It was possibly the worst day of my life. Forgot my lunch box, so Mum brought it into school. I wish she was more like other mums. It’s so humiliating when she bangs the classroom door open, marches in and dumps it on my desk, right there in the middle of a lesson. Other mums don’t do that.
No one laughed, which made it worse. Mrs Jenkins, my teacher, just looked cross, but she didn’t say anything.
After that, I just couldn’t concentrate. Copied the wrong thing off the board, started the maths on the wrong page, turned over two pages at once in my exercise book and didn’t notice… And in games, Sir said he was dropping me from the footie team because I wasn’t concentrating.
At lunchtime, everyone DID laugh. Mum had given me my little sister’s lunchbox. Barbie yogurt and fairy cake. I couldn’t even go and swap it – she’s in the infant’s and has lunch earlier than me.
Even my best friend, Rob, was doubled up laughing. I stuck my tongue out at him and Mrs Jenkins thought I did it to her.
So I lost the rest of my lunchbreak.
And THEN I got stuck in the toilet. The lock jammed. I had to wait for the caretaker to come along and unscrew it. I was late for register.
It was while Mrs Jenkins was ranting at me for being late that I noticed. Ludo was sitting there, right next to her handbag, scrubbing his nose with his paws. Then he suddenly dashed across Mrs Jenkins’ shoes, heading for the door.
Ignoring Mrs Jenkins’ screams, I threw myself on the floor, grabbing the hamster in my hand. I’d caught the cleverest escapee our class had ever known. I was a hero.
The Puppy
“WHY can’t we keep him?” cried Jodie, cuddling the whimpering pup in her arms. It squirmed, its little body twisting and turning as it tried to escape.
“We can’t have a dog. You know Grandad doesn’t like them,” sighed her mother. “You should have asked me first. You’ll just have to take him back to the shop.”
“But they GAVE him to me,” she cried. “Please, please, please can we keep him? I’ll look after him, I promise.”
“I’ve just told you,” repeated Jodie’s mother. “Now, that’s the end of it. He can stay tonight as it’s too late now, but you’ll have to take him back in the morning.”
Jodie’s eyes filled. It wasn’t fair. Why did Grandad have to spoil it? Why did he even have to live with them, anyway? He had his own house. She just didn’t get it.
Jodie was still furious as she went up to bed, leaving the puppy in a box in the kitchen. All her pleading to have him in her bedroom had been useless. Her mother had been adamant.
“He’ll be fine in the kitchen. He might make a mess upstairs and anyway, he’s not staying.”
Anger gave way to tears again. It had been a long time since she’d cried herself to sleep.
Jodie woke with a start. The dog was barking, scratching furiously at the kitchen door. She ran onto the landing to see her mother bending over her grandfather, who was sitting on the floor at the foot of the stairs.
Jodie’s mother looked up. “Grandad’s had a fall, Jodie, but he’ll be all right now. I only woke up when your puppy started creating that noise. Grandad’s decided he does like dogs after all. What are you going to call him?”
Jodie smiled. “Mr Barker.”
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