The CBB :: View topic - CBB Advent Calendar: December 23rd

#1: CBB Advent Calendar: December 23rd Author: CBB Triumvirate,

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 11:13 am

We felt this was perhaps the better of two rather ordinary drabbles. Try to make sure you read tomorrow's though! Twisted Evil

Nancy Wilmot had been over the moon when she found out that she had been awarded the post of Maths Mistress at the Chalet School. She knew she could teach, and that even girls who were duds at maths came on under her tuition. She was also an Old Girl, having been at the Chalet School in the Dark Ages, before the War, when it had been in the beautiful Austrian Tyrol. Truth to tell it was only by chance that she had gone to the Chalet School at all. She had been a pupil at Miss Browne’s school in England when that lady had decided to move it, lock, stock and barrel, to Austria, quite unmindful of the fact that another English school was already based at the Tiernsee. Naturally Nancy and her sister had gone with the school, and Nancy had fallen in love with the Alps. She was now returning, though to Switzerland, thanks to the previous maths mistress, Pam Slater, deciding that her future lay in England, and another school, rather than staying with the Chalet School.

It was only later that Nancy began to wonder if she had made a mistake. When she found out that the San was also moving out to Switzerland under the direction of Jack Maynard. The San had always had a close association with the school, not least because the school’s Founder, Madge Bettany, had married the Head of the San, James Russell. So the joint move was no surprise once she knew of it. The question she was asking herself was would she have even applied for the post had she known beforehand. Sitting on the ferry’s deck as it made its way across a smooth Channel, and knowing it was now far too late to change her mind, she thought back over the years, to the time she had been a senior in the Chalet School.

Miss Browne had sold out to Mrs Russell, and the schools had combined, St Scholastika’s (her school) moving round the lake to Briesau and the Russell’s taking over the school buildings as their summer home. The first term had been a fearful scrum, she remembered. There had been no warning that St Scholastika’s was closing, nothing until the letter had arrived at the start of the holidays, telling the Wilmots that the following term the two girls would be part of the Chalet School, and providing a list of the uniform items they would need to buy. That in itself was no problem, nor was the tight fit at the new school, for there had been no time to build the extra accommodation required. The two schools were friendly after a sticky start, when there had been a feud between them, and no one minded the squeeze in the circumstances. That had not been the problem, nor, at first, had she had any trouble with Jo Bettany or Jack Maynard. That was to come and it was that which made it so difficult for her now. Miss Annersley had let slip that the Maynards had bought a house right next door to the school, and unless Jo had changed mightily, that meant that she would be in and out of the school at all hours of the day and night. Somehow Nancy very much doubted that Jo had changed that much.

Her mind wandered back to that last year at school. The weather had been hot and sunny when they arrived at the Tiernsee, travelling up from Spartz on the little mountain train and catching the lake steamer from it’s landing stage next to the station. Jo and Robin had been waiting at Briesau for them, since the Russells had not yet moved back to the Sonnalpe for the winter. Robin would be starting back at the Annexe the next day, but had begged to stay to welcome the girls back to the main school. The laughing happy throng walked up to the school, with Jo in their midst, and no hint of what was to come in the next few weeks.

It was not that Jo still had a huge influence on the school, it was more that none of the prefects seemed to be able to do anything without consulting her. The trouble was that each time they did their confidence ebbed a little more and soon it was standard practice to call for or write to Joey with every crisis. This just irked Nancy and she made her own decisions whenever possible. She soon found however that in order to actually do anything she had to pretend that she had gained Joey’s approval. The climax came one morning during guides when they were planning their badge work. As was traditional they were only allowed to do three badges a term, and a lot of the seniors wanted to do their child nurse. The question of an examiner was brought up and it was suggested that Dr Jack or Dr Jem might be willing to test the girls as they had done before.

“I suppose we could ask Joey to see if one of them would be willing?” suggested Hillary Burn tentatively.
“That might be the best idea,” agreed Louise Redmond.
Nancy fumed. “Why can’t we write to the san direct and ask them ourselves?”
“Well, Joey will know best,” said Margia Stevens, “We should leave it to her.”
Nancy sighed, knowing that it would be impossible to argue with this attitude.

