UNCLE FRED'S USUAL

Evening Star, Issue 21718, 12 May 1934, Page 5

UNCLE FRED'S USUAL

A GOOD-NIGHT TALE. Tea was finished and the time came for Uncle Fred's departure. “ May we have the usual, please?’ Joan asked her mother, who laughed and turned to Uncle Fred. Then Uncle Fred solemnly held up his hand, and counting slowly along the fingers he chanted, “ They may—they may not —they may—they may not — they may!” Whereupon Joan. Peggy, and Peter rushed off for hats and coats. This usual was a ride in Uude Fred’s motor car. After each visit he always drove the three children by some jolly, roundabout route to a cross-roads outside the town, where he waited with them till a bus came along; then he saw them safely in and paid their fares; and when the bus had trundled the three waving children round the corner homeward again Uncle Fred got into his car and purred away happily in the opposite direction. . Joan, Peggy, and Peter thought it all a wonderful treat, for motor rides and even bus rides were rare to them; money was sadly short in their- home, because they had lost their father, and their mother, they knew, found it no easy task to make ends meet. Treats and holidays in these days were few and far between. On this particular evening the usual started, and all too they reached the cross-roads. But this time Uncle Fred did not stop, and Peggy nudged Joan and said “ Oo!” while Peter, sitting beside the driver, gaped and smiled both at once. Nor did they stop at the next village; nor at the next. Dusk came; headlights were switched on; and the car purred on, while the three children hugged themselves in silent delight. Later, in the dark, they turned into a lane, and then into a short drive, and stopped at last before a neat country house. The door opened, golden light streamed out. and, running down the steps to greet Joan, Peggy, and Peter came —their mother! How excited they were! How they jumped and how the questions came tumbling over each other! Then came supper. Then a bedroom with three beds, labelled Joan’s, Peggy’s, Peters. Soon three tired children Were m bed; Good-nights were said to mother and Uncle Fred; then the soft closing of the door; then quiet. Quiet, until Joan, as eldest, began to explain to the other two what it was all .about; how their mother had come by train with the luggage, how the motor had come a long way round on purpose, and how it was a holiday-, a surprise holiday, all the more welcome because they had given up hope of one this year. Just then Peter, half-asleep, asked; “ What are we going to do to-mor-row?” , , And Joan sighed happily, Usuals lots of them.”