Читать книгу Vets and pets: Jamie and the magic whistle - Helen Brain Nicky Webb Rico Schacherl - Страница 10

Fifi arrives

The next afternoon after school Jamie and Pandora were sitting in the lounge painting their nails and eating cupcakes. Pandora had made them – she was a whizz baker and they were double chocolate with a thick dollop of chocolate icing on the top.

A screeching, scraping noise in the driveway interrupted them. Jamie looked out of the window and saw Aunt Sylvia easing her Volkswagen Passat into the driveway. The exhaust pipe was dragging along the driveway.

“Oh no!” groaned Jamie. “It’s Felicity! Aargh!”

Pandora leaned over to peep out the window. “Pity that whole car doesn’t just blow up,” she said, pointing to the sparks coming from the back.

“PAN!” laughed Jamie, trying to sound horrified.

The car stopped and Aunt Sylvia opened the door to let Felicity out. She was cuddling her miniature Yorkie, Snoopy, and even from the window Jamie could see that her cousin’s nose was red and she had cotton wool in one ear hole.

Aunt Sylvia opened the boot and dragged out a bag of groceries and a box of medicines, and the R7 000 blender she had bought to make Fifi’s special smoothies.

“Yeugh,” moaned Jamie. “She’s bringing all her organic, sugar-free, wheat-free food with her. I can’t stand it – my mother makes me eat all that awful stuff when she stays.”

Pandora patted Jamie sympathetically. “Sorry for you. Should I take the cupcakes home?”

Jamie gave her a dirty look. “Ha, ha, very funny.”

By now Arabella was in the driveway hugging Aunt Sylvia and Felicity. “Jamie!” she called. “Your cousin is here.”

Jamie and Pandora looked at each other and stayed where they were. But that didn’t stop Felicity. Next moment she was standing next to the couch, breathing noisily through her mouth.

Jamie tried to squash the irritation she felt whenever she looked at her cousin. Everything about her drooped. Her mousy pigtails flopped over her sticking-out ears. Her eyelids, behind her thick spectacles, were half open. Her arms hung limply from her shoulders like they belonged to some other person altogether. Even her feet leaned in like two exhausted pigeons propping each other up.

“Hi, Jamie, hi, Pamela,” she squeaked.

“My name is Pandora,” snapped Pan.

“My mommy thayth your name ith Pamela,” lisped Fifi.

“She doesn’t like that name,” Jamie said. “We told you last time you were here, and the time before that, and the time before that too.”

Felicity turned red and looked like she was about to cry. Aunt Sylvia had a sixth sense – she could always tell when Fifi was about to cry. She came wafting in, all mauve flowing skirt and stringy neck.

“Now girls, don’t be mean, see?” she said in her blocked-nose voice. “Fifi is just a little girl, and you mustn’t be mean to her, see? She has allergies.”

“Would you like a cupcake, Felicity,” asked Pan, offering her the plate.

“You know she can’t eat that,” snapped Aunt Sylvia, grabbing Fifi and squeezing her in a hug. “She has allergies.”

She looked into the little girl’s face. “Now you be a good girl, precious. You try and have a nice time. Mommy won’t be gone long – just seven sleeps and Mommy will be back, see? If you don’t feel well, you tell Auntie Arabella. If anyone is mean to you, you tell her straight away, see?” With one more anxious glance towards the box of medicines she’d put on the hall table, Aunt Sylvia picked up her handbag and left.

“Look after Fifi nicely, girls,” Arabella said when the Passat had driven away. “I have to get back to the surgery. And get rid of the cupcakes. It’s not fair to eat them in front of Fifi. You know she’s got allergies.”

Jamie sighed. It was going to be a long week.