Alice-Miranda at School

by Jacqueline Harvey

  With the sun on her face and a breath of wind behind her she closed her eyes and drank it all in. Suddenly a crunching sound made her jump, and her camera fell from her hands and wedged into some rocks below.

  “Oh, blast!” she exclaimed. “Silly girl!” She reached out to try and get the camera but she was too small and it was too far away. The only solution was to climb down further. Alice-Miranda stood up and peered over the edge. It didn’t look too far. Just as she was about to step off the platform a man’s voice shouted.

  “No! Amelia, no!”

  Alice-Miranda steadied herself and only just managed to fall back onto the rock platform. A giant hand reached out and grabbed her arm and then she was back on the edge of the trail. She lay on the ground, squinting up at a man she had never seen before. The cut of his clothes was expensive but they were very dirty. His unshaven face, long hair and lean limbs gave him the appearance of a scrawny giant but there was something kind in his eyes. Alice-Miranda sat up. He stared at her intently, as though he was seeing the face of someone he had known a long time ago.

  “Hello,” she said quietly. “My name is Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones and I am very pleased to meet you, Mr.… ?” She held out her hand.

  The man stood still, just staring. It was as though he was unable to speak.

  “Thank you for saving me. If you hadn’t come along I could have tumbled all the way down there. It was very silly of me to take such a risk. Mr. Charles would have retrieved my camera for me when I went back to school.” She tried again. “Do you have a name, sir?”

  The man looked as though he was about to speak, gulped, but said nothing.

  “I have some food, over there in my backpack.” Alice-Miranda pointed to where she had left her pack in the bushes. “I could get you something.” He looked as if he had not eaten properly for quite some time.

  Alice-Miranda stood up, dusted herself off and slipped her hand into his. Without another word, she led him back along the trail to where she had left her things. There was a clearing with some rocks. She motioned that he should sit down. All the while he did not take his eyes off her.

  Alice-Miranda decided that the man must be in shock, like when someone has an accident or they see something unexpected. A hint of brown material was poking out from behind a rock. She walked over to have a look and saw a tramp’s stick, with his possessions tied into a bundled piece of fabric.

  “Do you have a home, sir?” she asked.

  He said nothing.

  Alice-Miranda decided that the best thing she could do would be to give this poor fellow a strong cup of tea. But that required her to build a fire first. She quickly set about gathering rocks and kindling and soon had the last of her water boiling and hissing.

  She handed him a tin mug and found a biscuit in her pack.

  “Please, sir, a good strong cup of tea will have you feeling better in no time.”

  And so she sat down beside him and waited until he had a few sips. He turned to look at her. She smiled, her hair shining in the sunlight, her eyes dancing merrily.

  “You’re not Amelia,” he said at last.

  “No, sir, my name is Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones. I go to Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Ladies and I am seven and one-quarter years old.”

  “But on the rock out there, for a moment you looked just like her,” he whispered.

  “Who do I look like?” she asked.

  “It was a long time ago.” He turned away, brushing a tear from his eye.

  “Well, sir, I know that I’m only seven and one-quarter but I am a very good listener.”

  He turned to face her. There was something about her, not just that she looked like Amelia. He wanted to tell her things he hadn’t told anyone before.

  “My name is Aldous Grump and, a long time ago, I had a little girl called Amelia.”

  Alice-Miranda held out her tiny hand. “I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Grump.” She handed him a gingersnap biscuit.

  Aldous Grump told Alice-Miranda his story. He hadn’t always been a tramp. Far from it, his life had been very busy. He had run a successful publishing company. He had married his wife, a beauty named Evelyn, when they were both young, and they had had a little girl, Amelia. She was everything he could have wanted in a daughter. She had cascading chocolate curls and eyes as big as saucers. And talk? She started when she was just nine months old and never seemed to stop. His life had been as near to perfect as any man’s until his darling Evelyn was killed in a motor accident. Aldous thought he would never recover. He decided that the best thing for Amelia would be to send her to boarding school.

