A Thousand Perfect Notes by C. G. Drews

A Thousand Perfect Notes by C. G. Drews

Author:C. G. Drews [Drews, C. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408349915
Publisher: ORCHARD BOOKS
Published: 2018-04-26T16:00:00+00:00


The air smiles with winter teeth – an official welcome to time-for-your-hands-to-freeze-on-the-piano season. Joy.

Beck stuffs his fingers beneath his armpits as he and August trudge to school. She’s jacketless and shoeless as usual, and mildly blue. She rubs her arms and bounces on the spot while Beck disappears into the noisy chaos of paint and dress-ups to bodily remove his little sister as she shouts at the teacher and stomps her small feet in fury. The teacher’s face is plum, and she’s ready to throw Joey at him. There’s also a letter.

Joey’s been suspended.

The preschooler has been suspended.

Even Beck hasn’t fallen that low yet, though he’s never turned in complete homework in his life. No one expects much from him. But tossing the cherubic, big-eyed five-year-old out? He’s furious.

‘She’s a meanie,’ Joey howls, as Beck drags her out by the hood of her red coat. ‘She didn’t listen. I’m not a liar. I’m not! I’m a good girl.’

Beck stuffs the letter into his backpack, half wishing he could rip it and toss the pieces in that pedantic teacher’s face.

‘What did you even do?’ August seems curious instead of shocked.

‘Who cares? No one should suspend a preschooler,’ Beck says, harsher than he intended.

August commences a round of jumping jacks while Beck buttons Joey’s coat.

‘I got expelled from a preschool once,’ she says. ‘This kid found a bird half drowned in the water tank, so he used a plastic shovel to “put it out of its misery”. Seriously, the bird was not dead. He murdered it and had its blood on his shoes.’

Joey’s eyes went wide. ‘What did you do?’

August pauses and Beck isn’t sure if her cheeks are flushed with cold or embarrassment.

When she doesn’t answer, he nudges her. ‘What did you do?’

‘I might’ve bashed him with the same shovel,’ August confesses. ‘He might’ve had to get nine stitches. Look, I’m not proud of it. I retaliate peacefully now—’

‘Like with the frog,’ Beck reminds her, ‘and that guy you kicked.’

August shrugs. ‘I possibly have a mild violent streak. At least the last dude didn’t have to get stitches. While I, on the other hand, lost a toenail and nearly bled dramatically to death.’

Beck is actually impressed. August’s never going to be bulldozed in her righteous fights. She’ll be the one chained to a tree for three months to stop it being chopped down, or in prison for maiming hunters.

They start off down the footpath, Beck in awed silence, August embarrassed and Joey with her head hung low in dejection.

‘All I did was call Bailey a Scheisskerl,’ Joey mumbles, ‘and then I bit her nose.’

‘You bit her?’ Beck’s jaw drops. ‘You’re not a baby, Joey. What is this?’

‘She said my mummy doesn’t love me because she never brings me to school!’ Joey says. ‘Then she broke my crayons. All of them. Even the glitter crimson. And I’m never, ever, ever going to get new crayons because – because …’ She stops, hiccupping through her tears.

Because the Maestro won’t care enough to buy more.



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