“WOWZERS!” exclaimed the boy.

“Yes! Rather!” agreed the princess. “Wowzers it is!”

“You helped me realise, Eric,” began Sid, “that the love of my life was right next door! My Bessie!”

“My Sidney!” cooed Bessie as she pulled the old man’s face to hers and gave him a big, slobbery kiss.

“MWAH!”

“All right! All right! Save it for the wedding!” said Sid. “So, Eric, I want you to come and live with me and Bessie!”

“Really?” asked the boy, his eyes widening with delight.

“Yes, our Eric!” hollered Bessie. “We want to adopt you and all the animals, so we can all be one big, happy family.”

The boy’s eyes welled with tears. “I don’t know why I’m crying!” he said. “They are happy tears, I promise!”

Without a word, Sid and Bessie gave the boy a cuddle at the same time. Eric was in the middle, just as he had been with his mum and dad. It wasn’t so much a cuddle as a MUDDLE.

Even Gertrude joined in too!

“HOOO!”

“Well, it looks as if this story has a happy ending, after all,” said Princess Elizabeth. “More tea?”

“I think Gertrude would love another banana split, please!” replied Eric. “She is bananas about bananas!”

The gorilla nodded and rubbed her tummy eagerly.

“I will inform the cook!” said the princess.

In no time, the biggest banana split the world had ever seen was carried into the dining room by an army of footmen and put down in the middle of the table for all the animals to enjoy.

This would prove to be a BIG MISTAKE!

Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a large group of animals share a GIANT BANANA SPLIT all at once, but things can very quickly get out of hand. Soon the tea party descended into CHAOS!

It is impossible to say exactly who threw what, but in no time the palace dining room was host to the most humongous FOOD FIGHT!

Sid and Bessie were first to be hit by a huge dollop of ice cream.

“Oh my!” hooted Bessie.

Next a chocolate-covered banana landed right in the King’s face.

“I am so sorry, Your Majesty!” said Sid.

“D-d-don’t worry, my g-g-good man!” stammered the King. “I haven’t had so much f-f-fun in years!”

With that, he picked up a big bowl of trifle and emptied it over his wife’s head.

The two princesses burst into fits of laughter.

“HA! HA! HA!”

The Queen wasn’t having any of that, so she splatted a jam tart in each of their faces.

“Take that!” she cried, giggling at how absurd this all was. “TEE-HEE!”

Having faces full of jam just made the girls laugh even more.

“HA! HA! HA!”

The prime minister was beginning to feel left out.

“Come on!” implored Churchill. “Give me your best shot!”

He closed his eyes, and a yule log was promptly stuck in the old man’s face by the mischievous Margaret.

SPLURGE!”

“Delicious!” was the prime minister’s verdict as he licked the chocolate icing from around his mouth. Then, smirking with delight, he picked up the blancmange and hurled it across the table.

SPLAT!

It splattered all over Eric and Gertrude, who licked up every last bit with glee.

“SLURP! SLURP!”

In no time, everyone in the room was laughing. For a couple of hours that CHRISTMAS EVE OF 1940, the war and the world of suffering it had created was briefly forgotten in a great big celebration. A celebration of what it is to be alive.

Life.
Love.
Laughter.

Churchill stood up, filled his glass with brandy and proposed a toast. The prime minister had just cheated death, so it seemed only fitting that he proposed, “To life!”

“TO LIFE!”