Chapter Fifteen
Party Disaster
Unfortunately for Evelyn and Alex, the bus didn't go as far as they needed, which meant walking the rest of the way. It wasn't too hard to find the address for Sir. Timothy's manor since he was well known in London, especially tonight since Sir. Timothy was having a "grand party" that evening. It also wasn't hard for Evelyn and Alex to know that they were in the right place; Sir. Timothy's manor was more like a castle. Large, well trimmed and keep for bushes surrounded the outer area of the house; flowers were planted perfectly at the base of the bushes. Flowers hemmed the pebble and rock path that lead up to the house as well. Stone and marble statues of lions and other such animals stood in front of the house, as though guarding it from all intruders. The steps that lead up to the house were marble as well; the steps were polished and showed Evelyn and Alex's reflections when they stepped up them.
The door was oak wood hemmed in gold with golden handles; Evelyn knocked on the door. No one answered; after a few minutes Evelyn knocked again. This time the door swung open; the opener of the door was a short man, with balding hair. He wore a tuxedo and looked very agitated and impatient. He looked at Evelyn and Alex and his lips perused in a frown.
"Can I help you?" The man asked, his voice very edgy.
"Yes, my name is Mrs. Evelyn and O'Connell and two days ago Sir. Timothy 'adopted' a puppy from us and…" Evelyn began but the short man cut her off.
"Sir. Timothy and the rest of the house have no time for trivial puppy nonsense. The only 'puppy' in this residence is Miss. Julia Walters and she is staying. Good day to you." The short man said and slammed the door in Evelyn's face.
Evelyn scowled; Alex tugged on his mother's sleeve. "Mum, does this mean we won't get Julia back?" Alex asked, looking up at his mother with eyes that pleaded for her to do something.
"Well, they are probably all busy with party preparations. I'm sure if we spoke directly to Sir. Timothy, he would listen to everything we have to say." Evelyn said, reassuring her son.
Alex smiled. "Well, how do we talk to him?" The boy asked.
Evelyn's only answer was to keep knocking on the door until either Sir. Timothy answered or until the short man let them inside the house to see Sir. Timothy.
The plan, however, did not go as planned. Evelyn knocked on the door over and over again until her knuckles were sore. The first ten times Evelyn knocked, the short man opened the door and told her to 'come back later' or simply to 'go away'. After around fifteen times, he would open the door, see it was Evelyn and shut it before she could even blink.
Evelyn and Alex stayed at Sir. Timothy's manor all afternoon; they took turns knocking since Evelyn's knuckles were getting red. Around three o'clock, Evelyn and Alex gave up knocking for a while but they didn't leave the porch. To amuse themselves, they played "I Spy" or "The Egypt Question Game" where son and mother would ask each other questions about Egypt. Evelyn figured sooner or later Sir. Timothy would have to answer the door, as soon as they began knocking again.
Once again, however, that was not the case; around four thirty, five o'clock Evelyn and Alex began knocking on the door again. Each time the short man -whom Evelyn presumed was the butler- answered the door and each time he slammed it in her face.
As it began to get dark, Evelyn began to wonder if they should head home. Every time she suggested going home to Alex, he would get upset about not getting the puppy back. Evelyn was sure Rick was beginning to worry about them but she couldn't leave Alex alone.
Until eight o'clock, Evelyn and Alex played games and even invented some. By eight o'clock, cars began to pull up the manor's driveway. Valets opened the doors for the cars' passengers and then parked the cars to the side of the house.
The party had begun; Evelyn already had a new idea. As the guests began to file into the manor, chatting with each other about the weather or the watering of the flowers, Evelyn explained her idea to her son. When another group of guests filed into the house, Evelyn and Alex would mingle in with them and once they were inside the house they would find Sir. Timothy and ask him about Julia.
No sooner then Evelyn suggested the plan to Alex (which the boy liked very much) a large group of guests arrived. Taking her son's hand, Evelyn and Alex mingled in with the guests, entering the manor unnoticed by the short butler.
