Thursday 16 January 2014

Rowing upstream, ducks and peppermint tea!

Aunt Mildred was finding rowing against the current a bit of a struggle. 'There is nothing for it, I'll just have to zig zag back and forth until I am further along - slow and steady wins the race!' Soon though, she was so hot that she had had to take off her hat, scarf and jacket,' haven't rowed this much in years, what a to do, I'll be too puffed for tea by the time I arrive!'

So it was a very, very hot and flushed in the face Aunt Mildred that rounded the bend, and true to it's name - bumped straight into Look Out! Island! 'Ooooh Archimedes, it always catches me by surprise'. Aunt Mildred was feeling a little embarrassed by the loud scrape and rough landing of her boat. 'Not to worry My Dear, that's why it's called Look Out! Island, even after all these years of living here I find that landing my boat is sometimes tricky!'

Archimedes helped Aunt Mildred out of the boat and carried her basket back along the path to his tree house.' Dratted ducks won't bother you now, stubborn as stubborn can be they are, won't move without a bribe!' The ducks stood up to greet Aunt Mildred as she passed and waggled their tails in greeting. ' There, there My Dears, such handsome birds you are and what lovely shiny feathers you have!'

Aunt Mildred adored ducks, and both she and Archimedes had a long history of friendship with this particular family. 'Still guarding the place well My Dears and keeping an eye on him too I hope?' The ducks quacked loudly, they all remembered Aunt Mildred's kindness in helping their Grandfather the time he broke his leg on the ice in the Great Freeze. She had made a splint for his poor leg and set and bandaged it herself. Archimedes had nursed him back to health with lots of donated corn and careful monitoring, which was a very noble act indeed as ducks can be exceedingly grumpy when injured and prone to snapping unexpectedly.

'I've left the kettle on, should be boiling by now, all ready for a nice pot of peppermint tea!' Archimedes smiled kindly at Aunt Mildred, 'I expect you'd like a sit down after all that rowing My Dear, take your time coming up the steps!'

That was good advice as Archimedes lived in a most wonderful house, 'one of the nicest homes a gnome could dream of living in - if it weren't for all theses stairs!' As Aunt Mildred was fond of telling Uncle Humperdinck every time he thought longingly of building something similar.

Slowly she kept climbing up the little spiraling steps hidden under the curtain of ivy, ' good thing he's carrying the basket' she thought, ''might have to have a scone or two myself after the day I've had!'

At last she reached the front porch and there at the front door stood Archimedes in his red waistcoat, smiling proudly as he held the door open and gestured for her to sit down in his most comfortable armchair - which she promptly did, too tired to even utter one word!