Page 105 of Christmas off Script
‘Hurrah and Huzzah!’ Arthur exclaimed. ‘Now see if you can hold it, Ella.’
Bending at the knees, she took a deep breath, then lifted it from him. It was heavy, but the weight was just about manageable. The bigger issue was how unwieldy it was, and how much interest Chewy was currently showing in it.
‘Okay,’ Libby said brightly, as if holding onto her sanity by a thread. ‘Ella, see if it’s possible to come safely through the door whilst holding it. There will be a table later which you can put it straight onto.’
Coming forward, Dervla took the pumpkin from Ella, so she could pull up the top layer of her skirts and put them over her head, turning her gown into a ragged dress and shawl. Carefully taking the pumpkin back from Dervla, she pushed the door open with her bottom and stepped through, Chewy still growling at her heels.
Behind the flat, she heard the ballroom door open and Leo’s voice greeting everyone. Her tummy flipped with nervous excitement and she hooked her toe around the edge of the canvas door to open it.
‘Hey Ella!’ he called out as she came back onstage, then stared at what she was holding. ‘Bloody hell, is that thing real?’
‘Meet Priscilla!’ Arthur cried. ‘Newest addition to the family. And—’
‘Hang about. You’ve gotrealmice in there?’ Leo exclaimed as he strode forward. ‘But Ellahatesmice!’
The fabric of her dress was smooth, and the unwieldy pumpkin was beginning to slip.
Don’t drop it! You can’t hurt the mice!
‘Chewy, shush!’ Steve shouted as his dog growled again.
Suddenly the ballroom doors were flung open with a crash, and Satan’s hellhounds bounded into the room, spittle flying from their bared teeth as they barked.
‘Caligula! Borgia! No!’ Leo and Arthur roared, as Libby stood in their path, her arms spread wide, a small ray of sunshine trying to fend off two category-five cyclones.
Ella watched in slow-motion horror as the dogs dodged Libby and leapt onto the stage, heading straight for her and a barking Chewy.
Stumbling backwards through the door in the flat, still holding the pumpkin, there was a thud as something hit the canvas, then claws ripped a hole through the material.
She heard more yells and screams from the other side, two more almighty crashes, then the entire flat tipped towards her. Falling to the floor, Ella crouched over the pumpkin, her arms over her head, and braced for impact.
It didn’t come. Only the feeling of something light bouncing off her back.
Still huddled in a ball, her eyes tightly closed, her heart trying to exit through her ribs, all Ella could hear were people shouting and screaming, the frantic barking of dogs, and Leo’s voice.
‘Dad! Mammy! Steve!’ he roared. ‘Get them out of here!’
Ella turned her head and opened her eyes. The flat was lying in pieces around her, but miraculously, it had fallen so the light canvas door was over where she was huddled. It had hit her, then bounced open again.
The muscles in Leo’s arms were straining as he held Caligula and Borgia’s collars. Wrestling them off the stage, his father took one dog, his mammy the other, and they headed out of the ballroom. Steve dragged Chewy through another door.
Libby rushed to Ella’s side. ‘Are you alright?’
‘C-can you take the m-mice?’ she stammered.
‘Of course.’ Taking the pumpkin from her, Libby rushed out of the third door to the ballroom as Leo came forward.
His expression was tortured, his hands running over her. ‘Are you hurt? Talk to me.’
Ella shook with adrenaline and relief. ‘I-I’m okay. I’m okay.’
Leo let out a noise that was half laugh and half sob, then clasped her to him. ‘Jesus, Ella. I was so worried. I’m so sorry. I’ll have him put down.’
She pulled away. ‘You can’t! It’s not the dog’s fault!’
He skewered her with a look. ‘I was talking about my father.’
‘Oh.’
