Читать книгу Five Have a Mystery to Solve - Enid blyton - Страница 4

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‘The nicest word in the English language is holidays!’ said Dick, helping himself to a large spoonful of marmalade. ‘Pass the toast, Anne. Mother, do you feel down-hearted to have us all tearing about the place again?’

‘Of course not,’ said his mother. ‘The only thing that really worries me when holidays come, is Food—Food with a capital F. We never seem to have enough in the house when all three of you are back. And by the way—does anyone know what has happened to the sausages that were in the larder?’

‘Sausages—sausages—let me think!’ said Julian, frowning. Anne gave a sudden giggle. She knew quite well what had happened.

‘Well, Mother—you said we could get our own meal last night, as you were out,’ said Julian. ‘So we poked about and decided on sausages.’

‘Yes, but Julian—two whole pounds of sausages!’ said his mother. ‘I know Georgina came over to spend the evening—but even so ... !’

‘She brought Timmy,’ said Anne. ‘He rather likes sausages too, Mother.’

‘Well, that’s the last time I leave the larder door unlocked, when I go out!’ said her mother. ‘Fancy cooking those lovely pork sausages for a dog—especially Timmy, with his enormous appetite! Really, Anne! I meant to have them for our lunch today.’

‘Well—we rather thought we’d go and spend the day at Kirrin, with George and Timmy,’ said Dick. ‘That’s if you don’t want us for anything, Mother.’

‘I do want you,’ said his mother. ‘Mrs Layman is coming to tea, and she said she wants to see you about something.’

The three groaned, and Dick protested at once. ‘Oh Mother—the first day of the holidays—and we have to be in to tea! It’s too bad—a glorious spring day like this too!’

‘Oh—we’ll be in to tea all right,’ said Julian, giving Dick a sharp little kick under the table, as he saw his mother’s disappointed face. ‘Mrs Layman’s a nice old thing—she was always giving us little treats when we were little.’

‘And she never forgets our birthdays,’ said Anne. ‘Do you think we could ask George over too—with Timmy? George will be awfully disappointed if we aren’t with her the first day of the hols.’

‘Yes, of course you can,’ said her mother. ‘Go and ring her up now, and arrange it. And don’t forget to put our old Tibby-cat into the shed, with a saucer of milk. She’s scared stiff of Timmy—he’s so enormous. And please, all of you, try to look clean at tea-time.’

‘I’ll see to Dick and Anne,’ said Julian, with a grin. ‘I must remember to find their overalls!’

‘I’m going to phone George now, this very minute,’ said Anne, getting up from the table. ‘Do you mind, Mother? I’ve finished—and I’d like to catch George before she takes Tim for a walk, or does some shopping for Aunt Fanny.’

‘Uncle Quentin will be glad to be rid of George even for a meal,’ said Dick. ‘He fell over her lacrosse stick yesterday, and wanted to know why she left her fishing net about! George didn’t know what he was talking about!’

‘Poor old Georgina,’ said his mother. ‘It’s a pity that both she and her father have exactly the same hot tempers. Her mother must find it difficult to keep the peace! Ah—here’s Anne back again. Did you get George on the phone, dear?’

‘Yes. She’s thrilled,’ said Anne. ‘She says it’s just as well we’re not going to spend the day with her, because Uncle Quentin has lost some papers he was working on, and he’s turning the house upside down. George said she will probably be mad as a hatter by the time she arrives this afternoon! Uncle Quentin even made Aunt Fanny turn out her knitting bag to see if the papers were there!’

‘Dear old Quentin,’ said her mother. ‘Such a truly brilliant scientist—remembers every book he’s ever read—every paper he’s ever written—and has the finest brain I know—and yet loses some valuable paper or other almost every week!’

‘He loses something else every day of the week too,’ said Dick, with a grin. ‘His temper! Poor old George—she’s always in some sort of trouble!’

‘Well, anyway, she’s jolly glad to be coming over here!’ said Anne. ‘She’s biking over, with Timmy. She’ll be here for lunch. Is that all right, Mother?’

‘Of course!’ said her mother. ‘Now—seeing that you had today’s dinner for last night’s supper, you’d better do a little shopping for me. What shall we have?’

