Peace Comes To The Chalet School
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#1: Peace Comes To The Chalet School Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 2:28 am

I read this aloud at the Gathering and have since forgotten to put it up for everyone to read. This chapter will not appear in "Peace" (note the new title!) as that will finish at the end of the term and this is the summer holidays.

At ten o’clock on the morning of August 15 1945, Con Mackenzie dressed her children in their best clothes and smiled as her husband came into the room in his best suit, carrying Janetta.
“Are we ready?”
“I think so.” Con nodded before bending down in front of her sons. “Now, boys, there will be a lot of people in the streets today, so it’s very important that you don’t run off, all right? Keep a tight hold of Daddy’s hands. If you don’t, we’ll have to get cross.”
“Yes, Mummy,” the boys chorused, and she gave each a kiss on the cheek before standing up and taking Janetta from her husband, who stretched out his hands to his sons.
There were already people lining the streets, preparing for the day of celebration that was ahead, for this was already becoming known as V-P Day: Victory in the Pacific. The war was over at last, and everyone in Australia was going to celebrate.
People were pouring out of buildings, many of them dressed in the good clothes they had worn to work, being caught off guard by the announcement of Japan’s surrender. A group of girls caught hands and danced around in a circle, which increased as people wriggled their way in, and the air seemed full of noise as people cheered the victory for which they had spent so many long years fighting.
The Mackenzies turned onto Martin Place to find a snowstorm of paper pieces cascading from the windows of the surrounding buildings. Those acquaintances they had made during the three years of their residence in Sydney came up to greet them, and in a short time they found themselves ushered over to a secluded corner behind a shop, which was closed, as were all of the others along the street, where the neighbours had gathered.
The area led only to a closed-in paved area, so Jock told the boys that they could go and play while he and Con talked about the ending of the war and what that meant to them all.
When the children became tired of playing together, the group split into families and drifted in different directions.
“Mummy,” Peter asked, looking back over his shoulder to get her attention and then pointing at something on the street, “what’s happening there?”
A truck was driving down the paper-covered street, and on the back of it was mounted a large camera.
“The man’s taking pictures, Peter,” Jock told him. “Maybe they’ll be in the paper tomorrow.”
“That man looks funny,” Patrick exclaimed, pointing at a man who was raising his hat to the camera as he skipped up the street, seemingly oblivious to the paper that continued to flutter in the air around him.
“He’s very happy,” Con said to her son. “Just like we are.”
As Con watched, the dancing man skipped towards two girls who were walking nearby, his intentions very obvious, as were those of the other men running up and down the street, kissing the women, but the pair avoided the dancing man and disappeared into the crowd.
Con looked at Jock and laughed. He smiled back and urged them further along the street, in the direction of the nearby park, but they were distracted by the sound of sharp cracking from a nearby street.
As they came around the corner, the boys squealed with excitement at the sight of fireworks being let off. A miniature calico temple had been suspended from an awning by some of the local Chinese residents, who were also involved in letting off the fireworks. A crowd of children had gathered at the end of the street and were watching these celebrations from a distance, but let out cheers every time a firework went off with a particularly loud bang.
They didn’t stay long. Janetta was making sounds that suggested she was hungry, and as all the shops were shut, they would have to go home to feed her.
“You take her,” Jock said. “I’ll take the boys around for a little longer.”
“All right,” she agreed.
Home was only a few blocks away, and she was able to get Janetta inside before her whimper became a yell. Con fed and changed her, before putting her to bed for a nap. Once that was finished, she settled in the front room to watch the crowds celebrate in the streets.

