazwales [ Mon May 31, 2010 10:40 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
Good to see more of this,thank you.
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| Author: | JS [ Mon May 31, 2010 12:52 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
The girls' relationship with their father is lovely. Thanks and looking forward to another update when you have time. |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:35 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 7 added 28/5/10 |
Thanks again for all the lovely comments - it's good to know that you are enjoying this rambling little story, slowly meandering along though it is. Another very short update today. **8** The first day of term was always exciting, as everyone got to see their friends again and catch up on everything that had happened in the holidays. Non Harries was the first of Jenny's special friends to arrive, as her dad drove her all the way down from Aberystwyth himself, instead of only taking her as far as the West Wales coach pick-up, like most parents did. So they arrived in time for the morning session, same as Jenny. Non had got a pony of her very own over the summer, a new foal born at her dad's riding stables that she'd been allowed to keep as hers. She was absolutely bursting to tell Jenny all about it, so excited she could hardly get any words out, but they'd barely even begun to talk when Miss Edwards came into Hall to greet everyone who'd arrived so far, and then sent them off to their rooms to settle in. Miss Edwards was the Head, and one of Jenny's absolute favourites out of all the mistresses, even though she was quite old. Mum and Dad had been talking in the summer about how she would be retiring before long, and who might take her place afterward, but Jenny hoped that they were wrong, because she really liked Miss Edwards and wanted her to stay. She was always ever so kind, and her lessons were fun, and sometimes she would tell Jenny stories about Mum when she was a little girl, younger even than Jenny and Kate were now. Mostly, everyone in school called Miss Edwards 'Teddy' – not to her face of course, but she knew all about it and didn't seem to mind. She had always been called Teddy, according to Mum, since even before Mum was at the school. Only Mum had never really been to school at Glendower House, because the school had been in a difference place then. When Mum was at school it had been over in Armishire at first, and then across the water in the Big House on St Briavel's Island, where they still sometimes visited on school trips, and then when the Swiss branch opened, Mum had gone there instead of coming here to Glendower House. Sometimes, Jenny wondered how it could still be called the same school when it had moved around so much. Jenny and Non were in different dormitories, so they didn't get to properly catch up until mid-morning, after they were well and truly settled in to Daisy and Clover respectively, and had retreated to the common room to wait for the coaches to arrive. With hardly anyone else among the Juniors back yet, they had the whole room almost to themselves as they talked about how hot it had been all summer, and what a nuisance the drought had been, and caught each other up on all the news. Non told Jenny all about her new pony, Seren – which meant Star in Welsh – and Jenny told Non about the new baby they were expecting, and they talked and talked about absolutely everything else that had or hadn't happened over the long, dry summer. A pony was definitely more exciting than a baby, Jenny decided, as Non started to describe Seren all over again. It sounded like Non had had a brilliant summer, much more fun than Jenny's had been. Since her dad owned riding stables, she'd been riding every day, and could do quite difficult jumps now. There were riding stables here in Carnbach, too, and the school allowed girls to have lessons there, if they wanted to and their parents agreed. Jenny had been learning ever since she started school and loved her riding lessons, but still wasn't very good, not compared with Non, who did riding at home, as well, and had been riding since she was very small, even smaller than Tommy. The coaches began to arrive late morning, bringing the rest of Jenny's classmates, along with the rest of the school. Standing on the stairs with Kate and Non and all the other girls who'd arrived early, Jenny picked out her fellows one by one as they all filed into Hall, chattering like so many magpies until called to order by the mistresses. There was Anouk McGeoghan with Lynette Cunningham and Brid Murphy, who was Irish and pronounced her name Breej, even though it was spelled Brid. Lisa Russell, who was a sort of a cousin, waved across at Jenny and Kate as she skipped over to join the Junior Middles with her friend Bonita Leston-Rama, who'd been Head of Junior School last year but had gone up to the Middle School now. Drifting into Hall behind them was Emmeline Carvalho with her little sister, Angelina, who was in Kate's class. Then came Suzy Barton, Francesca Rabaiotti, Garthine Saunders, Christiane Beckschäfer…oh, and everyone. It felt like school was properly starting now. |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
Thanks for the update. Loved the choice of names and Jenny deciding a pony was more interesting than a baby. |
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| Author: | cal562301 [ Fri Jun 04, 2010 2:23 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
Very nice update thank you. (Trying to avoid the word lovely!) Llywela wrote: Another very short update today. If 800 words is a very short update, I'm gonna have to work harder at my drabble, that's a long one for me!
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| Author: | JS [ Sat Jun 05, 2010 5:26 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
Thanks Llywela - please tell me you've been using a dictionary of names
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| Author: | Llywela [ Sat Jun 05, 2010 8:05 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
JS wrote: Thanks Llywela - please tell me you've been using a dictionary of names Heh, no - I actually pinched a lot of names of people I've known in real life! Just switched 'em around a bit so that they weren't replicated exactly. I wanted a variety of name types to give a bit of a multi-national feel to the 1970s school, to imply the mixture of different backgrounds the students might come from - some British, some of them overseas students, others more locally based but from non-English backgrounds...does it work?
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| Author: | JS [ Sat Jun 05, 2010 9:01 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
Works for me
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Sat Jun 05, 2010 11:21 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
I would much rather have a pony than a baby! |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Sat Jun 05, 2010 1:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
Thanks for the update |
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| Author: | Abi [ Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:01 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
Also loved Jenny preferring a pony over a baby! Really enjoying this; thanks. |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Sun Jun 06, 2010 12:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
Thanks for the update - I'd like to know which Russell is parent to Lisa? (I'm guessing it's a Russell from the surname and the sort of cousin comment!) |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Sun Jun 06, 2010 3:15 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
ChubbyMonkey wrote: Thanks for the update - I'd like to know which Russell is parent to Lisa? (I'm guessing it's a Russell from the surname and the sort of cousin comment!) She's David's daughter. I'm not sure how much that will ever become explicit in the text - the drawback/benefit of having a child narrator. 
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Sun Jun 06, 2010 3:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
Aaah, thankyou for the explanation! |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Sun Jun 06, 2010 4:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
The perspective of a child from the next generation was something I wanted to play with quite specifically in this story: exploring what that child does and doesn't understand about the family and its history and how everyone fits together, the things she takes for granted and never questions, the questions she does think to ask - so that bits and pieces of how the MBR clan have turned out over the past 18 years since the series ended will become apparent here and there...but other details might be left vague because Jenny simply doesn't know or doesn't understand and never quite finds out. It also makes it a challenge for me, because I'm using her perspective quite religiously, which means I can't correct any of her misapprehensions or explain anything she doesn't know about! But being very vague about cousins and 'sort of cousins' and the wider extended family is part of that - and there will be more of it!
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| Author: | Llywela [ Tue Jun 08, 2010 1:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 8 added 4/6/10 |
Sorry for, um...spreeing is what you call a double-post in these parts, isn't it? I decided to post the next update today, while I'm thinking about it, rather than wait a few days and then forget. I'm aware that I've EBD'd Maeve slightly here, going back to an earlier stated ambition of teaching rather than sticking with the travel courier work we were told she'd taken up after leaving school - this way worked better for the story, and if EBD could take dramatic licence with her characters, that allows leeway for us, as well, no? (I think I've EBD'd Dolly Edwards slightly, too, for that matter, as in theory she should probably have already retired, but it was easier to keep her in place as Head than to come up with a replacement!) Anyhow, as mentioned above, I know I'm being a bit vague about the family (since I'm not using a third person narrator, as EBD tended to, in order to info-dump character backstory), but in theory at least, as the story progresses you'll be able to infer enough details to put the pieces together - and hopefully enjoy the process! **9** Soon after the final coach had brought the last of the long-distance people, it was time for lunch. Everyone filed into the dining hall, which was soon full of such loud chatter that it was hardly possible to hear yourself think, even. Rules were never properly enforced on the first day, but even so Miss Edwards had to tell everyone to quieten down in the end, they were making so much noise. It was quite hot, too, even with all the windows wide open – not as hot as it had been, but still hot enough that it felt as if maybe they'd got it wrong and come back to school too early, as if the summer wasn't really over after all. Muggy. That was the word Mum used on days like this. It was muggy. Because it had rained so much and now it was hot again. It wasn't so hot that it was hard to breathe, though, not like it had been. At the end of last term people had started fainting because of the heat. Julia Henderson had fainted in the middle of assembly – she'd been standing right next to Jenny, and then suddenly she was on the floor. That was a shock! Jenny had never fainted in her life. In Anne of Green Gables she'd read how Anne had never fainted either but always wanted to, and then one day was so scared that she did. Jenny wasn't sure she would go so far as to actually want to faint, not if it meant you had everyone staring at you the way everyone had stared at Julia when she was carried out of Hall that day, but she was curious, so she'd asked Julia what it was like. But Julia didn't really remember, she said, she'd just been really hot and felt a bit dizzy, and then all of a sudden she was outside with her head between her knees. It was quite sad how some things weren't as interesting in real life as they sounded. Over at the staff table, Auntie Maeve caught Jenny's eye and gave her a friendly smile and wave. She had Emma sitting up there with her, as usual, and Emma waved enthusiastically as well…and then kept on waving, every time Jenny looked over in that direction for the rest of the meal, because Emma wasn't four yet and still thought that was a funny game. If Miss Edwards was one of Jenny's favourite mistresses, Auntie Maeve was her absolute favourite, and not just because she was an aunt. She wasn't even really an aunt, in fact, but more like a cousin. Sort of. She was Mum's cousin, which meant she was a more distant kind of cousin to Jenny. Mum had tried to explain once how it worked, but the moment she started talking about degrees and removes, Jenny had got horribly