Postby KP Presents » Tue Dec 10, 2013 2:08 pm
“Like this,” Alicia said as she looked at her arms and legs, “it’s a bit too close to...”
“No, we’ll untie you for this part,” Martin said with a smile, “but no promises about what might happen later.”
“Why didn’t you bring Suzie,” Cassie said as I started to untie her.
“No Brian is the short answer to that,” Colin said as he looked over from Jenny’s feet, “we felt it would be a little unfair. Besides, Bobby’s dad wants her to stay away from here until it is time to move in.”
“Hang on,” Alicia said as she looked at her cousin, stretching her legs out as she did so, “We only found out about this on Saturday. When did you know?”
“Not saying,” Bobby said as he stood up, “But we changed our plans for today fairly recently. Dad thought it would take a lot longer than it did to renovate the house, and the workmen are taking today off.”
“Very convenient,” Cassie said as she jumped up and hugged me. “So, what about the rest of the house?”
“Come on – I’ll show you. We’ve got the dining room here, which is big enough to hold a party in as well, and I’m sure you remember the toilet.”
“Don’t remind me,” Jenny said as we walked into the hallway, Cassie treading very carefully on the floorboards as she did so. “Over there,” I said as I pointed to a door by that which led to the dining room, “is where Dad is planning to put his office, while through the kitchen there’s a utility room. Meanwhile, on this side, I think you remember this room.”
“How could we forget,” Alicia said as we walked into the large room, the television set still sitting at one side. “We spent most of our day in here, especially on the Sunday.”
“Well, this is going to be our day room, for want of a better word,” I said as I looked around. “I guess we’re going to spend quite a bit of time in here as well. Meanwhile...”
I opened a set of double doors to reveal a smaller room, with large windows that looked out onto the lawn at the back of the house. “Wow,” Cassie said as she looked out, “we never saw the grounds – well I didn’t at any rate. They look almost as big as the lawn at the manor house – how far back does the estate go?”
“I’m not quite sure,” Colin said as he looked out with Jenny. “Where did we watch the house from again, Bobby?”
I looked out of the window, and then said “I think we were there – under that large Oak tree in the centre of the tree line. Not that we could see anything, of course...”
“True – curtains nailed up and all that,” Alicia said as she hugged Martin. “So, is this going to be the equivalent of the library?”
“That’s Dad’s plan – the computer and game consoles will go in here, and those double doors open out if our parents feel they need to keep a really close eye on us. Not that they really need to, but...”
“Got it,” Colin said with a smile. “They could always make sure Suzie was kept out of the way while...”
I saw Cassie looking out onto the lawn. “Hey,” she said quietly, “what’s all that wood for?”
We all looked out at a pile of wooden planks, covered by a tarpaulin on the ground. “I’ll show you later,” I said with a smile as I walked to the door. “Want to see upstairs?”
We all walked out and up one side of the double staircase, the ones the girls told us they had jumped up and down so often for those two days, and found ourselves on the top landing.
“I don’t remember that wall being there,” Jenny said as we looked to the left, and saw a new wall had been built there, with a door boasting a strong lock in it.
“Ah yes,” I said with a smile, “Well, that side of the upper floor has been reserved for – well, I guess for the Boyles now. Four of the bedrooms and one of the bathrooms have been converted into a live-in flat, with their own sitting room and kitchen. We’re going to be sleeping on the other side.”
We walked down the corridor and looked at the doors on either side. “You know the bathroom is here, of course.” I saw the three girls roll their eyes at that comment, before saying “I’m going to sleep in this room, and Suzie gets the one opposite. Mum and Dad, naturally enough, get the one with the built-in bedroom. The other three are guest rooms for the moment.”
We looked in the room I was taking, as Cassie said “Hey – this is the one Patty and Rachel slept in. Suzie and I were opposite there, and Mum was in the big bedroom.”
“Alicia and I were in here,” Jenny said as she opened the door opposite the master bedroom, looking in and saying “I see you’ve redecorated. I like it.”
“All the rooms have been given a lick of paint, the floorboards fixed,” I said as I winked at Cassie, “and made ship shape and Bristol fashion.”
“You’ve been talking to your dad about shipping again, haven’t you,” Colin said as we walked back down the stairs. I nodded and said “now, let’s go and have a look at the part of the Hall you did not see before.”
As we walked into the hallway, I saw Mister Bridges escorting the Boyles out, saying “If you call at Holderness Manor tomorrow, I will tell his Lordship to expect you.” Waving them off, he turned and saw us standing on the stairs.
“I will place the picnic lunch we have brought with us in the playhouse, Master Robert,” he said with a smile as he looked at us.
“Playhouse? What’s that?”
“You’ll see Cassie,” I said as I opened the front door. “Right now, let me show you the gardens.” We walked out of the front door, turned right and walked round the side of the building, Alicia smiling as she looked out over the green lawn.
“Well, plenty of room for the younger ones to run round,” she said as she held Martin’s arm, “so what about the woods?”
