21.2 Williams Goodbye Present

Quote from the story
"Hubert Lane" said William, spitting the name out as if it were some noxious draught."
- William

Hubert Lane's Uncle Paul has been visiting from Australia and seems to have much preferred the Outlaws to Hubert and hs friends, taking them on long walks, teaching them new ways of making fire and bushcraft. Uncle Paul has promised William a clasp knife, which he has ordered from the shop in Hadley. With this William is told he can make wooden boats as good as Uncle Paul's. Hurbert and Uncle Paul are to collect it, with Hubert bringing it back, but Hubery has a faint smile on his face...
An impatient William visits the Lane's later that day to claim his knife, however it becomes obvious that Hubert has decided to keep the knife for himself, along with th e pistol that he'd been given from uncle Paul. 

William turns to Mrs Lane for help, but Hubert lies through his teeth and claims uncle Paul gave both items to him. Of course, Mrs Lane believes her little Hubert and tells William he is telling a string of lies.

William is ordered to leave by Mrs Lane. He does, realising that there was no other official channel to seek justice, as while his parents may believe him, their dislike for such weapons would mean they wouldn't act.

William heads to the barn to reveal the disappointing news. The outlaws discuss ways to extricate the knife for half an hour, eventually parting ways when they realised there was nothing to do. William approached his parents, who displayed sympathy, but again nothing was done.

Upon remembering that Hubert still believed in fairies and witches and spells, William called the outlaws to the old barn and formed a plan. Hubert had also hatched a plan to try and trick the Outlaws into becoming friendly with him.

Herbert's plan involved inviting the Outlaws to an imaginary party, assuming that this would make them forget the knife. As William and Ginger approached his house he invited them. They eager to get to Hubert for their plan, agreed in a naueasously pleasant way. Told him to keep the knife and invited him to play, telling him they had a secret to tell him, then leading unsuspecting Hubert to the old barn.
William reveals that his secret involved an old woman muttering to herself near the old barn. Hubert takes the woman to be a witch, and the words to be a spell. William explains that the spell involved anyone walking over a burned patch having their home turned into a hen-coop and the people in it turned to hens. Hubert having reviously walked on the burnt patch is overcome with anxiety that his house is now a hen-coop, refuses to check if it has been so converted. Ginger checks for him from the stile and tells him that only a hen-coop remains.

Douglas and Henry turn up at different times exclaming that Hubert's house has gone and a hen-coop is all that remains, with a brown and white hen (Mrs Lane) and a hen leaving the house (his father leaving for the train station).

The Outlaws explain that when Hubert is turned into a hen, he'll have to eat grubs and worms. He becomes distressed at the thought. Conveniently, William remembers the second part of the spell: "An' nver shall be free of the spell, Till he throws into here somethin' that cuts an', somethin' that shoots as well".

William examines this part of the spell with a judicial air as Hubert pulls out the knife asking if it would do. William pretends not to know that the "somethin' that shoots as well" could refer to, leading Hubert to pull out the pistol from his other pocket.

Not surprisingly, when Ginger next checks from the stile; Hubert's house has magically returned to its former glory!

The next day, when Hubert asks them where they managed to get a clasp-knife and a pistol, William replies with "The fairies gave them us".

Characters	Places
Hubert Lane	William's Village
William Brown	Hubert's house
Uncle Paul (Hubert Lane's uncle)	Old Barn
Mrs Lane
Ginger	Other appearances of this story
Douglas	None known at present

Over to William (1956)

This 13 episode series, starring Keith Crane as William Brown, was made by a Associated Television for ITV. 

The series was broadcast between 20/09/1956 and 13/12/1956. 

 

The episode titles are:

Violet Elizabeth Wins
Claude Finds a Companion
William and the Ebony Hairbrush
The Brown Check Sports Coat
Aunt Louie's Birthday Present
William and the Three-Forty
William the Bold
William's Lucky Day
William and the Tramp
Cats and White Elephants
Esmeralda Takes a Hand
The Begging Letter
William Meets a Professor

All episodes are believed to be lost.

I've attached some press clippings from the Daily Mirror from the time.

Jimmy Story Review: 1.29 Sandy Does His Turn

In this enjoyable story, the events revolve around Jimmy's dog, Sandy. Jimmy, his older brother Roger, and Bobby have been training Sandy for the children's Dog Show event in the local flower show.

