Part 1 http://members.lycos.co.uk/thecbb/TENSIO~1[1].DOC 

Part two http://members.lycos.co.uk/thecbb/tension2.htm

Part three to follow
Carolyn (sorry part one doesn't seem to work)(yet)
 
 

Hortense Romande admitted to have been taking cough medicine for the last few nights, though she was adamant that her cough was now better anyway, she had been hoping to be given the all clear from Matey that night.  Under the circumstances, Hilda decided that it would be best to accept the girls self diagnosis, although she was told in no uncertain terms that she should report to the study if there was any sign of the cough returning.
Giulietta Lorenzini was more of a worry, she had been suffering from a painful throat for two or three days, but had neglected to say anything as she expected ‘it to get better soon’.  As it was, eating had been getting more and more painful, and even swallowing her milky coffee had proved to be excruciating that night, and she had finally been driven to seek help.  Finding that Matey was not available, and being taken to the head’s study when all she wanted was to snuggle down in her own bed with some medicine to make her feel better was all too much for her and she promptly burst into tears.  Hilda lost no time in sending Isabel to fetch Matron Henschall from her own house.  Barbara Henschall was herself an old girl of the school, and she was something of a favourite with the younger girls under her care.  Hilda had no doubt that she would do her best for this particular young girl, but Giulietta’s symtoms were suggestive of tonsilitis and the head deemed it necessary to call one of the doctors from the San to see her.
The of the other two pupils, Philomena Vance, the head girl herself, and one of the youngest girls in the school, Tamzin Maynard, who was definitely no relation to the clan at Freudesheim although that was a misapprehension from which she suffered throughout her whole career at the Chalet School, had both been taking Matey’s sleeping lotion.  Hilda’s concern over Tamzin was eased when she found that the child had only taken the drug for the last two days, her sleeplessness having been caused by news from home which she had found disturbing.
Philomena had been taking it more or less since the beginning of term, but only once or twice a week, when she found that her mind was far too active to allow her to sleep. 
Hilda frowned a little at her explanation, wondering if the head girl was finding her duties too onerous, and if she had erred in appointing her to the position.  She made a note to speak to her about the matter on the morrow, but for  the time being she bade both the girls to go to bed with the promise that someone would provide them each with a cup of hot milk.
The remaining pupil had been taking the drug for just as long as Con and Jenny.  It was with a sinking heart that Hilda looked into the trusting face of

*jumping up and down in anticipation*

I'm going to have to go back to bed soon and I NEEEEEED to know! (pretty please!)

Not that I'm following your movements or anything...

*adjusts dark glasses and fake moustache and awaits Esmeralda's next move*
 

*suggests that the camp transfer forthwith- and I have the Baileys! ;)*

a] Daphne Bettany
b] Marie Courvoisier - who I think is old enough to be a junior
c] One of Hilary Graves girls
d] Phil Maynard
e] Jem Russells secret love child] (Only joking - honest)
or someone else entirely?
 

*has witnessed Esmeralda's return but still requires sustinance in form of baileys*

*stands on tiptoes to prise bottle from Lisa*

*blames the baileys...and lack of sleep*

.....It was with a sinking heart that Hilda looked into the trusting face of Theresa Daphne Bettany.
 

I suppose it's possible that Daphne could be Jem's secret love child!  All right - I promise not to go there.
 

BTW  Whatever was or wasn't going to happen to Eugen either has or hasn't happened by now.......

Thank you Esmeralda! But where's the rest of it?

*wishing we had a drunken smiley*

And what exactly is happening to poor Eugen. I don't understand your cryptic note Esmeralda. :-/

i still don't understand the whole was, wasn't, has hasn't thing.

By the way, did you know that one of the main ingredients of Baileys is a poppy derivative ... hence you all clamouring for it - you're all addicted! ::)

Has Matron prescribed it for you to help you sleep?

PS More, please, Esmeralda!!

I've also had a thought that surely the repercussions of the drug go back further than Con.  Think how many highly strung pupils the school had before her.......

