The CBB :: View topic - The Midnight Feast

#1: The Midnight Feast Author: caz, Location: Cambridge

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 9:40 pm

Cecil Maynard looked around at her friends with a strange expression on her face. She had had an idea but wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject. Celine saved her the trouble.
“Cecil, are you feeling all right? You look in pain. Did you perhaps eat too much?” she enquired with mock-concern.
“I like that! You had two more sandwiches than me, and an extra apple,” Cecil protested, jolted out of her reverie.
“Not that anyone was counting,” murmured Anne with a grin. She was now a full member of the Crew, after the awkward start.
Cecil chuckled. “No I was just thinking,” she began.
“And it was hurting?” Daphne Bettany teased.
“Look, do you want to hear my idea or not?” Cecil demanded.
“Well, does it require us to move, or exert any effort?” Hilary responded. “It’s far too hot for that.” She ignored the accusations of laziness from her friends.
“I was thinking that we could have a midnight feast,” Cecil declared. There was a stunned silence.
“But that just doesn’t happen here,” Daphne said finally.
Anne sat up, “Why not?” she asked curiously.
“I don’t know, it just doesn’t.”
Cecil filled in some more school history for Anne. “Back in Tyrol, there was one when one of Mum’s friends nearly died. And some of the prees tried to have one once but they got caught.” There was general laughter at the last statement, and Cecil was forced to clarify that it was the current prefects who had had one when they were Middles.
“It would be fun,” Rosita said. “My brothers and I used to try to stay up and have them at home but we generally fell asleep. We did manage once when we were on holiday.”
“Never mind your family history,” Cecil said, “Shall we do it?”
“Has no-one ever had one here before?” Anne asked in astonishment.
“It’s like Cecil said, people do try but they always get caught,” Hilary explained.
“So if we can work out why they get caught, and avoid those mistakes, then we could pull it off,” Anne said thoughtfully.
“Well, it’s usually a dead giveaway when people are sick or tired the next day,” Cecil pointed out. “And Matey always seems to be on the spot. I suppose we’d need to be really careful not to make too much noise.”
“Sometimes I think it is just misfortune which is the problem,” Celine added. “Someone sleepwalks, or feels ill, or can’t sleep and then hears the feast.”
A blast on a whistle interrupted the conversation and the girls all jumped to their feet to return to the meeting-point and thence to the school and the idea was shelved for the time-being. However, it was not forgotten and a week or so later Anne raised it again in the Common Room.
“Cecil, were you serious about what you said on the ramble about having a midnight feast? Because half-term would be a good time to stock up on supplies.”
Cecil looked up. “Of course I was serious. We’d better start planning what to buy then. Not too much, and not too rich.”
“We’ll need drinks as well.”
“How many people are in?”
“When shall we do it?”
An excited group gathered and plans were laid carefully. Cecil was determined that this feast really would come off, and was careful to instruct the Crew not to buy too much. She told each person what they were to buy, and forbade any wild experiments. A Saturday night was selected as being the best time to have the feast, because they had an extra hour in bed on Sunday mornings anyway, as well as a restful day, so their sleepiness had more chance of going unnoticed. As Anne had predicted, the half-term trip provided a perfect opportunity to do the shopping for the feast. They arrived back at school on the Thursday and distributed the food among their belongings. There had been a locker and dormitory inspection just before half-term, and Cecil ordered her patrners in crime to be as tidy as possible so that Matey or their form-mistress would not be moved to repeat the inspection. The staff were impressed by the form’s increased effort at tidiness but never guessed the reason.
No special entertainment had been planned for the Saturday night after the excitements of half-term. The Crew divided themselves between the dancing in the Hall and quiet reading in the common room. Daphne had pointed out that they all needed to do some dancing, otherwise Matorn would think they were sicknening for something, but equally they should all try to rest a bit as well so they wouldn’t sleep all night. The weather had been hot for the last two days, so it was no surprise to anyone that even the active Middles were not eager to dance every dance. Anne had pointed out that the heat was also a good reason for them not to have slept. “I don’t mean we lie about it,” she had said, “but Matey will probably assume that if we’re tired it will be because it’s so hot so we couldn’t sleep. And that may be true anyway.”
When bedtime came, the girls managed to smuggle all the food they had left downstairs up to the dormitories in pockets and under blouses. There was not much left as most of it was hidden in the dormitories already. They quickly got ready for bed. One girl in each dormitory had been nominated to wake the others, and many alarm clocks were carefully hidden under pillows.
