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#1: Redheads - A Different Take Author: Ray, Location: Bristol, England

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:01 pm
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This was posted to an old board (I'm not even sure which version it was now, but the file was last modded almost exactly two years ago!), but it never seems to have been archived, and in discussing Redheads with Lesley and Liz last weekend it came up - as did a request to repost it! So here I am. Mods, I'm not quite sure which house to fit this in so feel free to move me, if I'm not in the right place!

This is a 'what we did see but EBD didn't do it very well so I've decided to improve on it' for Redheads -- namely the climactic scene in the head's study.

With thanks to Rachael P. for the offer of a loan copy of Redheads and thanks to KB for pointing out Raya's excellent transcripts site had a copy there.

Enjoy...

~*~

Miss Annersley frowned as she dropped her correspondence into its basket on her desk. Inspector Letton had struck her as the sort of man who if he meant thirty nine minutes past eleven turned up at thirty nine minutes past eleven and not a second before or after, so this arrival a full twenty minutes early felt wrong.

It could, of course, be completely innocent. It might be he had anticipated the journey up to the Platz taking longer than it had. But still, there was a niggling doubt at the back of her mind as she prepared to greet her visitor.

Miggi knocked on the door, then stepped into the study. "The Herr Letton, Madame," she announced, before stepping aside so that the visitor could enter the room.

Miss Annersley automatically started to rise to greet him, but even as she did so, and even as Miggi closed the study door once more, Miss Annersley found herself at the wrong end of the small, black revolver her visitor was holding.

There was a long, frozen moment when neither of them moved. Other details penetrated Miss Annersley's consciousness, chief amongst them was that the man holding the revolver was most emphatically not Inspector Letton and that the door between her study and Rosalie's office was firmly closed, something that put her in two minds. On the one hand, it meant that Rosalie was well out of this, but it also meant that help was not going to be forth coming.

"Sit down," said the man softly. "Sit down and don't make a sound." Miss Annersley did as she was bidden. "I speak. You listen. If I ask you a question, you may answer. Am I clear?"

"Perfectly," Miss Annersley replied, hoping her voice remained steady. Something in her had no desire to show this creature any sort of fear, but with that revolver firmly pointed at her she couldn't help but be inwardly afraid.

"Good." He remained standing, gun unwaveringly aimed at roughly chest level. "I've come for Flavia Letton. I don't want to kill you, but if you stand in my way, you will get hurt. Where is she?"

"There is no pupil of that name here," Miss Annersley answered, sticking to the letter of the truth. "I..."

"You lie," the man retorted, cutting her off. "I know she's here. Where is she?"

"I can show you the register," Miss Annersley replied. "There is no..."

"You lie." The man took a step forwards to loom over the desk. The gun muzzle was suddenly only inches away from her chest. "Where is she?"

Miss Annersley swallowed, fear making her mouth dry. "There is no girl of that name registered at this school."

The man glowered at her. "I don't have to kill you, you know," he said, almost conversationally. "At least, not right away. How do you fancy a bullet to your stomach? It's a long, lingering death. Or perhaps you'd prefer your shoulder. At this range, if the bullet strikes a bone, it's likely to simply shatter it. That'd be nice and painful. Maybe that would help you remember. Flavia Letton. Where is she?"

Through the material of her blouse, Miss Annersley felt the cold steel of the gun muzzle as he pressed it against her shoulder. No longer did she doubt Inspector Letton's fears for his daughter. "As I've told you..."

He cocked the gun. "The truth -- or I will start using this. Where is she?"

Miss Annersley opened her mouth in preparation to repeat the litany once more -- that there was no girl called Flavia Letton at the school -- when the sound of the deep voice of Bruno interrupted.

How the big dog came to be in the school building was a mystery to Miss Annersley just then but as the powerful creature cannoned into the man, she was not about to complain. Bruno sent the man toppling to his right. Instinctively, as she saw Bruno move, Miss Annersley moved in the opposite direction, taking herself out of harm's way. As she moved, there was the loud retort of the revolver going off. She felt it whistle past her, just missing by millimetres, then there was the sound of breaking glass as the bullet exited the room.

Bruno, meanwhile, was doing his best to subdue the man by dint of firmly sitting on the man's left arm and side. Despite the man's better efforts, the angry St Bernard was not to be moved.

Then Miss Annersley discovered the reason for Bruno's presence as Jack Maynard, Gaudenz and -- of all people -- Inspector Letton himself made a hurried entry into the study, Gaudenz and the Inspector heading for the captive while Jack made a direct bee-line for the desk.

"Hilda, are you all right?"

With difficulty, Miss Annersley contrived to focus her attention on the doctor and managed to answer, "Yes -- I think so." She thought about it for a second. "He didn't hurt me." She saw Jack eyeing the hole in the window, and that was when it truly hit her just how close it had been. "Oh..."