"All right, Alex now we need to find Sir. Timothy." Evelyn said as she and son began to walk around the huge manor. The inside of Sir. Timothy's manor what much larger and much more furnished then the O'Connells; Alex looked around in awe. Fabulously dressed guests were gathered around tables, sipping white wine from crystal glasses and chatting about meaningless things. A few bored looking guests picked at the hors d'oeuvres that were set out on china plates on long tables in the sitting room.
Evelyn's blue eyes scanned nervously around the party; though her parents had brought her up for parties like this, they always made her uncomfortable. She was always worrying about the right thing to say or the right expression to put on her face; parties like this were not for her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Evelyn thought she saw Sir. Timothy enter the parlor. Evelyn turned to her son. "Alex stay right here, I'll only be a second. Stay right here." Evelyn commanded.
Alex nodded and watched his mother disappear into the parlor which was almost three times larger then the one at his house. As most eight year olds will do, Alex disobeyed his mother's simple order of 'staying in one place'. The party was so big and there was so much to explore that he couldn't just stay in one place. Besides, he wouldn't bother anyone; he would just walk around, maybe try some of the food because he was a little hungry.
Alex walked toward the heart of the party where women gathered around talking about their husbands in one corner and men grouped together in another corner, talking about their wives. Alex passed by some women looked at him and when they thought he was out of hearing talked about how cute he was and how they'd like to have kids one day.
Alex stood by the long time with all the hors d'oeuvres were placed and began picking at them. Some of the foods he had never seen before, others he had tasted before at parties that were not as fancy as these. Parties where there were other kids he could play with and normal foods like apple slices and such. Alex began tasting different foods, working his way down the table. Most of the foods Alex despised and discretely placed back on the plates. At the end of the table, Alex had tried all the foods there were and was still hungry; he was beginning to get nervous around all the people because most of them had noticed him and were pointing and talking about him. Alex wished his mum would hurry up and get Julia so they could go home.
Evelyn finally found Sir. Timothy; like Evelyn, the man detested these types of parties (though he, most of the time, was the one throwing them) and had retreating into the parlor for a few moments of peace. Sir. Timothy smiled when he saw Evelyn and went to join her in the foyer; Evelyn and Sir. Timothy shook hands.
"Mrs. O'Connell, how nice to see you again." Sir. Timothy said, not seeming upset at all that she was at the party uninvited.
"Please, all me Evy or Evelyn if you prefer." Evelyn said, smiling at Sir. Timothy.
"So, is your husband and son here as well?" Sir. Timothy asked as he offered Evelyn a seat.
Evelyn sat opposite Sir. Timothy in an over stuffed armchair. "My son is, yes but my husband is at home." Evelyn answered.
Sir. Timothy nodded. "I'm sure you're wondering why we're here, at your party." Evelyn said. Sir. Timothy nodded again, though more for an explanation then an angry type nod.
Back at the party, Alex was sure he was blushing at the people's stares and comments. Didn't these people know it wasn't polite to stare and point and talk about someone, especially if that someone was within earshot.
Alex stared blankly ahead and ignored the people's stares, just like his parents thought him: to ignore unkind things that people said. When he was younger his mother had read him a story called "Bambi" by Felix Salten; in the story the little rabbit, Thumper or Bumper, Alex couldn't remember, said 'If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all'. Apparently, these had never read about Bumper or Thumper.
In front of him was a long hall that lead to a set of stairs; Alex was aware of someone watching him from behind the wall. He could see little eyes peering out at him; after looking closer, Alex realized that the eyes didn't belong to a person at all but to a puppy. A puppy named Julia.
Alex called Julia's name, ignoring the fact that people were staring at him; Julia barked and bounded over to him. Julia ran past people, brushing against their ankles and startling them. Women screamed and tripped over the tiny puppy, spilling the drinks all over their fine dresses.
