Christmas with the Chrystals & Other Stories by Noel Streatfeild

Author:Noel Streatfeild [Streatfeild, Noel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141377742
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2016-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

Nicky’s odd-looking face was suited to her jester dress. She looked very small, and when she juggled with her two balls she got a tremendous round of applause.

One of the successes of the evening was David. He got an encore for both his songs. He was almost as popular as the ugly sisters and the two halves of the horse, and that was saying a great deal. The worst of David was that he was not at all surprised. He expected an encore, and would have been very hurt if he had not got it.

After the play was over somebody came on the stage and said that a hundred and twenty-three pounds had been made for the hospital, which was very good indeed. When they got home Grandfather gave them each a wristwatch, because they had done so well. It really was a most exciting evening.

The next night, so that they would not feel too depressed, Grandfather took them all to see the pantomime of Cinderella. They had seats in the front row of the dress circle. It, too, was a very nice evening. Taking the matter all round, they thought that their performance of Cinderella was the better of the two.

‘We did stick much more to the story,’ said Susan in the first interval.

‘You looked much prettier than that lady,’ David observed.

Grandfather opened a box of chocolates.

‘I must say I preferred Susan meself.’

‘I can’t think why they have to have that big fat girl for Prince Charming,’ Nicky complained. ‘I suppose at Christmas all the men actors are busy, so that they had to dress her up and pretend.’

They were most surprised by the time they reached the next interval. They had never been to a pantomime before, because they had missed the one they had meant to go to, by having measles. They never knew that in pantomimes it is the custom to dash about all over the world. So they were very startled when Cinderella, the two ugly sisters, and Cinderella’s mother, who was dressed as an old lady with elastic-sided boots, all came to stay at a smart hotel in Mars. Everybody went to Mars in balloons. There was a very funny scene in a balloon and a very exciting one, of rows of balloons flying across the backcloth. All the same, nobody felt that Mars was the right place for Cinderella to be in. They had to admit that the transformation scene was better done. There were twelve real ponies and a gold coach and proper coachmen, though even then they thought Susan would look much nicer inside the coach than the other Cinderella. The end of the play was better than theirs. All the people that had been to the court ball came marching down a silver staircase. Jim hardly noticed the end of the play, because he was wondering so hard if it were possible to put up a staircase like that in their theatre for next Christmas. They drove home quite dazed with so much dancing and singing and lights.

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