Yvonne Higgins
Writer of stories for the child in all of us
I'd like to share with you a couple of my favourite pieces,
a sample of one of my 'What If?' Stories
and a heartwarming story about a little duck who didn't know how to swim.
What If? Mary Poppins
What if Mary Poppins wasn’t a Nanny at all? This was merely a front for her primary activity, which was to route out any form of wickedness and deal with it accordingly.
Armed with her trusty black umbrella, she also carried a red Rule Book, concealed beneath her flowing skirts.
She was in fact ‘Prefect for the Awareness of Misdemeanours’ abbreviated simply to PAM. Pam, or Mary Poppins, as everyone knew her, had seven words inscribed in her Rule Book.
One of the most important was Honesty. She couldn’t abide lying by anyone, although, - (and I am never going to be the one to say this to her), it could be said Mary Poppins was the biggest liar, liar, set your bum on fire; since no-one actually knew she was really Pam. Leaving this to one side, she also insisted upon:
Politeness, Kindness, Unselfishness, Tolerance, Tidiness and Generosity.
Most recently she had cause to apply her Rule Book to a particular person. A certain Donald Trumpity. He was an obnoxious man, who had been known in his life to break all seven of Pam’s rules. It was when he had broken rule number seven, Honesty, that she really blew her cool.
Setting the dial on her umbrella to ‘Trumpity Mansion, America’, she gave a quick flick of her wrist and her umbrella opened and lifted her skyward. This was by far Mary Poppins’ favourite way to travel, negating any need to go through customs, and allowing her a perfect view of the journey beneath.
Donald Trumpity lived in the most enormous mansion you could possibly imagine, with one hundred windows and no less than fourteen front doors. He had protecting him the tallest and widest security guards and the most gigantic guard dogs you have ever seen. But they were no match for Mary Poppins. She didn’t even have to say the magic word, (you know, the one that begins supercali..). She simply sauntered up the very long drive, humming as she went the tune to, ‘Just a spoonful of…’. The security guards waved to her and the guard dogs wagged their tails.
Now Donald Trumpity was such a big headed man, that he thought Mary Poppins had come to see him to praise how wonderful he was – and what a good job he was doing. He opened one of his fourteen front doors, the one that was painted bright purple, and strode towards her, smoothing his hair as he went. But before he had chance to say anything, Pam walked straight up to him, took out her umbrella, pressed the third button and bingo, it turned into a cricket bat! She then proceeded to smack Donald Trumpity across his big fat bottom no less than seven times.
‘This one is for being rude, this one is for being cruel, this one is for being selfish, this one is for your total intolerance, this one is for being so untidy, this one is for being a greedy wotsit and this one is because you are one of the most dishonest people I know.’
It is said that Donald Trumpity still can’t sit down on his bottom, which is now as purple as one of his front doors. Let’s hope he has learnt his lesson… but just in case, Pam keeps her umbrella always at the ready.
Little Duck learns to swim
There once was a Little Duck who looked just like all the other ducks. He was yellow, had a beak, wings and a tail.
But he was not like any other duck
Because you see, he didn’t know how to swim!
DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO SWIM! I hear you cry.
But surely all ducks can swim?
‘Can I have armbands?’ He asked his Mummy, snuggling up close.
She let out a giggle. ‘No, you don’t need them, silly,’ she said.
‘Well, can I have a rubber ring then?’ He asked his Daddy, nudging him with his beak.
‘Of course not, how absurd,’ replied his Daddy with a shake of his head.
The problem was that Little Duck had missed swimming school when he was very small, due to a very bad case of hiccups. And so he hadn’t learned to swim like all the other baby ducks.
He sat on the edge of the bathtub and wondered what to do. Should he just slide off the edge, or dive in headfirst?
Fish was watching from the side of the tub and felt sorry for Little Duck. He knew how easy it was to swim, but realised that what Little Duck lacked was confidence. He needed to know that he could swim. But how could he show him?
He decided he would go and ask Frog.
Frog was sitting on his lilypad, deep in thought, when Fish swam over. He explained the problem to Frog.
‘Poor Little Duck,’ he said. ‘But you see I just jump in with my long legs, so I can’t show him how to do that. Little Duck’s legs are only short.’
‘I know,’ said Fish. ‘I have fins and a tail to help me swim, but Little Duck doesn’t have fins,’ said Fish.
‘So how do you think ducks swim then?’ asked Fish.
‘Let’s go and ask Penguin, maybe he will know,’ suggested Frog.
‘I’m not really sure,’ said Penguin. ‘I mainly swim underwater, using my feet like flippers,’ he said. ‘But ducks don’t have flippers.’
There was only one person left to ask. And that was Octopus.
‘Excuse me Octopus,’ said Penguin. ‘Do you have any idea how ducks swim?’
‘Yes I do. Ducks use their webbed feet like paddles to push against the water.’
Penguin, Fish and Frog went over to where Little Duck was sitting, looking very sad.
‘Don’t be afraid Little Duck,’ said Frog, ‘you can join in with us and swim.’
‘Really?’ said Little Duck, looking a little less sad.
‘Show us your feet,’ said Penguin.
Little Duck looked down and stuck out his two bright orange feet.
‘Can you see the bits between your toes which are joined up? Well, they are called webs and they help you swim in the water,’ said Fish.
‘Really?’ said Little Duck.
His friends all nodded.
‘Let’s all count to three and jump in the water together,’ suggested Penguin.
‘Are you sure?’ said Little Duck, still feeling a little scared.
‘Of course,’ said Fish, Penguin and Frog together. ‘Be brave Little Duck, you can do it.’
‘One… two… three!’
There was the most enormous SPLASH as each of the bath toys jumped into the tub together.
Fish swam happily along underneath the water. So did Penguin. Frog kicked his long legs out letting out a small satisfied burp and as for Little Duck, he surfaced with a shake of his head – and then………
Bobbing along, he glided easily through the water.
‘I’m swimming, I’m really swimming!’ He cried happily.
He waved to his Mummy and Daddy and to Octopus too.
‘I can do it! I can do it! It’s easy. Thank you so much Penguin, Frog and Fish. You are just the best friends in the whole world.
I can really swim too - and I LOVE IT!’
Copyright © 2016 Yvonne Higgins
All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2018 Yvonne Higgins
All Rights Reserved