At the stroke of half-past eleven, Anne woke from a confused dream about the forthcoming exams, which she seemed to be taking in fancy dress. When she woke fully, she hastily turned off her alarm clock and slipped out of bed. She crept through the dormitory, waking those who were to take part. Fortunately, Barbara Craven, their dormitory prefect, was a heavy sleeper. Providence seemed to be smiling on the girls, however, and even dormitory prefects who were notoriously light sleepers slumbered on.
Cecil had reluctantly restricted the feast to those members of the form who slept in St Therese, on the grounds that it would be too risky for those in other houses to come across the school. Most of the Crew slept in the same house, however, something Matron kept thinking about changing. The feasters gathered in a small linen store-room which Rosita had managed to open with one of the keys from her collection. Each girl brought her share of the food and drink with her. An inclination to giggle was quickly settled when Cecil declared that anyone who was making too much noise could just go straight back to bed. This sobered them, and they laid out the food on the floor.
“Ow, that was my stomach,” Hilary protested, as someone’s elbow nudged her sharply.
“Look, just stay still,” Cecil ordered. “We can pass round the food rather than spreading it all out.”
“Who wants a biscuit?” Anne offered. Cecil’s instructions had all been followed, so there were no bacon rashers or sardines, just biscuits, cake, fruit and sweets. Drink had also been provided in the form of a vase filled with water in the bathroom, which the girls carefully passed round. They chattered quietly, tensely alert for any sound from outside which would indicate discovery.
Once the small amount of food had been consumed, and the water finished, Anne laid her towel along the bottom of the door, then switched on her torch and, with some difficulty given their cramped conditions, the girls gathered up wrappers and other rubbish.
“How are we going to get rid of the rubbish?” George asked.
“We can all take a little and put it in our blazer pockets,” Hilary proposed. “Then next time we go on a ramble we can throw it away with the rest of our food.”
“But the fruit peel will be disgusting by then,” protested Rosita.
“We’ll have a game of hide and seek tomorrow, and a couple of people can go and hide by the bins near the kitchen and throw the stuff away then,” Cecil said. “I know it means going out of bounds, but if it’s all part of a game no-one will be suspicious.”
“Hmm, we’ve been jolly lucky so far,” said Hilary pessimistically. “What are the chances of Matey catching us now?”
“Zero,” Cecil replied with a grin. “She and Miss Annersley went into Interlaken this afternoon and missed the last train back. Didn’t you listen during the Notices after Prayers? Miss Derwent told us not to imagine penny-horrors about why they weren’t around.”
Hilary blushed. “I was too busy trying to solve the last clue in the crossword,” she admitted. There were muted giggles, before Cecil shushed everyone, and sent them back to the dormitories one by one. This was is some ways the most risky part of the plan, as they had to chance not being seen leaving the linen room. The first pair to leave acted as sentries, but for once they were lucky. Only Celine was seen by anyone in authority. As she approached her dormitory she saw Barbara Henschell, the house matron, at the end of the corridor, so she quickly ducked into the bathroom. Barbara, on her way to a Junior with toothache, did not stop to investigate, assuming the girl she had seen merely wanted a glass of water on a hot night. Celine’s heart-rate returned to normal after Barbara had passed and she quickly scurried back to her bed where, like her partners in crime, she slept straight through until the rising bell.
The dormitory prefects of the midnighters were aware that some of their charges seemed slower than usual that morning, and wondered what mischief they had been up to. But the Middles had covered their tracks so well that no-one suspected what that mischief had been. And when Miss Annersley and Matron appeared late at breakfast with Jack Lambert, a much-loved Old Girl, the topic of conversation shifted to her and her news, including admiration of the new car in which she had driven the mistresses back to the school.
Nothing could escape Matron, of course, but she ascribed the lethargy of the midnighters to the heat which was affecting many girls and some of the staff. An extra-long rest period was decreed for the afternoon, which most of the school used to sleep unashamedly in the shade.
As the girls headed up to bed that evening, Anne and Cecil managed a quick word before leaving the common room.
“That game of hide and seek worked perfectly, Cecil. Everything’s gone according to plan, and no-one will notice anything amiss,” Anne congratulated her cousin.
Cecil grinned, “I do declare we have held the first successful midnight feast in the annals of the Chalet School,” she announced grandly. Then her face fell. “There’s just one thing: because of the trouble we'd be in for it, we can’t actually tell anyone we’ve managed it!”