Roger, who is also playing the part of Robin Hood, gives Jimmy and Bobby a list of tricks to practice with Sandy before going for a final rehearsal. He reminds them that Sandy was only washed the previous day, so they musn't get him dirty...

Jimmy and Bobby try in ernest to have Sandy performing these tricks for the show, but he upsets everything in his path and successfully manages to mis-perform every trick!

In an attempt to calm Sandy, the boys take him for a walk. Unfortunately, Sandy burrows into a ditch and comes out drenched in black slime. Jimmy reluctantly realises that they will need to wash, or at least attempt to wash, an unwilling Sandy. Of course, as soon as they have soap on him, Sandy rushes out into the back garden, covering himself in grass clippings on his way out into the countryside.

Their attempts to find Sandy fail and they head off to the show, in case he's there. Bobby skillfully avoids revealing their plight to Roger, who had just come out of the Robin Hood tent, when the play begins.

As the play is being performed a contrite Sandy appears on stage bringing the present of a rat to Roger. A burst of clapping in the audience indicates to Sandy that all is forgiven, however Jimmy and Bobby realise that they will not enjoy the same fate. As Roger looks around for them, they have vanished!

Characters:

Jimmy

Roger

Bobby

Miss Pettigrew

MIST Story Review: The Spanish Comb by Richmal Crompton

The Spanish Comb is a short story published in MIST and other stories, recently republished as MIST and Other Ghost Stories.


Synopsis

Moira Houghton is looking out of her bedroom window, while dressing for dinner. Watching her children play, with Billy, the children's father and her husband, and the children's governess, Lindy.
She is considering how much she loves her family, including the governess, when her father-in-law knocks at the door. This break Moira's time of privacy, but she doesn't mind so much, she loves Billy's father too. He gives her a Spanish comb, given to his brother a long time ago. Placing it in her hair, he says how delightful she looks and tells her to keep it.
Still wearing the Spanish comb, Moira looks out of the window again. The nurse has gone to collect the childen to bring them indoors. However she sees that Billy and Lindy do not follow, first they walk down the flower border, then they enter the walled kitchen garden.
Moira feels a suspicion now, towards Billy. This turns into a savage "primitive uncontrollable passion".
The nurse comes to tell Moira that the children are in bed, telling her how feverish she looks. She briefly goes to see them, upon her return Billy is in the bedroom and readying himself for dinner.
Billy is all compliments for Moira and how she looks with the Spanish comb in her hair. Moira immediately thinks that he is playing a game and trying to get around her suspicions with flattery. She refuses to go for a picnic the next day, but says Billy can go with Lindy.
At dinner, Moira eats nothing and this is commented upon. She feels she notices glances between Billy and Lindy when they feels her attention is elsewhere. Her father-in-law suggests that a black lace scarf would be ideal to go with the comb. Moira cannot keep the jealousy at bay: thoughts of murder have entered her heart. She'll make them both suffer for what they've done.
Mr Houghton, the father-in-law, has now remembered the story of how his brother was given the comb. It was once owned by a beautiful, but insanely jealous, woman. Her husband was devoted to her, however the woman had killed at least one girl. Eventually, she killed her husband and her children, before committing suicide. The sister of the woman was afraid of the comb and passed it on. The comb is heard to fall from Moira's head as she faints in her chair.
Back in her room, being warmed by the fire, Billy fusses over her. She feels as if she had never been suspicious of Billy at all. That she has awakened from a nightmare. He tells her that Lindy, in her girl-like way, was collecting flowers for the breakfast table. Love-in-a-mist, Moira's favourite. Lindy was also talking about getting her a black lace scarf for her birthday. He wonders if they should have employed an older governess, called Lindy, "such a kid".
Moira says that she loves Lindy and enquires the time of the picnic tomorrow. At this point a housekeeper brings the Spanish comb. Moira asks Billy if he loves her, he replies in the affirmative. She throws the comb in the fire and blazes up in a leaping tongue of flame.

Review
I liked this story as it was left open to interpretation. Did the comb have some power over the wearing, an ability to make them so passionately jealous of their partners that they would commit murder upon anyone getting too close? Or did Moira have a brief moment of clarity and saw Billy for who he really was? Only to faint after being told that the previous owner of the comb had murdered due to jealousy. Then while recovering, be told how innocent their conversation was and suggesting that a new governess should be employed - everything to suggest that Billy would do anything to make Moira happy again.
Whether Billy really is a dedicated husband, or a well practiced adulterer, is, in my view, entirely up to the reader. What happens in these 14 pages is a story that grips the reader as Moira struggles with a jealousy that could have led to murder.