  “I’m sure that was a very good idea,” Alice-Miranda interrupted. “It would have been awfully hard to run your own business and look after Amelia too.”

  He nodded.

  “Where did she go?” Alice-Miranda quizzed.

  “Down there,” said Aldous, looking toward the cliff top.

  “Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale! My school!” Alice-Miranda exclaimed. “How wonderful. I’m sure that she had the most marvelous time. I have only been there for two weeks and I love it to bits. I came early, you know, and the whole reason I have to do this hike is to prove to Miss Grimm that I really should be there.”

  “Ophelia …” His voice broke and his shoulders slumped.

  “Of course, you must know her too.” Alice-Miranda smiled. “I think she’s been there quite some time now.”

  “I didn’t realize,” he continued. “I thought she had gone.”

  “Oh no, she’s very much in charge. She’s a funny one, though. When I first arrived, Miss Higgins said that she hadn’t been out of her study in over ten years. Well, I just thought that was ridiculous, so I have been to see her lots of times. She is on my mind quite a bit. When I first met her she seemed rather angry and not at all happy to see me. I didn’t meet her before I came to the school, you see. Miss Higgins, her wonderful secretary, interviewed me and so it wasn’t until I was already there that I thought I should pop in and introduce myself. I was worried about a few things. Mrs. Smith was sad because she had never been on holiday and Mr. Charles was upset about the flowers, and Jacinta Headlington-Bear, well, she was having the most ghastly tantrum. I suppose there was just a lot of unhappiness, and for not very good reasons. So I tried to help and most things are much better, but since then—and especially while I’ve been out here—I’ve been worrying dreadfully.”

  Mr. Grump looked up from the ground and into Alice-Miranda’s eyes as she kept talking.

  “Well, not about Mrs. Smith or Mr. Charles or Jacinta. You see, I’ve been worrying about Miss Grimm. I think she’s actually terribly sad. She comes across all angry and upset and she’s set all these tasks for me which none of the other girls have ever had to do, but I don’t think she’s really mean at all. I think she’s miserable.” Alice-Miranda finally took a breath.

  Mr. Grump’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s my fault,” he sobbed. “It’s all my fault.”

  “That’s silly. How could it be your fault? Your Amelia must have finished school a long time ago. I’m sure that she didn’t make Miss Grimm sad.”

  Aldous took a deep breath. “When I met Ophelia she was lovely. She adored the girls and she took especially good care of my Amelia. We liked each other very much. Over time, we fell in love. I never thought I would love anyone after Evelyn, and here was this beautiful and clever young woman who loved me and loved my little daughter even more,” he began.

  “That’s so romantic,” Alice-Miranda sighed. She patted Mr. Grump gently on the shoulder.

  “I asked her to marry me. She said yes and we began planning our wedding. Amelia was to be the flower girl in a beautiful pink dress. Ophelia was happier than I had ever seen her.”

  “What happened?” Alice-Miranda leaned forward eagerly.

  The words whispered from his lips. “She died.”

  “Who died?” Alice-Miranda asked. “Not Miss
Grimm, she’s very much alive.” She sat searching his face for answers. The tears were tracking down his lined cheeks, creating puddles in the dirt below. “Oh! Amelia,” Alice-Miranda gasped, and clutched her hands to her mouth as though she had spoken a terrible word. “But how?”

  Mr. Grump’s chest heaved. “They said it was pneumonia. She hadn’t even been sick—just a little cough. She went to bed and she never woke up.”

  “But people don’t just die in their sleep.” Alice-Miranda was shocked. “There must have been a reason.”

  “Ophelia rang me and said that Amelia had died. It was the worst moment of my life. She said that the doctor had been called and they tried to do everything possible but she had complications and there was nothing anyone could do.” He paused. “But I didn’t believe them. I didn’t believe Ophelia and I told her it was her fault. I blamed her.”

  By now the poor man was sobbing quite uncontrollably. Alice-Miranda worried to see him in such a state.

  “Mr. Grump, please calm down.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. The shudders began to subside. “Surely you must have talked about things,” she soothed.

