Well...
*@PhilODox*
"That's it," said Mary-Lou looking round at the group of despondent friends. "I don't know about you lot, but I came here to ski and that's what I'm going to do!"
"Thus speaks our one and only," said Vi Lucy lazily. "You know what matey would say if she heard you'd broken quarantine."
Mary Lou thumped down on the bed. "Okay," she admitted. "I'm not really going out, but I'm worried about those middles. Can you imagine what they're going to be like after two weeks of being cooped up?"
"Not our problem," responded Vi. "They're on the floor above us, and we're not allowed out of the room."
A thump on the ceiling made them both look upwards.
"I can't imagine what they're doing," murmured Verity Anne in her soft silvery voice.
"Len Maynard's up there with them," Vi said. "She'll keep them occupied."
Unfortunately Vi was wrong. Len had opened the window and coughed twice. This had been enough for the authorities, fearing an outbreak of covid-19, to isolate her completely. She was currently coughing into her hanky and trying to explain to Miss Dean that she was absolutely fine and felt in tiptop shape.
It had been Margot's evil genius to suggest that they could make a ski run out of the beds, but it had taken Frankie and Emerence to put it into action. They had eventually managed to move the bunkbeds to one end and used the mattresses to make a short "ski" run.
"Who's first?" announced Frankie, her eyes gleaming with mischief.
Con Maynard, the quietest of the triplets looked up. "Looks like a death trap to me," she said. "Just keep the noise down, we don't want a mistress in with us."
Emerence climbed up the ladder at the far end of the room, and rolled down the mattresses, colliding with Margot, who was bouncing on the far end, and ending in a heap of giggles.
"We haven't got our skis," she declared disgustedly. "What can we use?"
Someone had the bright idea of strapping books to their feet. These had the advantage that they didn't go too fast, and for a short time all, except Con, were occupied in the effort of climbing up and sliding down.
"Phew, I'm hot," said Frankie, standing up at the far end and opening the huge double doors that led onto the balcony.
"Careful," Margot warned. "Remember Len."
"We're not coughing," Frankie said climbing up again.
"It isn't really fast enough," Emerence said discontentedly.
She looked around for something better and had the bright idea of using a suitcase for a sledge.
"Push me off, Margot!"
Margot gave her a gentle push, which landed her halfway down before she had to bounce the rest of the way, but the others were impressed by her idea, and there was a general rush for their own suitcases.
"Give me a really hard shove," Margot called.
Margot shot down the slope, to the admiration of the other, out of the double doors, and, with a clatter of the balcony breaking, flew through the air, landing on the thick snow below.
Underneath the seniors had just settled down to a game of impertinent questions. They felt it was a little beneath their dignity to play this still, but someone had suggested it, and there were no younger ones present to see.
"What on earth was that?" asked Vi, whose turn it was to ask the question.
"That's no question," began Mary Lou, but when she saw Vi hurrying to the window, she followed.
They clustered to the window, where they could see Margot's still form, grey and to all appearances, dead.
"Vi," Mary Lou was pulling on her coat and scarf, "Go and fetch Miss O'Ryan."
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to get down the fire escape and see if I can help her."
Mary Lou had spotted the fire escape stairs not far from their window. In a trice she was sitting on the windowsill, and jumped neatly onto the steps. She ran down the stairs.
"Don't worry," called a figure running over. "I'm a doctor."
Shortly afterwards Margot was sitting up in bed, bandaged and with a broken wrist. Although, as her little playmates told her, deserved to be a lot worse.
Dr Mason, as he told them he was called, was already phoning the san. He came off the phone and grinned at them.
"Jem says you're none of you to be trusted and he's sending vehicles immediately. He's arranged for the authorities to take you straight back to the Chalet. Oh," he paused and looked directly at Mary Lou. "He says to introduce me to Miss Ferrars. He said she needs a doctor to look after her..."