Читать книгу The Caravan Family - Enid blyton - Страница 3

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Daddy had been away for two long years, and now he was back again! Mummy smiled all day long, and the three children were happy too.

Soon Daddy and Mummy began to talk about where they were going to live. “We can’t live with Granny any more,” said Daddy. “We must have a home of our own.”

“A dear little house in the country!” said Mike, the eldest.

“Called Cherry Cottage,” said Belinda, who was next.

“And let’s keep cows,” said Ann, the youngest.

“We’ll try and find all you want,” said Daddy, and he laughed.

So they tried. They heard of cottages here and houses there, but oh dear, when they went to see them, they didn’t like them a bit!

“Well, whatever are we to do?” said Mummy. “We really can’t all live at Granny’s for the rest of our lives!”

Then they found one dear little cottage with roses growing all the way up the walls. It was set on a hill and had a lovely view.

“We’ll have this!” said Mummy. But the price was very high, and Daddy hadn’t enough money to buy it. So that was no good either.

They came away from the cottage feeling rather sad. “We shall never find a home,” said Mummy, and she looked so miserable that Daddy put his arm round her and gave her a hug.

“Don’t give up hope!” he said. “Why, you may find a home round the very next corner!”

“Things like that don’t happen, Daddy,” said Mummy, but she laughed.

“I wonder what’s round the next corner,” said Belinda. “It would be funny if Daddy’s words came true!”

“We’ll see what houses there are when we come to the next corner,” said Mike. So they all looked hard when they came to it.

There were no houses to be seen at all—only two old caravans, set in the corner of the field!

“They’re empty,” said Mike. “Can I get over the gate and have a look at them, Daddy? I’ve never seen a caravan really close to.”

The three children climbed over the gate, while Mummy and Daddy leaned against it, waiting. Ann was the first at the caravans. “There are steps to go up into them,” she cried. “Shall we go up? There’s no one here!”

But the doors were locked. The children couldn’t get inside. They stood on one of the wheels and peeped through a window.

“They’re quite big inside!” said Belinda. “Look!—that’s where the stove is—and the smoke comes out of the little chimney-thing at the top. It’s awfully dirty inside, though.”

The children had a good look at the two caravans. They had once been painted a gay yellow and blue, but now the paint was dull and cracked. The shafts into which horses had once been backed, to pull the caravans along, slanted to the ground, and there were no horses to be seen.

“How I wish we lived in a caravan!” said Ann, longingly. “Just think of it, Mike! When we got tired of living in one place, we could put in the horses and go off to another!”

“A house on wheels!” said Belinda. “Mike—why shouldn’t we live in a caravan? After all—we can’t get a house!”

“Let’s go and ask Daddy!” said Mike, and the three of them sped off to the gate.

“Daddy! Daddy! Why can’t we live in a caravan?” cried Belinda. “Why can’t we? Do you suppose these would be for sale?”

Daddy and Mummy laughed. “Live in a caravan! Oh no, darling, we couldn’t do that.”

“But why not?” said Ann. “I can think of all sorts of good reasons why we should, and not a single reason why we shouldn’t!”

“Couldn’t we live in a caravan for the summer—just till we find a house?” said Mike, suddenly. “It would be a kind of holiday, Mummy—and you did say you’d like to go off for a holiday, a long one, now Daddy is home again.”

“Well,” said Mummy and Daddy together, and looked at one another. A holiday—in caravans—just till they could find a house? It wasn’t a bad idea at all!

A big burly man came walking along the lane. Daddy spoke to him. “Good afternoon! Could you tell us if these caravans are for sale?”

“They are,” said the farmer. “They belong to me. I bought them off some gipsies last year. Why, do you want them? You can have them cheap.”

Suddenly everyone felt very excited. The caravans were for sale—cheap! Oh Daddy, Daddy, do buy them, thought all the children, looking at him with big eyes.

“Well—I’ll come along and talk to you about them,” said Daddy. And he went along with the farmer.

Will you believe it?—when he came back, he had bought both the caravans! The children hung on to his arms, laughing and shouting in excitement.

“Oh Daddy! They’re ours, they’re really ours! When can we move in? Oh, our new home was just round the corner after all!”

“The caravans will have to be well cleaned, repaired and re-painted,” said Daddy. “That will take three weeks. And we must buy two horses. My goodness—we’re going to have some fun!”

“We shall be the Caravan Family!” said Belinda. “What adventures we shall have!”