“Come with me,” Colin said as he turned left and followed a path into the woods. As we followed him, the autumn sun shined down through the leaves, a brown tinge in the air as we walked round.
“The grounds go about a mile in each direction,” Colin said as we walked down the path. “When this was a Cub Scout house, we used to go for walks in the woods – and there used to be rope bridges and all sorts of other climbing things in the trees.”
“Not there anymore?”
“Nah – health and safety rules took over. I think that’s why they closed it down in the end – too big and not enough to – ah, here it is.”
We had walked into a glade, which had a small pond in the middle of it, with some wooden benches around the sides. “This,” I said with a flourish, “is Wissenden Lake.”
“Very nice,” Cassie said as she walked round it, “but no room for a mausoleum.”
“That stays right where it is,” I said with a smile. “This was where we used ot have camp fires and the like – you can still see the stone circle over there – but now – well, I guess it’s our very own wildlife spot.”
“I like it,” Cassie said as she sat down on a bench, Jenny sitting next to her. “Although it probably gets dark very quickly at night-time.”
“I seem to remember we needed torches occasionally,” Colin said as he looked at me. Martin was looking over the pond, humming a little song to himself as Alicia stood with him.
“What’s that song,” I said as I looked at him.
“Hmmm – oh a bit of Benjamin Britten,” he said as he looked at me, and then hugged himself. “It’s getting colder, shall we go back to the house?”
“Is it? Well, let’s go anyway,” I said as Cassie and Jenny stood up. “We can take the path this way, it brings us out at the other side of the lawn.”
We set off along the other path, hearing the birds singing as we did so, the sunlight still shining down through the leaves. As we came out onto the bottom of the lawn, we saw the hall framed in the noonday sun.
“Well, I’m not going to deny it is a beautiful set of grounds,” Alicia said as we walked up the lawn, “and there’s certainly plenty to see. What I don’t understand is what the playhouse is – is it a new outbuilding on the other side of the hall which we have not seen yet?”
“Well, I guess you could call it a new outbuilding,” I said with a smile, “but it’s not on the other side of the hall – it is over there.”
I stopped and looked at the line of tress that led up to the house, the others staring in the same direction.
“I don’t see anything,” Jenny said as she looked at Colin, “do you?”
“Nope – so is it hidden in the trees,” Colin said as he looked into the shade.
“Oh it’s hidden in the trees all right,” I said as I pointed in the same direction, “but you need to look to a higher place.”
The five of them looked up, as Cassie said “Oh my goodness – that’s the playhouse?”
“Well, it will be when it is finished,” I said with a sense of pride. They could now see the dark wood staircase that went from the grass up into the trees. As we walked over, the others could now see that the stairs went up to a trap door that sat in the middle of a large wooden platform.
“Come on up,” I said as I climbed up the stairs, pushing the trap door open and holding it as the others climbed up. As they came up, we stood in what actually was a small hallway, with three doors, two at either side of us and a third behind me.
“This is Mum and Dad’s idea, and the main reason we could not bring Suzie with us,” I said as I closed the trap door. “When they saw the woods, and how close they came to the house, they thought she might like a place of her own to bring her friends.”
“Wow,” Cassie said as she looked up, “so the wood that is under the tarpaulin?”
“That’s for the roof,” I said as we looked up into the trees above us. “Now, there is a toilet through that door there, while on the left is our play area.”
I opened that door and showed everyone in. The room was large, but bare at this stage.
“Once the roof is in place, we’ll put some beanbags and other chairs in here, and store some of our toys in here as well,” I said with a flourish. “I think the electricity will be connected up by the time we get here, so we can even watch some DVDs up here – and even if it is not, then we can bring a portable player up here.”
“So what’s in the other room?”
“Come and have a look,” I said as we left that room and walked to the other side. Opening the door, I said “They’ve already roofed this part,” I said as we went in, and found a number of bean bags had already been put into the room. “And I see they now have the windows fixed in. So even if it rains, we can have lunch in here.”
I could see the picnic blanket laid out on the floor, with the wicker basket to one side. Mister Bridges had laid out some plates and cups, while a selection of cold meats, pies and other food were on plates.
“Heh – reminds me of that time you and Colin took me and Jenny to the woods,” Cassie said as she sat herself down on a bean bag, her skirt spreading over her legs as she did so.
“Yeah – you never told me the full story of that date,” Alicia said as she settled in a bag of her own, “You really took them both to the cinema, bound and gagged, and nobody noticed?”
“Well, that’s not quite true,” Cassie said with a smile, “Two people did notice us, right?”
“That’s right – we were spotted, but they were sworn to secrecy,” Jenny said with a smile. “Can I have a chicken leg please?”
“Of course,” Colin said as he put one on a plate with some rice salad and handed it to her, “and would Mademoiselle care for some carbonated drink as well?”
Last edited by
KP Presents on Wed Dec 11, 2013 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.