The Christmas of Adventure

©2015 June E.

Philip, Dinah, Jack and Lucy-Ann are excited at the prospect of spending their first Christmas together, but by Christmas Eve all their plans lie in ruins. Things get even worse when a severe snowstorm brings the country to a standstill and leaves Bill snowbound, hundreds of miles away. Forced to fend for themselves in Bill's remote moorland cottage, rumours abound of a strange and terrifying creature lurking in the woods nearby... and with a ruthless thief on the loose, striking at night and stealing birds from the local Sanctuary, the scene is set for a frightening and perilous adventure. Can they stop the thief before it's too late? Or will Kiki be the robber's next victim?

Chapter 29: 'Atishoo!'

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It was nearly dark when the children piled through the front door of Oak Tree Cottage. The cottage was deliciously warm, in sharp contrast to the bitter chill outdoors. Mouth-watering smells drifted out of the kitchen. Bill was standing at the kitchen door holding a large wooden spoon, frowning slightly.

'You lot are rather late – where have you been?' he asked. 'Surely you haven't been at Drear Cottage all this time?'

'We had a walk in Moorland wood,' explained Jack, looking uncomfortable. 'I hadn't intended to keep us out quite so long.'

'You look frozen!' exclaimed Bill, exasperated. 'Dinah, Lucy-Ann... your feet are soaking and you look perished with cold. Upstairs the pair of you, and straight into a hot bath. Then put your night things on and come down to the sitting room fire. It will be a miracle if you haven't caught your deaths of cold.'

He cast an angry glance at Jack, who reddened.

'I'm awfully sorry, Bill,' he said. 'I just lost track of time... and we found something very curious in the wood... ouch!'

Philip had given him a firm dig in the ribs with his elbow – clearly he wanted to keep the rope ladder a secret from Bill!

Luckily Bill was too cross to pay much attention to Jack's words.

'Stop right there,' he commanded. 'Girls, upstairs now please. Boys, go to the log pile and fill up the basket, then stoke up the sitting room fire.'

'Atishoo!' sneezed Dinah, from halfway up the stairs.

Bill threw another exasperated glance at Jack. He was the oldest, and therefore Bill held him responsible for keeping them all out so late on such a chilly day.

'Atishoo!' repeated Dinah, desperately trying to muffle the noisy sneeze.

Suddenly, Kiki appeared and flew straight to Jack's shoulder.

'Atishoo!' she mimicked, excited by all the noise and chatter. 'Don't forget to blow your nose!'

But Bill looked so cross that nobody dared to laugh.

Half an hour later, and Bill and the four children were in the cosy sitting room, lounging by a roaring fire. Bill had drawn various armchairs close to the fire, and scattered piles of cushions round and about, and the children were all very comfortable indeed. They each had a generous portion of Christmas pudding, and a jug of thick cream was being passed from one to the other.

'Oooh, I do love eating all the leftover goodies from Christmas,' said Lucy-Ann, before plunging her spoon into the sticky, fruity pudding.

'So do I,' agreed Dinah, licking her spoon. 'Especially as we didn't have any on Christmas day.'

'So does Kiki,' said Jack, grinning.

He held out a plump raisin and Kiki took it eagerly, holding it in one claw and nibbling delicately at the fragrant fruit.

'You'd better watch out,' said Bill. 'Mrs Grouch soaked those raisins in brandy before she made the pudding – I'm not sure we want a drunken parrot on our hands.'

But he needn't have worried. As soon as Kiki took a proper bite of the raisin she dropped it and screeched loudly.

'Looks like Kiki's a teetotaller!' laughed Bill. 'She certainly doesn't like the taste of brandy!'

'Here, Kiki,' coaxed Jack, holding out a large sunflower seed. 'No more pudding for you – come and have a nice crunchy sunflower seed instead.'

'Don't forget to blow your nose!' she screeched, still disgusted and puzzled by the taste of the raisin. They didn't usually take so peculiar! Kiki resolved, in her little parrot brain, not to have anymore raisins until she was safely back in her proper home, where raisins could be relied upon to taste quite delicious.

When the dishes had been cleared away Bill produced a battered wooden box.

'It's a compendium of board games,' he said, sliding off the lid.

It really was a glorious collection: Snakes and Ladders, with a brightly coloured board featuring ferocious-looking snakes; Ludo, with sets of green, red, yellow and blue glass counters in their own little box; two packs of playing cards; a little red pot, with a bag of Tiddley Winks counters; a large cloth sack containing coloured glass marbles; several wooden dice; a black and white checked board, with a box of tiny chess pieces – and more besides!

'I vote for Snakes and Ladders first!' exclaimed Philip, and everyone agreed. A lively game ensued, with Lucy-Ann getting to the 99th square, only to be swallowed by an enormous snake and sliding right back to the beginning! Then, to everyone's amazement, Bill threw a six three times in a row, and won the game.

Ludo was chosen next. Bill didn't play, as there were only four sets of counters. Sitting back in his armchair, he watched the children as they played, laughed and squabbled.

'Philip, be careful where you throw the dice, idiot!' exclaimed Dinah. 'You just knocked my counter off the board.'

'Lucy-Ann, you silly, you are green not red,' laughed Jack. 'You just moved my counter by mistake!'

Then wooosh! Kiki landed right in the middle of the board, scattering the playing pieces everywhere!

Bill noticed that Dinah was being very quiet and her cheeks were flushed. He put his hand on her forehead and frowned.

'Dinah, you're burning up,' he said. 'You've caught a cold. How do you feel?'

Reluctantly, Dinah admitted that her head ached and her throat was starting to feel sore.

'Off to bed, young lady,' said Bill firmly.

Dinah's face fell – she didn't want to miss all the fun! But Bill was adamant. Within ten minutes Dinah was tucked up in bed with a hot water bottle, a glass of hot water and lemon, and a clean handkerchief.

'You may read for ten minutes but then I want you to go to sleep,' said Bill. 'Perhaps you'll feel better tomorrow.'

Dinah nestled back against her pillows with her 'People of the World' book on her lap, but her eyes ached and she couldn't read. Instead she closed her eyes and listened to the shouts and laughter from downstairs – the sounds of a resurrected game of Ludo. She was disappointed to be missing the fun, but... she was glad of time to think. Why hadn't she told the others about the tuft of brown fur on the trunk of the oak tree? She wasn't sure. Maybe she had been feeling cross with Philip – he had been so annoying and smug when he was up the tree – and after all, she had found the rope ladder, not Philip.

Dinah started to feel quite sleepy, but now that she was alone, thoughts and questions teemed into her mind. Why was someone secretly visiting that ramshackle old hut, so well hidden behind the blackthorn trees? How had the tuft of fur come to be so high up on the tree trunk? Rabbits and foxes didn't climb up oak trees, and it wasn't the right colour for a squirrel. She had seen fur like that before – the Midnight Man's coat was light brown, the same as the tuft... Only one explanation seemed to fit – the secret hut was the haunt of the Midnight Man, and the tuft of fur had come from his coat.

Dinah rested her hot head against the cool pillow, and her eyes drifted shut.

'First thing in the morning, I'm going to tell the others about the fur,' she thought. 'Bill will know what to do... maybe now we will be able to solve the mystery of the Midnight Man.'

And with that thought, Dinah drifted off to sleep.

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