Lucy the Lie Detector by Marianne Musgrove

Author:Marianne Musgrove
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction/General
ISBN: 9781742740126
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2009-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

‘Well?’ said Mrs Preston. ‘What was close?’

‘I, um, you see ...’ spluttered Jacinta.

‘I almost knocked over a vase,’ said Lucy, standing in front of the pram to block Mrs Preston’s view. ‘That’s all.’

Mrs Preston frowned. ‘Try to be more careful, girls. The house is not a playground.’

‘Yes, Mum,’ said Jacinta, dropping her eyes.

Lucy’s gaze fell on the tray of morning tea things in Mrs Preston’s hands.

‘We’re having a bite to eat if you two would like to join us.’

‘No thanks, Mum,’ said Jacinta. ‘We don’t feel like any, do we, Lucy?’

Lucy shook her head no, even though her tummy said yes.

‘Don’t be silly, Jacinta. That’s no way to treat a guest. Come on, girls, you first.’

Lucy and Jacinta exchanged helpless looks. They could leave the pram in the kitchen, of course, but what if Miss P. escaped? There was no choice but to take her with them.

When they came into the lounge room, Dad made room for Lucy on the couch. Jacinta sat on an ottoman. Between them was the pram, facing the window. Their only hope was that Miss P. kept quiet and stayed still.

‘Cake, anyone?’ offered Mrs Preston.

Dad sat up eagerly. ‘Yes, please.’

Lucy gasped. ‘You promised Mum you wouldn’t eat any cake! You know, because of your spare tyre.’

A couple of the grown-ups laughed. Dad blushed. Lucy didn’t see what was so funny. She’d never been able to figure out what a tyre had to do with Dad’s diet.

‘Just don’t tell your mother, eh?’

Lucy’s jaw dropped. Again, she remembered the lecture he’d given her about lying. Now, here he was, asking her to fib for him! She gave Dad a stern look, but all he did was wink at her.

Lucy’s lie-detecting skills swung into action. It seemed to her that grown-ups thought they could make up a whole lot of rules that kids had to stick to but grown-ups were free to ignore. Did a person’s age really make a difference? Could she tell as many lies as she wanted when she was older? That didn’t seem right. Adults got arrested for lying all the time.

Further opportunities for lie detecting flew out the window when Miss P. chose that very moment to poke her nose out from under the blanket. Any second now she would climb out of the pram and jump onto the floor. Lucy stared meaningfully at Jacinta. Eventually, Jacinta noticed. She looked down at Miss P. then back at Lucy. Do something, her eyes seemed to say.

With no idea of what that something might be, Lucy got to her feet. She cleared her throat. She raised her hand for silence. ‘I have to tell you something,’ she announced. ‘And it’s really, really important.’

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