the statue. Then one of the crew held out a finger, pointing. “She lies there. You watch.” The statue was on an island. She was even bigger and more like herself than she looked in photographs. The man grinned at her affectionately. “Looks a bit of all right, don’t she, bless ‘er? Now you look over there. Watch close.”
At first there was nothing to see, for where the man pointed was a bank of mist. What happened at the end of the Sleeping Beauty’s story, that part where the prince fights his way through overhanging branches and cobwebs and sees a magic castle. The mist broke away as if it were overhanging branches and cobwebs and out of it came what seemed a magic castle: pinkish in color, an irregular outline stretching almost to the sky.
Awestruck, Rachel gasped “What’s that!
The man laughed. “That! That’s good old New York!”
7
New York City
John and Bee were met at the dockside by a friend of Aunt Cora’s They were very glad to see him because he had dollars for them. By the law of England they might not change pounds into dollars. So if they had not met the man, they would have had no money at all. The children, thought they tried not to stared at the man because he was so exactly like a rich American in the movies. He was very welcoming, so welcoming that at first the children supposed he must be an old friend of John and Bee’s. When they found out he was a stranger, they decided that to be welcoming must be an American habit, and a very nice one, as it made the whole family stop feeling they were strangers in a strange land. After he had got over telling them how fine it was to see them, he became suddenly brisk and bustling He said he would take them over to the railroad, where they could check their baggage and turn the railway vouchers they had bought in England into railway tickets for California, and then he would show them around a bit and give them lunch. He said all this all so obviously only to John and Bee, not including Peaseblossom or the children in his plans and invitations, that the only thing they could do was to separate. Bee said in a scared voice, “We’ve none of us been in New York before. I suppose my family won’t get lost?”
The man laughed. “Why, no. What these kids will like will be to go to the top of the Empire State Building and then fill themselves up with ice-cream sodas. Come along, you folks, we’ve go a lot to do.” With that, he put one arm through John’s and the other through Bee’s and hurried them away.
Peaseblossom and the children looked after them, feeling rather deserted. Rachel said, “He’s a friend of Aunt Cora’s. Do you suppose Aunt Cora’s the sort of person who thinks children never want to do the same things as their parents do?”
Peaseblossom tried to sound confident.
“Don’t talk nonsense, dear. Naturally that nice friend of your aunt’s doesn’t want the whole lot of us hanging around. Besides, we’ll manage splendidly on our own, won’t we? Up the Winters!”
They would have managed perfectly if the effect of New York on Peaseblossom had not been to turn her from her competent self into something rather like a sheep in a narrow lane trying to go the opposite way from the rest of the flock. Everybody was kind and helpful and told them how to get out of the docks and which way to go when they were out, but Peaseblossom could not take in what she was told. She kept saying in an agitated way, “I beg your pardon?” and even “What?” which shocked the children, who had been told since they were babies that to say “What?” was rude. Worst of all, she behaved as though the directions were being given to her in another language, commenting on them to the children in loud whispers, which the people politely trying to help must have overheard. “I can’t make out a word he’s saying... Better ask somebody else. I don’t think he knows where the Empire State Building is.”
The children were so ashamed
At first there was nothing to see, for where the man pointed was a bank of mist. What happened at the end of the Sleeping Beauty’s story, that part where the prince fights his way through overhanging branches and cobwebs and sees a magic castle. The mist broke away as if it were overhanging branches and cobwebs and out of it came what seemed a magic castle: pinkish in color, an irregular outline stretching almost to the sky.
Awestruck, Rachel gasped “What’s that!
The man laughed. “That! That’s good old New York!”
7
New York City
John and Bee were met at the dockside by a friend of Aunt Cora’s They were very glad to see him because he had dollars for them. By the law of England they might not change pounds into dollars. So if they had not met the man, they would have had no money at all. The children, thought they tried not to stared at the man because he was so exactly like a rich American in the movies. He was very welcoming, so welcoming that at first the children supposed he must be an old friend of John and Bee’s. When they found out he was a stranger, they decided that to be welcoming must be an American habit, and a very nice one, as it made the whole family stop feeling they were strangers in a strange land. After he had got over telling them how fine it was to see them, he became suddenly brisk and bustling He said he would take them over to the railroad, where they could check their baggage and turn the railway vouchers they had bought in England into railway tickets for California, and then he would show them around a bit and give them lunch. He said all this all so obviously only to John and Bee, not including Peaseblossom or the children in his plans and invitations, that the only thing they could do was to separate. Bee said in a scared voice, “We’ve none of us been in New York before. I suppose my family won’t get lost?”
The man laughed. “Why, no. What these kids will like will be to go to the top of the Empire State Building and then fill themselves up with ice-cream sodas. Come along, you folks, we’ve go a lot to do.” With that, he put one arm through John’s and the other through Bee’s and hurried them away.
Peaseblossom and the children looked after them, feeling rather deserted. Rachel said, “He’s a friend of Aunt Cora’s. Do you suppose Aunt Cora’s the sort of person who thinks children never want to do the same things as their parents do?”
Peaseblossom tried to sound confident.
“Don’t talk nonsense, dear. Naturally that nice friend of your aunt’s doesn’t want the whole lot of us hanging around. Besides, we’ll manage splendidly on our own, won’t we? Up the Winters!”
They would have managed perfectly if the effect of New York on Peaseblossom had not been to turn her from her competent self into something rather like a sheep in a narrow lane trying to go the opposite way from the rest of the flock. Everybody was kind and helpful and told them how to get out of the docks and which way to go when they were out, but Peaseblossom could not take in what she was told. She kept saying in an agitated way, “I beg your pardon?” and even “What?” which shocked the children, who had been told since they were babies that to say “What?” was rude. Worst of all, she behaved as though the directions were being given to her in another language, commenting on them to the children in loud whispers, which the people politely trying to help must have overheard. “I can’t make out a word he’s saying... Better ask somebody else. I don’t think he knows where the Empire State Building is.”
The children were so ashamed
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