confused, and then Mum had got confused as well, and in the end they'd agreed that it was easiest if Jenny, Kate and Tommy just went on saying Auntie Maeve instead. She might not be a proper aunt, but they saw her more than they did most of their real uncles and aunts, especially now that she was living at school, instead of only coming in to take special classes a couple of days a week like she used to, and like Mum still did. In school, though, they had to remember to say Mrs Cranfield, rather than Auntie Maeve, but although Jenny didn't always manage to remember, she was better at it than Kate, who was always forgetting. Auntie Maeve had taken Emma down to Devon to visit family for most of the summer, and only came back with the coaches this morning, so it seemed like forever since Jenny had seen her. But after lunch, while all the coach people went off to settle into their dormitories, she swept both Jenny and Kate off to her private rooms for half an hour, since they were already unpacked. "So, Mum told me her news, how do you two feel about it?" she asked, and then laughed at Kate's enthusiastic response. When Kate had finally finished babbling about how she hoped the baby would be a girl and was looking forward to playing with it and dressing it up, as if it were a doll rather than a baby person, she got down onto the floor to play with Emma, and then Auntie Maeve turned to Jenny. "You've been very quiet, Jenny. Are you not as excited as Kate?" That was a difficult question to answer. Jenny had been thinking about the baby a lot, ever since Mum first told them about it, but still couldn't make up her mind how she felt. Some days she really was excited about it, even more excited than Kate, but then other days she didn't like the idea of it at all. She knew she was supposed to be pleased, and everyone wanted her to be pleased, and Mum and Dad would be sad if they thought she wasn't, but…why did things have to change when they were just right the way they were? Feeling uncomfortable, she shrugged. "Sometimes I am." Auntie Maeve looked sympathetic. "But sometimes you're not?" Jenny glanced across to check that Kate wasn't listening, and then shrugged again. She'd never admitted this out loud to anyone before. "Sometimes I…" she faltered. "Sometimes I wonder if it might be a bit of a nuisance. Like Tommy was." Auntie Maeve gave a rueful chuckle. "Oh, yes. I remember what Tommy was like. Your poor mum! But not all babies are quite that bad, you know. Emma certainly wasn't, thank goodness, and neither were you or Kate." Jenny fidgeted and eyed her toes. It was so hard to know how to explain how jumbled up she felt inside. She hadn't ever wanted to try before, not wanting Mum or Dad to be worried or disappointed, but now Auntie Maeve had asked, she couldn't keep it inside any longer – only she didn't know the right words to say what she meant, either. "I think our family is just right the way it is now," she said. That wasn't quite it, but it was close enough. It was all she could find words for. And then she felt cross with herself for saying anything at all, because she was supposed to be excited like Kate was, all the time, and she couldn't quite make herself look at Auntie Maeve as she added in a very small voice, "Do you think I'm very horrible?" Auntie Maeve didn't answer straight away. Instead she regarded Jenny rather solemnly for a moment, and then asked, "Do you know how old I was when my little sister was born?" Jenny shook her head. Auntie Maeve's youngest sister was Daphne, she knew that, and she was about the same age as Auntie Cec, but it was hard to work out how old any grown up was, especially ones you never really saw, and she couldn't remember how old Auntie Maeve was, anyway, except that she was a bit older than Mum, but not much. "I was fourteen," said Auntie Maeve. "And although most of the time I was happy about having a new baby in the family, I had days when I felt like you – worried about what it would mean and how our family would change. So did your mum when all her baby brothers and sisters were born. So would anyone. It's quite normal to feel that way, not horrible at all. But I know Mum would want me to tell you to try not to worry, that nothing in the world could ever make her and Dad love you or Kate or Tommy any less than they do now. That's what's so special about mums and dads' love – it never runs out, no matter how many people are sharing it." "Like Elijah and the jar of oil," said Jenny, remembering a Bible story she'd heard. "That never ran out, even though it looked like there was only a tiny bit left and they used it every day. It lasted as long as they needed it." Auntie Maeve nodded and grinned. "Not bad for the first day of term! That's exactly it, except that the oil was only for as long as Elijah needed it. Mums and dads' love lasts forever, even when you don't think you need it so much any more, it never goes away." Jenny wanted to ask more, but there was a knock at the door just then. It was Libby Winterton, who was Auntie Maeve's real niece, rather than just a kind of a cousin like Jenny. She was also a kind of a cousin to Jenny, but it was a bit like with Auntie Maeve – there were degrees and removes, only even more, because Libby was another remove away again, the same as Lisa Russell. Or something like that. Family could be terribly confusing. Libby was quite a grand person to be able to claim any kind of relationship with, though. She was a senior and very grown up and was in the hockey team, she'd scored lots of match-winning goals last year, so everyone loved her, and Jenny had heard a whisper that she was probably going to be the new Head Girl. So it was quite a thrill to have her offer a friendly smile and ask how the summer had been and call Kate 'squirt'. Libby had brought back one of Emma's toys that had got into her suitcase by mistake, she said, when they were packing to come back to school – Auntie Maeve and Emma had been staying with Libby's family over the summer, now that they didn't have a house of their own any more. Emma's dad wasn't around any more, either. Jenny didn't know why, though. He hadn't died or anything like that, but he wasn't around any more, and now Auntie Maeve and Emma lived at school instead of in their old house, only nobody ever talked about the reason why. She felt sad for her small cousin that she didn't get to see her dad any more, and wondered if Uncle Brian's dad love for Emma was still never-ending even wherever he was now. She couldn't imagine life without her own dad. |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Tue Jun 08, 2010 2:58 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 9 added 8/6/10 |
Thanks for the two posts. I am glad you decided to "spree". I am not surprised Jenny is confused about how the relations fit into Uncle, aunts and cousins. Good to see Maeve here, looking forward to seeing more of her and Len as a teacher. |
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| Author: | chattie [ Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:30 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 9 added 8/6/10 |
I'm enjoying this story especially as it's set around the time of my own school days! You've made me remember the autumn term of '76 which must have continued to be pretty dry as we were unable to play hockey because the grass pitches were baked hard and cracked. And then it rained so often in the following term that we only managed two outdoor hockey lessons in the entire year! All much to my glee as I hated hockey! |
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| Author: | Abi [ Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 9 added 8/6/10 |
My goodness, imagine trying to keep track of the MBR clan! This is lovely, thanks, Llywela. |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Tue Jun 08, 2010 10:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 9 added 8/6/10 |
Thanks, am really enjoying seeing it from Jenny's prospective. Maeve was really nice there and I like how she understood how Jenny felt |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Fri Jun 11, 2010 1:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 9 added 8/6/10 |
Yes, I wonder how EBD would have coped with a third generation MBR clan! Thanks for the update, it's fascinating seeing them all and what they did with their lives.
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| Author: | Llywela [ Fri Jun 18, 2010 8:06 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 9 added 8/6/10 |
chattie wrote: I'm enjoying this story especially as it's set around the time of my own school days! You've made me remember the autumn term of '76 which must have continued to be pretty dry as we were unable to play hockey because the grass pitches were baked hard and cracked. And then it rained so often in the following term that we only managed two outdoor hockey lessons in the entire year! All much to my glee as I hated hockey! Ooh, interesting snippet of detail...I may well borrow that. Thanks again for the comments, everyone. I'm fast catching up with myself, not writing ahead as fast as I'd hoped, but here's another small update anyway. **10** In the evening, they had an assembly, like always on the first day of term. Miss Edwards made her usual start-of-term speech to the school, welcoming everyone back for the new school year, explaining the rules for any new girls and announcing who the prefects would be. Libby was the new Head Girl, and Jenny preened with pride. Non Harries was the new Head of the Junior School, and Jenny was pleased for her friend, although Non squirmed a bit and looked more worried than happy. Then Miss Edwards started to talk about water, which wasn't usually part of the speech. She talked for quite a long time about how even though the heatwave had broken, there was still a drought, and everyone must take care to conserve as much water as possible, and there were new rules about using water that must be obeyed absolutely. Jenny found it all quite hard to follow, but it didn't sound very different to the rules Mum and Dad had imposed at home as soon as the news started using the word drought. It was a bit annoying, really, that those rules should follow her to school. How could there still be no water when it had rained all weekend? After Miss Edwards had finished talking, Great-Aunt Madge stood up to make her speech. Great-Aunt Madge, who was Lisa Russell's grandmother, always came to Glendower House on the first day of term to welcome everybody back, even though she was old now. It was a special school tradition, because it was Great-Aunt Madge's school in the first place – she'd gone all the way out to Austria to start the school, all by herself, years and years ago before the war, when Gran, who was her sister, wasn't much older than Jenny was now. More importantly, it was a special school tradition that the Swiss Branch didn't share, because Great-Aunt Madge couldn't be in two places at once and so always gave her attention to Glendower House…mostly because it wasn't so very far from where she lived, here in Wales, but still everyone in school liked that their branch was singled out for her particular attention. They had a special holiday for Founder's Day on her birthday every year, at the beginning of summer term, and that was just one of the reasons everyone in school loved her. She didn't own the school all by herself any more – or so Jenny had heard Dad say, although she wasn't completely sure what that meant – but she was still the founder, and that meant she was very important and another quite grand person to be able to claim a relationship with. "Good evening, girls," Great-Aunt Madge began. "I'd like to join with Miss Edwards in welcoming you all back for another year here at Glendower House – the twenty-seventh year since this branch of the Chalet School was established, if my calculations are correct. That means it has now been rather more than forty-six years since I first arrived at the Tiernsee with just three pupils in tow and the promise of a mere handful more – how the years have flown! Since those early days, the school has gone from strength to strength, far beyond my wildest expectations, but I can honestly say that I remain as proud of each one of you today as I was the very first girls that I taught all those years ago. As a school we have experienced many changes and have been through some testing times over the years, and it seems we have a new challenge to face over the coming weeks, thanks to the continuing water shortages. I have no doubt, however, that you will rise to the challenge splendidly and do all that you can to conserve water supplies wherever possible, as well as pulling together to ease the strain of these restrictions for everyone around you. Have a wonderful year, girls – and continue to make us proud." |
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| Author: | 2nd Gen Fan [ Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