And Hilda Annersley, firm disciplinarian and stately Head Mistress of the Chalet School fainted.

~*~

It wasn't until much later that explanations were made, for one thing, it was a couple of days before Miss Annersley was up to even asking. The shock of the whole incident had taken quite a toll on her and it would take many months before that would finally fade.

When she was finally up to asking, Jack gave her a rueful smile.

"You remember Joey's penchant for having trouble find her even on her lawful occasions?"

Miss Annersley smiled a little. "How could I forget?"

"It seems Len's inherited it."

"Len?" At that, Miss Annersley looked suitably startled.

"It seems," said Jack somewhat dryly, "that Copper had the bright idea of collecting her scrap books to show Joey. Len, knowing what was in the wind, refused point blank to allow Copper to come over alone, so they both came over; Len bringing Bruno. They started to come by your window and saw something was up. Copper, of course, wanted to jump straight in -- Len refused to let her. Instead, they came in -- and spoke to Rosalie. She fetched Gaudenz and myself, with the idea being that Bruno, Gaudenz and I would make our grand entrance together -- unfortunately, Len couldn't hold onto Bruno. They'd quietly sneaked the door open and Bruno didn't like what he could see and hear."

"Is Len all right?" Miss Annersley asked.

"She has a wrenched shoulder and back, but nothing a few days of rest won't cure. Copper, though, wasn't quite as lucky."

For a few moments, Miss Annersley felt panic. Then she realised that Jack was still smiling. "What happened?"

"After avoiding Manley -- the villain of the piece, I should add," Jack mused, "that the real Inspector Letton arrived with me and that he was able to officially detain him." Miss Annersley nodded impatiently -- relieved that the villain was caught but wanting to know about her pupil. "Copper, though, after avoiding that fate, tripped and fell headlong over the chair Bruno upset in his desperate dash into the study. Gave herself a good shiner and managed to dislocate her shoulder -- but like Len, she will be fine given a few days rest."

The head relaxed back against her pillows. "So all's well that ends well." Knowing that no-one -- not even herself -- had come to serious harm, she found herself feeling drowsy.

Distantly, she heard Jack say, "Sleep's the best medicine, Hilda -- don't fight it."

'Who is fighting it?' she wondered. 'I'm certainly not.' And with that, she dozed off into a mercifully dreamless sleep.

#2: Author: Nell, Location: London, England

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:40 pm
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Not sure I saw this the first time so thank you Ray!

#3: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:39 pm
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Yippee!!!! Thanks Ray - now that's how it happened. Laughing

#4: Author: MaryR, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:44 pm
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Thank you for re-posting so we could all share, Ray.

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

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:03 am
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Thank you Ray - that was a most worthy addition!

#6: Author: Tara, Location: Malvern, Worcestershire

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:14 am
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I definitely wasn't around when this was first posted, so many thanks for putting it on again, Ray. This is much more scary than EBD!

It's ages since I read 'Redheads', never one of my favourites, I'm afraid, but I have vague memories of him threatening to blind the Head with ammonia ... am I hallucinating?

#7: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 5:34 am
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Tara wrote:

It's ages since I read 'Redheads', never one of my favourites, I'm afraid, but I have vague memories of him threatening to blind the Head with ammonia ... am I hallucinating?

Cannot recall that - maybe it was just in the hardback?

#8: Author: Ray, Location: Bristol, England

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:43 am
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Lesley wrote:

Tara wrote:

It's ages since I read 'Redheads', never one of my favourites, I'm afraid, but I have vague memories of him threatening to blind the Head with ammonia ... am I hallucinating?

Cannot recall that - maybe it was just in the hardback?

It's not in the transcript, that's for sure, and I can promise it's not in the paperback (which I didn't think was all THAT cut!).

I probably wouldn't have felt the need to write this had Manley done something like that!

Ray *bemused*

#9: Author: MaryR, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:02 am
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In the hardback he says *Make one unnecessary movement and I fire. This won't kill but it'll mark you for life and - just possibly - blind you.*

So the blindness was threatened, Tara, just not with ammonia.

#10: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:46 am
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Thanks Ray, this was really good Smile

#11: Author: KathrynW, Location: London

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:00 pm
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Thank you for re-posting that Ray

#12: Author: calico, Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:08 am
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Thanks Ray
I really enjoyed that.

#13: Author: Caty, Location: New Zealand

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:52 pm
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That was a great scene Ray. Thanks for reposting it.

#14: Author: Rosy-Jess, Location: Gloucestershire-London-Aberystwyth

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:45 pm
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Fab Ray. Thankyou!

#15: Author: leahbelle, Location: Kilmarnock

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:26 pm
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That was great, Ray. I missed it the first time round as well.

#16: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:43 pm
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Thanks Ray - very realistic.

#17: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 8:26 pm
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Thank you, Ray!
How did I miss this?

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