Читать книгу Ollie and the Magic Workshop - Alison Knowles - Страница 13

Ollie looked puzzled. “But if she was nice she would get a forever home, and then she wouldn’t have to move again!”

“Yes lad, you’re right, but I think young Mollie has been moved around a lot, and every time she moves somewhere she grows to love the people looking after her, and then she is moved on, and that must hurt an awful lot. So by being grumpy she thinks it will stop people loving her, and if people don’t love her, she won’t love them. Also I guess being grumpy helps to keep people away from her and not call her names or say horrible things.”

“How does that help?” asked Ollie.

“Well, children can be very cruel sometimes and say cruel things. I would guess some children have said things about Mollie not having a mummy and daddy that hurt her, so by being grumpy maybe she hopes it makes her scary and will stop others daring to be horrible to her.”

“Humph,” said Ollie with a very confused Confused on his shoulder. “Girls are weird!”

Mr Wilcox laughed, “It’s not just little girls, Ollie. Little boys can be confusing sometimes, too. Now come on lad, I think it’s a perfect time for you to earn your next stripe. This is one of my favourites! It’s called resilience!”

“Resilly what?” asked Ollie.

“Resilience, emotional resilience.”

“What’s that?” asked Ollie.

“Well lad, it’s like a very special suit of armour like a knight might wear. It protects you from invisible arrows that try to hurt your superpowers!”

“Invisible arrows, hurt my superpowers. How, what,” muttered Ollie as he hurried along behind Mr Wilcox towards the kitchen. When they reached the kitchen Mr Wilcox said, “Right lad, off we go. Close your eyes and think of your library.”

Instantly, Ollie and Mr Wilcox were back in Ollie’s library. All the little superpowers were busy putting all the things Ollie was learning into boxes. The librarian was having a cup of tea. All the little chaps waved at Ollie. The librarian looked up and put his tea down.