* * * * *

Before they could celebrate the end of the war, the Mackenzies in New Zealand first had to take care of the farm work, but once that was completed, they bathed, dressed and caught a lift with a neighbour into Auckland, where the people were celebrating in the streets.
“Mummy, why are all the shops shut?” Hugh demanded, and she explained the importance of the day to her children.
A neighbour who lived on one of the main streets of Auckland had already invited them to spend the day there, so once they had seen most of the sights that were to see, they family headed in that direction, to be greeted by the children at the front gate.
Several other families had arrived, and Mollie and Kenneth were greeted vociferously as they entered the living room.
“Mollie!” one of the women exclaimed. “Isn’t this joyous? At long last, after six years…”
Mollie sympathetically kissed her friend’s cheek, seeing the tears glistening in her blue eyes. Rebecca Fuller had more reason to be emotional than most. She had lost her husband in the Great War, and then her only child had been killed while serving in Papua New Guinea in the recent conflict.
“Yes, it’s wonderful,” she agreed warmly, slipping her arm through that of her friend with a squeeze. “We can get on with our lives again. You must pop around tomorrow. I’ve got a lovely pat of butter that Cic made for you. She told me to bring it today, but I didn’t know whether I’d see you, so I thought it was better to leave it for another time.”
“Oh, isn’t she sweet?” Rebecca, the godmother of small Cicely-Jane, blinked tears out of her eyes as she smiled. “I’d love to come.”
“Good.” Mollie drew her over to the other women, one of whom jumped up to get another chair, and they settled down to watch the children in the garden and the party in the streets outside through the open French windows.
“It’s a bit chilly to be doing this on a normal day,” one of the women remarked, snuggling her chin into the scarf that was wrapped around her throat. “But it would be a shame to miss it.”
“Biggest party Auckland’s ever seen, I reckon,” one of the men, a farming colleague of Kenneth’s, put in gruffly.
“Yes, it probably is,” Mollie said, smiling at him and accepting the drink her host offered.
A moment of silence followed this, before someone spoke, wondering how quickly things would change now that the war was over.
“Rationing’ll last another good while,” one of the men opined grimly. “And all that under-the-counter business.”
“At least we can travel more freely,” another man suggested.
“No more Yanks,” a women, whose daughter was still anxiously awaiting a letter from her American fiancé, remarked in thankful tones.
“No black-out,” another woman added.
“Maybe we’ll have a housing shortage, like them across the Tasman.”
“Oh, I hope not!” a woman exclaimed in response to this, for many people had heard of the problems Australia was having with finding housing for its returning service men and women.
“We’ll be right,” her husband assured her.
This seemed to be the general attitude, and a murmur of agreement went around the room as the party in the streets outside continued.

* * * * *

It was late on the evening of the 15th of August when Nell, Hilda, Madge, Joey, Jem and Jack gathered in the living room of Plas Gwyn to listen to the broadcast by the King to mark the end of the war.
“The war is over. You know, I think, that those four words have for the Queen and myself the same significance, simple yet immense, that they have for you…”
“They certainly experienced many of the same things,” Jo remarked, thinking of the many times Buckingham Palace was bombed.
“There is not one of us,” the King’s voice continued, “who has experienced this terrible war who does not realise that we shall feel its inevitable consequences long after we have forgotten the rejoicings of the today…”
Jack squeezed his wife’s hand, and she smiled at him, knowing that they were both thinking of their own sufferings.
“The British people here at home had added lustre to the fame of our islands and we stand today, with our Empire, in the forefront of the victorious United Nations…”
Jem looked thoughtful. Protests by various people against the resumption of power by various former colonies, including the Dutch East Indies, made him wonder if the British Empire, as it had stood at the start of the war, would continue in that form now that peace had arrived.
“From the bottom of my heart, I thank my peoples for all they have done, not only for themselves, but for mankind.”
When “God Save The King” began to play, Joey reached out and turned off the radio as Nell picked up the teapot and began refilling the cups of those who wanted it.
“There’s been nothing like the excitement there was on VE day,” Hilda remarked.
“I suppose it’s because it all feels so far away,” Jack suggested. “One of the letters I got from Mollie not long after we escaped from Austria said that the war was difficult for people to really comprehend over there because nothing was really affecting them.”
“I’m sure it means a lot for the soldiers and their families,” Madge offered. “VE Day was fine for those people whose husbands and sons were serving in Europe, but for anyone with a loved one fighting the Japanese, it wouldn’t have meant much.”
“Thank goodness everyone we know from that part of the world is safe,” was Nell’s opinion, with which the others concurred wholeheartedly.
“I do wish we could go back to Tyrol,” Jo said with sudden longing. “I would love to see all our old friends, instead of just having to make do with letters. It’s not the same.”
“Marie and Eugen are talking about going back,” Madge told her. “I spoke to Marie about it only last week. They’re making plans to reclaim the Schloss as soon as they can, although they know it will take a while. There are a lot more important things to sort out first.”
“The school did well in the Tyrol,” Jo mused.
“There’s such a mess with Russia at the moment, though,” Jem reminded her. “You couldn’t think of doing it yet, or we might find ourselves in a situation almost as bad as when the Nazis took over.”
Jo shuddered faintly, making Jem regret that he had brought it up, but her tones revealed nothing of what she was feeling.
“Oh, well,” she said lightly, “it was only a suggestion.”
Hilda hurriedly offered around a plate of cakes, and once everyone had something, turned the conversation to the forthcoming term, now only two weeks away, and in the process, the original discussion was forgotten.