‘SAUSAGES!’ said everyone, at once.

‘I should have thought you were quite literally fed up with sausages, after last night’s feast,’ said their mother, laughing. ‘All right—sausages. But Timmy can have a bone—a nice meaty bone. I am not going to buy any more sausages for him, that’s quite certain.’

‘And shall we get some nice cakes for tea as Mrs Layman is coming?’ said Anne. ‘Or are you going to make some, Mother?’

‘I’ll make a few buns,’ said her mother. ‘And you can choose whatever else you like—so long as you don’t buy up the shop!’

The three went off shopping, cycling along the lane to the village. It was a truly lovely spring day. The celandines were golden in the ditches, and daisies were scattered everywhere. Dick burst into song as they went, and the cows in the nearby fields lifted their heads in surprise, as Dick’s loud voice swept round them.

Anne laughed. It was good to be with her brothers again. She missed them very much when she was at school. And now—they would have almost a whole month together—with their cousin George too. She was suddenly overwhelmed with joy, and lifted up her voice and joined Dick in his singing. Her brothers looked at her with affection and amusement.

‘Good old Anne,’ said Dick. ‘You’re such a quiet little mouse, it’s nice to hear you singing so loudly.’

‘I am not a quiet little mouse!’ said Anne, surprised and rather hurt. ‘Whatever makes you say that? You just wait—you may get a surprise one day!’

‘Yes—we may!’ said Julian. ‘But I doubt it. A mouse can’t suddenly turn into a tiger! Anyway, one tiger’s enough. George is the tiger of our family—my word, she can put out her claws all right—and roar—and ramp and rave!’

Everyone laughed at the picture of George as a tiger. Dick wobbled as he laughed and his front wheel touched Anne’s back wheel. She turned round fiercely.

‘look out, idiot! You nearly had me over! Can’t you see where you’re going? Be sensible, can’t you?’

‘Hey, Anne—whatever’s the matter?’ said Julian, amazed to hear his gentle little sister lashing out so suddenly.

Anne laughed. ‘It’s all right. I was just being a tiger for a moment—putting out my claws! I thought Dick and you might like to see them!’

‘Well, well!’ said Dick, riding beside her, ‘I’ve never heard you yell like that before. Surprising—but quite pleasing! What about you showing old George your claws sometime when she gets out of hand?’

‘Stop teasing,’ said Anne. ‘Here’s the butcher’s. For goodness sake go and get the sausages and be sensible. I’ll go and buy the cakes.’

The baker’s shop was full of new-made buns and cakes, and smelt deliciously of home-made bread. Anne enjoyed herself choosing a vast selection. ‘After all,’ she thought, ‘there will be eight of us—counting Timmy—and if we’re all hungry, cakes soon disappear.’

The boys were very pleased to see all the paper bags.

‘Looks like a good tea today,’ said Dick. ‘I hope the old lady—what’s her name now—Layman—who’s coming to tea today, has a good appetite. I wonder what she’s going to tell us about.’

‘Did you buy a nice meaty bone for Timmy?’ asked Anne. ‘He’ll like that for his tea.’

‘We bought such a beauty that I’m pretty sure Mother will say it’s good enough to make soup from,’ said Dick, with a grin. ‘So I’ll keep it in my saddle-bag till he comes. Dear old Tim. He deserves a jolly good bone. Best dog I ever knew!’

‘He’s been on a lot of adventures with us,’ said Anne, bicycling beside the boys, as the road was empty. ‘And he seemed to enjoy them all.’

‘Yes. So did we!’ said Dick. ‘Well—who knows? An adventure may be lying in wait for us these hols too! I seem to smell one in the air!’

‘You don’t!’ said Anne. ‘You’re just making that up. I’d like a bit of peace after a hectic term at school. I worked jolly hard this last term.’

‘Well—you were top of your form, and captain of Games—so you deserve to have the kind of holiday you like,’ said Julian, proud of his young sister. ‘And so you shall! Adventures are out! Do you hear that, Dick? We keep absolutely clear of them. So that’s that!’

‘Is it, Ju?’ said Anne, laughing. ‘Well—we’ll see!’