Читать книгу The Caravan Family - Enid blyton - Страница 4

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Granny held up her hands in horror when she heard that Daddy had bought two caravans.

“My dear!” she said, “what can you be thinking of? Don’t do a thing like that. You can stay with me for always.”

“No, Granny dear,” said Mummy. “You have had enough of three noisy children in your little house. You deserve a little peace and quiet now. We shall be very happy in the caravans.”

Of course, Granny had to go and see them. She thought they were dreadful. “You’ll live like gipsies,” she said. “I can’t bear it.”

“Come inside and have a look,” said Belinda, slipping her hand into Granny’s. Daddy had the keys now, so the caravans could be unlocked. Granny and Belinda went up the steps to the door of the caravan. It was a funny door. You could open all of it at once if you wanted to—or you could open just the top half and leave the bottom half shut.

“Isn’t it a good idea?” said Belinda to Granny. “None of your doors open like that, Granny. Now see what a lot of room there is inside this caravan. This will be Mummy’s and Daddy’s.”

Granny looked round. She saw what looked like a big wide room, with two little windows at the front, and a bigger window down each side. There were no curtains, of course. There was an old stove at one end and a very old and dirty sink, with taps.

“Good gracious!” said Granny. “You can even have running water. I didn’t know that—and cook too. Well, well, well—it really might be rather exciting.”

“Daddy is having two bunks made on this side just like a ship has,” said Belinda. “One, the lower one, can be used as a couch in the day-time, and the other will fold down flat against the wall, and be out of the way.”

Granny began to get excited. “It could be made very nice,” she said, “yes, very nice. You can have cupboards or lockers built against the walls to keep your things in. Pretty curtains at the windows. A flap-table built against the wall, that lets down flat when you don’t want it. Gay rugs on the floor—and thick cork carpet underneath to keep out the cold and damp.”

“All this sounds as if it would cost rather a lot of money,” said Mummy, coming in too.

“I shall help you,” said Granny, at once. “I didn’t like this caravan idea—but if you are set on it, we’ll do everything as nicely as possible. I shall help you!”

Well, of course, that made things more exciting than ever, for Granny’s ideas of helping were very generous. She took the children shopping with her, and they chose gay blue and yellow rugs for their caravan floor, and a very gay piece of stuff for curtains. Granny got them blue and yellow blankets for their bunks and a blue eiderdown each.

“I’m simply longing to live in our caravan!” said Mike, hopping about. “I can’t wait. Three weeks is a terribly long time.”

It was. But there was a great deal to do. Two men arrived one day to repair the caravans. They put a new wheel on one. They mended the chimney of the other. They took out the old stoves ready for new ones to be put in. They mended the rotten old floorboards.

“Everything is all right now, sir,” they said to Daddy. “We can get on with the cleaning and painting.”

Then what a to-do there was, cleaning the caravans. They were scrubbed well, even the wheels. Then they were ready for the painting.

“What colours shall we have?” said Daddy.

“Red,” said Mike.

“Green,” said Belinda.

“Blue, yellow, orange and white,” said Ann.

“Silly!” said Mike. “Mummy, what do you want?”

“Let’s have yellow and red,” said Mummy. “Yellow for the sun that we hope will shine down on us this summer, and red for the roses it will put into your cheeks.”

“Oh yes,” said the children. “Red and yellow!”

So red and yellow it was. The men let Mummy choose the colours and she chose a ladybird red, deep and clear. She chose a creamy yellow.

Then the men began the painting. They painted the caravans yellow, with red round the windows, and a red edge to the roof. The chimneys were red and yellow and the spokes and rims of the wheels were painted red. The door was yellow, and the shafts were blue.

“The caravans look lovely, lovely, lovely!” cried Ann. “Oh Daddy, oh Mummy, aren’t they the finest homes in the world?”

“We shall have to live in them before we say that!” said Mummy, laughing. “Now we must have the stoves and sinks put in. They are ready to be done to-morrow.”

Men came the next day, and put a fine little kitchen-range in Mummy’s caravan, one that would both cook the meals and heat the caravan. But in the children’s caravan was put a closed stove, for heating only. “I’d like to cook,” wailed Belinda, but Mummy said no, she would be the only one doing the cooking!

“But I’d like to cook the bacon and eggs, and put milk puddings into the oven!” said Belinda. “Oh, Mummy, do let us have a stove that cooks, in our caravan! You always said that I must learn to cook some day!”

“Yes—but not in your caravan!” said Mummy. “You can come and help me cook in mine if you want to!”

“They’re ready to live in now. When can we move in, Daddy, say when?” cried Mike.

“Next week,” said Daddy.

“Oh, I simply can’t wait till then!” cried Ann. But she had to, of course!