Nice to hear that Glendower House gets one over on the Swiss branch here! They were always so completely forgotten in the series. |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:01 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
Jenny's response to her friend's appointment is good. Hope Non has nothing to worry her. Jenny's understanding of the water shortage- why has it followed her to school, and one weekend's rain should have cured the situation is so common in children and early teens. Thanks for the update. |
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| Author: | charli [ Fri Jun 18, 2010 9:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
Just caught up on this and I love it! Interesting to see how big the 'english' branch has become and that Maeve is teaching there. More soon please! |
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| Author: | Abi [ Fri Jun 18, 2010 9:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
I like that Glendower House has a special connection with Madge that the Swiss branch doesn't have. Thanks for the update! |
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| Author: | Lyanne [ Sat Jun 19, 2010 12:01 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
Really enjoying this. Jenny is older than me, I was 6 in '76, and my main memories are of us having chicken pox and mum putting my little sister in an old washing up bowl of water in the garden (as she was still in nappies and had nappy rash as well as chicken pox but mum couldn't put us in the paddling pool or bath due to the drought), and my having to go to school when mum and dad took my little sister to the hospital (for a minor op for an abcess) and dad and my brother seeing fire engines rushing to a forest fire, but I missed it because I was at school, so not fair! |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Sat Jun 19, 2010 2:34 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
Thanks, love seein Madge visit the school. Am with Jenny and not understanding how England can even have a drought thats so bad after one summer, especially as ours usually last years at a time |
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| Author: | cal562301 [ Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:34 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
Fiona Mc wrote: Thanks, love seein Madge visit the school. Am with Jenny and not understanding how England can even have a drought thats so bad after one summer, especially as ours usually last years at a time Even in Spain, there are large parts of the country, particularly the South, that have little rain for 7 years on average. The UK really doesn't understand what a drought is. When there is a water shortage, it's usually down to bad management and leaking pipes (up to 25% of water collected at any one time is lost through broken pipes!). I missed most of the drought in 1976, as I spent the summer in Leningrad (St Petersburg), where the weather was dreadful most of the time! However, I remember returning to Sheffield Uni for the start of the new academic year. We went to visit Lady Bower, a huge reservoir on the outskirts of the city and there was so little water in it that you could see the cracks in the floor of the reservoir. Back on topic, I'm really enjoying this and looking forward to more. Thanks, Llywela. |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Sun Jun 20, 2010 4:31 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
Thanks for the update. It's lovely that that branch get Madge, when the Swiss branch used to brag about Joey so much. |
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:38 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
Fiona Mc wrote: Thanks, love seein Madge visit the school. Am with Jenny and not understanding how England can even have a drought thats so bad after one summer, especially as ours usually last years at a time Me too. However I think Newcastle and the Hunter Valley is one of the few places that hasn't had any water restrictions over the past few years. |
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| Author: | Becky [ Sat Jun 26, 2010 12:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
Thanks very much, Llywela. I've just found this and I'm really enjoying it. |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:31 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 10 added 18/6/10 |
It's been a little while since I updated this - where did all my free time go? Thanks for the nice comments, and here's another short passage. **11** School started properly the next day, although not really because everyone was still settling back in. Non wasn't in Daisy with Jenny, but Anouk was, and normally this would mean lots of chatting between the friends as they washed and dressed for breakfast, only Anouk had been asked to look after a new girl, Donna Bishop, and was taking that responsibility far too seriously to talk to anyone else. So Jenny talked to Christiane and Francesca about their holidays instead, at least until Anouk came over and whispered in her ear to please help. She only had to talk to Donna for two minutes to understand why Anouk was finding her so difficult – all she did was scowl, she didn't seem to want to do anything or talk to anyone, and although she did at least get dressed in time for the breakfast bell, try as they might neither Anouk nor Jenny could get her to talk or show any interest in anything. Then Christiane and Francesca joined in as well, but Donna wouldn't talk to any of them…and then Mrs Pritchard, the Junior House Mistress, came and told them all off for chattering so much instead of getting ready for breakfast, which didn't seem fair at all when they were only trying to help. After breakfast they had morning assembly, which was mostly just singing and announcements for the day, and then they were all sent off to their new form rooms for the first time this term. Jenny and her friends were in Lower III this year, which was the highest form in the Junior School, and their form teacher was Miss Walther. She kept them busy all morning, collecting together all the stationery and everything else they were going to need for the term, and helping them to cover their workbooks, and warning them that there would be a quiz after lunch to see how much they all remembered from last year. And, she added, they would be having a proper French session that afternoon, even though it was only the first full day of term, because they might as well begin as they were going to carry on. The Chalet School had always focused on languages, Mum said – it was one of the reasons Mum had become a language teacher. Of course, Mum had gone to the Swiss Branch for most of her time in school, and languages had been even more important there than at Glendower House. Here, they didn't have to talk in French and German all day long on certain days the way Mum used to have to when she was in school, but they did have what Mum called intensive language immersion sessions every afternoon, French one day and German the next. Because she'd been in school for years already, Jenny was already very fluent in both French and German, but the girls who had only started school later usually didn't know as much, so that instead of being grouped by age, like they were for their forms, for languages they were grouped by how much they knew. Usually for new girls, like Donna – or Jackie, who had only been at school for one term – it was a big incentive to work hard at languages and learn as much as possible, so that they could be moved up to a higher group sooner rather than later. For now, though, everyone groaned at the thought of having to start work already, and Miss Walther laughed at them before sending them out to play when the bell rang for break. |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:53 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 11 added 6/7/10 |
Pleased to see more of this. The language sessions based on ability is a good idea. |
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| Author: | Abi [ Tue Jul 06, 2010 3:01 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 11 added 6/7/10 |
The way they do the languages seems sensible, and it looks as though they have some interesting new girls! Thanks for the update.
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Tue Jul 06, 2010 11:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 11 added 6/7/10 |
Nice to see another update, thank you. Does Len get the children to speak French and German at home? (eg like when the trips had the French speaking dolls in their dolls house) |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:22 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 11 added 6/7/10 |
Thanks, am really enjoying seeing it all from a kids perspective |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Thu Jul 08, 2010 5:54 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 11 added 6/7/10 |
What a clever idea! Thanks for the update. |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:46 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 11 added 6/7/10 |
Miss Di wrote: Nice to see another update, thank you. Does Len get the children to speak French and German at home? (eg like when the trips had the French speaking dolls in their dolls house) She's a language teacher, so I daresay she does a bit - but I don't think she lays quite such an emphasis on it as Joey did **12** At break, Jenny, Non and Anouk all made a beeline for one another, because although they'd already talked quite a lot since arriving back at school yesterday, they still felt as if they had the whole summer apart to make up for. But just as they got outside, Anouk stopped in her tracks and Jenny almost fell over her. "I forgot!" Anouk's eyes were wide with dismay. "I have to look after the new girl. So we can't be just us for break." That was annoying. All three of them grumbled about it, Non especially, because, she said, she really wanted to talk to them about being the Head of the Juniors and what it meant and what she had to do, because she was worried about getting it right. But the rule was that if you were in charge of a new girl, then you had to do a good job and look after her as best as you possibly could, because it just wasn't playing fair if you didn't. So Anouk went off to look for Donna, and Jenny and Non trailed along after her, because if they couldn't spend break together just the three of them alone, they might as well spend break together looking after Donna. Donna seemed to have disappeared into thin air, though. They wasted nearly all of break looking for her, and by the time they eventually found her hiding away in a corner, they were all feeling very hot and cross. To make matters worse, Donna wasn't interested in talking to them or playing with them or letting them show her around some more, and she said so, which made them all crosser than ever. Anouk started to lose her temper, and Jenny couldn't really blame her because she was feeling very fed up as well, but then Non pulled them both away and hissed that they couldn't start shouting at a new girl on the first proper day of term, no matter how annoying she was. What was really annoying was that Non was right. She usually was. So they went back and Anouk said that she was sorry for forgetting about Donna at the start of break and Jenny said she hoped that wasn't the reason Donna was hiding away all on her own. Donna only shrugged her shoulders and said that she didn't really care and would prefer them to leave her alone, because she wanted to be on her own. The three friends looked at one another and sighed, because how were you supposed to look after someone who didn't want to be looked after? Donna was a little bit friendlier at lunch, but only just. She still didn't seem to want to talk very much, not even to hear what to expect from school meals for the rest of term, but she smiled a bit instead of scowling, and at least she wasn't outright telling anyone to go away and leave her alone, like she had earlier. Anouk was quite upset about it. It was the first time she'd ever been asked to be sheepdog for a new girl, and she really hadn't expected it to be this hard, she quietly moaned to Jenny on their way back to class. Mostly, it all made Jenny glad that it wasn't her job – just trying to help Anouk was hard enough! |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Thu Jul 15, 2010 4:35 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 12 added 15/7/10 |
Thanks for the update. Jenny is so natural here. |
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| Author: | Abi [ Thu Jul 15, 2010 9:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 12 added 15/7/10 |
Poor Anouk; that's got to be hard work! Poor old Donna doesn't sound too happy, either, though. |
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:46 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 12 added 15/7/10 |
Ahh. An unhappy new girl to reform.
