Nanny McPhee: The Five Lessons

1: We haven't eaten the baby, thank you very much.

Mr Brown POV:

I was working, until the Nanny runs up to shrieking. "THEY'VE EATEN THE BABY!" 

My eyes widen, and I run out of the building, to my home. I bound up the stairs to hear Sebastian, and the others whispering. "Quick! He's coming!"

"Hide!"

There was crashing noises and scowling. "Quiet!"

"Stop it!"

"Shh!" 

There was urgent whispers going through the room. "Emmalyn! Hide!" Lily's voice scowls. 

I hear a soft chuckle, and I know that is my eldest daughter, Emmalyn Angelica Brown. She was very beautiful, and was a motherly figure to her younger siblings. She didn't stop them from doing anything, or being pranksters. Emmalyn wasn't strict, but I know and See she disapproves of it. 

I walk in, to see them all (besides Aggie) Eating a meat of some kind. But Emmalyn sat on the window sill, her legs hanging out the window. Her snowy blonde hair was braided back, and her hands folded on her lap. She stared outside, completely calm. "Children, Where's Aggie?" I ask nervously.

They all freeze, and Emmalyn sighs. "You ate Aggie?" I gasp. Emmalyn looks at me. "Papa, Why on Earth would you assume we ate our younger sister?" She frowns. "She isn't here!" 

"We haven't eaten the baby, Thank you very much." Emmalyn stands up, and Chrissy reaches out for her hand. "Papa, look where most things are cooked." She sits next to Simon, pulling Chrissy up onto her lap. Theres a happy little gurgle, and bells tingle. I open the pot lid, to see Agatha Brown giggling and rattling her bells. I pick her up, and she has gravy and cabbage all over her. 

"Look at you..." I sigh. Aggie gurgles. "You're all cabbagey." I hold her up to my cheek, only to get gravy on my face. "Oh.... and you're all gravy-y..."  I give Aggie to Lily. "As was Your intention... Nanny Whetstone has resigned from her post. I shall go to the Agency this afternoon to hire a new nanny. You will not drive her away. As you have done with all her predecessors."  Aggie gurgles happily. 

*EMMALYN POV*

Papa storms out, and I sigh. "Papa." Aggie says. 

I place Chrissy on the pillows, and I stand up. "Emmalyn? Will you sing for us tonight?" Sebastian. "Of course I will, Sebastian." I look at Simon. "Now, as for you.." I start. "Emma..." Simon groans. "That was very mean, don't you agree?" I raise and eyebrow, crossing my arms.. "No. I hate Nannies." Simon grumbles. "I'm like a Nanny, you don't hate me." I sit down. "That's because you are my sister. And you don't tell on me when I plan pranks." Simon moves over to a closet. "Aw. You love me!" I chuckle, pulling Chrissy onto my lap, where she curls up. "Erghh! No way!" Simon cringes. "You do." I sing, "Chrissy does. isn't that right, Chrissy?" I poke her. "Yep!" 

Simon ignores this, and checks his 'Nanny Chart'. "Three days, Eight hours and forty-seven minutes... so that got rid of her..." Simon looks over his chart. "Twenty three hours and twenty minutes quicker then the last one!" He finishes, sticking the nanny doll thing on the chart. I hear someone falling down the stairs, and I figured it was Papa. 

"I think the turning point was definitely eating the baby. Well done, Eric." Simon smiles at his younger brother. 

I just sigh, putting Chrissy down again and going back to my window. I swing my legs out of the window, staring out at the fields. My siblings go back to being annoying, and they yell and scream, while I watch Papa go into town. Sebastian slams the piano with a spoon, while eating jam. It was a horrendous cacophony, the voices and screams mixed with the out of tune piano slamming. I just hum. I miss Mama, she was beautiful and kind. It isn't the same without her. I was with her longer than the others, but they still knew her. I duck as a ball of jam flies out the window. Papa runs back to the house. Birds flies over to me, flying around. I climb out the window, to the Mama's tree. I look at it, running over. I sit on the swing, swaying softly as the wind blows. Again, birds fly around me, as the sun shines through the leaves. The sky starts to darken, signalling I should probably go back inside. My fringe blows into my face, as I slowly and carefully step over flowers. "Emmalyn!" Papa's voice shouts." I'm Coming!" I run along the gravel ground, inside the house. Papa goes straight upstairs, as I do the same. I hear the yelling continue. "Eric give it back to her! Give it back now! Stop It!" Tora's voice yells. I open the door silently, to see Eric beheading Chrissy's favourite teddy. "Eric! Eric, that's my teddy!" 

"Eric stop doing this!" 

"Give it back!"

"Stop fighting!"

I watch the fighting continue until I slam the door. "Oi! You lot! Quiet!"  I yell, Sebastian hits notes on the piano again. 

"You're driving Papa to distraction, stop it." I sigh, sitting down next to Tora. 

I look at Lily, I was gonna test her. "Lily, what's this word?" I ask, pointing to a sentence in my book. "Lovingly, He took her Lovingly by the hand." Lily says. "What's your book about Emmalyn?"  Tora asks. 

"Its actually Evangeline's book. She let me borrow it, It's lovely." I say, but Lily continues. "Its about the daughter of a nice man, who remarries after his wife dies, and the stepmothers' horrible to her!" 

I smile. "Why doesn't the man stop her being horrid?" 

Simon turns around. "Fathers all turn bad once their wife dives. They don't care anymore." He mutters.

I look at him shocked. "Simon, Papa does care about you. He cares about all of us."  I wrap my arm around his shoulder. He pushes away from me, looking at a board. "No he doesn't. Does he read to Chrissy? Or play cricket with us like he used to? He hardly sings Loola-bye to Aggie anymore, we Hardly see him!" He looks at me for a second before going back to playing with something on the bench. 

I stand up. "He loves you Simon, you know that. He's just had a lot on his mind since..." My voice cracks at the thought of Mama. "Since Mother died."  Simon finishes, finally looking at me. The atmosphere turns tense. 

I sigh. 'You used to be as close as anything." 

"Not anymore. All he cares about is getting himself a new wife."

I nod. "I don't know if that's true or not, but perhaps it would be nice to have a new mother.." I shrug. 

"Do you know anything about the world Emmalyn? Whoever he marries will be vile and treat us like slaves!" Lily exclaims.

"You don't know that, Lily." I frowns. "Plenty of hard evidence for it. There isn't once step-mother in there who is even halfway decent. They're an evil breed. Anyway, who even likes other people's children?" Eric gives me a huge book of fairy-tales. "Evangeline likes you guys." I suggest. "Yes, but she's a servant, she's paid to like us. That doesn't count." Eric puts another doll under his guillotine thing. I grab my book ."I best go help Evangeline." I start walking out. "I really am hungry, Emmalyn. Could you maybe get me some secret toast and jam?" Sebastian asks. I just keep walking, as he follows after me. "Alright, forget the jam! just some secret toast?"  I just go upstairs to our room. I close the curtains as I change into my night gown. I plait my hair, so it falls down my back. My bed was a queen size, at the very end of the room, in front of the windows. I lay down, closing my eyes. 

I remember the memories I had with Mama. I let tears fall silently, as I sleep.

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