Blyton, Enid – Famous Five 14 – Five Have Plenty of Fun

When Julian and George came back there was no sign of the golden hair on the floor. They put their parcels down on the table and shouted for Aunt Fanny. ‘Mother!’ called George. ‘Aunt Fanny!’ shouted Julian.

She came running downstairs with Berta and Anne and Dick. Julian and George looked at Berta, thunderstruck. ‘Gosh – is it really you, Berta?’ said Julian. ‘I simply don’t recognize you!’

‘Why – you do look like a boy!’ said George. ‘I never thought you would.’

‘A jolly good-looking boy,’ said Julian. ‘Well, your father was right. It’s the best disguise you could have!’

‘Where are the clothes?’ asked Berta, rather pleased at all the interest in her looks. They opened the parcels and pulled out the things.

They were not really very exciting – a boy’s blazer in navy blue, two pairs of boy’s jeans, two grey jerseys, a few shirts, a tie and a pull-over without sleeves.

‘And shoes and socks,’ said George. ‘But we decided you’d got plenty of socks that would do, so we only bought one pair of those. Oh – and here’s a boy’s grey felt hat in case the sun’s too hot – and a cap!’

Berta put on the cap at once. There were squeals of laughter from everyone. ‘It suits her! She’s got it on at just the right angle. She looks a real boy!’

‘You put it on, George,’ said Berta, and George took it, eager to share in the admiration. But it looked ridiculous on her curls, and wouldn’t sit down flat as it should. Everyone hooted.

‘It makes you look a girl! Take it off!’

George took it off in disappointment. How very aggravating that this girl Berta should make a better boy than she did! She threw the cap on the table, half-cross that they had bought it.

‘Go upstairs and put some of the things on,’ said Aunt Fanny, amused at all these goings-on. Up went Berta obediently, and soon came down again, neatly arrayed in jeans, grey shirt and blue tie.

Everyone roared with laughter. Berta was now quite enjoying herself and paraded round the room, her cap tilted on one side of her head.

‘She looks like a very tidy, neat little boy, a good and most angelic child!’ said Julian. ‘Dear Lesley, you must get yourself just a little dirty – you look too good to be true.’

‘I don’t like getting dirty,’ said Berta. ‘I think…’

But what she thought nobody knew because at that moment the door opened and Uncle Quentin came into the room.

‘I’d like to know how you think I can do my work with all this hooting and cackling going on,’ he began, and then he suddenly saw Berta, and stopped.’

‘Who’s this?’ he said, looking Berta up and down.

‘Don’t you know, Father?’ said George.

‘Of course not. Never seen him in my life before!’ said her father. ‘Don’t tell me it’s somebody else come to stay.’

‘It’s Berta,’ said Anne, with a giggle.

‘Berta – now who’s Berta?’ said Uncle Quentin, frowning. ‘I seem to have heard that name before.’

‘The girl you thought might be kidnapped,’ explained Dick.

‘Oh Berta – Elbur’s girl!’ said Uncle Quentin, ‘I remember her all right. But who’s this? This boy? I’ve never seen him before. What’s your name, boy?’

‘Lesley,’ said Berta. ‘But I was Berta when you saw me at breakfast.’

‘Good heavens!’ said Uncle Quentin amazed. ‘What a – what a transformation! Why, your own father wouldn’t know you. I hope I remember who you are. Keep reminding me, if I don’t.’

Off he went, back to his study. The children laughed, and Aunt Fanny had to laugh too.

‘By the way,’ she said, ‘I want you all to have lunch at home today, because it’s really too late now to start making sandwiches for a picnic; it’s only cold ham and salad, so don’t get too hungry, will you?’

‘Is there time for a bathe?’ asked Julian, looking at his watch.

‘Yes – if you’ll come in about twelve o’clock and pick the fruit for a pudding for lunch,’ said his aunt. ‘It takes ages to pick enough for eight people, and Joan and I have a lot to do today.’

