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Henry the Caravan
and the Troublesome Family
Henry the Caravan was waiting for the new seasons visitors. After having been repaired during the winter and receiving a new coat of paint, he was really sparkling at the start of the summer season.
‘I wonder what sort of family I’ll get for this first visit.’ he asked himself. He waited and waited. Cars came by… but didn’t stop.
‘Oh dear! I hope I haven’t been forgotten.’ he thought sadly.
Suddenly, a car screeched to a halt by his front gate. A Mum, Dad and three children got out of the car. The children began jumping about shouting, at each other.
‘Come on kids,’ shouted Dad. ‘Help with the luggage.’
‘Oh! - You do it Dad,’ said the eldest - a boy who was about ten years old. He ran up to the gate, kicked it open, nearly knocking it off its hinges.
The two little girls ran after him, screaming. ‘Oh! Look at those lovely flowers, Mum.’
They then began to pull up several flowers growing alongside the path - of course they weren’t there to be picked up.
Henry didn’t know what to think. He was so shocked by their behaviour.
The boy went up to the caravan door and yanked the handle, much too hard. The door did not move. He then kicked the door, hard.
‘Ouch!’ exclaimed Henry to himself. ‘That hurt!’
‘Hey! Dad! The door’s locked,’ shouted the boy.
‘Try the handle again, you silly boy,’ snapped Dad.
The boy turned the handle more carefully this time and the door opened.
‘Kids!’ moaned Dad. He struggled with three large suitcases. Then, staggering up the steps and through the door, he dropped the suitcases, heavily onto the caravan floor.
‘Cripes!’ thought Henry. ‘These people don’t seem to bother about anybody’s feelings.’
Then Mum came in with some more luggage and the two girls followed her into the caravan.
‘Now.’ Mum said. ‘Where can we put those flowers? ‘Let me see…’
She began to open the cupboards and in one of them found a lovely vase.
‘Ooh! Look at this!’ she exclaimed. Suddenly, it slipped through her clumsy fingers and smashed into lots of little pieces on the floor.
‘Bother!’ Mum said, as she kicked the bits under the table.
‘Oh No! My best vase and she’s not even bothering to pick up the pieces,’ muttered Henry to himself.
Meanwhile the sisters had discovered the seats and had begun to jump up and down on them --- up and down --- up and down.
‘If they don’t stop they’re going to give me a headache!’ groaned Henry.
‘Dad! Dad! Look at this, Dad. It’s like being on a tambourine!’ shouted the youngest girl excitedly.
‘A trampoline - you silly girl,’ replied Dad. ‘And stop jumping on there - it’s a seat.’
‘Oh Dad!’ grumbled the girls but they sat down quietly on the seat.
‘Well now, we’d better get something to eat,’ said Mum. She got out some biscuits and then started to make bread and peanut - butter sandwiches.
The children grabbed the biscuits first. ‘I don’t like these, Mum, complained one of the sisters and she threw them onto the floor.
Aaaagh! thought Henry. What messy kids and no manners at all.
Dad was thirsty and wanted a drink, so he asked the boy to fill the kettle.
He gave a big groan. ‘Why me, Dad?’
‘Because I asked you too, now hurry up!’ shouted Dad.
Going to the sink, the boy turned the tap full on and water splashed out of the kettle, spraying everywhere, especially onto the carpet, which had just been cleaned for the summer season.
‘Oh! Look at my carpet.’ cried Henry to himself. No one bothered to mop it up.
Then Mum made some tea. Dad said he wanted lots of sugar in his cup.
So Mum picked up the bag of sugar but it slipped out of her hands and burst on the floor. Sugar spread all over, mixing with the water on the carpet.
Henry could hardly look.
‘I suppose I will have to clean that up,’ groaned Mum. She got a cloth and dabbed the carpet and seemed to make an even bigger mess than before.
Henry gasped. 'Oh! What a ….! What a family! I must do something to stop them staying here.’