Julia leapt onto the food table and tripped over the plates; the plates flew off the table and shattered on the ground, food going everywhere. Some of the food even landed on people, causing more screams of surprise and fury. Julia leapt off the table and into Alex's arms; the puppy licked the boy's face as Alex cuddled the puppy close.
From inside the parlor, Evelyn and Sir. Timothy became aware of the 'chaos' that was going on in the sitting room; they could here the angry yelling and the puppy barks. Evelyn knew immediately that her son had something to do with the 'chaos' that was taking place at that moment.
Both Evelyn and Sir. Timothy quickly stood up and raced out of the parlor and into the sitting. There, Evelyn saw she was right, standing amidst the 'chaos' and confusion that was going on was her son holding the little golden puppy that was Julia.
As soon as Julia and Alex saw Evelyn enter the parlor, Julia leapt out of Alex's arms and began running down the table again. The little puppy wanted to say hello to her other owner, the person who had given her a name. Julia jumped over a bowl of dip of some kind but her jump came a little short and the puppy landed on the rim of the bowl. The bowl flipped through the air, over the very surprised puppy, and spattered all over Sir. Timothy's prefect tuxedo.
Alex quickly ran to stand beside his mother, grabbing Julia on his way over; both Evelyn and Alex knew that Julia's 'accident' was going to have horrible repercussions.
Indeed they were right; Sir. Timothy's face clouded with rage as he turned to face Evelyn, Alex and puppy Julia.
"Take that horrible, rotten, mongrel and get out of my house this instant! I never want to see any of you ever again! Now get out! Get out!" The man yelled.
Evelyn took her son's hand and the two quickly rushed out of the now ruined party. When they were out on the porch, Alex looked up at her mother.
"We got Julia back." Was all the little boy said. Evelyn smiled and kissed her son on the cheek.
"Now let's get home before your father calls out the armed forces to find us. If he hasn't already." Evelyn said.
Carrying Julia in one arm, Alex walked hand and hand with his mother down the dark London streets.
Party Disaster
Unfortunately for Evelyn and Alex, the bus didn't go as far as they needed, which meant walking the rest of the way. It wasn't too hard to find the address for Sir. Timothy's manor since he was well known in London, especially tonight since Sir. Timothy was having a "grand party" that evening. It also wasn't hard for Evelyn and Alex to know that they were in the right place; Sir. Timothy's manor was more like a castle. Large, well trimmed and keep for bushes surrounded the outer area of the house; flowers were planted perfectly at the base of the bushes. Flowers hemmed the pebble and rock path that lead up to the house as well. Stone and marble statues of lions and other such animals stood in front of the house, as though guarding it from all intruders. The steps that lead up to the house were marble as well; the steps were polished and showed Evelyn and Alex's reflections when they stepped up them.
The door was oak wood hemmed in gold with golden handles; Evelyn knocked on the door. No one answered; after a few minutes Evelyn knocked again. This time the door swung open; the opener of the door was a short man, with balding hair. He wore a tuxedo and looked very agitated and impatient. He looked at Evelyn and Alex and his lips perused in a frown.
"Can I help you?" The man asked, his voice very edgy.
"Yes, my name is Mrs. Evelyn and O'Connell and two days ago Sir. Timothy 'adopted' a puppy from us and…" Evelyn began but the short man cut her off.
"Sir. Timothy and the rest of the house have no time for trivial puppy nonsense. The only 'puppy' in this residence is Miss. Julia Walters and she is staying. Good day to you." The short man said and slammed the door in Evelyn's face.
Evelyn scowled; Alex tugged on his mother's sleeve. "Mum, does this mean we won't get Julia back?" Alex asked, looking up at his mother with eyes that pleaded for her to do something.
"Well, they are probably all busy with party preparations. I'm sure if we spoke directly to Sir. Timothy, he would listen to everything we have to say." Evelyn said, reassuring her son.
Alex smiled. "Well, how do we talk to him?" The boy asked.
