Christmas with the Chrystals & Other Stories (A Puffin Book) Page 5

  One Christmas holiday my report was so bad that it actually made my mother laugh. It was the result of an exam in which I got two out of a hundred. Surprised, I said without thinking, ‘I wonder what I got two for?’

  Fortunately the report reading took place the moment we got home. Usually this was followed for me by a ‘talk’ in Father’s study. It was not of course a talk, it was a lecture which combined explaining to me what grief my bad work brought, not only to my school, to my parents but also to God. Father was a parson so I accepted this last as a matter of course, though marvelling why someone as busy as God should have time to grieve because of my bad report.

  Then suddenly my talk was over, reports were forgotten and we fell head over heels into the magic of Christmas.

  Tennis Shoes

  The Heath children have tennis running through their blood – their father and grandfather before them were top players – and the twins are championship material. But tennis isn’t the most important thing in their lives. Find out what happens when the children take part in a tennis tournament and in the Christmas panto.

  FROM

  Tennis Shoes

  7. Acting ‘Cinderella’

  The Christmas of that year Jim and Susan played in their club tournament. They had no chance as it was open and drew first class children from all over the country. It started on the Monday after Christmas and went on for a week. This, they thought, was a splendid week to have a tournament in, as it prevented that ‘nothing-nice-will-ever-happen-again’ feeling on Christmas night. The twins entered for the singles and the mixed doubles.

  The tennis tournament was not the only thing of importance happening that holiday. There was as well to be a play in aid of the hospital. They were all acting. It was Cinderella, and rehearsals began immediately after Christmas. The twins felt very important when they explained that during the tournament week they could not promise to come to rehearsals until after six o’clock. They spoke as if they expected to remain in for round after round. Actually, of course, they were not likely to get through one round.

  Nicky was jealous about the tournament.

  ‘It’s mean, you know, all the things you two get. First the club, and now playing in the tournament. I don’t ever seem to get anything at all.’

  ‘But you will,’ Jim argued. ‘When I’m out working you’ll still be lolling about at school and playing at the club. If it comes to that, it must seem very mean to David too. He’s got longer to wait than you have.’

  David looked up from a new section of farm that he had for Christmas.

  ‘I’m perfec’ly sa’sfied.’

  Nicky picked up one of his cows and turned it over.

  ‘Then you shouldn’t be. We haven’t even got as good parts in the play as they have. I can’t see why Susan had to be Cinderella as well as play in a tournament.’

  ‘Well, you couldn’t expect to be it yourself,’ Jim pointed out. ‘You haven’t got the hair for it.’

  Nicky looked sadly at Susan’s plaits. It was an odd world. What luck Susan had! Fancy being born with hair that made it perfectly certain that you would play Cinderella.

  ‘As a matter of fact,’ Susan told her, ‘I think I would rather be the court jester. Besides, you’re going to do juggling. People will think that awfully clever, not knowing about Annie.’

  ‘Ac’ually the best thing is me,’ said David. ‘I have two songs to sing.’

  Susan looked at him in despair.

  ‘Isn’t he awful? I don’t know how anyone can be as conceited as you, David.’

  Nicky squatted down beside the farm. She rearranged a whole row of cows. Instead of waiting to be milked they now looked as if they were going to do a round dance.

  ‘I’m not co’ceited,’ David explained. ‘I jus’ can sing.’

  ‘Because you can do things,’ Jim said, ‘especially if it’s things like singing, you don’t want to slop about all over the place telling people about it.’

  ‘I don’t slop. I just tell.’ David slapped Nicky’s hand. ‘Will you leave those cows alone. I have to make my milk returns to the Gov’nent. Moving them about upsets them.’

  ‘Don’t be mean.’ Nicky helped to put the cows back in their proper places. ‘I have to play with other people’s presents from Daddy and Mummy, because I only get umbrellas.’

  ‘Well, whose fault is that?’ Jim pointed out.

  Nicky rolled over and picked up Agag’s front paws and tried to teach him to dance.

