"A Tantrum"
- It's the middle of the night, and Mary hears horrible noises, like someone crying and screaming at the same time.
- It's Colin, and if his hissy fits have been bad before now, he's in the middle of a real doozy this time.
- Colin's tantrum is so bad that his nurse comes running to find Mary.
- The nurse is worried that he'll hurt himself if he won't stop.
- Mary is annoyed at all of this terrible fuss, especially since she doesn't exactly know what to do.
- She's angry at Colin for being so out of control, so she marches right over and gives him a piece of her mind.
- She warns Colin that if he keeps screaming, she'll scream louder.
- She demands that he turn over and show his back, and she'll prove that he's fine—just a crybaby.
- And indeed, Colin's back is perfectly straight, if a bit thin and nobbly.
- Colin is comforted by Mary's no-nonsense manner.
- This terrible, secret fear he's had all of this time—that his back isn't growing straight, just like his father's—turns out to be totally untrue.
- (Our heart goes out to the poor kid on this one—how awful that no one actually bothered to tell him he's okay.)
- The nurse confirms that his back is fine, and that he will live to grow up if he gets some fresh air and controls his temper.
- Colin is so weak from relief that he is ready to go right to sleep.
- Mary offers to stay and sing to him the nursery song she sang before, so the nurse goes off to bed, and Mary sits with Colin telling him all of the things she thinks they would find if they opened the door to the Secret Garden.
- (That Mary is a tough nut to crack—even now, after poor Colin's meltdown, she still doesn't tell him that she's been inside the Secret Garden.)