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Fri Jul 16, 2010 12:05 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 12 added 15/7/10 |
It would be hard being the person stuck with the unhappy new girl! |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Fri Jul 16, 2010 3:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 12 added 15/7/10 |
I hope that the CS can work one of its magic reformations! And that being sheepdog doesn't prove too hard. It's very interesting seeing it from a point of view that, IMHO, EBD never really explores. Thankyou! |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:45 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 12 added 15/7/10 |
**13** "So Miss Walther is your new form teacher this year, Jenny," said Mum. "Are you happy with that?" Jenny nodded. "I am," she said, "because I did think it might be Miss Anderson, but I like Miss Walther better. She's funny, and she always explains if you don't understand something, and she only gets cross if you really deserve it." They were going home a day early this first week of term, both Jenny and Kate – walking home with Mum after she'd been in for her Thursday language classes with the sixth form – because they had to travel all the way up to Cheshire on Friday ready for Uncle Felix's wedding on Saturday, and it would take the whole day to get there. It was just as well, Mum said, that it was so early in the term that missing a day's lessons wouldn't make much difference. They stopped at the corner shop on the way to buy a sherbet lolly each for Jenny and Kate to suck on while they walked, the kind that were green and pink and round like a ball and too hard to chew – your teeth didn't even make a dent – so that you had to suck and suck at the lolly until it either shrank away to nothing or got soft enough to crunch into powder. They were Kate's absolute favourite, and she skipped ahead with hers, leaving Jenny to walk with Mum, arm-in-arm, saving her own lolly for later. "And how does Non feel about being the new Head of Junior School?" asked Mum, as they turned slightly off the direct route home to collect Tommy from St David's Infant School – the same school Jenny and Kate had gone to before they were old enough for Glendower House. "Is she very proud?" Jenny wrinkled her nose. "She's a bit nervous, actually," she admitted. "She doesn't think she'll be as good as Bonita was last year." Miss Edwards had said once that Bonita Leston-Rama could electrify a room just by walking into it, without even doing or saying anything, and Jenny thought it was a good description. Bonita was full of energy and ideas, and she was the most determined person Jenny had ever met; whenever she had something to say, everyone always listened, even the people who didn't really like her very much. As Head of the Juniors, she'd made life that bit more interesting for everyone, but now she'd gone up to Middle School, and Jenny had spent the last two days listening to Non fretting about having to take her place. Mum chuckled. "Bonita certainly is a force of nature," she agreed, "but I don't think Non should worry about trying to be just like her. She'll do a far better job if she just relaxes and concentrates on being herself. She was chosen for a reason, you know, and the staff have faith in her – maybe it would be a good idea if you reminded her of that, to help her feel a bit more confident." That sounded like it was probably good advice. Jenny nodded and agreed, but thought that she was going to have to think about it all weekend before she could repeat it to Non, to make sure that she understood properly. Tommy was waiting for them at the school gate and came bounding down the street as soon as he saw them. As Jenny relinquished Mum's arm to grab his hand, quick, just in case he did something silly like run out into the road, and handed over the lolly they'd got for him, Mum waved thank you to the teacher who'd been waiting with him, and then they set off for home once more. They were two streets from home when Mum suddenly wobbled and put a hand out to balance herself on someone's gatepost. "Mum?" Jenny clutched hard at Tommy's hand, suddenly nervous. Mum smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile, it was a pretend smile that was supposed to be reassuring but wasn't because it didn't look real. "It's okay, Jenny, I was a little light-headed for a moment, that's all. I'm fine now." She was still holding onto that gatepost, though, and her face had gone white. Jenny felt prickles of panic run down her spine. How they were going to get home if Mum couldn't even stand up by herself? But if Mum needed help, then it was up to Jenny to help her, because she was the oldest and the tallest, and who else was going to do it? So she quickly waved for Kate to come back from where she'd skipped on ahead, handed Tom over to her sister with the sternest, "look after Tommy," she could muster, and then turned back to Mum and took her arm again. "Is that better, Mum?" she anxiously asked. "You can lean on me for a bit. We're nearly home now." Mum gave another of those thin little smiles, but this one looked a bit more as if she really meant it. "What would I do without you?" she said as they set off again. As they slowly walked those last two streets to the house, Mum was leaning on Jenny quite a bit, which she hadn't at all when they'd walked arm-in-arm earlier, and it was a bit awkward because she was so much taller than Jenny was…but she wasn't leaning as much as Jenny'd thought she might, so she couldn't be feeling too bad after all. Even so, it was a big relief when they finally got home and found that Mrs Davies was still there, finishing off in the kitchen. She took one look at Mum and promptly bustled her into the sitting room to rest, calling over her shoulder for Jenny to look after the little ones. Jenny felt quite exhausted now that someone else was in charge, and would have quite liked to rest in the sitting room as well, where she could see for herself that Mum was all right and everything was okay. But she supposed someone should see to the other two, and if Mum wasn't well and Mrs Davies was with her and Dad was at work, then that only left Jenny. She made some jam sandwiches in case Kate and Tommy were hungry and then took them up to the playroom. Tom munched away quite happily while playing with his lego, but Kate looked a bit worried. "Is Mum all right?" she wanted to know. Jenny wasn't sure what to say. Mum had had a few dizzy spells in the summer, as well, and had said it was just because of being sick and because it was so hot, but she'd been better since then, and it wasn't quite so hot any more, so why wasn't she well today? "I don't know," she admitted, but there was no point in both her and Kate being worried, so she gave her sister the lolly she'd saved, to make her feel better, and added as confidently as she could manage, "I think so. She was just a bit dizzy, like when she was sick in the holidays." Kate seemed happy both with that explanation and with the lolly, and went off to play lego with Tommy, but Jenny couldn't help thinking what if as she sat and chewed at a jam sandwich. What if Mum wasn't all right? |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:32 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 13 added 27/7/10 |
Thanks for the update. Jenny is caring and observant here. |
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| Author: | shazwales [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 5:15 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 13 added 27/7/10 |
Looks as if Jenny has inherited Lens mantle as the sensible eldest.Thank you. |
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| Author: | Abi [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 13 added 27/7/10 |
Poor Jenny. She's so sweet, though! |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 13 added 27/7/10 |
Poor Jenny, having to deal with all of that |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Jul 28, 2010 11:49 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 13 added 27/7/10 |
I do hope that she's all right - wibbling slightly! Thanks for the update. |
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Fri Jul 30, 2010 5:59 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 13 added 27/7/10 |
I do hope Len doesn't make Jenny feel that the younger ones are her special responsibility! Although I admit to being a bit concerned about Len's dizzy spells. |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Mon Aug 09, 2010 12:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 13 added 27/7/10 |
Hmm, somehow the at home/family parts of the story are working out much longer than the school parts! Thanks again for all comments. **14** Dad came home from work early that night because Mrs Davies had phoned to tell him Mum wasn't well, but by the time he got there Mum was up and about again, insisting that she was fine and it was all a big fuss over nothing. Dad apparently wasn't completely convinced, though, because he insisted on going out again to buy fish and chips for tea – a rare treat – so Mum wouldn't have to cook, and then he asked Jenny to help him finish packing for the weekend away so that Mum could rest. It was probably a good thing Mum had already done most of the packing, Jenny thought, and that she'd written a list of everything they would need, because Dad really didn't know what he was doing. "We are still going to the wedding?" she asked, because that was one of the things she'd been worried about earlier – what if Mum isn't well enough to go? The other what ifs she'd thought about had ranged from what if Mum isn't well enough to cook dinner tonight? – and Dad had solved that one with the fish and chips – to what if Mum is really ill, what if she dies? But that one was so scary she hadn't let herself think it for long, and anyway, although Dad seemed a bit worried, he didn't seem that worried. "Oh, Mum wouldn't dream of missing her little brother's wedding," said Dad, and he sounded so confident that Jenny was completely reassured. Later on, though, Jenny was on her way to the kitchen when she heard Mum and Dad talking in the sitting room. "I think I scared the children – Jenny, certainly," Mum was saying, and the sound of her name made Jenny stop to listen, even though she knew she shouldn't. "You scared me, when Valmai Davies phoned to say you'd almost fainted in the street," said Dad. "I didn't almost faint! I was just a little giddy for a moment." Mum sounded indignant, but then she sighed. "I really thought I was past this stage now." "Your first day back at work – maybe it was a bit much for you, after the summer you've had," said Dad, and then hesitated a little before adding, "Maybe you should reconsider teaching this term." "But it's still so early – I'd much rather keep going until nearer the time. It's only a day and a half a week this year, as it is. Besides, the timetables have been fixed now, how could I disrupt them by pulling out at this late stage?" "They'll have to arrange cover for your classes after Christmas, anyway." "I know, and they are – Dolly's working on it. But that's then and this is now. I've worked later than this in the past. "And that was then and this is now – you weren't having such a rough time of it back then." "I love my work, Reg." "I know you do, and I love you for it, but you have to put your health first – yours and the baby's. Besides, imagine if you passed out in front of a class." "I won't." "You don't know that." "Are you saying that as my husband or as a doctor?" "I'm not…look, Len. As your husband, I'm worried that you might be pushing yourself too hard. And as your doctor –" "You're not my doctor." "Yes, and this is exactly why! It's a clear conflict of interest." Dad sighed. "As a doctor I'm concerned about the impact this pregnancy combined with the heatwave has had on you. I don't like this prolonged weakness, and would like you to take things a little easier, just for a while, until you get your strength back. I really would advise spending this weekend in bed –" "I can't, Reg – the wedding –" "But since you have no intention of complying with that advice, I suppose I'm just going to have to keep a very close eye on you over the weekend and then insist that Ivor Ludlow gives you a thorough overhaul on Monday. Maybe you'll be more inclined to listen to him than you are to me!" "That sounds like an acceptable compromise." Mum sounded as if she was smiling now. As they fell silent, Jenny risked peeking through the gap at the doorjamb and saw that they were cuddled up together on the sofa – Dad had his arm around Mum, and she had her head on his shoulder and her feet tucked under her, as if she were Kate. It felt strange, seeing them alone together like that, when they didn't know she was watching…and she felt a sudden pang of guilt over listening to their private conversation, even if she hadn't understood all of it. She quietly slipped out to the kitchen to pour a drink and then scurried back upstairs to her room, where she sipped slowly at the cool, creamy milk, deep in thought as she puzzled through what she'd heard her parents saying and tried to work out exactly what it had all meant. Dad was more worried than he'd said earlier, and Mum was working too hard but didn't want to stop, and Dad didn't really think going to the wedding was a good idea but they were going to go anyway, and then Mum was going to see the doctor. Dad had mentioned the baby, too. Was it because of the baby that Mum was so ill? She'd said before that it was part of the reason she'd been sick. Jenny scowled. It wasn't even born yet and already it was a nuisance! |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Mon Aug 09, 2010 4:06 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 14 added 9/8/10 |
It this stage of the term I am not surprised that home is more important to Jenny and the story than school. Looking forward to the wedding. Thanks for the update. |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Mon Aug 09, 2010 5:15 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 14 added 9/8/10 |
Oh dear, I hope that that isn't the attitude that Jenny is going to take towards the baby always. Thankyou for the update. |
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| Author: | Abi [ Mon Aug 09, 2010 9:06 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 14 added 9/8/10 |
I love seeing this story through Jenny's eyes. Glad to see it back! |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Mon Aug 09, 2010 10:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 14 added 9/8/10 |
ChubbyMonkey wrote: Oh dear, I hope that that isn't the attitude that Jenny is going to take towards the baby always. Can understand it at the moment as her Mum did just nearly faint in front of her. Thanks |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Wed Sep 01, 2010 9:53 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 14 added 9/8/10 |