One imagines her book would be very peaceful... ;)

*subsides into an exhausted heap after that chanting bout
*
*hopes Esmeralda takes pity on us and posts more!!!!*

Quote:

one of the main ingredients of Baileys is a poppy derivative

and suggests that, soon enough, she will quieten down*

I was hoping to get more of this written today, but it just didn't happen. sorry.
The trouble is, I am in the process of stopping smoking, and it is playing havoc with my concentration - when I start thinking about this story all the little bunnyettes go wild and start running off all kinds of overgrown tracks and obscure byways, and believe me - you do NOT want to know what they've been saying.

*Wonders if Bailey's would help?

Will archive the other thread now and sort out the links tomorrow if Vikki or someone hasn't done so by then.

Sorry Headache.

More story please Esmeralda!!

(Oh and congrats on giving up smoking!)

*Sends lots of will power*

Think of the hbs you could buy with the money you save!

*joins the camp, with a case of Baileys from the cash and carry!!*

Once Daphne had been settled, albeit with an understandable reluctance that Hilda would have found amusing had the situation been less serious, she turned to the member of staff who had been sitting quietly throughout all the interviews. 
“So, cherie, you are going to tell me what is happening, yes?  You do not expect me to believe you have brought us all here because the Matron is ill, Hilda?”  Mdlle de Lachennais enquired.
Hilda explained as succinctly as possible whilst sparing none of the details.
“But this is terrible,” the French woman exclaimed, “Why would she do this?  Me, I never suspected a thing, but what is going to happen now?  The poor girls!”
“Poor girls, yes, but what about you yourself, Jeanne?”
The French womans eyes darkened, “For myself, I know that it will not be pleasant.  But how is it that the Matron could be so, so reckless?  There is much that I would like to say to her.  But I am a grown woman, Hilda cherie.  For little Daphne, it will be much worse.”
“Yes,” Hilda agreed hesitantly, “But I think that once she is better, she will soon forget how ill she felt.  Daphne isn’t the type of child to dwell on unpleasant subjects.  Rather the opposite in fact, none of my lectures seem to have had a lasting effect.  It’s Con that I’m most worried about, she does appear to have inherited Joey’s highly strung temperament, along with her talent for writing.  But I shouldn’t be troubling you with this at the moment. When I spoke to Jack Maynard earlier he seemed to think that it would take a while before the effects began to make themselves felt, but you will want to speak to him yourself in the morning of course.” 
“Naturally.  But I think that this is an unpleasant experience for you also, Hilda.  I will leave you now, cherie.”
Left to herself, Hilda Annersley’s first inclination was to pour her self a glass of medicinal brandy, but even as she reached for the bottle she changed her mind and shut the cupboard door firmly.  As she did so her sharp ears caught the sound of scampering feet.  She opened the door which led through to her private rooms and just caught sight of a flash of white robe disappearing round the corner.
She was not fooled when she walked into her bedroom to find Daphne assuming an attitude of deep sleep.  “Daphne,” she spoke sharply, “What are you doing out of bed?”
The child slowly opened her eyes, “I’m sorry Auntie Hilda, I needed to go.” 
“I understand that, but you didn’t need to run away, just because you needed the bathroom, did you?”
“No.  I just,  I’m sorry.”  Daphne bit her lip in an effort to prevent herself from saying any more, but as she was to say more than once during her school career, ‘It’s just not possible to keep quiet when the head looks at you like that,’ and she found herself blurting out the whole story. “I didn’t mean to listen, I couldn’t help it, and I went and shut myself in the bathroom as soon as I heard.”
“What did you hear, child.”
“About Matey.  I don’t understand Auntie Hilda, has Matey’s medicine made me ill?  Has she poisoned me?”

*wondering what the bedtime bunnies are suggesting!!*
Here's an idea for you that you may relish. Use your current (I'm sure unpleasant) experiences to write about what happens when the CS staff try to give up smoking! ;D

*offers Esmeralda bushels of encouragement for both giving up smoking and this!*

Lots more please Esmeralda! And keep going with the quitting smoking!!!!!