* * * * *

Giovanna Rincini strolled along the shore of the Tiernsee, fixing her eyes on its blue surface as she made her way along the path to where the Chalet School had once been situation. The old buildings were still there, and had remained mercifully undamaged by the war. With the camera in her hand, she took a series of photos of the building, having secured the owner’s permission to do so, although she hadn’t told him her purpose. Few of the people who had known the school were still in the area now. Most had either fled the Nazis or been arrested for their doings with the school, which had been treated as suspect.
She was the only member of her family to have remained in the Tyrol. Bette and her children had fled to Canada a year after the Anschluss, and Anita and Sophie had also managed to escape with their parents, but the Labour Corps, of which she had been a member until the end of the Nazi rule, prevented her from accompanying them.
Once peace had finally arrived, Giovanna had gone back to her family home in Innsbruck but it had been destroyed in the bombing raids that had damaged so many buildings, so she had gone to Bette’s old home in Briesau and found it abandoned. Herr Braun, who had never left the Kron Prinz Karl, and had been delighted to see for former pupil of Fraulein Bettany, whom he had adored, told her that an avid Nazi had occupied the house, but had fled when the Allies arrived.
Among other familiar residents of the Tiernsee lakeside had been the Pfeiffen family, many of whom had worked at the school in various capacities, and Giovanna had been delighted to employ several of them to help her with the housekeeping.
Her mission completed, Giovanna decided that she would take a stroll around to another of the places beloved by the school during their residence on the lakeside: the dripping rock. There had been enough rain in recent days that it should look close to its best, but she could only know that for certain when she got there.
A new path had been cut, slightly higher than the old one, which had crumbled away over the years. A new bridge had replaced the plank of wood that had once crossed a chasm formed when the path had split, which had resulted in an exciting, if exhausting, adventure for the girls of both the Chalet School and its rival St. Scholastika’s . From there, it was only a short walk to the site of the dripping rock.
Water was drizzling over the natural spout and into the basin below. Giovanna remembered a number of occasions on which she, along with her classmates, had walked this way, and she took a picture of the rock, hoping it would come out well enough to be visible, before turning back.
Another detour took Giovanna past the house in which St. Scholastika’s had first been housed, and which had then been taken over by the Russells as a summer home . Of this, too, she took a photo. Sadly, it would be too late to include them in the special copy of The Chaletian, about which she had received a letter from Mary Burnett, but at least the school and Joey and Madame would value them and want to see what changes, if any, had occurred since they had been forced out of the area.
Giovanna took another photo across the lake, smiling to see the little white steamer begin its journey across the Tiernsee and the quaint little mountain railway pulling into the small station, all of which leant the peaceful scene an air of familiarity, so much so that Giovanna could almost believe that she was on her way to school again. It was with a sigh that she turned away and began to make her way to the small house in which she was now living.

 

#2:  Author: Kathryn, Location: Melbourne/Hamilton until 11 September PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 2:32 am

*sniff* Captures the atmosphere so well.

 

#3:  Author: Nicci, Location: UK PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 2:38 am

Thanks for posting this KB. the description of the atmosphere is fantastic.

 

#4:  Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 3:52 am

KB it was really wonderful to have this read out at TG but is good to see it here and to be able to read it again. Thank you so much for posting it.

 

#5:  Author: Sugarplum, Location: second star to the right! PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 4:02 am

Smile Thanks for posting the chapter KB ,,,,,, it was lovely being able to read it.

 

#6:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 4:41 am

Thanks, KB!

I've read many descriptions of VE day, but the real end of the war is so often skipped over. An excellent way to connect multiple story lines, too.

And I'd never thought of the incipient cold war as impacting return of the CS to its roots.
*wonders whether any old CS girls ended up in East Germany*

 

#7:  Author: PatMac, Location: Yorkshire England PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 8:32 am

That was so good and I'm glad to have read it. I've only recently read some about effects of the war 'down under'. The world was a bigger place then and details were much harder to come by.

Looking forward to reading the whole book when it is published.

 

#8:  Author: catherine, Location: York PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 10:12 am

Thanks for posting this, KB. It's lovely hearing it read out loud, but it['s even better to be able to read it! As Patmac said, looking forward to reading the whole book when it's published.

How are the revisions going?

