Five Get Into a Fix

I do think these Christmas holidays have been the worst we"ve ever had,” said Dick.

“Jolly bad luck on old George, coming to stay with us for Christmas - and then us all going down with those awful colds and coughs,” said Julian.

“Yes - and being in bed on Christmas Day was horrible,” said George. “The worst of it was I coulcln"t eat anything. Fancy not being hungry on Christmas Day! I never thought that would happen to me!”

“Timmy was the only one of us who didn"t get il ,” said Anne, patting him. “You were a pet, Tim, when we were in bed. You divided your time between us nicely.”

“Woof!” said Timmy, rather solemnly. He hadn"t been at all happy this Christmas. To have four of the five in bed, coughing and sneezing, was quite unheard of!

“Well, anyhow, we"re all up again,” said Dick. “Though my legs don"t real y feel as if they belong to me yet!”

“Oh - do yours feel like that too?” asked George. “I was quite worried about mine!”

“We all feel the same,” said Julian, "but we shall be quite diferent in a day or two - now we"re up. Anyway - we go back to school next week - so we"d better feel al right!”

Everyone groaned - and then coughed. “That"s the worst of this germ we"ve had, whatever it is,” said George. “If we laugh - or speak loudly - or groan - we start coughing. I shal go completely mad if I don"t get rid of my cough. It keeps me awake for hours at night!”

Anne went to the window. “It"s been snowing again,” she said. “Not much - but it looks lovely. To think we might have been out in it all last week. I do think it"s too bad to have holidays like this.”

George joined her at the window. A car drew up outside and a burly, merry-looking man got out and hurried up the steps to the front door.

“Here"s the doctor,” said Anne. “I bet he"l say we"re all quite al right to go back to school next week!”

In a minute or two the door opened and the doctor came into the room, with the mother of Julian, Dick and Anne. She looked tired - and no wonder! Looking after four il children and a most miserable dog over Christmas had not been an easy job!

“Well, here they are - all up and about now!” said Mrs. Barnard. “They look pretty down in the mouth, don"t they?”

“Oh - they"l soon perk up,” said Dr. Drew, sitting down and looking at each of the four in turn. “George looks the worst - not so strong as the others, I suppose.”

George went red with annoyance, and Dick chuckled. “Poor George is the weakling of the family,” he said. “She had the highest temperature, the worst cough, and the loudest groans, and she...”

But whatever else he was going to say was lost beneath the biggest cushion in the room, which an angry George had flung at him with all her might. Dick flung it back, and everyone began to laugh, George too. That set all the four coughing, of course, and the doctor put his hands to his ears.

“Wil they be wel enough to go to school, Doctor?” asked Mrs. Barnard anxiously.

“Well, yes - they would - but they ought to get rid of those coughs first,” said the doctor.

He looked out of the window at the snow. “I wonder now - no - I don"t suppose it"s possible - but...”

“But what?” said Dick, pricking up his ears at once. “Going to send us to Switzerland for a skiing holiday, Doc? Fine! Absolutely smashing! ”

The doctor laughed. “You"re going too fast! ” he said. “No - I wasn"t actual y thinking of Switzerland - but perhaps somewhere hil y, not far from the sea. Somewhere real y bracing, but not too cold - where the snow wil lie, so that you can toboggan and ski, but without travelling as far as Switzerland. Switzerland is expensive, you know!”

“Yes. I suppose it is,” said Julian. “No - we can"t expect a holiday in Switzerland just because we"ve had beastly colds! But I must say a week somewhere would be jol y nice!”

“Oh yes!” said George, her eyes shining. “It would real y make up for these miserable holidays! Do you mean all by ourselves, Doctor? We"d love that.”

“Well, no - someone ought to be there, surely,” said Dr. Drew. “But that"s up to your parents.”

“I think it"s a jol y good idea,” said Julian. “Mother - don"t you think so? I"m sure you"re longing to be rid of us all for a while. You look worn out!”

