Three Girls to Adventure!

In a time long ago, where time stood still...

Fearless Friends

There's nothing in the world more wonderful than a true-blue friend, and Marian Francis now had two of them!

She had known who her schoolmates Kate Brownleigh and Amanda Cadbury were, but she hadn't actually known them, until that memorable Friday. The three were amongst the boarders of their school but as Marian kept to her own friend, so Kate and Amanda kept to each other.

Marian's world fell apart when her only real friend was caught and proved to be cheating during an examination; she was tearfully sent down in disgrace.

Though Marian had no knowledge of her now departed best friend's unsavoury activities, some of the girls of the school gave her an awful time. They continued to do so, particularly a bad piece of work named Sandra who delighted in bullying, but never without her pack of she-wolves.

On that Friday, Sandra and six other day girls formed The Maleficent Seven to make Marian's life miserable. They caught her alone, threw her books down and cruelly insulted her with the intention of bringing her to tears...until Kate and Amanda came to the rescue!

The small plump humorous easy-going Amanda became a large savage red headed fireball who burst into the wolf pack like a bowling ball into tenpins! The mousy blonde tall, no longer gawky Kate was right by her side...

'Why don't you leave her alone?'

'Why don't you mind your own business, Kate?'

'We're making it our business!'

'We don't like cheaters!'

'Who's "we", Sandra? Do you have a rat in your pocket?'

'If so, it's your identical twin sister!', cracked Amanda.

'She's not a cheater, but you're a pack of rotten ratbags and you're the rottenest one of all, Sandra!', Kate continued, 'I noticed you don't have the nerve to tell Marian to her face what you think of her without your slimy stooges around you! Marian would mop up the floor with you!'

Amanda leapt in before Sandra could answer,

'Why don't you tell me to my face what you've told Marian?'

'Don't you talk to me like...'

Amanda slapped her!

'Shut up when you talk to me, Sandra!'

'Pick up our friend's books, give them back to her and beg her forgiveness!', demanded Kate.

'And you'd better make it good for her, or we'll make it bad for you', Amanda added.

Sandra quickly complied. The pack of former she-wolves, now whimpering mongrels, slunk off with their tails between their legs, followed by the sobbing Sandra.

'Whatever you do to Marian, we'll pay you back tenfold!', Kate vowed.

She turned to Marian, gave her a welcoming expression and spoke softly,

'You're with us now, Marian...if you'd like to be...'

Marian hugged Kate, Amanda made a group hug.

'Call me Brownie, it's my name and the fact that I tan easily.'

'I'm Sweetie, because my surname is "Cadbury"

'You two are wonderful!'

'We three...Mary Francis!', Brownie replied.

Splendid Saturday

Mary Francis woke her two friends,

'Look!'

Brownie and Sweetie struggled out of their warm and comfy beds in their dormitory room and joined their friend at the window facing the East...

The sky was a roaring red as if heaven itself was on fire. The pyjama clad trio gasped as they took it in.

'And the dawn came up like thunder', Brownie whispered in awe.

'Outer China 'cross the bay!', Sweetie answered loudly.

The trio began singing the chorus of On the Road to Mandalay to the groan of their fellow boarders...

'Those three!', one complained.

Mary Francis rejoiced in the fact that it had formerly been 'those two'.

'Wake up and go back to sleep!', replied Amanda.

When each one of the boarder girls staggered to the window they were as impressed as the trio were.

It was the perfect start to a splendid Saturday.

Fully dressed, the pair were the first at the table where they wolfed down their breakfast...adventure awaited!

* * *

Blonde Kate Brownleigh was the leader and bookworm of their small pack, but she never threw her weight around. Brownie was a 'city kitty', and appeared awkward with others but tall and determined when with Mandy and Mary Francis. The freckled red headed Amanda Cadbury was a 'rural girl' who looked small and dumpy amongst the rest of the school but she was a solid character with Brownie and Mary Francis; Sweetie was the comedienne of the trio. 'Town hound' Mary Francis was between the two, a brunette of an average build with hazel eyes; her height was between her two friends.

At first she felt she was intruding between Kate and Amanda who had an intense affection for each other, but the pair reassured her how welcome she was.

The three went 'downtown' for mostly window shopping, and then to the All Saint's Church monthly market in the churchyard and inside the old Gothic buildings that had once been church halls and schools that featured fascinating economical second hand goods and treats.

The autumn day passed in happiness.