**15** Auntie Maeve arrived very early on Friday morning, because she was coming to the wedding with them. She didn't have Emma with her, though, as Mr and Mrs Pritchard, who were house master and house mistress for the Junior House, had offered to look after her for the weekend. They set out as soon after breakfast as they could all manage to be ready – which meant waiting ages for Kate to stop messing around and get her shoes on – and drove and drove. Although Dad had a big car, it was still quite a tight squeeze once they were all in, and it was hot again, uncomfortably hot to spend the whole day driving. They had to drive through the mountains, along tiny, steep, winding little roads that went on and on and on, and it felt as if they were never going to get there. They had to stop a lot, mostly because Dad had insisted on bringing along lots of extra drinks and kept making Mum sip from them, even though she grumbled about having to stop all the time, but also because of the engine getting too hot. When the car overheated for the second time, Auntie Maeve announced that she was going to get out and walk for a little bit, because she needed to stretch her legs, and said that Dad could pick her up along the road once the car was going again. Tommy was asleep already, tired out by the heat and the boredom, but Jenny and Kate both jumped out as well, because walking for a while sounded wonderful after being so sticky and cramped and bored in the car. While they walked, they picked at a few blackberries growing along the hedgerow and chatted happily with Auntie Maeve, mostly about school and what the first week back had been like. "There's a new girl in my class," Kate announced, giggling madly. "And her name is Titsy!" "Titsy? That's not a name," Jenny protested. "It's true!" Kate insisted. "She's Italian, and her name is Tiziana Berni, and she's called Titsy." She started giggling all over again as she said the name, and Auntie Maeve looked very stern. "I hope you girls aren't making fun of that poor girl's name." Kate shook her head vigorously, eyes wide. "We only laugh about it when she isn't there. Promise." "You shouldn't be laughing at all," Auntie Maeve firmly said. "She can't help having a funny name. You must be nice to her, Kate, promise me." Kate heaved a big, dramatic sigh, but agreed, and then Auntie Maeve turned to Jenny to ask if there were any new girls in her class, as well. "Only one," said Jenny. "Donna Bishop." "Oh yes, I've met Donna," said Auntie Maeve. "Is she settling in all right?" That was a difficult question to answer, because so far all Jenny really knew about Donna was that she was moody and that she didn't seem to like anyone or anything, and that wasn't something she could say to a teacher, even one that was also a favourite sort-of aunt. Anyway, they'd only been in school together for two and a half days, and that wasn't long enough at all to get to know someone. "Anouk is looking after her," she carefully said. "But me and Non are helping." "That's good," said Auntie Maeve, and then Kate shrieked that she'd seen a mouse run into the hedge at the side of the road, and they stopped talking about school and started talking about the things they could see along the roadside – a bit like the nature walks they sometimes went on at school. Auntie Maeve knew the names of all the flowers they passed as they walked along, and all the birds they could see and hear, as well. Jenny was very impressed. "How do you know everything?" she marvelled. "Even Mum doesn't know the names of all the flowers!" Auntie Maeve laughed. "I don't know the names of all the flowers either," she said. "But I do know quite a lot, it's true." "I don't know how you can remember them all," said Jenny. "I can never even remember the things I'm supposed to learn for school!" "Do you want to hear a secret?" said Auntie Maeve. "When I was your age, I was completely hopeless at remembering, especially things I wasn't interested in – which was most things. I didn't care about school or learning at all, really. I certainly didn't care what any birds or flowers were called!" "So how do you know so much now?" "I learned later, when I was older – it was when I had a home of my own that I started to be interested in gardening and wild things, and began to learn about nature." "Do you miss your house?" Jenny asked, feeling very daring because nobody ever talked about why Auntie Maeve didn't live in her house with Uncle Brian any more…but she then wished she hadn't said anything, because Auntie Maeve looked sad. "Yes, I do," she said, and gave Jenny a little hug, but then the next moment she called out in a much brighter tone, "look up there, girls – a kestrel. Do you see it?" "It's looking for mice," declared Kate, staring up into the sky. "But the one I saw is hiding now, so it's safe." Jenny gazed up at the bird, which was so high it wasn't much more than a dot in the sky, perfectly still. "How does it stay up?" she marvelled. "It isn't even flapping its wings! It's just floating!" "It's hovering," said Auntie Maeve, and she had just started to explain that it was a bit like catching the wind with a kite to make it fly when a loud tooting noise filled the air. They all tucked in to the side of the road as Dad pulled up alongside them and stuck his head out of the window. "All aboard! And lunch at the next village we see!" |
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| Author: | Eilidh [ Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:26 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
Thank you! Nice to see more of this, I do like seeing everything from Jenny's viewpoint. |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:50 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
Eilidh wrote: Thank you! Nice to see more of this, I do like seeing everything from Jenny's viewpoint. Thanks. I'm glad so many people are saying that, because in many ways it's a very restricted POV to use - where the family is concerned, especially, Jenny's 10-year-old POV only allows brief glimpses of much larger stories. Len's POV would be much more nuanced! But I wanted to explore this angle and see where it led. I just hope readers can read between the lines of the subtext I'm trying to weave in here and there, and draw their own conclusions. |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:51 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
What a good idea of Maeve to walk on whilst the car cooled down. Pleased Jenny and Kate enjoyed it as well. Thanks |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Sep 01, 2010 5:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
I'm really enjoying the POV too. Thankyou! |
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| Author: | Abi [ Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
Thanks Llywela, this is really fun! |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Wed Sep 01, 2010 11:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
I love reading Jenny's POV and you've captured a kids POV perfectly |
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| Author: | shazwales [ Thu Sep 02, 2010 4:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
Thank you,really enjoying this
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Fri Sep 03, 2010 4:16 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
How did I nearly miss an update? I'm enjoying Jenny's POV too. |
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| Author: | marni [ Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:02 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
Missed this for a while - great to find it again and catch up. Really enjoying it - Thanks |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Wed Sep 15, 2010 8:13 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
Thanks again, ever so much, for the comments. I've almost caught up on installments already written (the muse blows cold rather more than hot), so posting may have to slow down even more than it already is soon... **16** Uncle Felix lived in Chester, so that was where the wedding was. Jenny had an uncle who was called Chester – he was a musician and had the longest hair she'd had ever seen on a man and was what Dad called a hippy, and she'd been a bridesmaid when he married Auntie Cec. There was some kind of joke about why his name was Chester that always made the grown-ups smile, but they would never explain why. It really wasn't fair that children were never told anything! But she did think it was funny that he had the same name as the town where Uncle Felix lived. It was late afternoon, almost teatime, when they finally arrived at the hotel they were going to stay at, not far from the church where Uncle Felix and Yvonne were to be married. Gran and Granddad were staying there, too, and because they were supposed to be arriving first, they should already be there, Mum explained as they headed inside. Uncle Steve and Auntie Linda had definitely already arrived, they found out as they were checking in when there was a loud shriek of "Kate!" and then Alison Maynard, who was a cousin – a real cousin, with no removes or degrees at all – came bouncing out of the dining hall to throw herself all over Kate. Kate and Alison were about the same age, and had decided a long time ago that they were going to be best friends at every family get-together. They danced around the lobby like mad things, getting in everyone's way, until Uncle Steve came to see what Alison was doing and made them stop. Auntie Linda was right behind him, with toddler Martin in her arms, and then Gran and Granddad appeared, as well, and everyone started hugging each other and talking all at once. Gran got hold of Jenny and started exclaiming over how much she had grown, which was something grown-ups always liked to comment on, as if it were a big surprise, even though growing was something that children were supposed to do. And then suddenly they all realised that they were getting in the way of the other people in the hotel and agreed that Mum and Dad and Auntie Maeve – and Jenny, Kate and Tommy, too – should finish checking in and go find their rooms, and then come back down to the dining hall to meet up with everyone else again and get on with the reunion properly. Kate and Alison had to be prised apart, and then when Jenny's part of the family came back downstairs later, they jumped on each other again and were far too excited to sit at the table and eat sensibly, so were allowed to run around out on the terrace together for a while. Jenny, though, because she was hungry enough to be more interested in food than in playing, sat at the table and listened to the grown-ups talking while she ate. "Is Chas arriving tonight or tomorrow?" asked Mum as she cut up Tommy's food for him, because he always made such a mess when he tried to do it himself, and that wasn't acceptable in public even if it was good practice when they were at home. "The last I heard – which was a while ago, so knowing him the whole kit and caboodle might have changed by now – his flight arrives at Heathrow late tonight. Very late," said Gran. "So he’s staying there overnight and hot-footing it up here tomorrow to arrive in time for the service. "Rather him than me!" Uncle Steve snorted. "He should be travelling fairly light," said Dad. "He only has himself to bring, after all. He'll make good time." "I’d still rather him than me," said Uncle Steve. "He’s certainly cutting it fine," said Granddad. Jenny was looking forward to seeing Uncle Chas, because he was the most interesting of all her uncles. He was a zoologist, which didn't mean someone who worked in a zoo, as Kate still believed, but was someone who worked with a lot of different kinds of animals. He had to travel all around the world with his work, but was mostly based in Africa, like Aunt Margot, and sometimes he sent over crates of bananas that were still green when he packed them but ripe enough to eat by the time they arrived, which was a special kind of magic. "When does Con arrive?" asked Auntie Linda, frowning as she wiped little Martin's face, which was absolutely plastered with food. "She should already be here – in the country, at least," said Mum. "They’re staying with friends in Warrington, and then travelling from there tomorrow morning." "Seb and the children are with her this time, then?" asked Auntie Linda, and Mum said yes. Auntie Linda shuddered and said that she couldn't imagine crossing the Atlantic with even one toddler, never mind two, and then asked after Claire, who was Jenny's youngest aunt and was still at university. Granddad rolled his eyes in a way that would have earned Jenny a ticking off if she tried it, but it was Gran who answered. "Oh, Claire's a free spirit," she said. "She makes her own arrangements. She'll get here when she gets here – that's as much as we know!" Mum added that Auntie Fliss was staying with Uncle Felix at his house, being his twin, and that Uncle Mike, who was in the Navy and was based in Plymouth at the moment, had got leave to travel up for the weekend, and then Gran asked Auntie Maeve if her sister Peggy, who was Libby Winterton's mum, was going to come. That sent everyone off onto a long discussion of all the cousins who were or weren't likely to be at the wedding, and Jenny got very confused trying to remember who was who and what bit of the family they belonged to. She stopped listening, quickly finished eating, and then slipped outside to see what Kate and Alison were doing. |
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| Author: | Joanne [ Wed Sep 15, 2010 8:19 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 16 added 15/9/10 |
I'm not surprised she's confused at all the relatives! Most of them are probably strangers to her as well. Thanks for another lovely update. |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Wed Sep 15, 2010 10:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 16 added 15/9/10 |
Thanks good to have an update on the family. Not surprised Jenny got confused. |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Wed Sep 15, 2010 11:25 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 16 added 15/9/10 |
PaulineS wrote: Thanks good to have an update on the family. Not surprised Jenny got confused. That's actually a big part of why the wedding was introduced to the story - it was the most organic way of getting a big chunk of the extended family together in order to catch up with how they are all getting on!
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Wed Sep 15, 2010 11:38 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 16 added 15/9/10 |
Can understand the confusion. My Mum is one of eleven and my sister and I spent quite a bit of time before my Grandma's funeral trying to work out which cousin belonged to which Auntie or Uncle. They're all scattered around Australia and I have cousins I've never met before. Thanks Llywela |
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| Author: | Abi [ Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 16 added 15/9/10 |
Gosh, what a family!