‘Right. We’ll go for a bathe now, and then we’ll ALL pick fruit,’ said Julian. ‘Bags I pick the plums. The raspberries are such fiddley little things.’

‘Have you a swim-suit, Berta, I mean Lesley?’ asked George.

‘Yes. It’s an absolutely plain one, like a boy’s, so I’ll be all right in it,’ said Berta. ‘Hurray, I shan’t need to wear a cap. Boys never do.’

Berta’s cases were now all in Joan’s big room and she ran to get into her swim-suit.

‘Bring your blazer and a towel,’ yelled George, and went into her own room with Anne.

‘I bet Berta can’t swim,’ she said. ‘That will be a pity, because most boys swim well. We’ll have to teach her.’

‘Well, don’t duck her too often!’ said Anne, seeing a look in George’s eye that was not too kindly. ‘Blow – my swim-suit isn’t here – I’m sure I brought it in from the clothes-line.’

It took quite a while to find it, and the boys and Berta had already gone down to the beach with Sally by the time Anne and George were ready to follow with the impatient Timmy.

They were down on the beach at last, and there was Sally-dog guarding the blazers belonging to Julian, Dick and Berta. She was lying on them, and she even dared to growl at Timmy when he came near.

George laughed. ‘Growl back, Timmy! Don’t let a little snippet like that cheek you. Growl back!’

But Timmy wouldn’t. He just sat down out of reach of Sally, and looked at her sadly. Wasn’t she friends with him any more?

‘Where are the others?’ said Anne, shading her eyes from the glare of the sun and looking out to sea. ‘Goodness, how far out they’ve swum! That can’t be Berta with them, surely!’

George looked out over the stretch of blue sea at once. She saw three heads bobbing. Yes, Berta was out there!

‘She must be a jolly good swimmer,’ said Anne, admiringly. ‘I couldn’t swim out as far as that. We were wrong about Berta. She swims like a fish!’

George said nothing. She ran to the waves, plunged through a big one just as it was curling over, and swam out strongly. She couldn’t believe that it was Berta out there! And if it was, the boys must be helping her!

But it was Berta. Her golden head glistened wet in the water, and she shouted in glee as she swam.

‘This is great! This is wunnerful! Gee, I’m enjoying this! Hi there, George – isn’t the water warm?’

Julian and Dick grinned round at the panting George. ‘Lesley’s a fine swimmer,’ said Dick. ‘Gosh, I thought she was going to race me at one time. She’d beat you, George!’

‘She wouldn’t,’ said George, but all the same she didn’t challenge Berta to race!

It was fun to be five, fun to chase one another in the sea, to swim under the water and grab somebody’s leg. And Anne laughed till she choked when she saw somebody heave themselves out of the water right on to George’s back, and duck her well and truly.

It was Berta! And what was more, the angry George couldn’t catch her afterwards. Berta could swim much too fast!

Chapter Nine

A SUDDEN TELEPHONE CALL

Berta soon settled down happily with the Five. George couldn’t bear to think that the girl had to be dressed like a boy, but her jealousy wore off a little as the days went by – though she couldn’t help feeling annoyed that Berta proved to be such a good swimmer!

She could dive well too, and swim under water even longer than the boys could, much to their surprise.

‘Oh well, you see, back home, we’ve got a pool in our garden,’ she said. ‘A wonDERful pool, gee, you should see it. And I learnt to swim in it when I was two. Pops always called me a water-baby.’

Berta ate just as much as the others, although she was not so sturdy and well built. She was loud in her praise of the meals, and this pleased Aunt Fanny and Joan very much.

‘You’re getting fatter, Lesley,’ said Aunt Fanny a week later, looking at her as she sat eating her lunch with the others. ‘And what is better still – you’re getting a really good sun-tan. You’re almost as brown as the others!’

‘Yes. I thought so too,’ said Berta, pleased.

‘It’s a good thing you caught the sun so easily,’ said Aunt Fanny. ‘Now, if any kidnappers come round looking for a long-haired pale-faced American girl, they would take one look at the lot of you and off they would go! Nobody would guess you were Berta!’