The Figaddy's Snow - House

by Rinya Singh

“It’s snowing! Yay!” said Ben,Bell and their favourite cousin Cassie.

They were looking out of the twin’s bedroom window .Mr.Figaddy had moved the guest room bed into the twin’s bedroom so that Cassie could sleep with her two cousins.Cassie had arrived the week before and had settled down quite well and they all played together every single day.

“I officially declare that today is the first day of winter!” said Mrs.Figaddy at breakfast.

“That sure was a lovely breakfast.Was’nt it ?” Cassie said.

They all had an excellent breakfast consisting of toast and scrambled eggs.After that they put on their mittens,fluffy fur coats ,scarves and pom-pom hats.Then they all tumbled outside and started playing in the snow till Cassie shouted with excitement “ Snowball fight!” and they all started throwing snowballs at eachother until Mrs.Figaddy came out and said,” Well,well,well, you certainly look like you are having fun.”

“Oh yes, we are,Aunt Henerita!” cried Cassie.

“Well, do you remember that every winter when you come over ,we build a most enormous snow-house?”

All the kids chorused ,” Yes we do!”

“Then you may as well remember that we first put steel bars and wooden planks in a house shape and then cover it with snow.” Without waiting for an answer , she continued to say ,” Harry will go to get the planks and bars and when he is back,we can start building it.Cassie,Ben and Bell can stay home with me.Oh! I almost forgot ,I told everyone in the village and they all agreed to help.They too will bring bars and planks from their homes so that we can make a huge snow-house.They have also agreed to use the village field for the snow-house and we should call it a mansion!”
“Wow!!” cried Ben and Bell together.

Mr.Figgady went to fetch the planks and bars.Cassie ,Ben and Bell got busy playing around the house.

“Here comes Uncle Harry!” cried Cassie when she saw him drive down the driveway,staggering under the weight of about 60 steel bars, all big and heavy.

“Oh,do let us help you” they all cried and without waiting for an answer,rushed onto the driveway.When they got to him,Cassie ran to her Uncle and took 20 of the 60 steel bars ,as she was a medium-sized German shepherd ,while the others helped Mr.Figaddy with the steel bars.When they had finished stacking them outside the house,Mrs.Figaddy got all the cellphones from inside the house and she and others sent sms’sto all the village residents .The sms ‘s read : Come to the village field with steel bars and wooden planks at 13:00”.

The time then was 12:40.Everyone received the message and came to the field at 13:00 with the planks and did as they had promised.Cassie ,her cousins and Mr.Beaver ,who were all excellent builders,started to try and assemble the planks and bars in a mansion shape but couldn’t finish that day as they all got very tired by the end of the day and agreed to finish it the next day.So everyone went home.

The next day Mr.Beaver,Cassie ,Bell and Ben all woke up early and though they were still tired with the last day’s hard work,they all trouped sleepily to the field and started again and finished the house by 10:00 ! They had started at 07:00.When the others came from the village ,they were all surprised as it had only been half finished the last day and now it was all done and ready.When they saw Cassie,Ben ,Bell and Mr.Beaver sleeping,they at once understood and carefully without making any noise or waking them up,they moved the four of them back into their beds and left them alone till they woke up at 13:00.

“So,whats for breakfast?,” asked Mr.Beaver.

Mrs.Beaver replied,”It is 13:00 and you will get only tea.” Mrs. Figgady said the same to Cassie,Ben and Bell.

After tea,they all headed towards the field and found Mr.Hare ,who was a friend now,telling Miss Badger that they needed atleast 3 tons of snow to cover the bars and planks.When he saw the dogs walking towards them,he said,” Just the chaps I wanted to see! I Come,I have just the job for you!:

“Whhat?” chorused the Figaddy’s and Cassie together.

“Well,you are good diggers,aren’t you?,” he asked Mr.Hare,rubbing his paws together.

”Well….. “ said Cassie,thinking hard.

“Yes,yesI guess we are…” said Bell, looking very proud.

“Ther,you’ll be perfect for my plan then!,” said Mr.Hare.

“What plan?” asked Mrs.Figaddy curiously.

“Why,you absolutely LOVE digging,don’t you?”

“Why,yes,we do!”

“Then this is my plan .We need about 3 tons of snow for the mansion so… dig,dig,diggaty! I thought you dogs can dig up all the snow we need,” he said.

“Why yes,I suppose we could!,”said Mrs.Figaddy.

“All settled then” said Mr.Hare happily.

“Meet me at 13:00 exact! Okay?,”he said.

Then without waiting for an answer,he hopped off towards his house feeling very pleased.The Figaddys and Cassie didn’t have to wait long till Mr.Figaddy came strolling along.They told him about the plan.

The next day at 13:00 sharp,they all started digging at the spot where Mr.Hare had put the sign saying: ‘Dig here’.By 16:00 o’clock,they were all very tired and decided to go back home.On reaching home they all slumped into kitchen chairs and fell asleep.When they woke up it was 19:30 ,so they all fell asleep again only to wake up the next day.

Next morning all the residents of the village who were good carvers,like Mr. and Mrs. Swish,came to make the roof ,windows and other things out of the snow on the ground that Mr. and Mrs.Figaddy ,the twins and Cassie had dug out the day before.So they all started pilling the snow on the house and began carving.When they had finished,the animals who had been working on carving of the house,went and slept for a day and didn’t even wake up to have some food.
Meanwhile,everyone in the village had gone to look at the mansion and see it from inside.Everyone loved it.

“For two days,”Mr. Figaddy ,the Mayor,announced, “ all the villagers ,including any visitors from other villages,will be allowed to stay at the mansion,day and night.Feasts will also be provided at 09:00 ,12:00 and 20:30.”

Since the snow mansion was big and beautiful,all the villagers accepted the offer.So everyone moved into it the next day and loved the first two hours of their stay at the Snow-hotel,as they all called it and felt as if they wanted to stay their forever.

“It’s a very nice hotel,” everyone said.

At night they slept in sleeping bags on the hotel’s floor.The next morning when they woke up and had a spectacular breakfast consisting of roast beef,ham sandwiches,tea,coffee,porridge,toast and chicken sandwiches.After breakfast ,all the kids went outside to play while the adults and Mr.Hare calculated how much time they had till the hotel melted.They all didn’t want to scare the kids to get them into thinking that it would melt down any moment.So they went to the little backyard outside the hotel since the kids didn’t know about it ,so it was the perfect place to go.

Mr. Hare estimated that the snow would melt by about 12:00 the next day.
That night they all slept at 20:00.The next morning ,change was slowly creeping over Anima.The sun was shining brightly and the birds were chirping again.Cassie woke up with a start.She was feeling water around her.

“Water?”,she thought suddenly. She quickly looked around her and saw that the hotel was MELTING!

“Aunt Henerita! Uncle Harry ! Ben! Bell! Wake up!,” she cried,” the hotel is melting,wake up,” she screamed.

Everyone woke up at the sound of her voice and looked around .All the villagers started running outside to their houses.

Afterwards they all honoured Cassie for saving their lives.