Mrs Bennet's cunning plan.....

Monday, December 1 08

Although Mrs Bennet loved the essence of Christmas, its message of joy and hope and the infectious excitement generated by her daughters, she did not enjoy writing Christmas cards. Mr Bennet shared her sentiments so didn't do any. Last year he even had the lame excuse of a broken arm. Mrs Bennet valued her arm too much to follow his example. Instead she put on her creative thinking cap. Watching her eldest daughters concentrate on their latest masterpieces - one was designing a made-up cartoon family she'd entitled The Wiggleworms; the other was mixing colour and shape in Picasso fashion - Mrs Bennet issued them a challenge:
"Girls, if you each write 25 Christmas cards each, I'll take you out to breakfast!"
Miss Bennets Numbers One and Two promptly put down their tools and instantly turned into festive writing mode. After one card, Miss Naomi Bennet returned to her Wiggleworms. Kathleen Wiggleworm's outfit wasn't quite right and she wanted to perfect it. Miss Emily Bennet however had a bacon roll firmly etched on her mind and wrote mechanically for 30 minutes.
"Mummy, what about me?" asked a voice from behind Pepper Pig's rocket, "I can't write like they can yet, but can I come out with you as well, otherwise that's not fair is it?"
"I'll tell you what, if Naomi does her share, I'll take you out as well. A bit like take two, take one free!" Mrs Bennet informed her third daughter, who didn't quite understand the concept.
Only one child earned the breakfast the next morning. After a disturbed night due to coughing twins, Mrs Bennet was woken up by her alarm clock - a gentle tapping on her arm. An eager fully-dressed second daughter peered over her, determined not to miss out on her wages. Half asleep, Mrs Bennet fulfilled her side of the bargain. Miss Bennet Number Two got her hot bacon butty. But Mrs Bennet did not get her Mr Latte. He obviously didn't approve of her bribery tactics and was on strike. Instead it was a Peely Wally start to the day - a mug of hot water and a longing to return home to the duvet.