Читать книгу The Marble Crusher - Michael Morpurgo - Страница 8

CHAPTER TWO

THAT EVENING ALBERT TOLD HIS MOTHER all about Sid Creedy’s father, but his mother wasn’t listening, she was too busy washing up.

Encouraged by his success, Sid Creedy’s stories became more and more fantastic. ‘You know Mr Cooper, Bert?’

‘You mean the PE master?’

‘Yes, that’s him.’ Sid spoke in a confidential whisper, his arm around Albert’s shoulder. ‘Well, Bert, no one else knows this, but Mr Cooper isn’t really a teacher at all – he’s an escaped monk.’

‘How do you know that, Sid?’ said Albert.

‘You look at his head,’ said Sid. ‘It’s all bald in the middle isn’t it? You know, like Friar Tuck. Anyway I found his brown cloak in the boot of his car. He always wears sandals, and he never swears. And haven’t you noticed he sings louder than anyone else in Assembly?’

‘But why did he escape?’ said Albert.

Sid shrugged his shoulders. ‘Didn’t like the food,’ he said.

‘And he knows you know?’

‘Course he does, but I told him I’d keep it quiet. You’re the only one I’ve ever told, Bert.’

Albert went home and told his mother, but his mother was busy making his tea.

‘Mum,’ he said, ‘that Mr Cooper at school, he’s an escaped monk.’

‘Yes dear,’ she said. ‘Now get those wet shoes off before you catch your death.’