 

#9:  Author: Lesley, Location: Rochester, Kent PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 10:27 am

Actually I read it aloud KB! Laughing Laughing Laughing

That said though - it's lovely to be able to read this again - think A & C are mad not to want it! Thanks for posting it!

 

#10:  Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:18 am

Thanks for posting this KB. I do understand why A&C want to keep closely to what EBD would have written - the genre needs that - but there is a place for a different viewpoint too, which is equally valuable. I'm really looking forward to reading the finished book.

 

#11:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:24 am

Thanks, all. The revisions are going very well. I have just finished the new chapter plan and will be sending it off for considerations later tonight, once I've reread it.

 

#12:  Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!! PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:39 am

Thank you KB for posting it!!! Very Happy

*Does a happy dance at the news of Peace*

 

#13:  Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 12:09 pm

Thanks for posting this KB, lovely to be able to read it.

Glad to hear that the revisions are going well.

 

#14:  Author: Liss, Location: Harrow, London PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 12:31 pm

Thanks for posting that, KB. I'm really peeved that A&C won't let you keep that bit with Giovanna at the end. I can understand their whole 'EBD wouldn't have written about people randomly in other countries' idea, even if I think they're being slightly inflexible, but I thought that was a lovely part of the story, and worked really well. I mean, I love Exile, but I hardly think the last line was really deserving of any great literary mention (if that makes sense); I felt Peace ended on a much more moving note.

And sorry, I think I asked this before, but do you have to lose all the stuff with MS as well?

 

#15:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 12:36 pm

Thankfully, no, all the stuff with MS stays, but will be told from a different viewpoint by someone in England. *evil chuckle*

And I've changed my website link to my LJ, as I'm updating that more than my Peace diary at present...

 

#16:  Author: Liss, Location: Harrow, London PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 12:38 pm

KB wrote:
Thankfully, no, all the stuff with MS stays, but will be told from a different viewpoint by someone in England. *evil chuckle*


*hugely irritated by evil chuckling and pulls out damp herring threateningly*

What? How? Is it a letter thing? What's happening??

*wails*

 

#17:  Author: PatMac, Location: Yorkshire England PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 12:51 pm

I agree with Liss, the part with Giovanni is hardly 'random'! I suppose since A & C want any new books to be absolutely faithful to EBD's style they wouldn't want the parts in NZ & Australia as she didn't write like that but Giovanni's visit to the old school and surrounding area is totally CS focussed and rounds off Exile so well that losing it will be sad.

Anyway WE've read it!

 

#18:  Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 1:26 pm

What are A & C doing? That was superb, KB, and I think that they are jsut being foolish to want it out, as it captures VJ Day so well.

 

#19:  Author: Cazx, Location: Swansea/Bristol PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 4:39 pm

That was lovely K.B!
Thanks for posting it!

 

#20:  Author: Janet, Location: Ferndown, Dorset PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 5:00 pm

Nice insight into Con Mackenzie and family - I always wanted to know more of her and her story

Thank you!

 

#21:  Author: Vikki, Location: Possibly in hell! It's certainly hot enough....... PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 7:29 pm

*agrees with all comments*
*scrubs eyes*

 

#22:  Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 7:40 pm

Is the speech by the King the actual one made?

I agree about the ending by the way...the one in Exile is so trite, but this was so atmospheric, pity it had to be cut.

 

#23:  Author: claire, Location: SOUTH WALES PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 9:06 pm

excellent, can't wait for the book to read the rest of it - when are A & C looking at publishing it?

 

#24:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 9:52 pm

Liss wrote:
*hugely irritated by evil chuckling and pulls out damp herring threateningly*

What? How? Is it a letter thing? What's happening??

*wails*


*chuckles aggravatingly* Well, you know there are two MSs, don't you? One is actually CS and she stays in Australia, at least for the next few years. The other is a real MS and she comes back to England and tells people what has been happening, both to her and the other MS, who is really CS - and in fact is now CM, not CS.

And Carolyn, the speech by the King is one I found in a history book, and I believe it is the real one, yes.

 

#25:  Author: Vikki, Location: Possibly in hell! It's certainly hot enough....... PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 9:57 pm

*wanders dazedly through KB's statement, tripping over initials on the way!!*

 

#26:  Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 10:04 pm

Glad I'm not the only one!!! All I worked out was Con Stewart/MacKenzie!!!

 

#27:  Author: Vikki, Location: Possibly in hell! It's certainly hot enough....... PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 10:07 pm

I've READ it and I'm confused......

