Whilst we patiently await the arrival of your baby sister, and the storm-clouds gather over your Grandmother's house- let's have a bash at chapter five, before you go to bed...
Now half to the setting moon are gone,
And half to the rising day;
Low on the sand and loud on the stone
The last wheel echoes away.
Tennyson- Maud
SHE CAUGHT THE SHAWL as she spoke, and looked about for the owner. In another moment, the lady in white who had appeared before in the sky- now became visible up high above the wood. GiGi rubbed her eyes, and blinked- but there she was- and it may have been her fancy- but she didn't look quite so pale and ghostly. The woman looked straight at her- and GiGi made up her mind to address her, lest she dissappear again,
"I'm very glad I happened to be in the way" she said, and held out the shawl.
The lady just looked at her. GiGi began, haltingly once more.
" Are you, pardon my asking, but might you be the lady who lived in the house I came from today- the Queen of the house, perhaps?"
"Well, yes" answered the woman "If you call that a Queen. It isn't my notion of the thing at all".
GiGi thought it would never do to have an argument at the very beginning of their conversation, so she smiled and said. "If you'll tell me how to address you, I'll do as well as I can."
"But that is simply neither here, nor there!" groaned the poor lady. "What I want, is to get back in!".
"In the house" ventured GiGi.
"Yes" said the lady "After all, it is my house." All at once her cheeks got redder, she flickered, and then became pale again. GiGi started "Oh, now don't get upset, don't disappear again- I do understand!"
"No, you do not!" said the lady "It's the house you see- it's all out of temper, it's happened before, and it's happening again, and so it will keep on, until someone does something. I've listened, I've heard them all saying so, but what's the use? Eh, what's the use?" At this she flickered and got redder and paler again "You don't understand, nobody understands, it's really not on" She carried on mumbling and GiGi cut in.
" I don't quite understand what's to be done" she said, "but I do see that you need some help getting back in." With that, she looked down and realised she was still holding the shawl, and her broomstick.
"Umm, would you like your shawl back?"
"No, no, not as it is- it used to be red you know, but after the exercise it faded. You put it on, it's getting quite chilly". And so it was, an easterly wind was whipping up- and GiGi heard a sort of giggle from somewhere.
GiGi wrapped the shawl around her shoulders, and turning her gaze back up to the sky, she saw a little Angel.
"Who" said the lady "Is that, and what is she doing here?". GiGi knew the answer to this one.
" Her name, is Alice. She's here to make things better. I met her parents. That is what she is here for!"
"Better?" the woman almost shrieked "Better, eh?" With this her cheeks got at once red, pale and flickered, her eyes became clearer, and bright in the moonlight, as the little angel joined her above and just to the left of her in the sky. "Beeetter, Beetter, beetterrr...." With this both dissappeared.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As GiGi wrapped herself up in the shawl, and used the broomstick as a walking aid against the wind, she came across a sign saying that she was in 'Middleton'.
As she walked towards the sign, she found that she was all at once looking at the inside of a dark shop- and watching two people talking to each other. The two people seemed familiar, as though the one on the left was herself in some years to come, and the one on the right, was her Grand-daughter Emily.
GiGi stopped still, and tried to listen to what they were saying. The Grand-mother was telling a story, and the little girl was enjoying it, and suggesting bits of her own, which the Grand-mother added in to her tale, whilst she carried on knitting a shawl.
" And so, the poor lady was stuck. Up in the sky, and couldn't get down, and back to her own house!"
" But that's because everyone in it, needed to have a good clear up!" said Emily.
" So, what did they do next Emily?"
" Well...." Emily thought. "I'm not really sure yet, but there was that poem, wasn't there..."
"Ah, yes, and there was another verse, or two. It went like this..."
And as in faffing thought, she stood,
The ware-of-all, with eyes aflame,
Came baffling through the tulgy-wood,
And murmured as it came!
One-two! One two! And through
The besum-broom went snicker-snack!
Emily cut in here. "I know, it was time to do some sweeping up! The house needed cleaning! All those creatures were out in the Purgatree sorting themselves out. So, she should just get on with the cleaning!"
The Grand-mother just laughed and went on with her knitting.
GiGi just stood still for a minute more, as the shop disappeared, and on the ground before her were two eggs and a bottle of Champagne. She hardly noticed these, her thoughts , were as perplexed as her brow.
Time for bed, Emily. Help me next time with chapter six, sleep tight.
Your ever-loving Grand-mother, GiGi xxx
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