To read the story, and the rest of the book, buy it from Amazon by clicking the cover below:

21.1 William and the A.R.P

Quote from the story
"I bet they'll be jolly grateful to us when a war comes along. I bet we'll save the country while they're messin' about tryin' to remember where they put their gas masks"
- William

William and Ginger set up their own A.R.P (Junior Branch) group as their parents won't let them join in wearing gas masks. The first meeting held in the old barn leads to Arabella Simpkin leaving in a huff as her small sister started crying. William proceeded to tell the group about persistent gases. The meeting becoming disorderly at the mention of bombs smelling of pear drops and a disagreement about sweets! After more members leaving, Henry brings out bandaging equipment. Strangly for William, he acts very much like an adult when a bandaging fight ensues and only returns to his old self when Victor Jameson lassoes him from behind. However this fight inevitably leads for more members leaving! Next is practicing wearing gas masks, which they haven't got - so the all rush to Henry's to use flowerpots as masks instead; again we witness the descent into 'war', leaving in short shrift, a littering of fragments where flowerpots used to be. With yet more members shed, out of fear of the trouble they'll be in for destroying the flowerpot, only a few remain. The final practice was "detramination", whereby Ginger's mother finds them all naked on the lawn wrestling, and playing with the garden hose.

It's not until a local blackout that the allure of the A.R.P enters his mind again. He discovers that there would be a need to remove children from crowded cities to safer places. Considering Hadley to meet this description, he endeavours to investigate how best to remove children to his own village during the war. Coming across the twins, Hector and Herbert; William explains the situation. The twins are excited at the prospect of being evacuated and William takes them to his village.
Upon showing them the way to his unoccupied house, they convince him to let them in. It becomes increasingly apparent to William that Hector and Herbert think that they have literally been evacuated. This is clarified when they suggest that they need to go and get their things from home!
Miss Milton visits to drop rice off for Mrs. Brown's Pound Day. She decides to write a note to Mrs Brown and inevitably hears the twins, however William tries to convince her that the sounds are rats and a bit of wind! Miss Milton proudly decides that she's having her first manifestation, a gift that allows her to hear voices everywhere.

Mrs Monks follows shortly after with her Pound Day donation (yet more rice) and to leave a note for Mrs Brown. Miss Thompson follows, with more rice, and yet another note is written. All the while, the twins are still in the basement, being strangely quiet. Before William can return the twins to their rightful home, his mother arrives home. Clearly frustrated that no one can think of anything but rice, she suggests a nice cosy tea with William. Before making it clear that she won't do anything else before drinking a cup of tea, William attempts to get her to lie down for a rest and then to check the shed for tools he's sure have been stolen. At this point Miss Milton returns, to chec her new found ability, which seemed to have left her when she exited William's garden gate.

Enter Mrs Monk and Miss Thompson and the reason for the quietness of the twins becomes clear. They've taken Mrs Monk's purse and diary from her bag, and the trimming from Miss Thompson's hat. With William in the prescence of the adult-visitors each time, clearly it can't have been him!
It's at this moment that noises occur from down below. Mrs Brown orders William to the police station and locks the cellar door. However, when childish laughter is heard, they realise it is children.
Mrs Monks, a sunday-school teacher, marches down the cellar to deal with the twins. She is seen as the 'enemy' and is pelted with pickled eggs and upon her retreat shouts of "We're bombing the enemy" are heard.

William returns with what he believes is a plausible explanation, however before voicing it, his mother directs him to retrieve the twins. Ethel and Robert fresh from their ARP training, bandage Hector's head and decontaminate Herbert.

In typical William fashion, as Mrs Brown turns to confront him, he has vanished. He'd decided to evacuate himself!

Characters	Places
William Brown	William's Village
Ginger	Hadley
Henry	William's Home
Douglas
Victor Jameson	Other appearances of this story
Ronald Bell	William at War
Arabella Simpkin
Arabella's sister
Hector
Herbert
Mrs Brown
Mr Brown
Miss Milton
Mrs Monk
Miss Louisa Thompson