  ‘Mine. I never said it wasn’t. Four umbrellas I’ve had. Next birthday I’m going to ask for something that nobody in the house likes but me, and I’ll go and play with it by myself, because you’ve all been so nasty.’

  ‘We haven’t,’ Susan objected. ‘I’ve got Pride and Prejudice. You wouldn’t like that.’

  ‘And I had Kim,’ said Jim, ‘which you wouldn’t understand.’

  ‘You never care nothin’ for farmin’,’ David pointed out.

  Agag, tried beyond endurance by being forced to dance on his two little back legs, gave a moan. Jim, Susan, and David were very indignant.

  ‘Put him down, Nicky.’

  ‘It’s a shame to tease him, poor little fellow.’

  ‘If I was him I’d have bitten you; bein’ him, he’s too p’lite.’

  Nicky patted Agag.

  ‘He doesn’t mind a bit, do you, darling?’

  Agag never was a dog to bear a grudge. He licked Nicky’s face. He had no idea he was letting the others down.

  ‘That dog,’ said David in disgust, ‘has too f’lict’us a nature.’

  Jim clicked his fingers to bring Agag over to him.

  ‘Felicitous, you mean.’ He picked up Agag. ‘Have you got a felicitous nature, old boy?’ Agag yawned. ‘He says he doesn’t know what felicitous means, and he thinks long words for show are silly.’

  David, quite unmoved, went on arranging his farm.

  ‘Agag and me un’erstan’s each other.’

  Susan and Jim were both knocked out of the singles on the same morning. Susan did not play anything like as well as she could. She was unlucky in that she drew against one of the best players. She did not mind being knocked out by her, but she did dislike the gallery she collected. She felt sure everybody was saying what a bore it was for a good player to have to waste her time playing against her.

  Jim played quite well. He had spent most of the summer term and the early part of the autumn term in training for swimming contests. He really showed signs of being quite exceptional. As soon as the swimming season was over he had done what he could to work at his tennis. He practised against a wall whenever he got a chance, and played what squash he could. He took two games in one set, and one in the other, off a boy of sixteen.

  Nicky came and watched them play in the doubles. Jim and Susan did what they could to prevent her being brought, but she pleaded to be allowed to watch, and Dr Heath said, as long as she behaved herself, he could not see why not. Neither Jim nor Susan had the slightest hope that she would behave herself. She sat beside her father in the front of the gallery.

  ‘Look at Nicky,’ said Susan gloomily to Jim, as they came on to the court. ‘I do hope she won’t call out anything.’

  As a matter of fact Nicky behaved perfectly. She made no remark about the game at all. It was not a bad match. The twins were up against a pair very little older than themselves, and if Jim had been playing as well as he had in the singles, they might have won. He was very anxious not to let Susan down and so went back to his old trick of attempting a killing service. Unfortunately he hardly ever got it over, nor always the miserable little tap that followed as a second ball. He served fault after fault.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Sukie,’ he whispered.

  ‘Don’t bother,’ she whispered back. ‘Why don’t you do that other service? You got very good at that.’

  Even in the middle of the match Jim could not resist an argument.

  ‘I can do this all right really. I don’t know
what’s wrong with it today.’

  Susan did not say anything more. She had to get ready to take a service. In any case, she never argued with Jim. It was a waste of time.

  After the match was over they went to the changing rooms and had a shower, and then came up and joined their father and Nicky. Nicky looked up at them.

  ‘Well tried, dears.’

  Jim could have hit her.

  ‘Thank you. We don’t want any criticism from you.’

  ‘A pity,’ said Nicky. ‘You should listen to Miss Nicky Heath. She could help you a lot.’

  ‘Oh, shut up, Nicky!’ Susan whispered. She looked round anxiously to see if anyone could hear.

  Dr Heath pulled Susan down beside him.

  ‘Not bad, old lady. On the whole I was pleased with you. You’re becoming quite a stylist anyway.’

