Mary Poppins Opens the Door (19 page)

Plump! With a heavy muffled thud, Alfred the Elephant landed beside him. And, leaping lightly from the top of the cupboard, came Pinnie the Monkey and the old Blue Duck.

Then, to the children's astonishment, the Golden Pig spoke.

"Will somebody kindly put on my tail?" he enquired in a high, shrill voice.

Michael flung himself out of bed and rushed to the mantelpiece.

"That's better," remarked the Pig, with a smile. "I've been most uncomfortable ever since Christmas. A Pig without a tail, you know, is almost as bad as a tail without a Pig. And now," he went on, as he glanced round the room, "are we all ready? Then, hurry, please!"

As he spoke he pranced daintily to the door, followed by Alfred, Pinnie and the Duck.

"Where are you going?" Jane cried, staring.

"You'll soon see," answered the Pig. "Come on!"

In a flash they had flung on gowns and slippers and were following the four toys down the stairs and out through their own Front Door.

"This way!" said the Pig, as he pranced across Cherry-Tree Lane and through the Gates of the Park.

Pinnie and the Blue Duck danced beside him,
wildly squealing and quacking. And after them lumbered Alfred the Elephant with Jane and Michael at his grey-flannel heels.

Above the trees hung a round white moon. Its gleaming silver rays poured down on the wide lawns of the Park. And there on the grass was a throng of figures, moving backwards and forwards in the shimmering light.

Alfred flung up his flannel trunk and eagerly sniffed the air.

"Ha!" he remarked delightedly. "We're safely inside, Pig, don't you think?"

"Inside what?" asked Michael curiously.

"The Crack," said Alfred, flapping his ears.

The children stared at each other. What on earth could Alfred mean?

But the Pig was beckoning them towards him with a wave of his golden trotter; and bright forms flickered behind and around them as they hurried to the lawn.

"Excuse us, please!" said three small shapes as they brushed against the children.

"The Three Blind Mice," explained Alfred, smiling. "They're always under everyone's feet!"

"Are they running away from the Farmer's Wife?" cried Michael, very surprised and excited.

"Oh, dear no! Not tonight," said Alfred. "They're hurrying to meet her. The Three Blind Mice and the Farmer's Wife are all inside the Crack!"

"Hullo, Alfred—you got in safely!"

"Why, it's dear old Pinnie!"

"What, the Blue Duck, too?"

"Hooray, hooray! Here's the Golden Pig!"

There were cries of welcome and shouts of joy as everyone greeted everyone else. A Tin Soldier who was marching past, saluted the Pig and he waved his trotter. Pinnie shook hands with a pair of birds whom he hailed as Cock Robin and Jenny Wren. And the Blue Duck quacked at an Easter Chicken half-in and half-out of its egg. As for Alfred, he flung up his trunk in all directions and loudly trumpeted greetings.

"Aren't you cold, my dear? It's chilly tonight!" A gruff voice spoke behind Jane's shoulder.

She turned to find a bearded man dressed in the strangest garments. He had goatskin trousers, a beaver cap and a large umbrella of rabbit-tails. Behind him, with an armful of furs, stood a black, half-naked figure.

"Friday," said the bearded man. "Oblige me by giving this lady a coat."

"Suttinly, Massa! Ah aims to please!" And the great black creature, with a graceful movement, flung a sealskin cloak about Jane's shoulders.

She stared.

"So you're——" she began, and smiled at him shyly.

"Of course I am," said the tall man, bowing. "Please call me Robinson! All my friends do. Mr. Crusoe sounds so formal."

"But I thought you were in a book!" said Jane.

"I am," said Robinson Crusoe, smiling. "But tonight someone kindly left it open. And so I escaped, you see!"

Jane thought of the books on top of the toycupboard. She remembered how Mary Poppins had opened them before she put out the light.

"Does it often happen?" she questioned eagerly.

"Alas, no! Only at the end of the year. The Crack's our one and only chance. But, excuse me! I must speak to——"

Robinson Crusoe turned to greet a curious egg-shaped little man who was hurrying past on spindly legs. His pointed head was as bald as an egg and his neck was muffled in a woolen scarf. He stared inquisitively at the children, as he greeted Robinson Crusoe.

"Good Gracious!" cried Michael in surprise. "You're igzackly like Humpty-Dumpty!"