  “It was all a blur. There was a report and the funeral and lots of flowers and cards and people telling me how sorry they were. But Ophelia, I don’t know. We didn’t talk about it. I wrote her a note saying that I was going away. She sent her engagement ring back. I left my business, I left my home, and I’ve spent the past ten years walking around the world, trying to find someplace where I could forget.” Mr. Grump pulled a box from his pocket and opened it. A diamond ring glinted in the sunlight.

  “But you’ve never forgotten. That’s her ring. Oh, poor Miss Grimm. It’s no wonder she’s so sad. You went walking all over the world and she locked herself away from it.” Alice-Miranda stood up to stoke the fire and make another cup of tea.

  “Somehow, after all these years, I ended up back here.” Mr. Grump wiped away a tear.

  “You’ve been in the school too, haven’t you?” Alice-Miranda asked. “There was the blanket in the greenhouse and Mrs. Oliver’s cakes—it was you?”

  Aldous hung his head. “I wanted to know if Ophelia was still there, but when there was no sign, I gave up and came up here—to think,” he said. “And then I saw you.”

  “Before, on the ledge, why did you call me Amelia?” Alice-Miranda asked.

  “Because you, my dear girl, you are the image of my darling daughter,” he replied.

  Alice-Miranda handed him his mug and sat down. It certainly helped her to understand a few things.

  “You must see her,” said Alice-Miranda. There was a sense of urgency in her voice that he found frightening.

  “No, I couldn’t. What I did to her was … unforgivable.” He shook his head.

  “Why are you here?” Alice-Miranda asked firmly.

  “I don’t know, really. I just needed to come back. I’ve spent all these years trying to forget and yet every night she comes to me in my dreams. I did a terrible thing. I was so afraid. How could I lose Evelyn and Amelia? What if I lost Ophelia too?”

  “But you did lose Ophelia, Mr. Grump. And now you’re back and you can find each other again. It’s not too late. Miss Grimm’s still young and you could get married and have your own family.” Alice-Miranda’s mind was racing ahead.

  “I don’t think she would ever want to see me again,” said Mr. Grump as he wiped some crumbs from his beard.

  “You’ve got nothing to lose, sir. You’ve come all this way.” She stood up in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders. “Do you love her?” Alice-Miranda looked deep into his eyes.

  Slowly he nodded.

  “Well, this calls for immediate action.” Alice-Miranda ran toward her pack. “I’m going to do something I said that I absolutely would not,” she declared. “No offense, Mr. Grump, but all these years you’ve been roaming the world have not been kind to your appearance. I have two more days out here and I plan to finish them. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a head start. I’m going to call my father on the emergency phone, which I said would remain in my bottom drawer but which I’m sure Millie gave Mr. Charles to hide in the bottom of this backpack. Honestly, they all worry far too much.” Alice-Miranda’s words galloped out. “But you know, I do believe most firmly that all things happen for a reason. And the reason Millie gave Mr. Charles that phone was obviously because I was going to meet you. So I’m going to phone Daddy and he can send Cyril with Birdy straight away and you can go home to my house. Mummy will look after you and Daddy can give you some clean clothes and get you sorted out. When my hike is over you can come back to school and see Miss Grimm.”

  Mr. Grump looked at this amazing girl and was utterly speechless. There was no point arguing with her. Goodness, he didn’t believe it possible that a child could be more determined than his own Amelia, but indeed this one was.

  Alice-Miranda searched in the bottom of her backpack and found the phone. She called her father and spent the first five minutes explaining that she wasn’t injured or lost or anything of the sort. Her father relayed the story to her mother, who was equally concerned. Cecelia said that she remembered there being a terrible tragedy at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale quite some years before—and how dreadful for poor Mr. Grump and for dear Miss Grimm. They would send Cyril and Birdy right away.

  Alice-Miranda said that she would meet Cyril in the large clearing on top of the mountain. This meant they had a way to walk yet, so she and Mr. Grump put out the fire, picked up their things and set off. She hoped that nobody would notice Birdy. She tried to remember where the girls would be and realized that they would likely be on the oval at sport. Maybe they wouldn’t see him.