Then it was 3 o'clock. They took an early tea inside the brightly sunlit windows and the warm brown wooden walls of the Devil's Kitchen Café.

Brownie pensively broke the enjoyable silence,

'Jean-Paul Sartre once said three o'clock was the worst time of the day because it always was too late or too early for anything you wanted to do...'

Sweetie cheerfully replied,

'Well, that's the Frenchies for you! I love this time of the day the best! Our warm and sunny afternoon still lingers, and tea and dinner are coming up!'

Mary Francis reflected that she loved sitting down with her friends when they weren't doing anything but conversing on a variety of topics from aardvarks to Zulus. When they sat still, it seemed that time did as well. It was something wonderful, a feeling of togetherness and happiness as if something memorable was going to happen, though it rarely did. One day though, she felt that the jackpot of excitement would at last burst out of life's poker machine...it had to...everything seemed primed for something to happen...There was the promise of an exciting and memorable Saturday Night. Though their Saturday nights promised more than they delivered, it was the promise that made it exciting and looked forward to. Now with her new friends, it seemed as if anything could happen...and it was about to...

Their waitress collected their cups and plates, then dropped them. Nothing was broken, but she appeared to be on the verge of crying. Kate held her hand, the waitress looked into her eyes with her own eyes having a pleading expression,

'Can you please help me? No one else can...'

Kate squeezed her hand in reassurance, you just knew everything would turn out all right if Brownie said it would...her brown eyes could never lie.

'What do you want us to do?'

'I'm off soon, can you meet me on a bench in the park at 3:45?'

'What's your name?', Amanda asked.

'Rosie...I should warn you, it may be dangerous.'

Mary Francis found herself saying,

'So are we.'

Rosie's eyes revealed her new confidence. She returned her crockery filled tray as the pair left the café. Once they were outside, Sweetie loudly whispered,

'Did you see the scars on her wrists? She's tried to kill herself!'

Autumn Assignation

The skies were still a glorious blue as the white clouds passed through them on their journey to...who knows where? The wind had picked up, small yellow leaves from a line of poplar trees created a golden blizzard, the sound of the dead brittle leaves scraped on the pathway. The three girls waited in anticipation for the beginning of their adventure.

'Autumn's almost over...', Brownie said wistfully.

'No, it's just begun, Brownie. Look, some of the leaves on the Japanese Maples are still green.'

Mary Francis loved Sweetie for being a genuine Pollyanna to Brownie's sometimes morose utterings, but she thought Amanda would get upset if someone said she was happy clappy. She prepared her courage to add her bit to her half empty and half full friends,

'I think it's just in the middle of the season. They'll be plenty more autumn for us to enjoy; most of the leaves are still on the trees.'

Brownie warmly laughed,

'Mother Mary Moderation, you're a blessing to have around!'

'Our Lady of Sensibility even does moderation in moderation, and you'll keep us on the straight and narrow!', Sweetie smiled.

Mary Francis held her two friend's hands in happiness, she sometimes felt as if she didn't belong as her opinions were neither bombastic nor decisive, but now she felt that she really fit in as one of them.

Ominous Westminster chimes announced it was quarter to the hour.

'Where's Godot?', queried Brownie.

As if by cue they heard a hissing noise.

'Is that a snake?', asked Sweetie, '-or has someone let the air out of a tyre?'

Rosie stuck her head out of some shrubbery where she had stealthily approached them and looked around like a nervous rabbit.

'She's off with the bunyips', whispered Sweetie.

Rosie shyly looked around as if she were being followed.

'I'm worried they're following me.'

'Who's "they", Rosie?', Kate asked.

Bunyips, mouthed Sweetie.

'The people who kidnapped my little Waldo...'

'Your child has been kidnapped???'

Rosie broke down crying,

'Please help me, no one else will.'

'Did you go to the police?'

'They wouldn't help me at all! Even when I found out where they're holding him.'

'Why won't they listen to you?'

'They know I used to live a horrible life. I was on drugs and I tried to kill myself.'

The two girls briefly looked with admiration to Sweetie for her observational skills then returned to Rosie.

'No matter what you've done, a child is a child, and a child's in danger.'

Rosie began bawling,

'Waldo is a dog!'

Nothing could stop Brownie's determination,

'Someone's holding your dog and you know where they're holding him? Did you contact the RSPCA?'

'I did, but they called the police about me. The coppers violated my privacy and told them about my background, then they no longer wanted to help me. I'd be dead or back in the mental institution if Waldo hadn't've saved my life!'