His mother smiled. “ Well - if it"s what you need - a short holiday somewhere to get rid of your coughs - you must have it. And I won"t say that I shan"t enjoy a little rest while you"re enjoying yourselves having a good time! I"l talk it over with your father.”

“Woof!” said Timmy, looking enquiringly at the doctor, both ears pricked high.

“He says - he needs a rest somewhere too,” explained George. “He wants to know if he can come with us.”

“Let"s have a look at your tongue, Timmy, and give me your paw to feel if it"s hot or not,”

said Dr. Drew, gravely. He held out his hand, and Timmy obediently put his paw into it.

The four children laughed - and immediately began to cough again. How they coughed!

The doctor shook his head at them. “What a din! I shouldn"t have made you laugh. Now I shan"t be coming to see you again until just before you go back to school. I expect your mother wil let me know when that day comes. Goodbye til then - and have a good time, wherever you go!”

“We wil !” said Julian. “And thanks for bothering about us so much. We"ll send you a card when our coughs are gone!”

As soon as Dr. Drew had driven off in his car, there was a conference. “We can go off somewhere, can"t we, Mother?” said Dick, eagerly. “The sooner the better! You must be tired to death of our coughs, night and day!”

“Yes. I think you must go somewhere for a week or ten days,” said his mother. “But the question is - where? You could go off to George"s home, I suppose - Kirrin Cottage... but it"s not high up... and besides, George"s father would certainly not welcome four coughs like yours!”

“No. He"d go mad at once,” said George. “He"d fling open his study door - and stride into our room - and shout „Who"s mak..." ”

But as George began to shout, she coughed - and that was the end of her little piece of acting! “That"s enough, George,” said her aunt. “For goodness" sake, go and get a drink of water.”

There was much debating about where they could go for a little while, and al the time they were talking the snow fel steadily. Dick went to the window, pleased.

“If only we could find a place high up on a hil , just as the doctor said, a place where we could use our toboggans, and our skis,” he said. “Gosh, it makes me feel better already to think of it. I do hope this snow goes on and on.”

“I think I"d better ring up a holiday agency and see if they can offer us something sensible,” said his mother. “Maybe a summer camp set up on a hil would do - it would be empty now, and you could have the choice of a hut or a chalet or something.”

But all her telephoning came to nothing! “No,” said the agencies. “Sorry - we haven"t anything to suggest. Our camps are al closed down now. No - we know of no winter ones in this country at al !”

And then, as so often happens, the problem was suddenly solved by somebody no one had thought of asking ... old Jenkins, the gardener! There was nothing for him to do that day except sweep a path through the snow. He saw the children watching him from the window, grinned and came up to them.

“How are you?” he shouted. “Would you like some apples? They"ve ripened nicely now, those late ones. Your mother said you weren"t feeling like apples - or pears either. But maybe you"re ready for some now.”

“Yes! We are!” shouted Julian, not daring to open the window in case his mother came in and was angry to see him standing with his head out in the cold. “Bring them in, Jenkins.

Come and talk to us!”

So old Jenkins came in, carrying a basket of ripe, yellow apples, and some plump, brown-yellow pears.

“And how are you now?” he said, in his soft Welsh voice, for he came from the Welsh mountains. “It"s pale you are, and thin too. Ah, it"s the mountain air of Wales you want!”

He smiled all over his wrinkled brown face, handing round his basket. The children helped themselves to the fruit.

“Mountain air - that"s what the doctor ordered!” said Julian, biting into a juicy pear. “I suppose you don"t know somewhere like that we could go to, do you, Jenkins?”

“Well, my aunt now, she lets rooms in the summertime!” said Jenkins. “And a good cook she is, my Aunt Glenys. But the winter-time now - I"m not knowing if she"d do it then, what with the snow and all. Her farm"s on the hil side, man - and the slope runs right down to the sea. A fine place it is in the summer - but there"l be nothing but snow there now, sure as I"m telling you.”

“But - it sounds exactly right,” said Anne, delighted. “Doesn"t it, Ju? Let"s cal Mother!

Mother! Mother, where are you?”

