Margaret and the Moth Tree by Brit Trogen & Kari Trogen

Author:Brit Trogen & Kari Trogen [Trogen, Brit]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Children's Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-55453-993-2
Publisher: Kids Can Press Ltd.
Published: 2012-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

A Run of Bad Luck

When Margaret ran to the moth tree that night, she could barely contain the awful feelings that had stayed with her all through the day. Bursting through the tunnel in the brush, she told Pip exactly what Switch had done to poor Sarah Pottley.

“That stinkbeetle! That swindleswine!” he cried, zipping around in a fury.

Margaret nodded grimly. Switch had spent the afternoon catching up on her reading, reclining on a silk chaise with a large stack of fashion magazines. To all appearances, she was completely unmoved by the cries of fear that drifted down from above, her only reaction to each of the unfortunate dreg’s wails being a casual flip of a glossy page.

As Margaret described the whole of that dreadful day, Pip grew very quiet, his wings twitching as though he were about to fly off for a game of Billabump.

“Dungwaddler!” he cried instead. “That’s what she is!”

He flitted around the tree, hurling more and more insults at the absent Switch, until Margaret grinned in spite of herself.

Calling the Matron names was something Margaret had never thought she would do, as Great-aunt Linda had taught her never to criticize her elders. But when dealing with an elder who is also a terrifying bully, a good bout of name calling can be a very useful exercise. This is because as soon as you can laugh at a thing you’ve been afraid of, you begin to whittle away at its fearsomeness.

The more insults Pip hurled at Switch, the less gloomy Margaret’s mood became. Her grin grew into a wide smile, and her smile burst into a giggle. And soon, in the very spot in her mind where her fear of Switch had been, Margaret found there was no fear at all. In its place was something she hadn’t felt in a very long time: a glimmering bit of hope.

Sometimes, improving things just a little makes a great deal of difference. It occurred to Margaret that if the other orphans could only laugh, perhaps they, too, could be a little less afraid. Perhaps the gloom of the Hopeton Orphanage could be broken, even if just for a moment. And as Margaret imagined grins and smiles on the faces of the other orphans, she knew just what would make them smile the most.

There was one person who deserved to be laughed at more than any other: the same person who had laughed at each of them so often. The same person who had tricked and taunted and tortured them, and kept every good thing for herself.

Margaret decided it was time for things to change. And she thought she knew exactly how to manage it.

“Magazines,” she said aloud.

“What’s that?” said Pip.

A great and clever plan had formed in Margaret’s head.

~~~

Each morning after breakfast, Miss Switch would go into her study and read a stack of fashion magazines. And every time she opened a shiny new magazine, she always flipped right to the back to check the horoscopes.

A horoscope, in case you didn’t know, is an extremely vague piece of advice given from one perfect stranger to another.

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