Merry CHristmas! And a Happy New Year!
I apologise for having once again disappeared. Also, this chapter may seem a bit slow at the start, but it gets better, or at least, I think so.
This chapter is dedicated to constantlearner, whose idea it was, a very long time ago, to have someone... well, I won't say what, that'd give it away.
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The next morning the whole house slept in, Mrs Blackett and Mrs Walker being the first up at 9 o'clock. They let the others sleep as long as possible, but had to wake them up at 10, being well aware the GA might arrive any time from ten past, and would be horrified to find them all in their pyjamas still.
The grumbles from all were quickly silenced by the threat of the GA, and before long the half awake group were gathered round the table in the kitchen, watching the rain, which continued to fall, and hurriedly swallowing down mouthfuls of cereal.
They had all just about finished when the doorbell rang, and there was the GA. Quickly they bundled all the bowls into the sink, and Cook promised to wash them. Then they traipsed through into the other room, where they greeted the GA as cheerfully as they could, and prepared for another boring day trapped inside in the rain.
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Later that evening, once the GA had finally been shipped off back to her hotel room, and everyone had heaved a sigh of relief, everyone found the tiredness creeping up on them, and excused themselves, so that they might go to bed. John found it was a relief to settle down under the covers and shut his eyes, even if it was his night on the floor and not the most comfortable place to try and rest. He fell asleep quickly to the bustle of everyone else preparing for bed.
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He was awoken from a deep sleep rather suddenly, and sat up, confused. The room was still pitch black, the sun had not yet risen. So what had awoken him?
"John?!" Nancy called again, from the door. She was getting rather impatient. How many times was she going to have to whisper-shout his name? Luckily this time he'd heard her, and he threw off the blankets and tiptoed to the door.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Come downstairs," she said, "We can talk freely there."
And she pulled him down the stairs and to the window.
"Someone's trapped, look" and she pointed out, towards the lake. There was a torchlight flashing from one of the islands.
"Who says they're trapped?" John grumbled, still half asleep and annoyed at having been disturbed. "They aren't flashing SOS, or any other sort of morse, so far as I can see. Just waving a torch about randomly. Probably campers, or crazy explorers."
"In this weather?" Nancy stared at him as though he was the one who was crazy. "Jib-booms and bob-stays! You think someone might actually consider going out in pouring rain at two in the morning to explore an island which is probably half submerged? If that is what they're doing, they need rescuing from themselves!"
"Well, whatever they're doing, I don't see what we can do about it."
"Oh, come on John! We have to save them. By golly, what if they're dying. They might be half drowned. For all we know, they've been there for days and days."
"I doubt it; the torch would be out of battery by now."
"Oh come on John, stop being hard hearted, it doesn't suit you."
"Look, Nan, I promised Mother, the last time we sailed at night, that war the first time we met, that I wouldn't do it again. That I would never sail at night again. I meant it. I can't just break that promise."
"Come on, John..."
"Why don't we just wake the others and..."
"It'll take too long! They won't sail out themselves; they'll call the fire brigade, or the police or someone. Whoever's out there might be drowning! Come on, please! Or I'll have to go alone."
"No! You're not going alone. I... I'll come with you. Just let me grab some clothes, I'm still in my dressing gown, and so are you. Quickly, and then we'll go."
The two slipped back upstairs, and dressed as quickly as they could. Before long they were wrapped in anoraks and running across the very boggy front lawn, towards the boathouse.
The lake had risen, because of the rain, and they soon realised reaching the boathouse was going to be a challenge because the lake now covered a larger chunk of garden than it ever had before. Luckily, because the garden was on a gentle slope, although it now covered an extra several metres of grass, it had only risen by a few centimetres, meaning the boats should still be safe inside.
Grabbing John's hand, Nancy ploughed straight into the risen water, pulling him with her, together they waded as fast as they could through the water to the front of the boat house, where they then had to feel around in the dark, ankle high in water, until they found Amazon. Nancy also found, on a shelf, an old lantern and a box of matches, so she quickly lit the lantern, and followed John aboard. Quickly they removed the sail, it was too wet and windy for it to be safe trying to navigate the many rocks that surrounded the islands. She huddled as close to the bow as she could get, and John located the oars, and they were off, Nancy holding out the lantern, which luckily seemed to be waterproof, and acting as lookout, and John rowing. Slowly they made their way out into the main body of the lake, and then towards the islands. They weren't really sure which island the light had been coming from, but were hoping they'd see it again from the lake. Progress was slow, neither of them wanting to run aground themselves, but they moved progressively forwards, hoping they'd make it out of this safely.
The rain continued to pour, filling the boat with water. At first this hadn't been much of a problem, but then it started getting deeper, and the boat sank lower in the water, and the lake seemed to be getting higher. John sighed, stopped rowing, and grabbed the bucket which was kept for circumstances such as these, in the hope it would never have to be used. Quickly he began throwing bucketfuls over the side, while the rain continued trying to fill the boat up. John was, however, emptying the boat faster than the rain could fill it, and before long the water level had been reduced to minimal, and they were able to move on again.