Two days later she sat taking prep and surreptitiously writing a letter.
“Take an order mark” she snapped at Alixe von Elsen when that young lady came in late and trailing a rather muddy shoe from one foot, “and go and clear up before you sit down to try and catch up with your work.”
The middles found her rather stern that night as she composed the letter she intended sending to the san. Nancy was not someone who gave in easily.

“Dear Dr Jack” she wrote
“I wonder if we could ask you a favour? Some of the Guides wish to take their Child Nurse badge this term and we wondered if it would be possible for you to examine us when we are ready. Thank you in anticipation,
Nancy Wilmot.”

Then she sealed the letter into an envelope ready to send to the Sonnalpe. She was far too canny to put it out on the table with the rest of the letters awaiting collection, for she knew she would be found out and the letter stopped. The following day she used her Senior’s privilege and slipped down to the Kron Prinz Karl and put it into the post box there.

To say that Jack was surprised to receive the letter was an understatement. A pleasant surprise, for he had found the current Sixth to be lacking somewhat in initiative. He would have expected them to have made the approach through Joey, and wondered a little what that damsel would make of the direct approach. He wrote back to Nancy expressing his willingness to help and got on with his job in the meantime, though wishing he could be a fly on the wall when it came out that Joey had not been consulted.

In actual fact it was something of an anticlimax. Nancy showed his letter to the other patrol leaders, and after they had recovered from the shock of Nancy contacting Jack directly, they were rather envious of her courage than annoyed. It was Joey who found herself upset, much to her own surprise. She had voiced the wish that the current Sixth would stand on their own feet a little more, but now one of their number had done so she felt left out. It made matters worse that it was one of the ex-Saints who had done it too, though not for the worlds would she have admitted that, even to herself.