"Like?" shrilled the little man, haughtily. "How can anyone be like himself, I'd like to know? I've heard of people being ‹‹like themselves—when they've been naughty or eaten too much—but never like. Don't be so silly!"

"But—you're quite whole!" said Michael, staring. "I thought Humpty-Dumpty couldn't be mended."

"Who said I couldn't?" cried the little man, angrily.

"Well, I just thought—er—that all the King's horses and—er—all the King's men——" Michael began to stammer.

"Pooh—horses! What do they know about it? And as for the King's men—stupid creatures!—they only know about horses! And because
they
couldn't put me together, it doesn't say no one else could, does it?"

Not wishing to contradict him, Jane and Michael shook their heads.

"As a matter of fact," Humpty-Dumpty went on, "the King himself mended me—didn't you—heh?"

He shrieked the last words at a round fat man who was holding a crown on his head with one hand and carrying a pie-dish in the other.

"He's just like the King in Mary Poppins' story! He must be Old King Cole!" said Jane.

"Didn't I what?" the King enquired, carefully balancing his pie and his crown.

"Stick me together!" shrieked Humpty-Dumpty.

"Of course I did. Just for tonight, you know. With honey. In the Queen's parlour. But you really mustn't bother me now. My Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds are going to sing and I have to open the Pie."

"There, what did I tell you?" screamed Humpty-Dumpty. "How dare you suggest I'm a Broken Egg!" He turned his back upon them rudely and his big cracked head shone white in the moonlight.

"Don't argue with him! It's no good," said Alfred. "He's always so touchy about that fall. Here! Step on your own toes! Look who you're pushing!" He turned and made a sweep with his trunk and a crowned Lion lightly leapt aside.

"Sorry!" exclaimed the Lion, politely. "It's such a frightful crush tonight. Have you seen the Unicorn, by the way? Ah, there he is! Hi! Wait a minute!" And,
growling softly in his throat, he pounced upon a silvery figure that was daintily trotting by.

"Oh, stop him! Stop him!" Jane cried anxiously. "He's going to beat the Unicorn all round the Town!"

"Not tonight," said Alfred, reassuringly. "You just watch!"

Jane and Michael stared with astonishment as they saw the Lion bowing. Then he took the golden crown from his head and offered it to the Unicorn.

"It's your turn to wear it," the Lion said courteously. Then the two exchanged a tender embrace and danced off into the crowd.

"Children behaving nicely tonight?" they heard the Unicorn enquire of a withered old woman who was dancing past. She was pulling along an enormous Shoe, full of laughing boys and girls.

"Oh,
so
nicely!" cried the Old Woman gaily. "I haven't used my whip once! George Porgie is
such
a help with the girls. They
insist
on being kissed tonight. And as for the boys, they're just
sugar
and spice.
Look
at Red Riding Hood hugging that Wolf! She's trying to teach him to
beg
for supper. Sit down, please, Muffet. And hold on
tight!
"

The Old Woman waved at a fair little girl who sat at the back of the Shoe. She was deep in conversation with a large black Spider; and as the Shoe went rumbling past, she reached out her hand and patted him gently.

"She's not even running away!" cried Michael. "Why isn't she frightened?" he wanted to know.

"Because of the Crack," said Alfred again, as he hurried them before him.

Jane and Michael couldn't help staring at Red Riding Hood and Miss Muffett. Fancy not being afraid of the Wolf and that black enormous Spider!

Then a filmy whiteness brushed them lightly and they turned to find a shining shape yawning behind its hand.

"Still sleepy, Beauty?" trumpeted Alfred, as he slipped his trunk round her waist.

She patted the trunk and leaned against him.

"I was deep in a dream," she murmured softly. "But the First Stroke, luckily, woke me up!"

As she said that, Michael's curiosity could contain itself no longer.

"But I don't understand!" he burst out loudly. "Everything's upside down tonight! Why doesn't the Spider frighten Miss Muffett? And the Lion beat the Unicorn?"

"Alfred has told you," said Sleeping Beauty. "Because we are all in the Crack."

"
What
crack?" demanded Michael.

"The Crack between the Old Year and the New. The Old Year dies on the First Stroke of Midnight and the New Year is born on the Last Stroke. And in between—while the other ten strokes are sounding—there lies the secret Crack."