Hilda looked at her blankly for a moment, wondering how best to explain matters without causing the child needless distress.  “No, she hasn’t poisoned you,” she explained, “The medicine she gave you was to make you feel better, and it did make you feel better when you first started taking it, didn’t it?”
Daphne nodded.
“Well, what Matey didn’t realise is that after a while your body becomes used to taking the medicine and it doesn’t work the same any more.”
“Is that when it makes you ill?  Is that why I don’t have to have it any more?”
“That’s why you have to stop taking it, yes.  The problem is, when you stop taking it, your body starts to miss it, and that’s when you start to feel ill, what it really means though, is that you’re getting better.  All the medicine is leaving your system and once it’s gone, you’ll feel a lot better.”
“You mean, like when Mummy gives up drinking for Lent?”
“Well, yes.”  It wasn’t the response Hilda had been expecting, but the idea seemed to satisfy the child.
“She always’s says she feels better on Easter Sunday.” Daphne yawned, and snuggled down into the bed, “I’d like to go to sleep now, if I may, please Auntie.”
“Of course, dear.”  Hilda tucked the bedclothes around the child and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead before she left the room.
All in all, she would be decidedly relieved when the morning came and the rsponsibility for Mdlle de Lachennais and the youngest Bettany child could be transferred to the medical staff at the San.  Miss Annersley was very aware of her own limitations, and although she could not help but realise that her soothing words had a great effect on those who were suffering, she knew that neither her nor her staff could provide the care that these two people needed.
She wondered also how the Bettany’s would take the news.  A part of her brain insisted that it was better that the afflicted child was part of the family, but at the same time, she knew how much little Daphne had been idolised by her parents.
Dick and Mollie had had a decidedly cavalier attitude to parenthood when their eldest children were born, regarding such diseases as measles with a casual acceptance, and seeming to think nothing of leaving their offspring behind while they disappeared back to India for years on end, with the aim of furthering Dick’s career, but they had been young then, and the passing years had led to them value  their children more.  Then, when Daphne had arrived unexpectedly, almost miraculously after Mollie had recovered from a severe illness, the outcome of which had hung in the balance at one time, the two of them seemed to have regarded her arrival as an opportunity to make up for all the parenting they had neglected earlier in their lives.  As a result Daphne had grown up to be a very self centred, wilful child, and her parents had only belatedly come to realise that she needed the steadying influence of school, and companions of her own age.
Her first few terms had been stormy, to say the least, the girl had been something of a leader among her set, unfortunately she had chosen to lead them in the wrong direction, hence the oft repeated lectures in the headmistress’s study.  Recently though, her behaviour had at last shown signs of improvement, and Hilda hoped for the girls own sake that her parents wouldn’t remove her from the school.
 

I would like to see the CS staff giving up smoking though!!!

Lots more please Esmeralda!  ;D

Though to be frank, caffeine can have the same effect. Does anyone remember me complaining a week or so again about a migraine type headache that prevented me from writing? It wasn't migraine- I hadn't had any tea or coffee that day, and it was withdrawal symptoms! My mum tried a detox diet and you have to give up caffeine, and she spent a couple of days feeling awful- until she went back on the coffee! ;)

More please Esmeralda!!!!

MORRRREEEEEE!
*gets the chanting started again*

Is this where the idea for Health Kick at CS came from?

Keep it up Esmerelda, and it's good to hear how well you are doing with the kicking smocking, you're doing well, keep at it.

*intrigued as to why Esmeralda wants to give up 'smocking'*

(sorry Carolyn, but with Rachel missing at the moment, someone has to carry the banner of pedantry!!)