Her mother came running in, afraid that one of the children was feeling il again. She was most astonished to see old Jenkins there - and even more astonished to hear the four children pouring out what he had just told them. Timmy added a few excited barks, and Jenkins stood twirling his old hat, quite overcome.

The excitement made Julian and Dick cough distressingly. “Now listen to me,” said their mother, firmly. “Go straight upstairs, and take another dose of your cough medicine. I"l talk to Jenkins and find out what all this is about. No - don"t interrupt, Dick. GO!”

They went at once, and left their mother talking to the bewildered gardener. “Blow this cough!” said Dick, pouring out his usual dose. “Gosh, I hope Mother fixes up something with Jenkins" aunt. If I don"t go off somewhere and lose this cough, I shall go mad - stark, staring mad!”

“I bet we"ll go to his old aunt,” said Julian. “That"s if she"ll take us. It"s the kind of sudden idea that clicks - don"t you think so?”

Julian was right. The idea did “click”. His mother had actual y met Jenkins" old aunt that spring, when she had come to visit her relations, and Jenkins had brought her proudly up to the house to introduce her to the cook. So when Dick and Julian went downstairs again, they were met with good news.

“I"m telephoning to Jenkins" aunt, old Mrs. Jones,” said their mother. “And if she"ll take you

- well off you can go in a day or two - coughs and all!”

Everything was soon settled. Old Mrs. Jones, whose voice came remarkably clearly over the long-distance cal , seemed delighted to take the four children.

“Yes, Mam. I understand. Oh, their coughs won"t last a day here, don"t you be fretting, Mam. And how"s my nephew, Ifor Jenkins, Mam? It"s hoping I am that he"s stil pleasing you. A wild boy he was, and...”

“Mother! Tell her we"re bringing a dog, too,” said Julian, in his mother"s ear. George had been making wild gestures to him, pointing first to Timmy, then to the telephone, where her aunt stood patiently listening to old Mrs. Jones" gossipy talk.

“Oh - er - Mrs. Jones - there"l be a dog, too!” said her aunt. “What - you"ve seven dogs already? Good gracious! Oh, for the sheep, of course...”

“Seven dogs, Timmy!” said George, in a low voice to Tim, who wagged his tail at once.

“What do you think of that? Seven! You"l have the time of your life!”

“Sh!” said Julian, seeing his mother glance crossly at George. He felt thankful that this unexpected holiday had been so quickly fixed up. Like the others, he was beginning to feel very down and dul . It would he wonderful to go away. He wondered where their skis were...

Everyone looked brighter when things had been settled. No school for some time! No lounging about the house wishing something would happen! Tirnmy would be able to go for long walks at last. They would be on their own again, too, a thing the Five loved.

Jenkins was very helpful in looking out toboggans and skis. He brought them all into the house to be examined and cleaned. Something exciting to do at last! Their exertions made them al cough badly, but they didn"t mind so much now.

“Only two days to wait - then we"re off!” said Dick. “Ought we to take our skates, do you think?”

“No. Jenkins says there"s no skating round about the farm,” said George. “I asked him. I say - look at that mound of wool en clothes your mother"s just brought in, Ju! We might be going to the North Pole!”

“Whew, Mother! If we wear al those, we"ll never be able to ski!” said Julian. “Gosh, look -

six scarves! Even if Timmy wears one, that"s one too many.”

“One or two may get wet,” said his mother. “It won"t matter how many clothes you take -

you"re going by car, and we can easily get everything in.”

“I"l take my field-glasses, too,” said Dick. “You never know when they might be useful.

George, old thing, I do hope Timmy wil be friends with the farm dogs. It would be awful if he quarrelled with them - and he does sometimes get fierce with other dogs, you know -

especial y if we make a fuss of them!”

“He"ll behave perfectly,” said George. “And there"s no need to make a fuss of other dogs if we"ve got Timmy.”

“Al right, teacher! ” said Dick, and George stopped her polishing and threw her duster at him. Yes - certainly things were getting normal again!