‘Friends? With Mrs Bottomley? I can’t imagine it, dear. She’s a dreadful woman,’ Aunt Violet said with a grin.
Clementine gasped. ‘Aunt Violet, she’s sitting right next to you.’
‘Yes, I can see her. I don’t think she can see me, though. You know she’s blind as a bat and deaf as a beetle.’
The other children gasped too.
Mrs Bottomley’s eyes crinkled. ‘But that’s all right, Clementine, because your great-aunt is quite the rudest woman I’ve ever met in my life and I wouldn’t want to be friends with her either.’
The children all gulped and wondered what was about to happen next.
‘Oh, for goodness sake, we’re joking. We’re pulling your legs.’ Aunt Violet nudged Mrs Bottomley, who grinned.
‘Miss Appleby saved me from that crazy goose. If it wasn’t for her, I’d probably be lying in the field with that giant white monster taking a nap on my belly.’ The children looked from one woman to the next, wondering what had happened out there. ‘But I do think we should be getting back before Mr Bauer does something ridiculous like call the police. Angus, you can wait here with me and I think you should wait here too, Mrs Rumble,’ directed Mrs Bottomley. ‘Are you right to go with the children, Miss Appleby?’
Violet Appleby stood up. ‘Yes, of course.’
Granny Bert nodded. ‘I don’t know where Lily got to with that morning tea, but I wish she’d hurry up.’
‘Come along, Clementine,’ Aunt Violet instructed.
Clemmie walked towards her great-aunt. The woman slipped her hand into Clemmie’s and they followed Poppy, Sophie and Joshua out of the cubby.
‘There’s Daddy,’ Poppy shouted. She began to race towards the figure in the distance.
‘Aunt Violet, are you really going to be friends with Mrs Bottomley?’ Clementine looked up at the woman. Aunt Violet’s hair was rumpled and her white suit was a patchwork of brown and green stains.
Aunt Violet smiled. ‘Let’s just say that sometimes it takes a fiasco to help two stubborn old women understand one another.’
‘What’s a fiasco?’ Clementine had never heard that word before.
‘A disaster,’ her great-aunt replied. ‘And I think today has been just that, don’t you?’
Clementine shook her head. ‘No, Aunt Violet, I don’t think so at all. Angus saved me from Ramon and Joshua saved himself with a chocolate brownie and you saved Mrs Bottomley and made a new friend. So I’d say that today has been just about perfect. Wouldn’t you?’
Aunt Violet smoothed her hair and then grinned. ‘Perhaps. But you’re not to breathe a word of any of this to Pertwhistle or your mother. Do you understand?’
Clementine nodded. Maybe she didn’t mind having a secret with Aunt Violet after all.
Everyone was relieved when Aunt Violet appeared with the children. Mr Bauer had raced home to get the four-wheel drive and transport Mrs Bottomley and Granny Bert back to the farmhouse. Lily found some bandaids for Mrs Bottomley’s blisters and insisted that the woman sit in the garden to rest.
Although lunch was late for some, it was delicious and much appreciated. After everyone had eaten, Aunt Violet took charge and the children had a wonderful time identifying and pulling up some vegetables, and meeting a couple of the horses which Max, the stablehand at Highton Hall, brought down especially.
‘I think it’s almost time to go,’ said Aunt Violet. She could hear the rattle of the bus coming down the lane. ‘Gather up your bags children and let’s go and meet Mr Stubbs, shall we?’
Mrs Bottomley appeared and insisted that everyone line up so she could call the roll.
Aunt Violet let her go. It was still her excursion after all, and at least she no longer had that dreadful whistle.
‘Where’s Joshua Tribble?’ Mrs Bottomley asked, looking straight at the boy’s father.
‘He’s just gone to the toilet,’ Mr Tribble replied.
‘Well, go and get him,’ Mrs Bottomley demanded. ‘We need to get moving.’ Mrs Bottomley had had quite enough adventures for one day – and although it was tempting to leave the boy behind, she could only imagine what Miss Critchley would have to say about that.
‘Good day, Ethel?’ Bernie Stubbs asked as Mrs Bottomley boarded the bus.