'This just gets better and better...', whispered Sweetie.

Mary Francis took over,

'So you're dog's been kidnapped, the police and the RSPCA won't help you but you know where they're holding Waldo now?'

'Yes', Rosie sniffed.

Brownie had the look in her eyes of a woman who would go through Hell and High Water,

'Tell us where he is!'

Haunted House

Rosie led the three girls to adventure.

'How did you find out where Waldo is?'

'My psychic told me, Brownie.'

Mary Francis touched Rosie to attract her attention so she wouldn't see the expression on Sweetie's face.

'Just where are were going?'

'Up Elboden Street.'

'Don't tell me, the Winfield Mansion...', Sweetie painfully remarked.

'How did you know? Are you psychic as well?'

'Where else would we be going, but a creep joint haunted house.'

'What do you mean, Sweetie?'

'It's been abandoned since the elderly owner was murdered there, Brownie. The real estate agents can't give the place away.'

Rosie added,

'The murderer's never been caught!'

* * *

An eerie glow of a red dusk filled the sky and reflected off the houses as they reached their destination during the twilight zone.

The three friends had only seen haunted houses in old American black and white films but this once outstanding Victorian mansion looked like it housed The Addams Family, The Munsters and Psycho all together in a commune of creeps.

'Handyman's delight', laughed Mary Francis, 'This is the reason no one's buying the place. They open the windows and let it get more and more rundown so they can defy the heritage orders and legally knock it down to make an ugly block house made out of grey Lego for some rich showoff.'

It was easy getting access through one of the open windows.

'Wal-'

A worried Brownie clamped her hand over Rosie's mouth, Sweetie wore her expected expression, rolled her blue eyes and shook her head, Mary Francis sensibly put her finger to her lips.

The quartet moved to what was near the entrance to the once stately mansion and carried on in whispers.

'Where should we start? I'm not about to separate and go our own ways then vanish one by one!'

'Let's start by going up the steps', Brownie replied to Sweetie.

As she stepped on the rug that was in front of the wooden stairway, it began to give way...Rosie reached out and pulled her backwards, then she picked up the edge of the large rug and looked down into shards of broken glass that pointed upwards from where they had been placed and set in a concrete block.

'It's a booby trap! Someone ripped out that piece of floor and put a newish rug over it!'

Sweetie's eyes showed a newfound respect for Rosie.

One by one the four adventuresses moved around the rug and walked up the stairway.

'I saw a movie once where the stairs turned into a ramp and everyone fell down the trapdoor where that rug is.'

'Good thinking, Brownie. Let's go up one by one.'

Mary Francis's idea proved agreeable, no one would fall down a ramp as the other three were there to grab her as Rosie had saved Brownie.

On the first-floor landing there was only a small end table holding an ancient, but sturdy large flower vase, both were covered in dust.

'We'll each look in every one of the rooms, then go upstairs to the next floor.'

A shrieking figure covered in a ghostly shroud came out of one of the rooms and ran straight towards them!!!

Rip-roaring rescue

Three girls screamed, but the quick-thinking Sweetie grabbed the old metal vase, swung it about and threw it with all her might where she intended. It loudly clanged on the head of the shrouded figure who staggered and let out with a week's worth of foul language and curses.

'We don't like that sort of thing in the country!', Sweetie shouted.

The determined girls knocked the man down and covered his arms with his own shroud costume.

'Where's the dogs?'

'I don't know what you're talking about!'

Amanda made a motion of swinging the heavy vase around.

'Want another smack?'

'They're downstairs! Go down the stairwell and jump on the rug!'

Amanda made a vicious face,

'We'll take you down and throw you on the rug! Do you want another smack with this?'

'All right, don't touch the rug, just walk around the stairwell and go inside the doorway under it. Push on the wall away from the steps and there's a hidden stairwell!'

'I'll go!', said Rosie, 'If I'm not back in five minutes give it to him and come after me!'

They heard her go down the steps, then a bit of commotion.

'Rosie!'

'I'm all right, I almost forgot about the rug!'

Amanda made a fist and grabbed the helpless man by his throat with her other hand,

'If anything happens to her, your own mother won't recognise you!'

Their frightened captive well believed her.

'Just as I thought! You've got a Doberman's bark and a Dingo's guts!'

'Get your hands up!'

At the end of the hallway a middle-aged woman approximately the age of the man they had pinned down was standing with a double-barrelled shotgun.

