Chaos At Christmas – Episode 10
Chaos At Christmas by Ewan Smith
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- 10. Chaos At Christmas – Episode 10
- 11. Chaos At Christmas – Episode 11
- 12. Chaos At Christmas – Episode 12
Though Ferelith noticed that she didn’t follow any of it. She also noticed that the decorations containing the guests’ names were positioned quite low down on the tree so that the names were easy to see and were well within reach. She wondered if Jane had decided that, since some of their guests were going to remove their baubles anyway, she might as well make it easy for them.
It was hard to see the effect of the decorating from up the ladder but, when Jane announced that it had been done to her satisfaction, Ferelith climbed down and moved the ladder out of the way. She stepped back as Abeer switched on the lights. There were gasps from the people gathered about; the tree looked exquisite. Everyone’s eyes were drawn to it. With the lights swirling around in complex patterns, it seemed as if something magical had appeared in the corner of the reception area. Applause rose up around them as Ferelith, Jane and Abeer hugged each other warmly. “It’s perfect,” Ferelith beamed.
Abeer agreed, her eyes shining.
So beautiful!
They finished it off by arranging some large empty boxes decorated with festive wrapping and extravagantly tied ribbon round the bottom of the tree. Guests had already begun to take selfies of themselves with the tree in the background. But with the barrier removed and everything else tidied away, Ferelith was able to head back outside again.
She spotted Geraint standing a little aside from the crowd. “You have to see the new Christmas tree,” she said eagerly. “We’ve just finished the decorating and it looks amazing.”
“I’ll have a look at it later. Faisal and I took the old one to the hospice and set it up for them. We just got back.” He smiled. “It’s all going on here.”
Lyle Cranford in his Father Christmas outfit was being taken on a tour of the grounds by the reindeer. There were a handful of children on the sleigh with him and every minute or so it would stop and the children would swap over. Ferelith could hear Lyle leading all of them in a raucous version of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.
Meanwhile, a large van had parked on the lawn nearby and a group of half a dozen people were hard at work. They had set up a sizeable octagonal structure about six feet high and Ferelith could see a hose stretching to it from round the corner of the hotel.
“Are they filling it with water?” she said in puzzlement.
Geraint nodded. “It’s an outdoor pool. That must have been what Lyle Cranford was talking about.”
Ferelith wasn’t sure whether she felt disappointed or relieved. “It’s an odd sort of surprise,” she said in puzzlement. “I can’t see people wanting to swim outside at this time of year, especially when the hotel has a whole selection of indoor pools to choose from.”
Geraint shrugged. “I’m just glad that it’s nothing worse. It’s only lawn there; the pool shouldn’t do too much damage.” His eyes narrowed. “Hopefully.”
They watched in curiosity as an odd-looking structure was brought from the back of the van. It was a curved slope which fitted to the side of the pool, leading from the ground to the top. “Wouldn’t a ladder have been simpler?” Ferelith muttered.
Then they brought out another structure which they positioned in the centre of the pool so that there would be an area there rising out of the water. “This is weird,” Geraint murmured.
“Certainly is.”
There was a cheering sound and Ferelith turned. Father Christmas in the sleigh was slowly approaching with the children gathered around him. The elf led the sleigh close to the recently-erected pool and brought it to a stop. Lyle stood up and held out his arms. “Are you ready?” he cried out. There was a muted response. “ARE YOU READY?” he cried again and this time the response was more enthusiastic.
“Ready for what?” someone shouted out.
“You’re about to find out,” he grinned. He produced a phone, which seemed rather incongruous for Father Christmas, Ferelith felt and he spoke into it briefly. “Now watch,” he cried, his eyes bright with excitement. Ferelith couldn’t help but smile. He was like a small child at a party. Whatever else happened at the Manor that Christmas, Lyle Cranford clearly intended to enjoy himself. “Here it comes!” he suddenly shouted, pointing to the entrance of the driveway. Another van which must have been parked nearby had appeared. Ferelith watched it approaching. “Why does it have those holes in the side?” she murmured in puzzlement.
“I’m not sure that I like the look of this,” Geraint retorted. With everything covered in white thanks to the artificial snow, it wasn’t clear to the driver where the road led. Geraint gave a grimace as the van turned and drove straight over one of the flowerbeds. Ferelith felt for him. The van stopped and then reversed until it was next the octagonal swimming pool. Three women jumped out.
Let’s have a countdown, Lyle called out. And while we’re at it, do you think we should put a few fish into the pool? No one seemed sure what he was referring to. However, he had already started. 10…9…8…
The slow countdown was taken up by the gathered guests as the trio opened the van’s rear doors. They quickly pulled out a ramp and climbed inside. “What’s that noise?” Ferelith said. It seemed familiar somehow but she couldn’t quite place it. “Is it birds?”
As the chant approached zero, Lyle rang his bell for no particular reason. “If it’s Christmas and you have snow then surely…”
The three women appeared again from inside the van. There were sudden squeals from the crowd. “I don’t believe it.” Ferelith gasped.
“…you also need penguins!” Lyle shouted, throwing his arms out wide.
And as they watched, a dozen rockhopper penguins waddled cheerfully down the ramp, all squawking happily to each other.
Ferelith heard a groan of anguish from her father nearby. This can’t be happening. What on earth have I let our hotel in for?
It was barely nine o’clock in the morning. Already, a tiny hammer was pounding away at Erik’s forehead. That normally didn’t happen until late afternoon when the end of his shift on the reception desk was approaching and he was beginning to long for the small glass of dry sherry awaiting him. “I didn’t sleep a wink because of the racket being made by those penguins. They were screeching away outside our window all night.”
It seemed to Erik that the penguins made more of a honking than a screeching sound. However, he didn’t feel it was the moment to mention that. He fixed a sympathetic smile onto his face. A guest was unhappy and it was his duty to deal with the matter. “I am very sorry to hear that, madam. Unfortunately, the penguins have their own keepers and are outside our control. If you remember, they were brought here by Mr Cranford himself. I believe he hoped that they would add to the Christmas spirit at the Manor.”
