Читать книгу The Tutti-frutti Collection - Jean Ure, Stephen Lee, Jean Ure - Страница 13

That creep shoved another note under my door. Something about a tortoise. I don’t want a rotten tortoise! I want a dog. Mum promised me.

This morning we went into the shops and I got a couple of bras, one white and one pink. I suppose they’re all right, but it’s all gone a bit sour now that I know she and Slime have been sniggering about it. I keep picturing them lying in bed together having this good laugh.

I chucked his note into the waste-paper basket along with all the others. If he doesn’t stop doing it, it’ll soon be full to overflowing. Mum said today that we are going to have a new regime. She said, “I looked into your bedroom yesterday and it’s like a pigsty,” to which I instantly retorted that as a matter of fact pigs left to themselves are extremely clean and intelligent animals. It’s only horrible farmers that make them dirty by not allowing them to lead natural lives. To which Mum said, thinking herself very clever, “Well in future I am going to leave you to yourself and we shall see how clean and intelligent you are. From here on in – ” (that is a phrase she has picked up from Carol my godmother, who has picked it up in Austin, Texas) “ – from here on in I wash my hands of your bedroom. You can take sole responsibility for it. Right?”

I just humped a shoulder, feeling generally disgruntled on account of Mum breaking her promise about the dog. Mum said again, “Right?” and I muttered “Right,” and Slimey Roland did his best to catch my eye across the table and wink, but I refused to take any notice.

Later on, Avril Roper rang to find out if we were going to have one of the puppies. I didn’t want to say no, so I said we hadn’t yet decided, and she said me and Skinny could go round and see them sometime if I liked. She said, “They’re so sweet. You won’t be able to resist them. You can hold them in the palm of your hand!”

So then I rushed back to Mum and said, “Mum, they’re so tiny you can hold them in the palm of your hand! Oh, Mum, can’t we have one? Please?” thinking that if I really begged hard enough she wouldn’t be able to say no, but she was obviously feeling in a mean mood because all she did was snap at me. She said, “I already told you, the answer is no! Roly’s health happens to be of more importance to me than a dog. I’m sorry, but there it is.”

I gave her this really venomous look as I slunk out of the room.