Читать книгу The Nit Picker - Jonny Moon - Страница 7

The Nit Nurse was a new thing for the school. Nits, however, were not. Ever since Jack had started school he’d regularly had to take a note home to his mum saying that ‘someone’ in his class had head lice and that she should take care to check Jack’s hair and wash it with special anti-nit shampoo. Once Jack had even had nits himself! He would never forget the nightly nit hunt, with his mum scraping special liquid through his hair with a thin-toothed metal comb.

Jack’s mum had told him that when she was young there had been a visitor in school who would check every child in every class for head lice. That was the proper name for nits – head lice. Jack thought it sounded really gross. Head lice were little insects that lived in children’s hair and laid their eggs there too. People said that in some cases you could actually see the little creatures running around on kids’ heads! There were all sorts of rumours about the nits – that they only liked dirty hair, or greasy hair, or hair that was only washed once a week. But Jack’s mum was a nurse so he knew it was all nonsense. The nits weren’t fussy – as long as there was hair of a reasonable length they didn’t care how clean or dirty it was.

In Jack’s school the teachers tried to be really fair about the whole business and not point the finger at individuals. That was why they sent out a letter to the whole class so no one felt victimised. However, when Jack had returned to school after the summer holidays the Head had made an announcement at assembly that changed all that. He had told everyone that due to a new government initiative there was going to be school nurse in every primary school. Jack’s school had been selected for a “pilot scheme” to see what benefits this new idea might have. The upshot was that a woman called Nurse Marsh would be joining the staff and she would see every child each week to check on any matters of health and fitness, including head lice. The Head had then introduced Nurse Marsh. She was an odd-looking woman with a heavily lined face that didn’t move when she smiled. She told the children in assembly that she was really looking forward to making sure they were all as healthy as could be, and then her stomach rumbled loudly.

“All the kids who’ve been acting strangely have been to see the Nit Nurse,” said Ruby as they walked down the street towards school.

Jack realised she was right. In Oscar’s case for sure: he had been to see Nurse Marsh every day last week and had refused to talk about it with Jack at all. What did she do to him? he wondered. Why would a Nit Nurse want to …

Suddenly Jack stopped dead in his tracks.

“Of course!” he said, slapping his forehead in annoyance.

“What?” said Ruby.

Jack was nodding to himself now. “I knew there was something strange about her face.”

“Well, she is old and ugly,” agreed Ruby.

“No, no, no …” replied Jack.

“Come off it,” insisted Ruby. “She’s got a face like a block of granite. She’s not only been touched by the Ugly Stick, she’s been beaten around the head by it until she’s dizzy. She’s a total minger.”

“Yes, yes, yes, I’m not arguing with that,” explained Jack. “But that’s not the point I was trying to make. It’s the skin on her face I was talking about. It doesn’t move right. It’s not natural. It’s like … like she’s had plastic surgery or something.”

“Why would you have a face-lift and ask to look like that?” wondered Ruby.

“Because it’s not a face-lift,” said Jack with certainty. “It’s a mask. She must be another GUNK Alien in disguise.”

Ruby stared at him. “You’re not serious.”

“I am.”

“The Nit Nurse is an alien?”

“I’m afraid so,” said Jack.

“So what do you think she’s doing to the kids?” Ruby asked.

“I don’t know,” Jack confessed. “But I’m going to find out. Somehow kids who get their nits treated are losing their get-up-and-go.”

“So we’re looking for an alien that makes people lose interest in things,” mused Ruby. “Maybe Snivel can come up with an answer.”

Snivel couldn’t come to school – his unusual appearance would lead to too many questions. So Jack had to wait until all his lessons were over to investigate further. As usual, Snivel arranged to meet Jack at the local park. Oscar had shown no interest in the whole situation and had decided to go home straight after school, and Ruby’s mother had insisted on picking her up in the car to go and buy some new ballet shoes, so Jack was all alone. It felt weird to be on the verge of another adventure and not have his two companions by his side. At least Snivel was still there.

Except he wasn’t!

When Jack reached the bench which was their usual meeting point, Snivel was nowhere to be seen. Jack sat down heavily and sighed.

A moment or two later Snivel came tearing out of some bushes and bounded up to Jack.

“Sorry,” he said quickly, seeing Jack’s expression. “I thought I saw that robot squirrel of Bob’s …”

Jack sat up. Both Bobs – the original GUNGE contact now known as Bad Bob, and New Bob – had used a robot squirrel as a surveillance device.

“And did you?” he asked.

Snivel shook his head. “Sorry,” he reported. “It was just a squirrel. So I chased it for appearance’s sake.”

Jack started to tell Snivel about the Nit Nurse and his suspicions about her alien nature. Snivel nodded. “I’ll look it up.” Before Bad Bob had made his base disappear, Snivel had managed to download the complete GUNGE alien intelligence database. He accessed the database now and within a few moments he had an answer for Jack.

“There’s one alien who totally fits the bill,” he announced. “It’s called the Sonomarshillian.”

Jack jumped up. “That sounds likely. Sonomarshillian – Nurse Marsh. So what can you tell me about it?”

Snivel started to rattle off the full data entry. “Sonomarshillian, inhabitant of a number of worlds in the Gamma Quadrant. Alien life-form that eats anything, but is particularly fond of small insects, such as fleas and head lice. The saliva of the Sonomarshillian contains an enzyme which has a marked soporific effect on most mammals. Creatures that are licked by the Sonomarshillian will become lethargic and lifeless. Repeated exposure to the enzyme in Sonomarshillian saliva can be fatal.”

Jack paced up and down in front of Snivel. “That’s got to be it. That completely fits what’s happening here. She must be licking up the nits from kids’ heads and leaving them … dozy.”