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Mon Sep 20, 2010 8:06 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 16 added 15/9/10 |
I just hope that I don't get too confused as well! Thankyou for the update. |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Wed Sep 29, 2010 3:29 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 15 added 31/8/10 |
PaulineS wrote: What a good idea of Maeve to walk on whilst the car cooled down. Forgot to reply to this to say that it is actually something my great-granddad used to do regularly, en route to family holidays in the '60s-70s - he'd leave my granddad trying to cool the engine down and get the car re-started, and would walk on to stretch his legs until they picked him up further along the road! My Mum's stories from back then were where I got the idea, **17** It was only a few months since the last wedding in the family. Auntie Phil had married Uncle Andrew at the beginning of the summer, back when no one knew that it was going to stay so hot for so long. For that wedding, Jenny and Kate and Alison had all been bridesmaids together, which meant that on the morning of the wedding they had been kept busy as anything with important wedding preparations like getting dressed up in their bridesmaid's dresses and having their hair done, and they had felt very grown up and special. This time, though, none of them were being bridesmaids, because Yvonne had younger sisters, enough of them that she didn't need any nieces as well. Mum said that it was only fair, since none of the sisters had been bridesmaids before, and all the girls in their family had. But not being involved at all meant that the morning of the wedding was very boring, just waiting until it was time to go to church and trying to stay clean. They still had to get dressed up in their prettiest outfits, but it just wasn’t the same as being part of the wedding, Jenny, Kate and Alison all agreed. The morning dragged on and on. Then, just as everyone was finally heading out of the hotel to go to the church, Uncle Chas arrived in a car that he'd hired at the airport, all hot and sticky and crumpled after driving all morning. Mum quickly handed him her room key so he could freshen up before joining them at the church, and then they all set off, leaving him to catch up when he was ready. St Columba's was a big, modern church – it had only been built about 10 years ago, Mum said, very different from the two hundred year old church they went to at home in Carnbach – and it was very full. Of course, their family was absolutely huge, so they took up a lot of space. Jenny could hear Kate and Alison whispering to each other as they tried to pick out the relatives they could recognise…which was a much harder game than it sounded, since there were so many of them and most of them lived so far away that they hardly ever visited and only ever saw each other at weddings and funerals, which children didn't always get to go to. Jenny amused herself instead wondering who all the other people were and picking out the ones that might be Yvonne's family. She had met Yvonne just the one time, at Easter, when Uncle Felix brought her to Carnbach to visit. She was a tall woman with jet black hair even curlier than Kate's, and she had brown skin and a voice that sounded like chocolate tasted, an even nicer voice than Auntie Con or Gran. She'd told Jenny that her father came from Jamaica and that she'd lived there for a few years when she was a little girl and still went back for holidays sometimes to visit her family. She'd described how beautiful it was and Jenny thought it sounded like paradise and had said so, and Yvonne had laughed and said maybe one day she'd take Jenny to visit. Jenny hoped that she would remember that promise because she really wanted to go. Even though it was so very full, the church went quiet as everyone settled down and waited for the bride to arrive. Then the big doors at the back of the church flew open, and everyone turned to see the bride…but it was only Uncle Chas, who went a bit pink beneath his tan when he saw everyone staring at him, rather to Jenny's delight. There were no seats left, so he slunk into a corner to hide, with the exact same look on his face that Tommy wore whenever he was caught doing something naughty. Jenny caught Kate's eye and knew that she was thinking the same thing, and they both giggled out loud, so that Mum and Dad turned and hushed at them…and then suddenly they all realised that the bride had arrived and they hadn't even noticed in all the kerfuffle! Weddings were always a bit boring, really, Jenny thought to herself as the service began – but she did enjoy the singing, at least, which was much more fun in this church than at her own. Soon enough it was all over, and all the masses and masses of people in the church piled outside and started to divide into groups for photographs to be taken in the churchyard, which seemed to take forever. Just as Jenny and her part of the family were taking their turn to pose with the bride and groom, they heard shouting from out in the street. There were some men out there, strangers, and they kept on shouting – lots of rude, nasty words like 'nigger', and even worse. Mum looked shocked and Dad looked alarmed, while Yvonne looked upset and Uncle Felix looked absolutely furious – and so did most of Yvonne's family. At first everyone seemed to just be trying to pretend that nothing was wrong, but the men were still shouting and jeering, and a crowd was gathering to see what was going on, and some of them joined in, as well, and everyone was getting more and more uneasy. Jenny heard Dad muttering to Mum that he didn't want the children to hear words like that and that they should go, and Mum agreed. A lot of the other grown-ups were murmuring intently among themselves, Jenny's family and Yvonne's, both, and then they all started to move. Dad grabbed onto Jenny and Kate and held them close, and Mum carried Tommy – at least until Auntie Maeve frowned and took him off her – as the wedding party all pushed past the horrible rude men as a group with their heads held high. They went to the church hall where the wedding reception was to be held: a big, bright room full of flowers and balloons and streamers, with long tables set up at one end, covered with neat white table cloths and delicious looking buffet food, and smaller tables all around for guests to sit at. Everyone just milled around at first, though, upset by what had happened at the church…until Uncle Felix elbowed his way through the throng, stood on a chair so that everyone could see him and made a speech, announcing that he wasn't going to let a few idiots spoil his wedding day and neither should anyone else. Most people seemed to calm down and start enjoying themselves again after that, unless they were just very good at pretending. "Mum, why were those men shouting at us?" Kate asked as soon as they were settled, and Jenny quickly added her own query, because she didn't understand either. It had been horrible of them to spoil the wedding like that. Mum and Dad looked at each other and sighed and then between them they very carefully explained that it was because Uncle Felix and Yvonne – Aunt Yvonne, now – had different colour skin from each other, and that some people didn't believe that people who had different colour skin should be allowed to get married. Jenny and Kate frowned at each other in confusion, but it was Tommy who piped up, "That's very silly." "Yes, it is silly, isn't it?" agreed Gran, carefully settling herself onto an empty chair alongside Jenny. "A lot of people are, you know – we should feel sorry for them, really, being so very silly. We certainly shouldn't let them ruin the whole day for us! Now, shall we go and get some food?" |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:19 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 17 added 29/9/10 |
How horrible that that should happen on the wedding day, but well done to everyone for not letting it ruin things. Thankyou. |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Wed Sep 29, 2010 10:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 17 added 29/9/10 |
Quote: Tommy who piped up, "That's very silly." "Yes, it is silly, isn't it?" agreed Gran, carefully settling herself onto an empty chair alongside Jenny. "A lot of people are, you know – we should feel sorry for them, really, being so very silly. We certainly shouldn't let them ruin the whole day for us! Now, shall we go and get some food?" I love Jo and Tommy's response. Len and Reg response to the girls was good as well. Thanks for the update. |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Mon Oct 11, 2010 8:37 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 17 added 29/9/10 |
Rather a looooong passage, this one – I got the extended family together in one room, and bang! They just wouldn't stop talking! **18** "You've barely eaten a thing, Len," said Gran, eyeing Mum rather dubiously. "Shall I find your father? He can walk you back to the hotel if you need to lie down for a while." Mum immediately declared that she was absolutely fine, just not very hungry at the moment, but Jenny remembered now that she hadn't eaten much last night, either; Kate had ended up eating most of the food on her plate. And at breakfast this morning she'd only had a small piece of toast, and only ate that because Dad had urged her to try something. Mum didn't give anyone much of a chance to wonder if she really was all right, though, as she glanced across the room and groaned, and then Gran looked over to see what she'd seen and laughed. It was Dad and Uncle Seb, who always, always argued about politics, every time they saw each other, and were in the middle of a heated debate already. "I see our husbands have found each other again." Auntie Con appeared at the table and settled into Dad's empty chair. She caught Mum's eye and they both burst out laughing. "Every time!" declared Mum. "Without fail," Auntie Con agreed. "At least they're consistent," said Gran, and then asked Auntie Con where her twins were. Auntie Con pointed over to a corner where all the small children were busily playing with a big pile of toys that had been set up for them, and Gran nodded approvingly. "What a marvellous idea. Oh, Felicity!" She beamed with delight as another of the aunts came to sit with them. "How wonderful to have so many of my children under one roof again – we really should arrange these things more often." Mum and the aunts all laughed. "Well, don't look at me!" protested Auntie Fliss, who worked in the theatre in London and was very glamorous. Kate, who'd had her nose buried in a big bowl of trifle, looked up at this and narrowed her eyes at Auntie Fliss for a moment – and then demanded to know why she wasn't married already, "because you're so lovely and pretty, you really should be, you know." "Kate!" Mum was absolutely appalled, but Auntie Fliss only laughed and said that it was okay and then leaned across the table toward Kate and conspiratorially whispered that she was far, far too busy for anything like that. "More's the pity," sighed Gran, and then rather mournfully added, "I do wish Cecil could have made it today." "With the baby only three days old?" said Auntie Fliss. "No chance." "She really should have had him earlier," said Gran. "And then she could have shown him off to the whole family at once – this would have been the perfect opportunity. Or if she'd held off a little longer, she could have come to the wedding and then had the baby later." "Oh, Mother." Auntie Con shook her head, looking rather as if she was trying not to laugh. "Nobody can control these things, you know. Babies come along exactly when they are ready and that's all there is to it." "It is a pity that Cecil is missing the wedding," said Mum, who was always good at keeping the peace. "Although it sounds as if she had quite a time of it, so no wonder she couldn't think of making the journey, even if the babe weren't so very new. Hello, Auntie Madge," she added, as Great-Aunt Madge came over to their table, taking Kate's seat as she finished her trifle and hurried off to find Alison again. After chatting to Mum, Gran and the aunts for a moment, Great-Aunt Madge rather unexpectedly turned to Jenny with a smile. "I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk in school the other day, Jenny," she said. "May I ask you to take a message to that granddaughter of mine, if you get a chance?" "Lisa?" asked Jenny – and then realised what a silly question that was, because Great-Aunt Madge only had the one granddaughter that Jenny was going to see at school to take a message to. All the others lived in Australia. "I wish Lisa's dad had brought her to the wedding, too," she added, seeing him over at the drinks table talking to Granddad and Uncle Mike and someone from Aunt Yvonne's family. Kate had Alison to play with. If Lisa had come to the wedding, then Jenny would have had some company as well. Mum smiled sympathetically. "If it had been