  A short while later, as Cyril maneuvered Birdy toward the top of the mountain, Ophelia Grimm glanced out of her window. Her mind strayed to Alice-Miranda. She rather hoped that the child had given up and was waiting for Charlie to come and collect her. But for some reason she thought that rather unlikely.

  Down on the sports field, Millie was startled to see Birdy overhead.

  “Doesn’t that helicopter belong to your little friend’s parents?” Alethea asked, pointing up.

  “I’m not sure,” said Millie stoutly, but her heart sank. She wondered if something terrible had happened and Alice-Miranda had found the phone smuggled into the bottom of her pack.

  “So, poor little diddums can’t cope out there in the big wide woods,” Alethea smirked.

  “Poor little diddums,” the three marionettes chorused.

  “Oh, shut up, you lot,” Alethea roared.

  Danika, Lizzy and Shelby had been getting on Alethea’s nerves ever since she had caught them whining about their flat and dull hair after the mineral water washing. They were so ungrateful—she’d had her mother’s hairdresser courier a special conditioner to her at school, and they hadn’t even thanked her for it. She hadn’t actually let them use any of it themselves, but she did let them wash her hair to see how well it worked.

  Her puppets looked crushed. “Get over it!” Alethea growled. “You’re not parrots.”

  Millie and the girls finished training and went back to the house. Perhaps she should call Alice-Miranda’s mother to see if something was wrong.

  “Hello, Mrs. Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones, it’s Millicent Jane McLoughlin-McTavish-McNoughton-McGill,” Millie announced.

  “Millicent, darling, how are you? Alice-Miranda has told us all about you. Thank you for being such a kind friend to our girl. Please call me Cecelia.”

  “Mrs. High— Cecelia, I was wondering if there was a problem with Alice-Miranda on the hike?”

  “No, darling, why ever would you think that?” Cecelia replied. Alice-Miranda had sworn her parents to secrecy about Cyril and Birdy collecting Mr. Grump. She prayed that nobody back at school had seen Birdy.

  “Well, it’s just that I thought I saw your helicopter this afternoon. It headed up onto the mountain and that’s where Alice-Miranda would be by now, so I wa
s just hoping there was nothing wrong.” Millie’s mind was racing. Surely Alice-Miranda hadn’t been picked up. She was so reliable.

  “No, Millie dear. I can’t imagine why you would have thought it was Birdy. We haven’t heard from Alice-Miranda at all,” Cecelia fibbed. She desperately wanted to tell her the truth.

  “Thanks, then. I must have been mistaken.” Millie tried to sound convinced, as much for her own sake as Cecelia’s. But the memory of the huge lettering on the helicopter’s undercarriage—the initials H-S-K-J—was hard to ignore.

  The next two days dragged for Alice-Miranda. She was so excited about going home. She picked up all the flags and wrote in her diary. She investigated all sorts of places and drew pictures of animals she bumped into along the way. But really her mind was back at school. At first Alice-Miranda had no idea how to ensure that when Mr. Grump and Miss Grimm met again, Miss Grimm wouldn’t be so upset that she’d hide in her office from him. But the one thing that being alone allowed Alice-Miranda to do was think. By midday on Friday, as she set off on the last couple of kilometers for home, she had a definite plan. But she needed lots of help. Mummy and Daddy, Miss Higgins, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Oliver, Mr. Charles, Miss Reedy and Mr. Plumpton, Jacinta, Millie and even Alethea. This had to be a team effort. If Miss Grimm was to rediscover the love of her life, then precision planning was required.

  As she neared the far paddock gate, Alice-Miranda saw Mr. Charles waving furiously. Behind him it looked as though the whole school had come out to greet her. She began running toward them. There was a great shout of “Hooray!” as Alice-Miranda ran into Charlie’s outstretched arms.

  “Littl’un, you’re back and you’re safe!” He hugged her tightly.