‘Yes, Mr Stubbs. A surprisingly good day,’ the woman replied.
He grinned. ‘I do like to hear that.’
The children bade farewell to Mr and Mrs Bauer, Poppy and Granny Bert, and thanked them loudly for a wonderful day.
‘So what do you think of life on a farm?’ Mr Tribble asked his son as they sat together in the middle of the bus.
‘It’s okay,’ said Joshua. ‘But I don’t like sheep much.’
Clementine was sitting in the front seat next to Aunt Violet. As the bus lurched forward, bumping along the narrow country lane, she was surprised to see Eloise the goose waddling between two of the sheds with what looked like Mrs Bottomley’s shiny silver whistle around her neck.
She turned to her great-aunt. ‘Did you see that?’
Aunt Violet raised her eyebrows and smiled. ‘Let’s just hope she doesn’t learn how to use it. Can I tell you a secret, Clementine?’
Clementine looked at her great-aunt cautiously. She already had the secret of the crystal vase to worry about, and not telling about today’s adventure with Mrs Bottomley and Eloise. ‘Okay.’
The old woman whispered, ‘I think I actually enjoyed myself at the farm. It was a most unpredictable outing.’
Clementine looked at her in shock. ‘That’s the secret?’
Aunt Violet nodded.
Clementine leaned in and cuddled her. ‘Thank you, Aunt Violet.’
‘Whatever for?’ her great-aunt asked.
Clementine grinned. ‘For being unpredictable too.’
The Appleby household
Clementine Rose Appleby
Five-year-old daughter of Lady Clarissa
Lavender
Clemmie’s teacup pig
Lady Clarissa Appleby
Clementine’s mother and the owner of Penberthy House
Digby Pertwhistle
Butler at Penberthy House
Aunt Violet Appleby
Clementine’s grandfather’s sister
Pharaoh
Aunt Violet’s beloved sphynx cat
School staff and students
Miss Arabella Critchley
Head teacher at Ellery Prep
Mrs Ethel Bottomley
Teacher at Ellery Prep
Sophie Rousseau
Clementine’s best friend – also five years old
Poppy Bauer
Clementine’s good friend – also five years old
Angus Archibald
Kindergarten boy
Joshua Tribble
Naughty friend of Angus’s
Astrid
Eddie Whipple Lester, Ella
Kindergarten classmates
Others
Odette Rousseau
Sophie’s mother
Mr Tribble
Joshua’s father
Heinrich Bauer
Poppy’s father, manages the farm at Highton Hall
Lily Bauer
Poppy’s mother, works on the farm and at Highton Hall
Granny Bert (Albertine Rumble)
Elderly lady, lives next to the farm in RoseCottage
Daisy Rumble
Granny Bert’s granddaughter, also lives at Rose Cottage
Bernie Stubbs
Bus driver
Jacqueline Harvey taught for many years in girls’ boarding schools. She is the author of the bestselling Alice-Miranda series and the Clementine Rose series, and was awarded Honour Book in the 2006 Au
stralian CBC Awards for her picture book The Sound of the Sea. She now writes full-time and is working on more Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose adventures.
www.jacquelineharvey.com.au
Books by Jacqueline Harvey
Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor
Clementine Rose and the Pet Day Disaster
Clementine Rose and the Perfect Present
Alice-Miranda at School
Alice-Miranda on Holiday
Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead
Alice-Miranda at Sea
Alice-Miranda in New York
Alice-Miranda Shows the Way
Alice-Miranda in Paris
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Clementine Rose and the Farm Fiasco
9781742755489
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Random House book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
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First published by Random House Australia in 2013
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Harvey, Jacqueline
Title: Clementine Rose and the farm fiasco / Jacqueline Harvey
ISBN: 9781742755489 (ebook)
Series: Harvey, Jacqueline. Clementine Rose; 4
Subjects: Girls – Juvenile fiction
School field trips – Juvenile fiction
Farms – Juvenile fiction
Target audience: For primary school age
Dewey number: A823.4
Cover and internal illustrations by J.Yi
Cover design by Leanne Beattie
Internal design by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Typesetting and eBook production by Midland Typesetters, Australia
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