Meanwhile the sisters were jumping around again on the seats. ‘We want to go to bed,’ they chanted. They wanted to try out their new sleeping bags.
So Dad started to change the seats into beds. He had no sooner got the cushions arranged when the girls immediately started jumping up and down on them.
Then the two sisters began to have a pillow fight. Before you knew it, they had knocked an ornament off a table and then a lovely framed photograph of the campsite, fell off the wall.
What on earth are they going to do next! I can’t imagine, thought Henry.
Soon the whole family started to get tired and after a lot of shouting, fussing and squabbling, the beds were made up and they all fell asleep.
Henry decided to stay awake, to try to think of a plan to get rid of this troublesome family. By the next morning he was ready to act.
The family awoke next morning, sleepy and grumpy. Dad wanted a cup of tea in bed. So Mum went to the sink to fill the kettle but there was no water coming from the tap.
Henry wouldn’t let any water pass through it.
‘Water’s off,’ said Mum.
‘Oh bother!’ grumbled Dad.
‘Now then, lad, you will have to go and get some water from the tap outside. Will you get the water carrier, please.’
The boy pulled faces and moaned that he didn’t want to and why couldn’t his sisters do it.
Dad shouted at him in a great, booming voice, which sent him scuttling to the door.
The boy tried to open the door, but the door wouldn’t open.
Henry was making sure the door would not open.
The boy pulled and pulled - then Dad tried as well, but it simply wouldn’t open.
‘Alright!’ said Dad, ‘Let’s forget about the tea for now - we’ll have something to eat.’
So Mum went to the cupboard where she’d put some food the night before but the cupboard door was shut fast.
Henry wouldn’t let the cupboard door open either.
The girls started chanting. ‘We’re hungry! We’re hungry!’
‘Be quiet,’ shouted Dad at the top of his voice. The children quietened down - they could tell he was quite annoyed.
‘Well,’ Dad said in a strained voice, trying to keep calm. ‘We’d better open the window and shout for help.’
He tried to open the window - it wouldn’t budge.
Henry wouldn’t let it, of course.
Dad was starting to get a little worried - everything was stuck and there was no food or water to be had.
Even the games cupboard, to keep the children busy, wouldn’t open.
‘There’s something weird about this caravan,’ said Dad.
The family all hurriedly got dressed and sorted the beds back into seats again. Then they sat down to think of what to do next.
Henry then made the seat cushions slide onto the floor and the whole family fell down in a heap, all arguing about who had done it.
Just then the family saw the campsite Warden going by.
They caught his attention by banging on the window.
The campsite Warden came up to the window. ‘Yes,’ he mouthed.
Dad kept banging on the window and looking frantic.
The campsite Warden thought he had better investigate. He went around to the front door of Henry the Caravan and walked inside.
Dad looked at the campsite Warden in amazement.
‘We’ve been stuck in here for ages,’ he spluttered. ‘We’ve got no water coming from the taps, the door wouldn’t open and neither would the windows or cupboards.
‘Lo
ok!’ complained Dad.
He pulled at the games cupboard door with all his might - it opened easily, because Henry let it.
Dad ended up on the floor covered in games of snakes and ladders, draughts and ludo.
Looking around, the camp Warden noticed the wet carpet, covered in sugar, pieces of broken vase, bits of biscuit and broken ornaments and the damaged picture frame.
Guiltily, Dad looked at the campsite Warden and said, ‘There’s something weird about this caravan.’
‘Well, I’m not staying in a filthy caravan like this,’ interrupted Mum, not thinking that it was she and her family who had made the mess. ‘Come on’, she said. ‘We’re leaving.’
The whole family packed up their belongings and in no time at all, had driven away with loud grumblings from the grown-ups, moans from the children and the enormous revving of the car engine.
Henry heaved an enormous sigh of relief. In no time at all, the campsite Warden and his wife had cleaned him up and sorted him out.
He was sparkling again, waiting for a nice family to stay with him.
I’m sure he got one, don’t you.
Bouncey the Elf and Friends Bedtime Stories Page 2