The night passed by more peacefully than Hilda could have hoped for, but the same problems were still present in the morning.  Indeed the whole messy situation ambushed her mind the moment she awoke, well before the first pink shimmer of dawn stole across the landscape, having endured a less than peaceful night’s sleep herself.
The heavy sigh that was in her mind never escaped from her lips as she slipped out of her bed silently, taking care not to disturb young Daphne, who lay quietly on the small bed beside her. With a heart aching with compassion for the innocently vulnerable child, she lowered herself, stiffly, onto her knees where she begged God that the coming days would not be too hard upon the victims of Matey’s ministrations, but even as she used the bedframe to lever herself back onto her feet she was overcome by the knowledge of how little she could do, how little she had done, for those who had been entrusted into her care.
The night before, her thoughts had been consumed by the practicalities of dealing with the aftermath of Matron Lloyd’s unconventional methods of dealing with the school’s more highly strung members, now, in the dull, grey, pre dawn light of the early morning she found herself considering her own part in the minor tragedy, and she concluded in short order that she was as culpable as the matron.
Feeling old and careworn, she took her clothes through to the compact bathroom where she washed and dressed with her usual care before going through to the study where she put a small percolator of coffee on to brew, with the knowledge that this would be but the first of many cups she would rely on to get her through the day.  For the first time in two years she began to regret that she had given up smoking.
The faint sounds of the domestic staff beginning to go about their business filtered through to the study, causing her fresh alarm.  In her natural concern for the girls and her staff, she had completey forgotten the servants, yet they too had relied upon Matey to address their minor heath issues.  Was it possible that some of Karen’s girls were also affected by the sleeping draught.  She was only too aware that many of the girls were younger than her own seniors, and that for two or three of them, this was their first time away from the security of their own homes.

More please Esmeralda - oh and keep going with the non smoking!!!

Good luck with the giving up smoking Esmeralda! I gave up almost 3 months ago myself so it can be done  ;D 

This thread has also made me realise that perhaps my PB wasn't removed along with my uterus as I had thought, but perhaps she was nicotine dependant and that's why I haven't seen her since!

Hilda does get a tough time in the drabbles. This is a dreadful mess for her, and none of the people she would normally get support from are there. No Bill, Jack and Joey involved and with their own problems, and half the staff likely to suffer withdrawal. It's only just struck me how bravely Mdlle de Lachennais took it as well.

At least this one fear which was to prove to be unfounded, but the thought itself had been sufficient to damage Hilda’s fragile confidence.  She pulled open her drawer and carefully removed an envelope which she had placed in a small lockable metal safe.  She gently smoothed open the pages and read.  The letter was one which she knew off by heart, but today, she needed the physical confirmation of her friends words of wisdom, and this letter was the last, and the only way, in which Bill could ever speak to her again whilst she remained in this world.
She suppressed a sob, too few weeks had passed by for her grief to be anything but raw, but at least now she could be happy that her friend’s suffering had ended.  She had a fleeting feeling of shame as she thought back to that period of, of madness when she had been so overcome by the pain of her loss that she had wished for her survival, no matter what the circumstances, but it passed quickly.  Along with her acceptance of her bereavement had come the knowledge that she truly had not been responsible for her own thoughts and actions, but that was no excuse for continuing failure to take a grip on the school.  She reached the words she had been seeking - I want you to continue to live for both of us. Continue guiding the School - it has been our lives work and I would not want you to forget that. Then, once you feel able, sometime in the future, hand over the reins to Nancy and Kathie, and find new dreams to follow. ***  Maybe that time had all ready arrived, certainly she needed to remain in charge until the present situation was brought to a conclusion, she had no mind to shirk her responsibilities in that manner, but after that?  Maybe she was getting to old to retain her grip on the school, maybe it was time for her to find other dreams to follow, less dangerous pursuits where the only person who could be harmed by her failure was herself. 

Sleep had also been elusive at Fruedesheim, Joey and Jack lay in their separate beds, she in the couples own bed, he in the small dressing room which had served as his main bedroom for and more frequently during the last few months.   There was only a matter of yards between them, yet they had never been further apart.  Joey had lain awake fretting for much of the night, before finally succumbing to sleep a mere few minutes before Jack awoke from the troubled slumber which had done nothing to refresh him either mentally or physically.

At the San, there was always someone awake, among their number was Con, laying with her knees drawn up to her stomach, moaning softly.  The nurse on duty heard her groans and it was only a matter of moments before she peeked through the door of her room, but seeing the shadowy figure of a white coated doctor already standing by the bedside she quickly withdrew.
 

***Bill's letter was written by, and quoted with kind permission from, Lesley.  It is a very small part of the wonderful 'Aside' which in she wrote about Hilda's reaction to the news of Bill's death.