When Jack came to test the girls he took particular notice of Nancy, thinking that she was someone who was likely to make something of herself. Joey came down with him, taking any excuse to visit her beloved school, and watched Nancy out of the corner of her eyes, even while she was chatting gaily to the other girls. Jack had not taken a lot of notice of Nancy before this, and now he realised why, for she was of a comfortable build, and not really to his taste. However, he made a point of talking to her during the course of the morning. Nancy herself had fallen for the slim fair-haired young doctor, who was paying a flattering amount of attention to her, though she did not flatter herself that her crush was reciprocated. That was where the trouble had started, and it was strictly one-sided. She had been unable to rid herself of her feeling for Jack Maynard, nor her jealousy when she had heard that he and Joey were married. Since she had left the Chalet School she had seen nothing of Joey and Jack, having been involved in the WAAF during the War, and her teacher training once she had been demobbed.
Her nerves increased as she neared Interlaken, where she had been told she would be met. It was only a question of time before she met the couple again, although a good many years had passed under the bridge. Almost before she knew it the train was running along the shore of Lake Thun and she knew she had very little time left. She got to her feet and pulled her case down from the overhead rack. Pulled out a comb and gave her hair a quick tidy before placing her hat back on and heading for the door.
“Hello Nancy. Welcome to the Oberland!” trilled Jo. Nancy hated that tone of voice, it felt so insincere and false that it ran over her nerves like fingers scraping down a blackboard. She was pulled into Jo’s arms for a quick embrace that sent shudders down her spine, and then she turned to Jack. His face was so carefully neutral and his handshake so formal that her heart went out to him.
They walked out to the car, with Jo talking nineteen to the dozen as usual, though still in that awful artificially high-pitched voice. It was if she was making a special effort for a stranger, not someone she had known from her schooldays. To Nancy’s amazement the car was bright red, not the sort of car she had expected either of them to own.
“This is the Red Peril,” said Jo, waving at the car. “I called it that after that enormous brolly I used to have in Tyrol, do you remember?”
As they drove out of Interlaken, with Jo pointing out all the landmarks, Nancy watched both of them. Jo’s cheeks were sporting bright blotches of red, a most unhealthy flush, and her eyes were almost too bright as she turned to look at Nancy sitting in the back of the car. Jack kept his eyes firmly on the road and contributed nothing to the conversation, though Nancy could see that he looked grim. The scenery was spectacular; the road ran though Lauterbrunnen, with the Staubach Falls dropping straight down to the valley floor. There were low clouds hanging in the valley and the walls rose almost vertically. Jack spoke for the first time.
“We go up there,” he said, pointing across the valley from the Falls. “I hope you still have a good head for heights.”
“I’m sure she has,” said Jo, and there was just a hint of something extra in her voice now, something that sent more shivers up Nancy’s spine and Jack went very still in front of her. As they reached the next plateau Jo asked Jack to stop the car. He ignored her and kept driving.
“Jack!” she almost shrieked. “Stop the car this instant!” Jack braked to a halt, though Nancy could sense his reluctance.
“Now then Nancy dear,” said Jo, and it was clear that the last thing Nancy was, was Jo’s dear! “I clearly remember how you buttered up to Jack in Tyrol, writing to him behind my back as you did. Do you think you can take him away from me? Is that why you’ve come out here?”
Nancy just stared at Jo in shock. This was the last thing she expected. Jo had seemed to take the letter at face value at the time, but clearly she had changed.
“Now Jo, don’t be so silly,” said Jack, in a voice that tried to calm his wife down. The weary patience was heart-breaking, but Jo was deaf to that.
“You’ve no answer to that, have you Nancy Wilmot? I didn’t think you would have! Well, you won’t get him! He’s mine, and that’s the way he’s staying!”
“Jo, I’ve come out to teach maths at the school,” said Nancy, though she knew it would make no difference.
“Maths! That’s what gave you away, you know! You hated maths at school!”
Nancy managed to laugh, though it was a poor sounding laugh.
“People change you know,” she said. “I had the War years in the Forces if you remember. It changed the way I looked at the subject. That is truly what I came out here to do Jo.”
Nancy’s reasonable explanation fell on deaf ears, for Jo had launched herself over the seat at Nancy and locked her hands around her throat. Jack grabbed at her just too late and Nancy felt the hands tighten, and her vision began to go black though she fought valiantly.
When she opened her eyes again, she was lying on the ground on something soft that she later discovered was Jack’s coat. Her throat hurt, and she could still feel the pressure of Jo’s fingers.
”I’m sorry Nancy. If I’d known she was in that mood I’d have got someone else to meet you. She was fine when we set off.”
Jack’s voice reached her, and then his face swam into view above her.
“Is she often like that?” she asked, after swallowing to get her voice working again.
“Sometimes,” admitted Jack. “But not as bad as that.”
“Where is she?” Nancy found that she was afraid of this new Jo, and wanted to keep as far away form her as she could.
“Over there.” Nancy turned and saw Jo laid out on the grass, her eyes closed, and obviously unconscious. “I had to hit her to make her let go, and I knocked her out. I’ve given her an injection to keep her under and this time I’m taking her to see a specialist, whether she likes it or not.”
By the time she reached the school Nancy had more or less recovered, though she knew it would take some time to forget those strong fingers around her throat. Jo was still out cold, and Jack saw her into the school before turning the car and heading back down the steep road to Interlaken. He was more relaxed than he had been for some time, now that the decision had been taken out of his hands. Now Jo could get the treatment that she so desperately needed, and one day he might look forward to getting his wife back again.

Alas for Jack’s hopes, Joey roused as they reached the edge of the shelf. Half drugged, and determined that no one else should have her beloved husband, she flung herself at the wheel and spun it hard, taking the car, with both of them in it, over the cliff.

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

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 11:24 am

Wonderful!

Nancy Wilmot
the Red Peril
"no one minded the squeeze in the circumstances"

#3: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 11:39 am

Poor Nancy!

Madge Bettany

The Red Peril

A fearful scrum

#4: Author: Guest,

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 1:46 pm

Great!! I loved the fill in for what Nancy did in the War and how she changed from hating maths.

Alixe von Elsen

Red Peril

"they were only allowed to do three badges "

Ellen Crying or Very sad

I won't be able to access a computer tomorrow.

#5: Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 1:53 pm

Louise Redfield
a letter
this time I’m taking her to see a specialist, whether she likes it or not

#6: Author: Amanda M, Location: Wakefield

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 2:55 pm

Pam Slater
Red Peril
"only allowed to do three badges "

Star Wars

#7: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 4:56 pm

Nancy Wilmot
fly on the wall
“Take an order mark.”

*wonders if there's been a time slip*

#8: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 5:12 pm

Lovely! Poor Nancy!

#9: Author: Helen P, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 9:20 pm

Nancy Wilmot
Red Peril
Welcome to the Oberland!

#10: Author: CBB Triumvirate,

Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2004 12:04 am

And the penultimate answer is:

Nancy Wilmot
The red peril
‘Lose an order mark’

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