Chapter 2. Peter's Idea
‘Wake up!' said Bobbie. ‘We're in a new house, remember?'
‘Yes, a new house with a rat,' said Phyllis.
‘Yes, but it's exciting,' said Peter. ‘I want to go outside. We didn't see much last night. It was too dark.'
‘Yes, I want to go out,' said Bobbie. So, they went into the garden.
‘It's very green,' said Phyllis.
‘We didn't like that hill last night,' said Bobbie.' We had to go up with our bags. It's better to go down a hill.' So, they ran down the hill.
‘Wait! I can see the railway track and a tunnel', said Peter. ‘I want to go there.'
They started running again. Soon they arrived at the track.
‘It's fantastic,' said Bobbie. Then they heard a noise. It was from the tunnel.
Choo choo, Choo choo!
It was a train and it was very fast.
‘That was exciting,' said Peter.
‘It was exciting to be very near a train and see all of it,' said Phyllis. Often at the station you can't see all of the train at the same time. I want to go to the station now.'
‘Good idea!' said Bobbie. They followed the track, and soon they arrived. ‘We usually go to the station to get a train or to meet someone. Today we're here because we want to be here and it's only us. No Mother and no Father.'
The station was an exciting place. There were lots of things to do.
At home there were also lots of things to do. They helped to cook and clean the house. ‘No more rats,' said Bobbie. The children were happy. The house, the hill, and the station were new and very interesting.
In June it started raining. The children couldn't go out. The house was cold.
‘Mother,' said Peter, ‘can we have a fire?'
‘No, dear,' said Mother. ‘We haven't got much coal. Coal is expensive. Go and play. Then you'll be warm again.'
At dinner-time, the children looked at the table. There was bread and butter and jam.
‘You can have jam or butter on your bread. Not jam and butter. We don't have a lot of money,' said Mother.
No jam and butter and no coal. This is really bad, Peter thought. At the station there's a lot of coal. Then he had an idea.
After dinner, Peter called his sisters. ‘I've got an idea,' he said. ‘Come with me to the station and bring some bags with you.'
‘Alright,' said Bobbie and Phyllis.
When they arrived, Peter put some coal in his bag. ‘Quick! Help me!' he said to his sisters.
‘But stealing is wrong,' said Bobbie. ‘We mustn't do this.'
‘We need to do it, Bobbie. We need some coal. We're not stealing. There's so much coal here. They don't need it all.'
‘Alright,' said Bobby. ‘But we have to be quick.'
But then they heard a noise. ‘There you are!' It was the porter. ‘I've got you now, you bad children' he said.
‘We're not bad,' said Peter. The porter had a candle, and he looked at the children.
‘Well, you're the children from “Three Chimneys”. Why did you do this? Don't you know it's wrong to steal?'
‘I didn't think it was wrong,' said Peter. ‘There was so much coal. You didn't need it all. We had no coal for a fire. We were cold, Mother was cold and …'
‘Well,' said the porter. ‘Alright, let's forget about it this time, but remember young man: it's wrong to take something that's not yours. Don't do it again.'
‘I promise. Thank you so much,' said Peter. ‘We're going home now.'
The children tried to stay at home, but it was difficult. It was very interesting at the station and very different from life in London. Soon, they decided to go back.
‘Only to watch the trains. We mustn't do anything bad again,' said Bobbie.
They went to the station every day and they learnt all the times of the trains that arrived. The porter's name was Perks. He saw the children every day. I was wrong about those children, thought Perks. They're good and they're really interested in the trains.
One morning the children were near the tunnel. ‘Maybe the next train is going where Father lives now. I really want to see him again,' said Phyllis.
‘Me too,' said Peter. ‘The 9.15 train is arriving now. We can wave at the passengers.'
The train went by and the children started to wave. On this train there was an old gentleman. He had white hair and he wore a large hat. From a train window the children saw a hand. This hand held a newspaper. It was the old gentleman's hand.
From that day, at 9.15 the children waved at the train and the old gentleman always waved at them. Maybe the old gentleman knows Father. He can tell him that we wave every day, thought Bobbie.
The children asked Perks a lot of things and Perks tried to answer all their questions. They were now good friends. Every day the children went to the station. They stayed with Perks and they waited for the 9.15 train.
One day, they couldn't wave at the train.
Mother wasn't well. She stayed in bed, but in the evening, she didn't feel better.
‘Let's get the doctor,' said Bobbie. ‘He can help Mother.' Soon the doctor arrived.
‘What is it? What's wrong?' asked Bobbie.
‘She needs some medicine,' said the doctor. ‘The house must be warm. And she needs some good hot food and a lot of tea.'
Mmm, all things that are very expensive thought Bobbie. We don't have the money. What can we do? Think Bobbie. Think!
That evening, the children took a sheet from their bed.
What did they do with the sheet? Wait and see.