Evelyn's only answer was to keep knocking on the door until either Sir. Timothy answered or until the short man let them inside the house to see Sir. Timothy.
The plan, however, did not go as planned. Evelyn knocked on the door over and over again until her knuckles were sore. The first ten times Evelyn knocked, the short man opened the door and told her to 'come back later' or simply to 'go away'. After around fifteen times, he would open the door, see it was Evelyn and shut it before she could even blink.
Evelyn and Alex stayed at Sir. Timothy's manor all afternoon; they took turns knocking since Evelyn's knuckles were getting red. Around three o'clock, Evelyn and Alex gave up knocking for a while but they didn't leave the porch. To amuse themselves, they played "I Spy" or "The Egypt Question Game" where son and mother would ask each other questions about Egypt. Evelyn figured sooner or later Sir. Timothy would have to answer the door, as soon as they began knocking again.
Once again, however, that was not the case; around four thirty, five o'clock Evelyn and Alex began knocking on the door again. Each time the short man -whom Evelyn presumed was the butler- answered the door and each time he slammed it in her face.
As it began to get dark, Evelyn began to wonder if they should head home. Every time she suggested going home to Alex, he would get upset about not getting the puppy back. Evelyn was sure Rick was beginning to worry about them but she couldn't leave Alex alone.
Until eight o'clock, Evelyn and Alex played games and even invented some. By eight o'clock, cars began to pull up the manor's driveway. Valets opened the doors for the cars' passengers and then parked the cars to the side of the house.
The party had begun; Evelyn already had a new idea. As the guests began to file into the manor, chatting with each other about the weather or the watering of the flowers, Evelyn explained her idea to her son. When another group of guests filed into the house, Evelyn and Alex would mingle in with them and once they were inside the house they would find Sir. Timothy and ask him about Julia.
No sooner then Evelyn suggested the plan to Alex (which the boy liked very much) a large group of guests arrived. Taking her son's hand, Evelyn and Alex mingled in with the guests, entering the manor unnoticed by the short butler.
"All right, Alex now we need to find Sir. Timothy." Evelyn said as she and son began to walk around the huge manor. The inside of Sir. Timothy's manor what much larger and much more furnished then the O'Connells; Alex looked around in awe. Fabulously dressed guests were gathered around tables, sipping white wine from crystal glasses and chatting about meaningless things. A few bored looking guests picked at the hors d'oeuvres that were set out on china plates on long tables in the sitting room.
Evelyn's blue eyes scanned nervously around the party; though her parents had brought her up for parties like this, they always made her uncomfortable. She was always worrying about the right thing to say or the right expression to put on her face; parties like this were not for her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Evelyn thought she saw Sir. Timothy enter the parlor. Evelyn turned to her son. "Alex stay right here, I'll only be a second. Stay right here." Evelyn commanded.
Alex nodded and watched his mother disappear into the parlor which was almost three times larger then the one at his house. As most eight year olds will do, Alex disobeyed his mother's simple order of 'staying in one place'. The party was so big and there was so much to explore that he couldn't just stay in one place. Besides, he wouldn't bother anyone; he would just walk around, maybe try some of the food because he was a little hungry.
Alex walked toward the heart of the party where women gathered around talking about their husbands in one corner and men grouped together in another corner, talking about their wives. Alex passed by some women looked at him and when they thought he was out of hearing talked about how cute he was and how they'd like to have kids one day.
Alex stood by the long time with all the hors d'oeuvres were placed and began picking at them. Some of the foods he had never seen before, others he had tasted before at parties that were not as fancy as these. Parties where there were other kids he could play with and normal foods like apple slices and such. Alex began tasting different foods, working his way down the table. Most of the foods Alex despised and discretely placed back on the plates. At the end of the table, Alex had tried all the foods there were and was still hungry; he was beginning to get nervous around all the people because most of them had noticed him and were pointing and talking about him. Alex wished his mum would hurry up and get Julia so they could go home.