 

#28:  Author: PatMac, Location: Yorkshire England PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 10:11 pm

Huh? I'll try that again in the morning when I'm sober!

 

#29:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 10:16 pm

*applauds Pat for getting it half-right* And the other MS isn't a Miss anybody. She's a Miss MS...

(For those who've read "Peace", she was illegally a Mrs. P.R.)

 

#30:  Author: Liss, Location: Harrow, London PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:02 pm

So (let me get this straight) MS is coming back to England - is that right? If so, yay! She was a great character in this.

 

#31:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:50 pm

Mightily confused by all the initials and hopes all will be made clear someday....

And that any story lines so wickedly deleted will manifest themselves elsewhere, e.g. here.

Glad to hear the revisions are going well!

 

#32:  Author: Lesley, Location: Rochester, Kent PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 12:30 am

*Reasonably smug in the knowledge that I knew exactly what KB was talking about! Laughing *

 

#33:  Author: Mandy, Location: Derry, N.Ireland PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 1:27 am

Thanks KB for another piece of Peace Very Happy

I'm hoping that if I store each snippet you post I might have the whole book in about 20 yrs.

Can't wait until its published.

*I thought your website link was your journal and I was surprised you didn't update in Germany, until someone on msn told me about your livejournal the day before you left Germany* lol

 

#34:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 2:10 am

Liss wrote:
So (let me get this straight) MS is coming back to England - is that right? If so, yay! She was a great character in this.


Yes, she will 'play' quite a large part in the book! ROFL

 

#35:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 5:02 am

MS is most likely to stand for:
A. Mass spectrometer. She's a fabulous instrument, but did she exist in the Peace era?
B. Manuscript. She needs to get to England to be published.
C. Multiple sclerosis. The San has branched out, and sibs of victims end up at the school. Gender seems a bit odd though.
D. Master of Science. She's a new teacher at the CS. Bill could use some assistance. Very Happy
E. Ms., with a typo on the s. She's a bit of an anachronism, but never mind.

(Drat. Thought it was more story. Can't imagine why Confused )

 

#36:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 10:52 am

*giggles at Kathy's suggestions* Hate to disappoint you, my love, but it's none of them. *wonders how MS would feel at being described as a piece of scientific equipment or a disease*

 

#37:  Author: James,  PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 12:09 pm

Really good to see that KB, especially getting to read a little more about Giovanna, always one of my favourite characters Smile

 

#38:  Author: Kirsty, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 7:38 am

KB, I never got around to asking (more fool me!), but the bit in Australia with the man dancing down the street in the paper-storm, is that from the newsreel footage I seem to see every time I watch History Channel?
I'm probably being very dense here, but I was struck by it the first time I read this chapter.

Anyway, I agree with the others that it's a pity A&C won't publish it, especially the bit about Giovanna, which rounded it off nicely.

 

#39:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 9:19 am

Hooray! Someone got it! Thanks, Kirsty, that's exactly what it is - the dancing man. I was really hoping someone would realise! *happy, happy dance*

And I promise an ending that rounds it off just as nicely!

 

#40:  Author: Ellie, Location: Lincolnshire PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 10:42 am

I've finally got round to reading this, yes, I know, I'm late but I had heard it before, but I'm glad you've posted it KB, it's very easy to ,iss things when you're listening rather than reading.
I think it's a lovely way to bring the war to an end, espcially the Giovanna section, it is, as has been mentioned before, so atmospheric.
I wish I'd stopped at the first page though, before all these mentions about MS! (frustrated)

 

#41:  Author: Kirsty, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 10:54 am

Oh that's good then! One less thing that will wake me in the middle of the night going, "Now, I wonder where I've see/heard/read that before!"

Now if I could only work out why TPTB have move my favourite TV program from 10.30pm Wed to 11.30pm Thurs, I would be a happy girl... (makes it very hard to get up for work on Fridays Wink )

 

#42:  Author: Kathryn, Location: Melbourne/Hamilton until 11 September PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 10:38 pm

KB wrote:
Hooray! Someone got it! Thanks, Kirsty, that's exactly what it is - the dancing man. I was really hoping someone would realise! *happy, happy dance*


That's the one in Martin Place (?), Sydney isn't it?

 

#43:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 11:35 pm

Yes, that's it.

 

#44:  Author: Sarah_K, Location: St Albans PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2004 11:23 pm

Just read this KB and it's great, especially the bit with Giovanna. Thanks for sharing it with us!

 

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