They munched their chicken and duck and as the old Grimbles picked up their pieces of duck in their fingers, Grimble realized that this would be an all right thing to do; after all it was a French restaurant.
When he had pulled the wishbone with his father . . . and lost – his father was very pleased – he said to his mother, "If we are going to Africa, why did you buy a Christmas tree?"
"Against burglars," said his mother. "If a burglar sees a Christmas tree in a house he knows there is someone in and does not burgle anything."
"Why did you hide the tree in the shed then?"
"Well, we don't want the burglars to know everything," said his mother.
"And the cardboard box," said Grimble, "the one we brought home from the shops. What was in that?"
"Washing powder," said his mother, "2p off."
Grimble ordered ice cream, but as he had eaten too much soup and chicken and onions he could not finish the ice cream, so the Italian waiter said, "As it is very near Christmas let me wrap it up and put in some more and you can take it home and have it for tea."
It really was going to be a super Christmas.
Grimble at Christmas Page 4