Great post, I'm intrigued by the shadowy doctor!!!

More Esmeralda?

More please Esmeralda!!

The nurse could not have known that the doctor’s thoughts were centred  on himself rather than on the patient in the bed.  Reg had woken again, cold, stiff, stinking, and with a posse of sledge hammer wielding labourers attacking his brain.  Disorientated, it took him some moments to realise he still lay on the floor, half propped up against the toilet.  An involuntary burp reminded him that his mouth felt more as though it belonged to a rotting corpse than to any living person, and it was the foul taste combined with his raging thirst which had persuaded him to move.  He had clambered unsteadily to his feet and reached for the washbasin, where he had held his head under the gushing tap, greedily trying to gulp down the life restoring water.  More of the liquid had run down his face than into his mouth, but eventually, feeling a degree or two better he had been able to fumble in his case for some pain killers.  He scooped up a few aspirin and washed them down with more water, this time catching it in the palm of his hand.
Because he was wet, he had also convinced himself he was clean, but his self delusion did not extend to the state of his clothes.  He had tried to remove his shirt, but his trembling fingers could not cope with the momentous task of undoing the buttons.  Defeated, he had sat on the edge of his bed and wept tears of bitter frustration, until his tears had turned to mirthless laughter as he  realised that it didn’t matter, his coat would hide everything. 
It had not been easy to pull the coat on, but he had succeeded, finally, and buoyed by that small triumph, he had set off away from the living quarters and towards the main part of the hospital.
The lighting was, thankfully, dimmed at such an early hour of the morning.  More restful to his aching eyes, but making it more difficult to see anything. 
He had ambled unsteadily along the corridor, peering through the windows of all the wards but unable to see anything within them.  At last, he had seen a glow of light from a bedside lamp, illuminating a basket of fruit.  Suddenly, more than anything, he had wanted to suck on an orange.  That was revealed as the true purpose of his hitherto aimless quest. 
He had pushed his way into the room and had begun scrabbling in the basket when a noise from the patient, the same noise that had caught the attention of the nurse, had made him start guiltily and withdraw his hand from the fruit.
He looked down at the bed, hoping that the patient was moaning during their sleep, and had found himself looking into the wide open, staring eyes of Con Maynard.
“Connie,” he reached towards her, stroked her hair, “Connie, I chose the wrong suister didn’t I? It should have been you.  You wouldn’t have left me would you? Not you, you’re too sweet.”
Con lay motionless, petrified with fear, not knowing if the foul smelling creature beside her was a continuation of her nightmare, or if she were truly being assailed by the demons of hell. 
“Connie, why won’t you talk to me, answer me you stupid little cow!” He gave her hair a violent twist. She whimpered in terror, trying to squirm away from him., “Am I frightening you, Connie?” his harsh laugh resounded in her ears, then his manner changed again, “I don’t want to frighten you Connie.  You didn’t come here to be frightened.”  He frowned, as a small troublesome worm of an idea slithered through his fuddled brain,  “Why are you here, Connie?  Are you ill?”
“Yes,” the reply was little more than a whisper, but the tightening grip of his fingers in her hair forced her to try to say something.
“Poor Connie.  Poor, poor Connie.  Never mind, I’ll make you better.  What do you want?”
“What?” She breathed another fearful, bewildered whisper.
“Tell me what you want Connie, what do you want more than anything in the world?  I’ll get it for you.  I can you know.  Tell me!”  He twisted her hair again as she remained silent for far too long. “Tell me what you want, damn it.”
“My sister, I want to see my sister and her baby.”  Con blurted out the first thing that came into her mind, not knowing the effect they would have on her tormentor.
“Her baby?  She’s had a baby?  That b,pregnant dog of a sister of yours has had a baby, the ****ing slag, the cow, the…..” Reg continued his invective, retaining a grip on Con’s hair which allowed him to shake her head around with every syllable, his voice raising in pitch and in volume, until the words became unintelligible, a muffled roar competing with Con’s piercing scream of terror.

and thats all I can say.
apart from nice work!  ;)

The writing, however, is wonderful.

Going to bed now....

More please Esmeralda.