  Jim felt that this praise for Susan was really intended as a criticism of the way he had mucked up his service.

  ‘That service of mine,’ he said truculently, ‘comes off nine times out of ten.’

  Nicky grinned.

  ‘Sad it was ten all day today. Must be Christmas.’

  ‘Oh, shut up!’

  ‘Yes, shut up, Nicky,’ Dr Heath agreed. ‘Jim doesn’t need you or anybody else to tell him he messed up his service. He knows it for himself.’

  Jim would have liked to argue. It was not altogether his fault. Even the best players found their service go wrong sometimes. But he felt he was beaten this time. It was true he had mucked the thing up. He was very sick with himself for doing it. Only there were days when it did come off. He could not help trying it just in case. It would be grand to serve like that in your club with everybody watching.

  ‘Do you want to go,’ Dr Heath asked, ‘or shall we watch for a bit?’

  At that moment the game below finished and two more pairs came out. Susan looked down at them.

  ‘Let’s watch,’ she whispered. ‘They are supposed to be frightfully good. Someone told me that the two on the other side might win.’

  The game began. It was very fast. Jim and Susan watched in impressed, if now and again critical, silence. Nicky hung over the edge of the gallery, enormously interested. Suddenly she turned to her father.

  ‘That girl’ – she pointed at one of the players – ‘is very weak on her backhand, isn’t she?’

  Jim and Susan turned scarlet. They looked round to be sure no one was listening. They were afraid they might be asked to resign from the club if the people heard Nicky being so rude. Fortunately no one was within earshot. Dr Heath pulled Nicky back into her seat.

  ‘You’ve no right to criticize out loud like that. If anyone is going to complain it would be her partner.’

  ‘But she is weak on her backhand,’ Nicky argued. ‘You said it was a thing that nobody who played well would ever be.’

  ‘Well, neither would they,’ her father whispered.

  Nicky’s voice grew louder as she argued.

  ‘Do you mean those girls don’t play well?’ she said clearly.

  Jim and Susan were in agony. Jim pinched Nicky’s arm.

  ‘Do shut up, Nicky. I’m sure they can hear. You might think of us. We shall look awful.’

  ‘Well, I want to know.’ Nicky’s voice was louder than ever. ‘If good players are good at backhands and that girl isn’t good at backhands, then she isn’t a good player, and Susan said she was.’

  Susan looked imploringly at her father.

  ‘Do make her stop. I’m sure they can hear.’

  Dr Heath turned to Nicky. He spoke very severely.

  ‘One more word, and you’ll go out and sit in the car until we are ready to go home.’

  Nicky closed her lips tight. She thought they were all against her as usual. She leant forward to watch the game, but she had the parting word.

  ‘She doesn’t play well,’ she hissed at the twins.

  Because of Nicky’s bad behaviour she was not allowed to come and watch the finals on Saturday. She was very angry, because she enjoyed watching tennis. Besides, she considered that she had been right. Anyway, she had a perfect right to criticize. She thought it most unfair that she should be punished.

  The twins went with their father and enjoyed every minute of the games. The day was made particularly exciting for Susan. They were sitting watching when Dr Heath was tapped on the shoulder. He looked round. It was a man who wrote about tennis for one of the papers. He had been up at Cambridge with Dr Heath.

  ‘Edward Heath, isn’t it?’ he said. Dr Heath nodded. The man looked at Jim and Susan. ‘I had no idea these couple of red-heads were yours.’

  ‘I’ve two more even redder at home.’

  The man pulled one of Susan’s plaits.

  ‘How old is this lady?’

  ‘Eleven and a half.’

  The man turned to Susan.

  ‘You like the game, don’t you? I saw you play your singles.’ He looked back again at Dr Heath. ‘I rather think you’ve a chip of the old block here. My word, you were a tiger at the game.’ He nodded at Susan. ‘You ought to have her coached.’

  Dr Heath sighed.

  ‘I’ve rather a large family. I’m coaching them all myself at present. Later on I think their grandfather means to give them some lessons.’