#2: Author: Ann, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 9:47 pm

Brilliant Caz - is it complete, or will there be any more?

ETA: have just realised I misread the subtitle and it is complete!

Last edited by Ann on Sun Jun 20, 2004 9:49 pm; edited 1 time in total

#3: Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!!

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 9:49 pm

Fabulous!! So very carefully planned, and a great catch at the end! Thank you Very Happy

#4: Author: Marianne, Location: Bournemouth

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 9:56 pm

yay. that was great!
is there more?

#5: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 10:18 pm

Loved that, thank you. Nice to know they got away with it eventually, someone had to.

#6: Author: Steph, Location: Blackpool, Lancashire

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 10:21 pm

Hehe, thats great caz Laughing

lovely little story and nice twist at the end Smile

#7: Author: Vikki, Location: Possibly in hell! It's certainly hot enough.......

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 11:17 pm

*grin*
that was great Caz!!!

#8: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 11:19 pm

Too bad it'll be a few years before they can tell all Very Happy

.

*feels hungry*

#9: Author: Lesley, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 11:44 pm

Excellent! About time that someone managed it - now they've only to wait until they leave School and they can add it to the legends!

#10: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 4:33 pm

Great to see them getting away with a midnight feast for once!

#11: Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!!

Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 4:51 pm

Perhaps we need a sequel a few years on where all is revealed and no one believes them????

*smiles sweetly*

#12: Author: Rachael,

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 10:56 am

Like it!! Especially the twist!

Hope you do Ally's follow up!

#13: Author: caz, Location: Cambridge

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 11:21 am

For Ally.

Epilogue

Joey offered Hilda Annersley another of Anna’s lemon biscuits, but Miss Annersley reluctantly shook her head.
“No, thank you, Joey. I couldn’t eat another thing. Now, I really should be getting back to the school shortly: it wouldn’t do for the Head to be late for Prayers!”
Joey grinned. “That would be a sensation! I don’t believe you’ve ever been late for anything in your life.”
Miss Annersley smiled. “Oh, I think I may have missed a train once or twice. And I was very nearly late meeting some parents the other week, when I had to deal with those Middles and their attempt at a midnight feast.”
“Phil described their faces when she walked in on them. Apparently horrified didn’t come close. And I think she and her fellow prefects wiped the floor with them after you were done. Using the Prefects Room was unparalleled cheek.”
“It’s strange to think that there’s never once been a successful midnight feast in the school annals,” Miss Annersley mused. “You’d think someone would have managed it.”
Joey raised an eyebrow. “Well, I did have an odd letter from Cecil. I gather Phil must have given her a full description of recent events, because she wrote rather scathingly about the current Middles’ failure to pull off a midnight feast, and claimed that she and her Crew had managed to hold one, entirely unsuspected. I think she must be pulling my leg, though. Or maybe they just nibbled a couple of chocolates in the dormitory. I can’t really believe they had a proper feast, and we didn’t hear about it sooner.”
“Did you tell her so?” Miss Annersley queried.
“No, I only received her letter yesterday. I was taken in at first, I mean she’s very convincing, and I don’t want to call her a liar, but it’s not really a very good leg-pull. It’s not as though it was actually possible!”
Miss Annersley shrugged. “Well, you know Cecil best. Though if anyone could have amanged it in recent years I would say it would have been her and the Crew.”
“But Matey would have spotted it for sure,” Joey pointed out and her guest was forced to acknowledge the truth of the statement.
“Anyway, the Middles have been very peaceful since then, so I suppose I should be expecting the next bout of mischief any day now,” Miss Annersley said with a smile, thinking longingly of a retirement chalet, with no more naughty schoolgirls to be reformed. She made her farewells and returned to the school while her hostess cleared the tea things away and settled down to write a letter to her daughter, congratulating her on her latest leg-pull.

Cecil’s reaction to the letter was to rant at length on the telephone to her cousin.
“I did warn you that no-one would believe we’d done the impossible,” Anne said at last, when Cecil paused for breath. “But at least we know we pulled it off. Although it seems funny now, when we go to all-night parties, how important a snack in a store-room was back then.”
Cecil giggled and resigned herself to the fact that even her mother would not believe their achievement, before moving on to gossip with Anne about their ever-increasing band of relations, and the midnight feast that really came off was consigned to historical oblivion.

#14: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 12:27 pm

What a wonderful ending, thanks for rounding it off properly. I love the way no one believes them, and the comment about relations, oh and Hilda's dream of the furture!

#15: Author: Rachael,

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 12:41 pm

Marvellous, caz!!

Thank you Very Happy

#16: Author: Marianne, Location: Bournemouth

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 1:13 pm

yay, cool! Very Happy

#17: Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!!

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 5:06 pm

Thank you soooo much!!! Very Happy

I love Joey's faith in Matey!

#18: Author: Vikki, Location: Possibly in hell! It's certainly hot enough.......

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:17 pm

LOL
Thank you Caz!!!!

#19: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2004 1:13 am

*thinks of the things Joey told Madge years later, and wonders ROFL

at her unbelief. Laughing

Thanks, Caz.

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