Alice and Alfie and the magic windmill

by Lloyd Jennings

  Chantal went upstairs with her bag and put it on the bed. She went across to the open window and saw

  Alice and Alfie lying on the windowsill. She picked them up and told them, “I think I will have to clean you two as well.” She then went back downstairs to start the cleaning. Alice looked at Alfie and said, “Do you think we need cleaning?”

  Alfie stared at Alice and replied, “We are a little bit grubby.”

  Chantal started cleaning in the kitchen. She polished the furniture, and hoovered the floor and then she went up the stairs. She walked into the bedroom and said, “Now, what’s for the washing machine? The bed linen, the curtains and while I’m at it I will put the rag dolls in as well.”

  Chantal went downstairs and threw everything into the washing machine. Chantal switched it on and the motor whirred and the drum began to go round and round.

  Alfie and Alice found that they were being knocked around all over the place and their faces were right up against the door.

  In the corner of the room sat the two mice laughing and laughing. One said, “Look at Alice and Alfie in the washing machine, we will watch them go round and they will come out clean.”

  Alice was not enjoying the washing machine and started shouting, “You little mice, let us out,” but the mice couldn’t help because Chantal was still cleaning in the kitchen.

  At last the washing machine finished. Chantal took everything out and pegged it on the washing line.

  Alfie was pegged up by his ears and Alice was pegged up by her feet. It was so funny; the rag dolls were swaying from side to side in the wind. Next was the carpet. Chantal pegged it up and the mice ran out and looked up and called, “Alice and Alfie on the line, they have been washed and they look just fine.”

  Alice said, “Stop mice-ing around and get us down.”

  The mice jumped up onto the line to rescue Alice and Alfie. It was still swaying from side to side, when all of a sudden the line snapped and they all came tumbling down to the ground.

  Alice and Alfie landed on the carpet with the mice underneath. At last the mice managed to crawl out and they just sat there with Alice and Alfie.

  Out of the blue flew Mr. Owl who said, “Oh no, no, no, not the magic carpet again!”

  “Last year when it was cleaned it caused havoc.” Mr. Owl continued flying around the woods and knocking all the trees and shaking all the nests and the eggs.

  Alice enquired, “A carpet that flies?”

  Alfie said, “It must be all lies.”

  The owl told them that he didn’t tell lies and he would say the magic words and they would not believe their eyes. He sat with them on the carpet and said, “Carpet carpet fly for me, around the village green, and over the hills beyond to see what we can see.”

  Alice said, “I can feel it.” It started to move and up they went over the trees and along the river. They saw the castle, but not the Wooden Prince.

  Within minutes they arrived at the village green where the market was in full swing. There were stalls of food including fruit, vegetables and bread and they also saw Jacques with his friend Kimmy.

  The magic carpet floated to the ground and the mice ran over to a cake stall and grabbed a strawberry each, with thick cream on top. Mr. and Mrs. Owl swooped down to the bread stall and frightened the stall holders. Mr. Owl grabbed a current bun and flew off towards the sun. Alice and Alfie just watched and waited for them to come back. When they were full they all came back and off the carpet flew again. It went up up and away.

  The magic carpet took them to the bowls club on the village green, a place they had never been to. They landed on the grass and watched the men and women with their white clothes rolling the balls from one end of the grass to the other. Mr. Owl told them that the idea was that they had to hit the jack. Alice said, “That is not nice trying to hit Jack.”

  Mr. Owl replied, “No, it is a small wooden ball which they have to try and hit.”

  The carpet took off again. It flew across the river and back to the magic garden. It went round and round above the garden and they could see the cricket with the wicket and the rabbits eating the vegetables.

  The carpet flew back down to the washing line. Alfie tied the line together and the mice hung them back up exactly how they were: Alfie by his ears and Alice by her feet.

  Chantal returned later that evening looked at the two rag dolls and said, “They look clean and dry I will take them in.”

  Alice and Alfie were put back upstairs on the windowsill and the magic carpet was laid back in front of the fire. Alice and Alfie fell fast asleep. Later the moon shone down and went tap, tap on the window and he said, “I saw you were on the magic carpet and it took you to the village market you look very clean. Where have you been?”

  Alfie said, “We have been in the washing machine, round and round it went. I thought we would come out bent.” The moon giggled and wished them goodnight and sent a loving kiss from Nichole’s star shining bright.

  “Alfie, the rug is a real flyer!”

  Alice and Alfie were fast asleep when they were awoken by their early morning alarm clock. It was the sound of the cock-a-doodle-do. The cock-a-doodle-do kept going on and on and on until Jacques went outside and told him to be quiet. He had woken everybody up: the cats, the mice and also the chickens.

  Jacques phoned his friend François and said, “Let’s go and have a round of golf!” The rag dolls saw Jacques go out to the barn and come back with a bag full of some long wooden sticks with flat rounded heads. He put them in the back of his van. Alice had heard the phone call and asked Alfie, “Can we go too?” The mice had also heard Jacques and they decided to go and join the rag dolls. The mice went off squeaking all the way to the van.