  ‘Good.’ The man got up. ‘Well, I must go and make some notes for my paper. Hope to see some of your red-heads at Wimbledon in the future. Feel quite hopeful of this lady.’

  When he had gone Dr Heath smiled at Susan.

  ‘How’s that, Sukey? That’s Jeffrey Miller. He writes about tennis. He is supposed to be one of the greatest experts living. You heard him say that he thought you were promising. That’s a lot from him.’

  Susan was so pleased that she had a lump in her throat. She did not answer. She just gave her father a look, which she knew he knew meant that she was most awfully pleased. The only flaw in being praised like that was that Jim was left out. She did wish it was the doubles that Mr Miller had seen, then they would have been praised together, which would have been so much nicer.

  It was a good thing for the twins that they had the play rehearsals to go to for the rest of the holidays, because otherwise they would have felt flat after the tournament was over. Cinderella was a grand performance in a hall that had proper lighting. Footlights, and battens of lights overhead, and spotlights to throw on people. Best of all, the lights changed colour, so that really fine effects could be got.

  Susan was not honestly a very good actress. She moved beautifully in the ordinary way, but she got awkward on the stage. Of course, with rehearsals, she got used to people watching and she knew it would be easier when she was dressed up, but all the same she was a little angular.

  Jim was the prince. He was rather good. He enjoyed the whole thing, except dancing in the minuet at the court ball.

  Nicky was one of the people brought in as extra turns at the court ball. She was the jester. She had a lot of knocking people over the head with balloons to do. As well, she did her juggling with two balls. Annie worked very hard to teach her to use three before the first night. It was no good. She always dropped the third ball. So she had to go on using two. She thought it looked more clever to have two balls that were always in the air than use three when one was likely to be on the floor.

  David was the page who brought round the shoe the morning after the ball. He had a better part than that sounds because of his songs. There were not any songs in his part really, but two were put in. He sang ‘Cherry Ripe’ in one act and ‘Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John’ in the other. They were not really very suitable songs for a page, but they were songs which he could sing well, and everybody thought that more important.

  Everybody came to see the play, including Grandfather, who came to stay especially for it. It was a night of triumph for them all. Actually the most successful people were the ugly sisters and the two men who made up a horse, and, of course, the Heaths were not lucky enough to get those parts. But everybody was very p
roud of them.

  Susan looked quite lovely as Cinderella. She wore brown rags at the beginning, which suited her long red hair. In the ballroom scene they had borrowed a ballet frock for her. It was the long kind that came down to the ankles. It was an easy dress for a transformation scene. A lot of fairies came on with the fairy godmother and they danced in front of her, hiding her from the audience, while the fairy godmother buttoned her up. She looked so nice in her ballet frock that when the fairies moved away, and the audience saw her, there was a burst of applause.

  Jim was a surprise to everybody. He was a quite nice-looking boy, but nobody had thought very much about his face. Now, as Prince Charming, in a satin suit and a white wig, he looked really handsome. Everybody said: ‘How good-looking those Heath twins are,’ which made Dr and Mrs Heath feel very proud.

  Nicky’s odd-looking face was suited to her jester dress. She looked very small, and when she juggled with her two balls she got a tremendous round of applause.

  One of the successes of the evening was David. He got an encore for both his songs. He was almost as popular as the ugly sisters and the two halves of the horse, and that was saying a great deal. The worst of David was that he was not at all surprised. He expected an encore, and would have been very hurt if he had not got it.

  After the play was over somebody came on the stage and said that a hundred and twenty-three pounds had been made for the hospital, which was very good indeed. When they got home Grandfather gave them each a wristwatch, because they had done so well. It really was a most exciting evening.

  The next night, so that they would not feel too depressed, Grandfather took them all to see the pantomime of Cinderella. They had seats in the front row of the dress circle. It, too, was a very nice evening. Taking the matter all round, they thought that their performance of Cinderella was the better of the two.