Daisy looked at Bobby who was very quiet. He had snow in his hair and on the tip of his nose. All their coats were covered in layers of white ice.
‘Now, go along all of you into the warm,’ Mrs Webber instructed. ‘Bill, take some of these kitchen chairs into the parlour. There will be a lot of us to sit down to supper this evening.’
‘I asked the doctor every day if you’d come,’ said Daisy as Mother dusted the snow from her cheeks.
‘We wrote,’ Mother said, ‘but you can’t have received our letter.’
‘Said we were driving down before it snowed,’ Pops explained rubbing his cold hands together. ‘But half way here we were caught in a blizzard. Apologies if we’ve arrived unannounced.’
‘I’m glad I didn’t know,’ said Mrs Webber cheerfully. ‘I would have worried meself sick that you were on the road.’
‘That tree couldn’t have fallen at a worse time,’ said Mr Webber, shaking his head.
‘Or perhaps it was the best time,’ said Bobby. ‘You might have been driving your tractor under it.’
‘Well now, there’s a thought,’ said Mr Webber, smiling.
When supper was over Daisy helped in the kitchen.
‘It was a delicious meal,’ said Mother as she cleared the table. ‘But I didn’t expect you to feed us, Mrs Webber.’
‘It’s Edith, my dear. And we’ve got plenty of milk, butter and cheese to go round. None of us will go short. ’
‘I do hope Nicky can move the car tomorrow,’ Mother worried as she laid out cold slices of ham, pickles and homemade bread. ‘And it won’t be frozen up.’
Mrs Webber chuckled. ‘Don’t you worry none about that. Bill will bring out the tractor. The old brute might not look up to much but it could shift a lorry if it had to.’
‘You’ve been so kind,’ Mother said on a deep sigh. ‘My mother and sister are so lucky to have neighbours like you.’
‘Think nothing of it, my dear. Us country folk pull together when the chips are down. Bobby has helped Bill in the dairy and your Daisy there has been a blessing, helping out with the chickens. Fact is, I’ll miss ‘em both something awful.’
Daisy was rewarded with a glowing smile of pride from Mother.
Later, in the parlour, the talk turned to practical matters.
‘What do you think is wrong with the stove?’ Pops asked the farmer who scratched his head and looked perplexed.
‘Wasn’t a flicker of life in it when I looked. P’raps in all this cold, it just gave up the ghost.’
‘Never say never,’ said Pops with a grin. ‘I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.’
‘If the stove is mended,’ said Grandma eagerly, ‘we can go back to the cottage.’
‘And we can go home too!’ Daisy exclaimed, before she could think what she was saying.
‘Tired of your poor Grandma already?’ said Grandma and pulled a sad face.
‘No, Grandma, of course not, but - ‘
Grandma laughed and everyone laughed too.
T he household woke early the next morning from a restless night’s sleep. Daisy and Bobby had slept on the parlour floor which was cold and draughty and Mother and Pops had tried to sleep on the couch. All their faces were pinched and tired but a cooked breakfast soon put them right.
‘Can we help to clear the branches?’ Daisy asked after she’d eaten her fill.
‘Wrap up well,’ warned Mother. ‘And don’t get in the way.’
Daisy couldn’t wait to play in the snow. But her boots soon got sucked into the deep drifts and her fingers went numb inside her gloves as she helped Bobby pile up the wood.
‘Just a small dent in the roof,’ Pops decided, as he examined the car. ‘Let’s see if it will start.’
After a great deal of cranking with the starting handle, the engine burst into life.
‘Jump in you two,’ yelled Pops and Daisy and Bobby scrambled inside. There were fierce groans and grunts from the engine, but the car began moving.
Daisy smiled. This was an adventure she had never had before.
CHAPTER 33
THE COTTAGE LOOKED AS PRETTY as a postcard, Daisy decided. Dappled with snow and tiny glints of sunshine spinning off the windows, the old house looked welcoming. But it was another matter when they stepped inside.
Daisy shuddered. ‘It’s freezing in here!’
Pops rubbed his hands together and blew a white cloud from his lips. ‘My goodness, given an hour or two without heating we might turn to blocks of ice. Bobby, fetch my tools from the boot.’
‘Can you mend the stove?’ Daisy said through chattering teeth as Pops peered up in the chimney breast.
‘Hmm. This might not be so straightforward as I’d hoped.’
Daisy’s spirits sank as Pops prodded about. Showers of dust and dirt fell down onto Grandma’s clean floor.
When Bobby reappeared, Pops opened his tool box and surveyed his tools. ‘Now let me see … ‘
‘Do you need our help, Pops?’ Bobby asked, stamping his feet to keep warm.
‘What?’ Pops unwrapped a small leather pouch and drew out a pair of spectacles. He balanced them on his nose and glanced up. ‘What? Oh, no. You two go off and amuse yourselves.’
Daisy and Bobby couldn’t wait to get outside. ‘Let’s build a snowman,’ Bobby said. ‘I’ll use the garden shovel. You find twigs for his arms, and stones for his eyes.’
‘What a shame we’ve got no hat,’ Daisy said when the snowman was finished.
‘There’s an old one in the shed.’ Bobby ran off and returned with a frayed straw boater. He squashed it on the snowman’s head.
‘What shall we do now?’
‘Let’s have a snowball fight.’
By the time they had finished pelting each other with snow, Daisy was beginning to get cold. ’I can’t feel my fingers,’ she giggled. ‘Or my toes.’
Bobby brushed the snow from his face. ’Let’s see if Pops has mended the stove.’
When they walked in the kitchen, Pops was completely covered, from head to toe, in soot. Two round white patches covered his eyes where his