  Alice and Alfie climbed down the ladder at the side of the window and by the time they got to the barn Jacques was already in the van. As he drove away, they saw the mice waving from the bucket. They squeaked and squeaked and shouted, “We will meet you at the golf course; you will have to run of course.”

  The wind was blowing and the sails of the windmill were going woosh, woosh, woosh. Mr. Owl was having fun he was riding round on the sails shouting “Where is that cock-a-doodle-do? He woke me up today and I bet he woke you too.”

  Alice and Alfie started walking down the lane. Mr. Owl flew down and Alice told him about the mice and that they were going to the golf course.

  Mr. Owl said it is a long way but we must find the mice as they might get eaten by Mr. Fox. The owl flew slowly so that Alice and Alfie could follow.

  It started to rain so they stood under some trees until it stopped. As they walked on, the rain dripped down from the trees and hit them on their heads. Alfie said, “It’s another wet day, a bit like being inside the washing machine yesterday.”

  Alice replied, “It’s only rain, so don’t be a pain.”

  Mr. Owl disappeared into the woods to try and find the mice while Alice and Alfie walked towards the golf course but there was still no sign of them. They stopped again and had a rest. Alfie heard a noise coming from the next tree, so they went over to have a look. There was Mr. Frog sat looking at a book, as he turned the pages he kept saying “read it, read it, read it.” Alice said, “You must have read a lot of books.”

  Mr. Frog said, “Not really, I just say that when I’m happy.”

  Alice told him about the mice and Mr. Frog said, “We must find them.”

  Alice replied, “Mr. Fox might eat them. Fox and mice are not good together. That’s the way in any weather.”

  There was a loud bang and a ping, ping and a small white ball came flying through the trees and hit Alfie on the head, “Ouch” He said, “How come it is always me?” Alice picked the ball up and Mr. Frog told her it was a golf ball. Mr. Frog said, “It has come from the golf course. It is very hard.”

  Alfie rubbed his head and replied, “You don’t have to tell me, I have a big bump on my head.”

  Alice and Alfie said goodbye to Mr. Frog and started to walk towar
ds the area the ball came from.

  In a clearing in the woods they saw the most amazing green grass. In the middle of the grass was a pole in a hole with a red flag flying on top. A long way in the distance they spotted some men with the same wooden sticks with flat rounded heads and bags like Jacques had. As they moved closer they could see one of the men was Jacques. He hit the white ball and nearly hit Alfie on the head again. Alice looked at him and laughed. The men came down to the green grass and one by one hit their balls into the hole.

  Alice and Alfie could see the next flag pole in the distance, so they quickly ran through the woods before the men could hit their balls again. They sat down and waited for them. All of a sudden the ground started to tremble and out of a heap of soil popped a head. It was a mole. Alice said, “Where did you come from?” And the mole replied, “I’m Colin the Mole, from down the hole.”

  Alfie said, “Watch out there is another ball on it’s way.” The ball landed on the green, bounced twice and hit Alfie on the head; it then bounced back across the green and straight into the hole.

  The men were jumping up and down and shouting that Jacques had got a hole in one. Alfie shouted out “Yes and my head has got a hole in one too!”

  Colin the Mole said, “Let’s have some fun with them, hide behind these bushes and watch me.” The next man hit his ball and Colin started digging all the way under the green and then popped up and grabbed the ball. He then did the same to the next man. When all the men reached the green Jacques’ ball was the only one there. So the other two men had to play again, and Colin stole their balls once more.

  Jacques was winning the game of golf and kept saying to himself, “this must be magic”. Just then, it began to rain again and the men put up their umbrellas. The rain was bouncing off them and there on the top of the umbrella were the mice. They were sitting there with smiles on their faces knowing that Mr. Fox was on the prowl but that they had tricked him for now.

  Jacques came to the last hole, where Alice and Alfie watched and waited till the balls dropped. Colin the Mole had collected a lot of balls on the way round the golf course. As the men hit their balls onto the green, he rolled the ones he had all over the place. When the men walked onto the green there were so many balls they did not know which was what or whose was whose. They just looked at each other and decided it was a draw between them all.

  A{fie said the mole had come out to play and made everybody’s day and with fun and games the mole had won the day and they all walked back to the windmill.

  Alice and Alfie were so tired they fell asleep on the windowsill. The moon shone down but did not wake them. He just left a note saying that he had seen the fun and games on the golf course. The moon whispered, “Keep your friends very close, as they will look after you when you need them most. Nichole’s star is shining bright and her thoughts are with you throughout the night.”

  Alice and Alfie woke up to a lovely sunny day. They looked out of the window and saw Jacques, the windmill keeper, feeding the ducks on the river. The ducks were going quack, quack, quack and they waddled out of the water and onto the grass bank.

  Jacques’s friend Billy Nomates arrived. Alice said to Alfie, “That’s a funny name!”

  Alfie replied, “Perhaps he’s got no friends.”

  Jacques and Billy went inside to have some breakfast.