Evelyn finally found Sir. Timothy; like Evelyn, the man detested these types of parties (though he, most of the time, was the one throwing them) and had retreating into the parlor for a few moments of peace. Sir. Timothy smiled when he saw Evelyn and went to join her in the foyer; Evelyn and Sir. Timothy shook hands.
"Mrs. O'Connell, how nice to see you again." Sir. Timothy said, not seeming upset at all that she was at the party uninvited.
"Please, all me Evy or Evelyn if you prefer." Evelyn said, smiling at Sir. Timothy.
"So, is your husband and son here as well?" Sir. Timothy asked as he offered Evelyn a seat.
Evelyn sat opposite Sir. Timothy in an over stuffed armchair. "My son is, yes but my husband is at home." Evelyn answered.
Sir. Timothy nodded. "I'm sure you're wondering why we're here, at your party." Evelyn said. Sir. Timothy nodded again, though more for an explanation then an angry type nod.
Back at the party, Alex was sure he was blushing at the people's stares and comments. Didn't these people know it wasn't polite to stare and point and talk about someone, especially if that someone was within earshot.
Alex stared blankly ahead and ignored the people's stares, just like his parents thought him: to ignore unkind things that people said. When he was younger his mother had read him a story called "Bambi" by Felix Salten; in the story the little rabbit, Thumper or Bumper, Alex couldn't remember, said 'If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all'. Apparently, these had never read about Bumper or Thumper.
In front of him was a long hall that lead to a set of stairs; Alex was aware of someone watching him from behind the wall. He could see little eyes peering out at him; after looking closer, Alex realized that the eyes didn't belong to a person at all but to a puppy. A puppy named Julia.
Alex called Julia's name, ignoring the fact that people were staring at him; Julia barked and bounded over to him. Julia ran past people, brushing against their ankles and startling them. Women screamed and tripped over the tiny puppy, spilling the drinks all over their fine dresses.
Julia leapt onto the food table and tripped over the plates; the plates flew off the table and shattered on the ground, food going everywhere. Some of the food even landed on people, causing more screams of surprise and fury. Julia leapt off the table and into Alex's arms; the puppy licked the boy's face as Alex cuddled the puppy close.
From inside the parlor, Evelyn and Sir. Timothy became aware of the 'chaos' that was going on in the sitting room; they could here the angry yelling and the puppy barks. Evelyn knew immediately that her son had something to do with the 'chaos' that was taking place at that moment.
Both Evelyn and Sir. Timothy quickly stood up and raced out of the parlor and into the sitting. There, Evelyn saw she was right, standing amidst the 'chaos' and confusion that was going on was her son holding the little golden puppy that was Julia.
As soon as Julia and Alex saw Evelyn enter the parlor, Julia leapt out of Alex's arms and began running down the table again. The little puppy wanted to say hello to her other owner, the person who had given her a name. Julia jumped over a bowl of dip of some kind but her jump came a little short and the puppy landed on the rim of the bowl. The bowl flipped through the air, over the very surprised puppy, and spattered all over Sir. Timothy's prefect tuxedo.
Alex quickly ran to stand beside his mother, grabbing Julia on his way over; both Evelyn and Alex knew that Julia's 'accident' was going to have horrible repercussions.
Indeed they were right; Sir. Timothy's face clouded with rage as he turned to face Evelyn, Alex and puppy Julia.
"Take that horrible, rotten, mongrel and get out of my house this instant! I never want to see any of you ever again! Now get out! Get out!" The man yelled.
Evelyn took her son's hand and the two quickly rushed out of the now ruined party. When they were out on the porch, Alex looked up at her mother.
"We got Julia back." Was all the little boy said. Evelyn smiled and kissed her son on the cheek.
"Now let's get home before your father calls out the armed forces to find us. If he hasn't already." Evelyn said.
Carrying Julia in one arm, Alex walked hand and hand with his mother down the dark London streets.