They saw the torchlight first, flickering again, dimmer than it had been before. The battery must have been dying. Then they could hear a voice, shouting for help. Nancy lent forwards, knowing they must be nearing land, checking the water for rocks, as best she could. The voice got nearer, the water got shallower, and an island materialised out of the rain ahead of them. On it, knee high in water and dripping from head to toe stood a figure, the last figure they'd expected to see on the island so late at night, and, once they'd recovered from the shock, or maybe because of the shock, both John and Nancy dissolved into giggles. Recovering their senses pretty quickly, Nancy rose and jumped from the boat, while John sought out the anchor and threw it over the side to stop Amazon drifting off.
"Aunt Maria?" Nancy asked, disbelief clouding her voice. Was this a nightmare? It couldn't really be...
"Yes, Ruth. It's me."
"But... What...? How...?"
"No time for that now. Come, the owner of the boat which crashed here is over there, he knocked himself out in the crash. If you and the young man would carry him down for me, it took all my strength to drag him up there in the first place."
John, who had joined them ashore, ran up the slope, followed quickly by Nancy, and together they picked the man up, and carried him back down to Amazon. Nancy quickly seated the GA in the stern, lay the man as best she could across her, and clambered back into the bow, enabling John to take the oars once more. They drew up the anchor, and were off. Because of the extra weight Amazon had now sunk lower in the water, and with the rain still pouring heavily, it became necessary for Nancy to instruct the GA to bail out the boat. The GA had looked at her, horrified, and stuttered,
"But Ruth... Darling!"
"Not Ruth, Aunt Maria. This is my terrain. Aboard Amazon I'm Nancy, and if you don't bail for all your might it won't just be the captain going down with the ship." The Great Aunt looked shocked at Nancy's suddenly taking a stand, and indeed, Nancy was rather shocked at herself. The sight of a rock straight ahead drew her concentration back from contemplating this, and she called out sharply,
"Rock ahead, commodore, straight ahead."
"Right you are!" John returned, and the crisis was saved. Soon they were clear of the islands and rowing back towards the mouth of the river, and Nancy found she knew this stretch of the lake so well it no longer required all her concentration. Instead she searched the landscape ahead for any sign that someone was awake up at Beckfoot. While they'd been rushing about, and it had all been a life or death situation, she hadn't noticed, but now she was starting to feel very damp and excessively cold, and she hoped someone was waiting with hot cocoa and a towel for them to return. But why would they be? It was only about four in the morning. Everyone would still be asleep. Then she thought she saw a flicker of light. Perhaps someone had missed them after all. She raised the lantern above her head, trying to see, but also hoping someone might see it. She hadn't felt so tired in a long time...
"Nan!" John's urgent voice caught her before she dropped off. "I need your directions. How do we navigate this next bit?" And she was jerked back into the action, directing John as to how to steer the boat up the Amazon River. Adrenaline kicked in again, and she shouted out instructions,
"There should be a large rock Starboard," and "Once you see that tree on Port side, steer slightly stronger on the Starboard side," and "Look out, a branch hangs down over this bit, Aunt Maria! DUCK!"
And then they were in sight of the house, and they could see a light in one of the windows, and Nancy yelled out "Ahoy! Ahoy there! Beckfoot!"
And the door was opened, and people were running everywhere, and John rowed the boat as high up the lawn as he could get, and they all jumped out, and someone carried the man indoors, and tied Amazon to a tree, and Nancy found herself walking up the lawn in the rain, as though in a dream. She was aware of John behind her, could hear him saying something, but she couldn't make out the words. And she made it through the door, someone passed her a towel. People were talking, but she couldn't the words. Everything seemed to go fuzzy, blurry round the edges. And then it just went black.
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Thank you for reading. You are all amazing.
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constantlearner: Thank you for reviewing! And for the idea for the chapter, although it's not exactly what you suggested.
Twiggy288: Not so much fluff in this chapter, I'm afraid. More of an action-y section. I hope you liked this as well.
Dracones: Love that song (Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol) It's the only song I can play off by heart on the piano.
Pixel and Stephanie Forever: I don't think the books ever tell us what happened to their father, and I don't feel brave enough to make up something as important as how a character died... Anyone else know?
TTTHNN: I wasn't sure whether to dedicate this to you as well or not, as I discarded the idea of it being John and Nancy trapped on the island needing rescuing... I like the idea of them being stuck somewhere together in a situation which risks their being found out, though. Maybe I'll add that somewhere else...
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I HOPE YOU ALL HAD A MERRY CHRISTMAS! And that you enjoyed this, my late Christmas present to you.
Please leave a review.
G4E