'Get your hands up and step backwards.'

The three schoolgirls complied but Sweetie wasn't finished,

'Stay where you are, Dingo!'

The woman grew more exasperated when the frightened man heeded Sweetie!

'Get off the floor, you idiot!'

'Don't let her talk to you like that! Show her who's boss and stay on the floor!'

Again, the man on the floor believed the determined Amanda. The woman with the shotgun fiercely shouted,

'Get up, Lee!'

Mary Francis joined the argument,

'Are you a man or a spouse?'

The woman laughed as much as the three girls she was pointing her shotgun at! The coward Lee lying on the floor finally regained his courage and got up. He thought he'd take his anger out on Mary Francis! He grabbed her by her wrist,

'I'll show you who's boss, Missy!'

Recalling her self-defence classes, Mary Francis twirled her arm that set the man off balance, by that time she had hooked her foot behind his leg and thrust his own hand into him that sent him crashing backwards on the floor!

'Well done!', her two friends shouted in unison.

The woman's eyes exuded sheer hatred,

'Get over here, Lee or I'll fire both barrels and get the lot of you!'

They heard growls and barking as what sounded like an army of the loudly pattering paws of a vicious canine stampede rushed up the stairs; the dogs Rosie freed were out for revenge! The woman turned with her shotgun...

'Cover your face! They'll rip your face off!', shouted the quick-thinking Kate.

She dropped the weapon and covered her face as the small dog army began biting her legs and she screamed.

'Stay where you are, Dingo!', Sweetie threatened as she picked up the heavy vase.

Mary Francis took the shotgun off the floor and softly threw it to Sweetie,

'This is a job for the country girl!'

Sweetie expertly broke open the rusted old weapon,

'It's not even loaded! It's so rusty that it would probably blow up in her face if she had fired it! What a stupid old blunderbuss, and I don't mean the gun!'

Rosie came up the stairs holding a terrier cross, presumably Waldo, who was licking her tears of joy off her face.

The woman kept her face covered and continued screaming as the dogs carried on biting her legs. Waldo leapt from Rosie's arms and jumped onto Lee's chest and began savagely barking, but not biting.

'Don't let him kill me! Please!'

'We've a Victoria Cross recipient here!', laughed Brownie.

The woman's screams and the man begging for mercy from Waldo were joined by the sound of a police siren...

Friendship forever

The girls were kept at the police local area command to help the police with their enquiries, but unlike the pupnappers, the girls were given tea and biscuits. The police explained that there had never been a murder, the elderly owner of the Winfield Mansion and real estate agents spread the false story to stimulate interest in the property.

Lee was so frightened that when he hesitated in answering the Detective Sergeant's questions one of the cheeky constables hid behind the door and made barking noises that acted like lubricant oil on the machinery of confession!

The pair had pupnapped small dogs they thought they could sell in other towns. All the girls were in favour of Rosie receiving any reward. Best of all, the policeman who had broken Rosie's privacy to the RSPCA was in a well-deserved spot of trouble!

The police had earlier notified their school, and the trio received a ride back in a police car where Miss Hibbard, the headmistress who also lived on the grounds, was waiting outside in her bathrobe with her large black Briard, Monty.

'I was hoping you'd have them in handcuffs!', she laughed.

Inside, Mrs. Wilson the housekeeper had prepared sandwiches for the three adventuresses, and a large amount of hot cocoa and freshly baked biscuits; the policeman driving the girls home did not refuse any of them!

The trio related their night's adventures to the once in a lifetime late night pyjama party of the rapt school's boarders, with the usually strict, but animal loving Miss Hibbard ecstatic in delight that dogs had been rescued and three of her girls had accomplished it! Monty thrilled in being patted by all three of the heroines, and Mrs. Wilson hadn't forgot treats for the lovable Briard.

* * *

After Sunday morning services and lunch, the girls were on the loose again on a brilliant afternoon. The trio walked together up a hill, ready for new adventures...

FIN

Author Notes: I am the author of three Extra Dimensional/Ultraterrestial military science fiction novels MERCENARY EXOTIQUE, OPERATION CHUPACABRA and WORK IN OTHER WORLDS FROM YOUR OWN HOME! as well as two travel books THE MAN FROM WAUKEGAN and TWO AUSTRALIANS IN SCOTLAND (all from Lulu.com). I live happily ever after with my wife in paradise (coastal Kiama, NSW Australia).

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