Chop-Chop, Mad Cap! by Juliette Saumande

Author:Juliette Saumande
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little Island
Published: 2012-12-12T05:00:00+00:00

Now that her mother had swapped all the biscuits and crisps for carrot sticks and broccoli heads, there was nothing much around the kitchen that Mad Cap wanted to have in her survival kit.

Still, she was here now so she might as well pick up a few things. She stashed some organic wholegrain bread in a cotton bag (trying not to think of the sharp bits of cereal that always got stuck in her teeth), a measly looking apple which would probably be too floury and a bottle of plain, boring water.

Then she ran up to her room to grab her big woolly cardi and earmuffs, but as she was crossing the landing she heard Colm stomping out of the bathroom. She could tell he was going to give her grief over the missing diary and she really didn’t have time for that.

She jumped into the laundry basket outside his bedroom door, brought the lid down on her head and stopped breathing. Not because she thought she’d be heard, but because of the stench. It was like forty badgers had invited all their friends and relatives to a cheese fondue.

Madgie was quickly running out of air in there, but she would stick it out. Colm wasn’t going to take all day crossing that landing and disappearing into his room, was he?

Just then, she felt him bump into the basket and heard him fumbling with his doorknob. Another second or two and the coast would be clear.

‘Hang on, young man!’ came a cry from further along the landing. ‘Stop those space shuttle engines of yours and come back down to Earth with me for a sec, would you?’

Great. Now Madgie’s mother was there too and she’d called Colm ‘young man’ – this could take a while. With a sinking feeling, Mad Cap opened her mouth, emptied her lungs and filled them up again. Oh, man! This was really vile! She could almost taste the smell.

She groped for the bottle of water in her bag and tried to drown the disgusting stink, splashing Colm’s dirty socks and underwear in the process.

‘What’s the story with your sister?’ Mrs Cappock continued. ‘Why are you still being so mean to her?’

Mad Cap hastily put her bottle away and pricked up her ears. This could be good!

‘Aw, Mum!’ wailed Colm.

‘Things are going to be hard enough, so in the meantime she can really do without your nonsense!’

What will be hard enough? thought Madgie. For who? And why does EVERYONE ELSE know about this?

‘But Mum! She nicked my diary!’ Colm exploded, machine-gunning each word as if he was fighting a bunch of space invaders. ‘And I don’t see why we shouldn’t tell her about the other thing. She’s a tough cookie, she can take it.’

‘Right,’ Mrs Cappock said. ‘First of all, you don’t know she stole it. With all those guards in the family, you of all people should know you can’t accuse someone without proof. And I can’t see your evidence. Oh, chickpea,’ she added more gently, ‘I’m sorry.

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