David's brother getting married, rather than a cousin, he probably would have brought Lisa – but then I probably wouldn't have brought you! Now, are you going to let Great-Aunt Madge finish what she was trying to say?" "Yes, sorry." "That's all right," said Great-Aunt Madge. "I think it's a shame Lisa isn't here, as well, although I did see her only a few days ago. Now, I know you won't be seeing as much of her this year, now that she's gone up to Middle School, but if you do get a chance, perhaps you could tell her that there's been a change of plans. She'll be coming to stay with me at half-term instead of going home – her mother will be writing with details, but you could deliver the advance warning, so to speak." "Okay," Jenny agreed, and Great-Aunt Madge smiled again. "Thank you, Jenny. Now, I must speak to Peggy before I forget…" She was gone again. "She's looking well." Gran eyed her sister's departing back rather thoughtfully. "But did she really drive up here all by herself? Len, you see more of her than I do – how has she been, really? I've worried about her so since Jem's death." "You needn't," said Mum. "Really, Mother, she's in the pink of health, busier than ever, insists on driving herself everywhere – it was hard for her at first, of course it was, but in some ways it's as if she has a new lease of life. She was so tied, with Uncle Jem's health so poor in those last years. Honestly, I think she's enjoying her newfound independence!" "Just as long as she doesn't overdo it," said Gran, smiling over at Uncle Chas, who had Kate and Alison all over him, as he caught her eye and grinned. "Charles is looking rather thin," she mused. "I'm sure he's not eating properly over there." Mum and the aunts looked at each other. "He's looks fit enough to me," Mum briskly said. "You don't have to worry about him, Mother. He's fine – happy and healthy, even if he is on the other side of the world 99% of the time." Gran sighed. "I know, I know – but I'm a mother, worrying is my job, and he did have that bout of malaria –" "More than two years ago," said Auntie Con in her most reassuring tone. "He's fully recovered now." "Oh, look out," Auntie Fliss cut in. "Steve has entered the fray." They all looked across to where Uncle Steve had joined in Dad and Uncle Seb's debate, and seemed to be disagreeing with both of them. "Why do they do it?" asked Mum, rolling her eyes. "They already know they aren't going to find a single point to agree on!" "Men!" Auntie Con chuckled. "I think they enjoy it." “Just wait till Claire pitches in,” said Auntie Fliss, and they all laughed a bit and rolled their eyes and agreed that Auntie Claire was quite the young radical since she’d been at university and would soon put the men in their place if she heard their debate and decided to join in. She was way over at the other side of the room, though, at a table with Auntie Phil and Uncle Andrew, and Uncle Geoff and the lady who had come with him, who was his new girlfriend, according to Auntie Fliss, and a brother and sister of Aunt Yvonne. Gran watched them for a moment and remarked that Claire seemed rather too content where she was to concern herself with a debate that Dad and Uncle Seb and Uncle Steve had had so many times already, and then she looked back toward Dad and the others and sighed. "If only Steve and Linda would change their minds about sending Alison to the Chalet School," she said. "There are two branches, so they needn't send her out of the country if they don't want – she could go to Glendower House with your girls, Len. Look how well she and Kate get along, they would be such good friends at school together." "It's their choice, Mother," said Auntie Fliss. "She's at a good school," Auntie Con added, "close to home – it's what Linda wants for her. And Steve doesn't want to send her away, either, at least not while she's so young." "It's their choice to make," Auntie Fliss repeated. "I know, I know," Gran said again. "It just seems a shame. It's our school, the family school." "It was never Steve's school, though," said Mum. "Or Linda's. You can't expect them to feel the same way." Gran sighed. "I would so love to have a granddaughter just next door. It would be like old times. You know, Jenny," she added, turning to Jenny. "Your mother always planned to come back to Switzerland one day. If she and your father hadn't changed their minds, you might be living out on the Görnetz Platz close to Granddad and I, even now." Jenny did know that – Gran mentioned it almost every time they saw her – although she didn't really know why Mum and Dad had decided to live in Carnbach instead of Switzerland. Mum looked a bit fed up, the way she always did whenever Gran started talking about them living in Carnbach instead of going back to Switzerland, and she and the aunts all looked at each other again. But they were saved from having to reply when Uncle Felix and Aunt Yvonne appeared at the table and immediately became the centre of attention, with lots of hugging and kissing and cries of "Happy wedding day, darlings," and "Welcome to the family, Yvonne!" Yvonne tried to apologise for the trouble at the church earlier, but no one would let her. Mum and Gran and the aunts were all very quick to assure her that they weren't upset at all but were only concerned that she wasn't upset, because this was her day, and they absolutely fell over themselves to tell her what a beautiful bride she was. "Isn't she just," Uncle Felix agreed, beaming from ear to ear. |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:43 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 18 added 11/10/10 |
So Joey thinks are children should still be near her! Glad Len and Reg were able to get away like the rest of the family. Thanks for the update, which was not too long. |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:05 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 18 added 11/10/10 |
Isn't that what most grandparents and parents think. I know my husband still gets that to this day despite having moved away more than 10 years ago and we only live within 3hrs drive of them. My parents on the other hand can't say a word as Dad moved to the other side of the world! Thanks, I loved the long update |
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Tue Oct 12, 2010 2:44 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 18 added 11/10/10 |
Almost forgot they were at a wedding reception with all the family goss going on! Thanks for such a lovely long update. |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Tue Oct 12, 2010 6:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 18 added 11/10/10 |
A very realistic handling of Joey at her not-meaning-to-be-worst. Thankyou! |
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| Author: | Llywela [ Fri Nov 12, 2010 10:45 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - part 18 added 11/10/10 |
Sorry it's been a while between updates - the muse has slowed right down, what with one thing and another. **18** It was a long, long weekend, all in all. Travelling all day on Friday, and then the wedding all day on Saturday – the party went on until late into the night, and not a single grown-up said so much as a word about bedtime! – and then travelling again all day on Sunday. Jenny was very tired when they finally got home, after dropping Auntie Maeve off at school and collecting Bonnie the dog from Mrs Davies’ house on the way. Even Kate, who’d been distraught upon being parted from Alison but then got over it the moment they were in the car, didn’t say a word about being packed off to bed early. Then on Monday morning it was Dad who got them up, rather than Mum, whispering that they were to be as quiet as mice getting ready for school because Mum needed to rest. Trying to be quiet and get ready for school at the same time wasn’t as easy as it sounded, it turned out. It didn’t help that Kate was even slower than usual, buzzing around the house like a lunatic without actually doing anything to get ready at all. Dad wasn’t as patient as Mum, only he couldn’t shout because of not wanting to wake Mum up, so he got quiet and annoyed instead, which was worse. Dad was going to take Tommy to school in the car on his way to work, but Jenny and Kate were cycling back to Glendower House together. It had started to drizzle by the time they left, and they left late, which meant they had to rush, so that by the time they arrived at school they were damp and cross and out of breath. Then as they took their bikes into the bike shed, Kate caught Jenny’s heel with her muddy front wheel and almost tripped her up. “Ow!” Jenny exclaimed, stumbling over her own bike and just barely managing not to fall. “Sorry, did that hurt?” Kate peered down at Jenny’s foot, frowning as if she was surprised that it might hurt to have your foot run over. “Of course it hurt,” Jenny grumbled. “And you’ve scuffed my new shoes!” “It’s not my fault your foot got in the way!” “No quarrelling, girls.” It was the school caretaker, Alexander Alexander, who was known as Twice. “You’re late,” he told them. “Better get inside, quick.” Everything seemed to go wrong after that. Jenny ran into Lisa Russell on her way to lessons and just barely had enough time to explain that she had a message and arrange to meet at break before dashing off to class…and by then she was running late and got into trouble for running in the corridor. Then she discovered that Anouk and Non had fallen out over the weekend, and got caught in the middle without even knowing why they were fighting. They both wanted to see her at break to talk about whatever had happened, but separately, which was miserable. How were you supposed to manage when your two best friends weren’t speaking to each other and each one wanted you to be on her side? She couldn’t see either of them at break, anyway, because she’d already arranged to meet Lisa, which meant that she would have to wait even longer to find out why Non and Anouk were quarrelling. At least it had stopped raining by break time, which meant they could go out instead of being stuck inside all day. Jenny met Lisa, as they’d arranged, and passed on the message Great-Aunt Madge had given her: that Lisa was going to spend half-term at Great-Aunt Madge’s house in the Black Mountains instead of going home to her parents, who lived just outside London. Lisa frowned. “But why?” she wanted to know, and was a little annoyed that Jenny hadn’t thought to ask. “Your mum is going to write to you,” Jenny offered. “I ‘spect she’ll explain everything then.” “It’s probably because of Dad,” said Lisa, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Something to do with work.” “Probably,” Jenny agreed. Doctors were always terribly busy, she knew because of her own dad, but it was worse for Lisa because her dad wasn’t just an ordinary GP like Dad was, but was a very important surgeon – and a baronet now, since Great-Uncle Jem had died. He was always going off to conferences and things overseas, so that Lisa hardly ever saw him. That made it even more of a shame that he hadn’t taken her to the wedding, Jenny suddenly thought, and said so. “I would have liked to see Mum and Dad,” Lisa agreed. “But weddings are ever so boring, and I never know even half the people there.” “I can never remember who everyone is, either,” Jenny admitted. “Is Jamie going to Granny’s as well?” Lisa asked. Jamie was her brother and was away at his Dad’s old school somewhere in England, which meant that they only ever got to see each other in the holidays. Jenny had to admit again that she didn’t know. “Your Gran didn’t say – she only talked to me for a minute and then she went dashing off again to see someone else.” Lisa pulled a face. “I’ll have to write and ask. I hope he’s coming – the hols are so much more fun when Jamie’s there, but –” “There you are!” a voice interrupted. It was Bonita Leston-Rama, who was Lisa’s good friend. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere – but I never thought to look in the Juniors!” she grinned. “Did you forget that we’re Middles now?” “I’m just talking to my cousin,” Lisa calmly explained. Bonita flashed a quick but characteristically brilliant smile at Jenny, accompanied by an affable, “hi, Jenny,” and then returned her attention to Lisa. “Are you finished now?” she wanted to know. “Because –” She got no further, as a piercing scream rang out across the playground, accompanied by a series of high-pitched shrieks, cutting off whatever she was about to say. “What was that?” Jenny frowned, alarmed – but Bonita and Lisa were already running, so she hastily followed them, pushing through the small crowd that was gathering…to find Kate lying in a crumpled heap at the foot of the big oak tree at the far end of the yard! |
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| Author: | cal562301 [ Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:59 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 12/11/10 |
Just caught up with this. Really enjoying it, but not the cliff you lieft us on! 