  Alice said, “What shall we do today?” as they both sat there twiddling their thumbs.

  “Let’s go down to the barn and see what we can find to play with.” Alfie answered. “Later we can go for a walk in the woods.”

  Alice jumped up and down and cried, “Let’s.”

  The rag dolls crept down the ladder at the side of the window and ran across to the barn. They walked inside and Alice said to Alfie, “Look, there is a ladder going up to the top of the barn. Let’s go and see what’s up there.” So they climbed up and in the corner were lots of boxes. Inside they found toys and some wooden sticks. Alfie picked up the sticks and accidentally dropped them and they fell on the floor in a heap.

  Alice said, “Let’s see if we can pick them up without touching the other sticks.” The game was called pick-up-sticks and they sat and played for ages.

  In the next box there were two little blackboards in wooden frames and some white chalks. “Let’s do some drawings,” said Alice. Alice drew a picture of the windmill and Alfie drew a picture of Jacques and the ducks. It was so funny because Jacques looked like a matchstick man. They couldn’t believe it when they rubbed all the chalk off and were able to start again.

  Later on they had a look around and found a box in the corner. On the side of the box it said skittles. The rag dolls decided to take it outside and play. As they got to the top of the ladder they saw a book lying on the floor. The title of the book was THE TEDDY BEARS’ PICNIC. Alice opened it at the first page and said to Alfie, “It says here that if you go down in the woods today you’d better beware as the grey teddy bears are having a party, so you better come dressed smartly.”

  Alice said, “Can we go Alfie?”

  “Yes let’s.” he answered.

  The rag dolls picked up the box of skittles and climbed down the ladder. Poking out of an old boot there were two butterfly nets so they took them as well. The rag dolls got outside and started walking down the riverbank. Alice said, “How are we going to find the teddy bears’ picnic?”

  Alfie thought for a moment then replied, “We will have to keep walking and listening until we find them.”

  It started to get cloudy and Alfie said, “It looks like rain.”

  Alice said, “I do hope there is going to be another rainbow.” Then from behind a rock Mr. Frog jumped out and said, “Yes I think it is going to rain cats and dogs.”

  Alice said, “We had better take cover or they will hurt when they fall on us.”

  Mr. Frog replied, “Don’t worry. It is just a saying.”

  Alfie asked, “What is that hissing noise?”

  Mr. Frog announced, “I’m going in a shake. That sounds like Mr. Snake and he is hissing for his dinner. He likes frog pie so I’m off, goodbye.” As Mr. Frog hopped off into the woods Mr. Snake went hiss, hiss, hiss. Alice looked at him and said, “How long are you?” The snake hissed, “I don’t know. I have never seen the end of me.”

  Alfie commented, “You are as long as you feel.” Mr. Snake told them he was looking for frogs. Alice said, “Frogs are nice but not to eat. Why not eat fruit: now that’s a treat.”

  Alfie said, “Mr. Snake, we are looking for the teddy bears’ picnic. Do you know where it is?”

  “Yes, I’ve just eaten them………. but don’t worry, I am only joking.” replied Mr. Snake. He told them the teddy bears live in the woods up in the mountains. “Why don’t you jump on my back and I will slither you there.”

  Mr. Snake went from side to side and up and down. “Hang on,” shouted Alice, “Alfie, have you got the skittles?”

  “Yes” he replied, “they’re tied to the other end of Mr. Snake.”

  Mr. Snake slithered through the woods and soon they came to a big waterfall. It was beautiful; clear water was falling from the rocks above and running into a pool at the bottom, where some children were playing. Mr. Snake slithered round the waterfall and back down through the woods where he slithered to a halt.

  “Why have we stopped?” asked Alfie.

  Mr. Snake replied, “Look down there. The teddy bears are having their picnic. I will leave you to it whilst I go back and find some frogs for my tea.”

  The rag dolls said goodbye and they trotted down the steps to the five teddy bears who were sitting on deckchairs eating honey cakes.

  Alice said, “Hello, our names are Alice and Alfie. Who are you?” The large bear told them that he was Daddy Bear and the others were Mummy and Baby Bear and their friends Betty Bear and Fruitie Bear.

  Alfie said, “So many bears.”

  Mummy bear said, “Sit down, and help yourself to some honey cakes.”

  Alice and
Alfie ate the honey cakes and filled their tummies. Later Alfie said, “We have some games with us. Would you like to play?”

  “Yes please,” cried the bears.

  Alfie set up the skittles and Alice gave Mummy Bear three balls. She threw a ball but it stuck to her hand, because the honey was sticking to everything. Daddy Bear said “I know what to do, don’t be frightened and just hold out your hands. He said, “One, two, three, let the bees eat for free.”

  Just then a dozen bees came flying down from above and landed on their hands and ate all of the honey.

  Alfie said, “Now the games can begin.”

  The bears and the rag dolls played for a long time until Alice said, “We have some nets, shall we go and catch some butterflies?” But the bears had bulging eyes and their tummies were full so they sat down on their chairs and started to feel sleepy.