This was terrific Esmeralsda, so please post some more.

*off to find something happy to read before bed*

*Decides it really is time to go to bed.

G'Night.

We'll try not to hassle you, but you keep leaving us on cliffs!!!

Please note:  I have resisted the temptation to leave this instalment at the obvious cliff hanging point.....

The nurse had no difficulty in identifying the source of the screaming as the awful wails of terror as they overwhelmed the usual muffled nocturnal noises of the wards, for a moment she froze, paralysed by the horror which the girls cries conjured up.  Then, as suddenly as they had begun, they ended.  The sudden cessation of the noise was enough to break the power which the screams, with their eerie bass notes, held over her. She dropped her files onto her desk but still she dithered, unsure of the etiquette of interupting when a doctor was already present, before the thumping sound of running footsteps made up her mind.  She hastened to the aid of her patient, regardless of the feelings of the doctor who was already in the room.. 
She pushed her way into Con’s ward, to find that she was the first and only person to come to Con’s aid, the shadowy doctor had disappeared as completely as though he had never been there, and for a moment the nurse wondered if he really had, then she gave herself a mental shake and devoted her attention to her distressed patient.
The loud shrieks had brought Reg partially to his senses, even in his befuddled state he knew that he was doing wrong, but the shrill high pitched sound reverberated through his skull like a thousand road drills.  Confused and hurting, he stepped back from the bed, blinking, trying to think of a way to make the noise stop.  Time, in that room, seemed to come to a standstill,  the two figures, both petrified by their own pain and fear, no-one else existing, but all the time, the screaming relentlessly boring into Reg’s head.  After an eternity, he thought to turn the noise off.   Pulling the pillow away from the woman’s head, he held it over her face, until the noise ceased.
 
 
 

                     **************************
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It worked.  The room was filled with sweet, blissful, heavy silence, only the ringing in Reg’s ears carried the memory of that noise.  He stood back, satisfied, letting the pillow fall to the floor.  Then the screams began again. 
Reg let loose a scream of his own, a wail of despair, before he clasped his hands around his head and backed out of the room, before fleeing back to his bolt hole, like a frightened rabbit.  Locking the door behind him, with fingers which fumbled the task, he threw himself down on the bed, to lay there shaking.  Partly it was the effect that his adrenaline fuelled flight had on weakened and dehydrated muscles, partly it was his reaction to the loud, shrill screams. 
The episode had brought back his feelings of nausea, and he was sickened to the core of his being by the discovery that Len had had a baby.  With another man.  He gave up his fight with the rising tide of sickness and disgorged the watery contents of his stomach onto the floor.
As the retching finally came to an end, he lay back, sweating and exhausted, wanting to rest a while, but forced by some deep instinct to make a move, to make an escape to somewhere less unsafe.

More please!

what do you mean recovers without any mental illness.
maybe she has killed her off!!

I worked out that i could download the materail from the archive site and downloaded some of the classic stuff.
reading a fewin one go it is hard to remember whether jo is 16 60 or 90!
After getting though all the archives of tensions it was only to discover that it wasnt finished yet
so i am eagerly waiting to see what happens here.

Good stuff, do continue when you can.

Have some more hugs, it must be exhausting you writing even a couple of paragraphs like that.

unlese the nurse resucitates her in time.....
 

lots of suspense here.
For me it is the end of the working day ...
.....

and what if Esmerelda is cruel to us and sends us back to finally see what happened to eugen, (or margot or len, or anywhere but con??)
 

Yep! She probably will Keren! Esmeralda has a PHD in cliff hanging! ;D That's what makes Tensions soooooo addictive. ;)

Come on and give us some more, Esmerelda!

I thought this meant she was still alive or were those Regs screams?
 

Quote:

when people get pillows over their head they can sometimes die from this

or did you mean that they could still be alive after having nearly been suffocated and then die from the damage it had done etc.
Just wondering . . . 
its very likely I missed something, and I don't know much about having pillows over peoples head or suffocation!! ;D

The Chaletian Bulletin Board » Powered by YaBB 1 Gold - SP 1.1!
YaBB © 2000-2002, Xnull. All Rights Reserved.