Читать книгу The Seaside Family - Enid blyton - Страница 4

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“School’s over for two months, thank goodness!” said Mike, and he slammed his books down on the table.

The vase of flowers there nearly jumped off the table. “Mike! Be careful,” said Mummy. “There now—Belinda has done the same—and off goes the vase.”

“Sorry Mummy,” said Belinda, and picked up the vase. Mike went to get a cloth to wipe up the water. Ann picked up the flowers. They were all laughing. Mummy couldn’t help laughing too.

“Well I know how you feel, when school is ended for a time,” she said. “The summer holidays are so lovely and long for you too, aren’t they—almost eight weeks. Goodness me—what shall I do with you for eight weeks?”

“I know what I want to do,” said Mike. “I want to go to the seaside. We’ve been in a houseboat on a canal ...”

“And we’ve been on a big ship for a trip,” said Ann.

“And now we want to go to the seaside,” said Mike. “Don’t we, girls?”

“Yes,” said the girls at once, and Mummy smiled. “You’ve been planning this together on the way home from school!” she said. “Well, it’s no good asking me. It’s Daddy you must ask. It costs money to go to the seaside, you know, and we don’t have very much to spare.”

“Mummy, we don’t see why it should cost very much to go and stay at the seaside,” said Mike, earnestly. “Can’t we go in our caravans? Then we don’t need to take a house anywhere, or to go to a hotel. We’d just live in the caravans as usual.”

Mike’s family had two caravans that stood in a green field where cows grazed. Sometimes the cows bumped against the vans at night and woke the children—but they didn’t mind little things like that! That was all part of the fun.

The caravans were painted red and yellow. They had little red chimneys out of which smoke came when Mummy lighted her fire, or got the stove going in the children’s caravan.

Mike, Belinda and Ann slept in three bunks, one above the other in one caravan. Mummy and Daddy slept in bunks in the other caravan. It was fun.

The children lived at school from Monday to Friday in the term-time, and came back to the caravans for the week-ends. How they loved that! What fun it was to have a home on wheels, one that had no roots, but could be taken anywhere they liked.

“We’ll ask Daddy as soon as we see him,” said Mike. “We’ll make him say yes. He’ll love it too.”

So they lay in wait for Daddy, and hurled themselves on him as soon as he walked in at the field-gate.

“Daddy! We’ve something to ask you.”

“Something very important!”

“Something you’ve got to say yes to!”

“Is it something about the summer holidays?” asked Daddy thinking that three children could be very very heavy when they all hung on to him at once.

“Yes,” said everyone.

“Well, before you begin, let me break the news to you,” said Daddy firmly. “Whatever ideas you’ve got in your head have got to come out. I’ve no money to spend on a summer holiday by the sea! That is—if you want to go to a hotel. The only thing I can do for you this summer is to let you go away somewhere fresh and new in the caravans. Nothing else at all.”

The three children squealed loudly.

“But Daddy! That’s what we WANT! We want to go to the sea in the caravans. It’s what we wanted to ask you.”

“Well, well, well—great minds certainly do think alike!” said Daddy. “I must ask Mummy about it first.”

“We’ve asked her, we’ve asked her!” chanted Ann. “And she said we must ask you. And we’ve asked you. So is it settled?”

Daddy began to laugh. “What a lot of little pests you are! Yes, yes—it’s settled. We’ll choose a nice seaside place, and we’ll all go off there together. I shall enjoy it too. But wait a minute—I’ve just thought of something.”

“What?” said all three alarmed.

“It’s this—I’ve asked Ben Johns to come and stay with you here,” said Daddy. “I meant to put him up in the farmer’s cottage and let him play with you all day. Oh dear—what shall we do about that?”

By this time Mummy was with them. “Oh—little Ben Johns?” she said. “Yes, I remember we said we’d have him for a time. Poor child, his mother’s very ill, isn’t she? Well—we can’t very well go to the seaside then.”

“We can! We can take him too!” said Belinda. “Just another bunk put up in our caravan, that’s all! We’ve three already. Can’t you get another one just for these holidays, Daddy?”

“Yes—I suppose we could,” said Daddy, and everyone cheered. “Now—I want my TEA! Who’s going to get it? And afterwards we’ll settle everything.”

“More fun!” cried Belinda, running to make the tea. “More fun for the Caravan Family!”