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| Author: | Eilidh [ Fri Nov 12, 2010 12:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 12/11/10 |
Thank you for the update! |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:53 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 12/11/10 |
Please do not keep us waiting as long for the next update after you have left up with a cliff. Thanks for this one. |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Fri Nov 12, 2010 7:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 12/11/10 |
Well, thankyou for this update, but please come back with another soon! That was quite a cliff to leave us on (and I sympathise with her bad day!) |
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| Author: | Fiona Mc [ Fri Nov 12, 2010 9:34 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 12/11/10 |
Poor Jenny, days always end up like that when things are so frantically busy |
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| Author: | Elbee [ Sun Nov 14, 2010 1:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 12/11/10 |
Hope Kate is alright! This is so well written from a child's point of view. Thanks, Llywela |
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| Author: | 2nd Gen Fan [ Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:11 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 12/11/10 |
I really like Jenny, she's such a believeable charcter. Thanks. |
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Mon Nov 15, 2010 12:27 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 12/11/10 |
What was I doing all weekend to miss so many new updates to fab drabbles? |
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| Author: | shazwales [ Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:52 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 12/11/10 |
Thank you for the update,i think 
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| Author: | Llywela [ Tue Dec 14, 2010 3:05 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 12/11/10 |
Sorry, it's been ages since I had a chance to do anything with this. **19** “Look after your sister, Jen,” Bonita ordered, giving Jenny a little shove in Kate’s direction. Jenny didn’t need telling twice…but didn’t really know what to do. She knelt down alongside Kate and put an arm around her sister’s shoulders, but Kate jerked away, cradling her arm as if it hurt to touch, while sobbing and wheezing piteously. Jenny sat beside her, awkwardly patting her back and feeling useless, while Bonita took charge of the situation with her usual aplomb, instructing someone to go find the nearest teacher to come and help, telling everyone else to keep back and give Kate some air, and commanding somebody else again to tell her what had happened. Kate had been climbing the tree, her friend Angelina ventured, because someone had dared her, only a branch had broken and she’d slipped and fallen and they would have thought she was dead if she hadn’t screamed so. Bonita promptly scoffed at them all not to be so dramatic and then rather loftily reminded everyone within earshot that climbing the trees in the playground was strictly forbidden exactly because this sort of thing might happen. Non was hovering nearby, Jenny saw as she glanced around to see if the teachers were coming yet. She seemed to be watching Bonita and looked a bit upset, and Jenny remembered that Non was Head of the Juniors now and had been nervous about taking over from Bonita anyway, and now here they were with an actual crisis, only Non wasn’t getting the chance to even try to be Head Girl and do anything about it, because Bonita was here, taking charge of everything as usual. A whole crowd of teachers descended on them, and in no time at all Bonita and Lisa had been sent back to the Middles’ yard, the rest of the crowd had also been sent away, and Jenny was scurrying along beside the Junior House Master, Mr Pritchard, as he carried a still whimpering Kate off to the San. In San, Matron Howell and Nurse Jennings had a look at Kate and then told Jenny to stay with her while they retired to the other side of the room to talk to Mr Pritchard, who had stayed to make sure she was all right. Jenny watched them, wondering what they were saying to each other, as she sat there holding her little sister’s uninjured hand and wishing she would stop crying. Then Matron came back over and said that they were going to phone Dad to take Kate to the hospital to have her arm x-rayed, and would she like them to call Mum to go with her as well? Kate and Jenny both said yes at the same time…but then Jenny remembered how careful Dad had been not to let them wake Mum that morning, how long and busy the weekend had been and how Mum had wobbled so when they were walking home together last week. “No! You mustn’t call Mum,” she quickly said, dismayed. “Because she isn’t well and Dad said she wasn’t to be worried.” Kate promptly dissolved into tears again. “I want Mummy,” she sobbed, and all Jenny could do was put a careful arm around her and try to comfort her as best she could – wishing herself that Mum would come and make everything better, the way that only Mum could. Auntie Maeve appeared instead, hugged them both and then sat down with Kate on her lap, petting her as if she were as little as Emma. She suggested that since she was there to wait with Kate for Dad to arrive, maybe Jenny could go back to lessons, but Kate promptly sat bolt upright and grabbed Jenny’s arm tight in her good hand and refused to let go, so that was the end of that idea. Jenny didn’t mind sitting with Kate, not really. It was only stupid maths she was missing, after all. It was a bit boring, though, just sitting there holding Kate’s hand while she snuffled into Auntie Maeve’s shoulder. It seemed like forever before Dad finally appeared to cheerfully ask Kate what on earth she had done to herself this time and whisk her off to the car. Kate was being clingy and wanted Jenny to go with her to the hospital, but Dad said no. There was no need, he insisted, and anyway there was no point in both of them missing any more lessons than they could help. So after all that drama, Jenny was left to make her way back to class to see what she had missed, and got there just in time for the bell to ring for lunch. |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Tue Dec 14, 2010 4:19 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 14/12/10 |
Thank you, it is good to see more of this. Love Jenny being so caring of Len. |
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| Author: | Minim [ Tue Dec 14, 2010 4:52 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 14/12/10 |
Yay, more of this! Thanks! |
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Tue Dec 14, 2010 5:29 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 14/12/10 |
Hurrah - thanks for more of this. I hope that Kate's all right. |
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| Author: | KathrynW [ Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 14/12/10 |
I've just started reading this from the start and I absolutely love it - I think you've really captured the voice of a child there and I really like the characters that you've drawn. I look forward to seeing what happens next! Thank you very much. |
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| Author: | roversgirl [ Tue Jan 11, 2011 6:37 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 14/12/10 |
I've just found this and am really enjoying reading about Jenny and their life in Wales. Thanks
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| Author: | Llywela [ Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 14/12/10 |
Sorry it's been so long, for those who've been following - life got manic and I've had next to no time to think lately, never mind write! **20** By the time lessons were over for the day, Jenny was up to her neck in the quarrel between Non and Anouk. She hadn’t meant to take sides, really she hadn’t, but at lunch she’d found herself sitting with Anouk, who had poured out all her woes, and then Non had accused her of taking sides just because she’d talked to Anouk first, and there had been a terrible row. At least she knew what the argument was about now. It was about that new girl, Donna – at least, that was how it had started. Anouk was tired of trying to be sheepdog, because Donna was so bad tempered and unfriendly, so she’d decided to stop bothering. But Non, wanting to be all grown up and responsible because of being Head Girl now, thought they should try all the harder to make the new girl welcome because she was being so difficult. They’d ended up having a huge fight over it and stopped speaking to each other…and now Jenny had got herself dragged into the quarrel too, and couldn’t see any way out, because they both thought she had taken Anouk’s side, even though she hadn’t meant to. She wasn’t even sure which of them she really agreed with…not that it mattered since Non was refusing to speak to her and she didn’t dare say anything that might upset Anouk, not when she was in this mood, all angry and unhappy. If things weren’t such a mess with Non and Anouk, it would have been a brilliant week, even if it did rain nearly every day. Last week had been the start of school, but this was the week that everything else started up for the new term – music lessons and horse riding lessons and Brownies, and all sorts of other activities. As this was Jenny’s last year as a Brownie, she was enormously proud to find that she’d been promoted to Sixer of the Goblins and resolved to work extra hard to finish as many badges as possible before moving up to Guides next year. Mrs Kennedy was taking her for piano lessons this term and wanted her to start working toward the Grade Two examination, so she was going to have to work hard at her practice, but she liked playing the piano so didn’t really mind. Netball practice started up again, which Jenny enjoyed even though she wasn’t terribly good at it, and as for riding lessons and craft club, they were never anything but fun! Kate was back in school by Wednesday, after a day at home with Mum feeling sorry for herself. She was sporting a heavy plaster-cast on her broken arm and had to wear a sling but otherwise seemed none the worse for wear, so that was all right. Everything was all right, in fact…except for that stupid quarrel with Non and Anouk. The whole week went by, and it only got worse and worse instead of getting any better. Anouk clung to Jenny, and was so upset and aggrieved about it all that Jenny couldn’t help but take her side, especially since she was the only one of the two actually talking to her. The fact that they were in the same bedroom threw them together all the more…but Non looked so unhappy all the time that Jenny longed to make it up with her, and knew that she wasn’t wrong to want to do the right thing by Donna, even if she shouldn’t have said the things Anouk said she had said…not that some of the things Anouk had said were any better. Jenny had been looking forward so much to telling Non and Anouk all about going to Chester for the wedding and what it had been like, the good bits and the bad bits. She’d wanted to tell them the stories Uncle Chas had told about his work with wild animals in Africa, and to see what they thought about the silly people who’d shouted at Uncle Felix and Aunt Yvonne for getting married when they had different colour skin, and – oh, there were so many things she wanted to talk to them about. But Anouk didn’t want to talk about anything except how upset she felt with Non, and Non wasn’t talking to either of them at all. Jenny had also wanted to tell Non what Mum had said about being chosen as head girl for a reason and how she shouldn’t worry too much, only she couldn’t because Non wouldn’t talk to her – and anyway, she didn’t think she even wanted to make Non feel better any more, not if she was going to be so mean and stop being friends with Jenny because of a quarrel she’d had with Anouk. It was all Donna’s fault, Jenny angrily thought. If only she wasn’t so horrible and rude all the time, none of this would have happened. It was all such a mess, and Jenny didn’t know what to do about it. |
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| Author: | KathrynW [ Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:35 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
Oh it's lovely to see this back! I'm pretty sure I remember having exactly the same thoughts when friends were fighting when I was younger. I hope the three of them make it up soon. Thank you for more of this! |
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| Author: | PaulineS [ Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:37 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
Thanks for the update. I hope real life is getting better. Hope Jenny can find someone to help her sort both her friends and Donna out of their misery and quarrels. |
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| Author: | chris84 [ Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
Thanks for the update .
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| Author: | ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:34 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
Do I sense even bigger trouble on the horizon with the new girl, EBD-style? Thankyou! |
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| Author: | roversgirl [ Wed Jan 26, 2011 8:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
Poor Jenny being stuck between her friends. This is very realistic. Thanks
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| Author: | Abi [ Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:23 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
Poor Jenny; how can she know what to do for the best? |
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| Author: | Miss Di [ Thu Jan 27, 2011 5:20 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
Aw, poor kid. No fun when everyone is being growly. |
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| Author: | JS [ Fri Jan 28, 2011 8:53 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
Three can be an awkward number even when things are going well with friends. Hope it resolves itself soon. |
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| Author: | Carys [ Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:51 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
I don't think I've commented on this before but just wanted to say I really enjoy reading this-for me it is the best drabble on the board at the moment. The characters are so well drawn and realistic, and it is so well written and reads really fluently. |
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| Author: | ivohenry [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:20 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Jenny of Glendower House - updated 26/1/11 |
Hope life is a little less manic - would be nice to have some more of this one! |
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