Pippa's Cornish Dream by Debbie Johnson

Author:Debbie Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007594566
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-05-06T16:34:26.757000+00:00

Chapter 10

When she woke up the next morning, Pippa immediately realised something was very wrong. She was alone.

Feeling a flood of panic, she glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside cabinet. 8am. At least two hours past her usual Scotty wake-up call, and still no sign of him.

She jumped out of bed, dragged on a dressing gown and ran along the hallway to his room. Flinging open the door, she saw his messy, slept-in bed, the gaggle of soft toys and action figures he cuddled up with every night scattered across the room. His pyjamas, in a huddle on the floor, next to his little slippers. But no Scotty.

Pippa trotted down the stairs, stubbing her toe painfully as she went, and followed the sound of voices to the living room.

She breathed a hefty sigh of relief as she saw Scotty sitting next to the twins on the sofa, laughing at the cartoons on the television. All three of them were dressed in their school uniform and had bowls of cereal resting on their laps. They slurped and chewed in unison, so distracted by Kung Fu Panda they barely noticed her.

Patrick was standing behind the couch, staring in confusion at the pile of bobbles and hair slides he held in his hand, hitting himself repeatedly on the head with the hairbrush like a mental patient.

“Sis, thank God!” he said, looking up as she entered the room. “Daisy and Lily say they want bunches – what the hell are bunches? And how do you use all this elastic stuff? I haven’t got a clue and they’ve threatened to call Childline unless I get it right…how do you do all this every day? I told them to eat their breakfast in the kitchen and they just ignored me and put the bloody telly on! All of them have lost a shoe and the twins say they need £1.50 each for a smoothie at lunchtime – I think they’re swindling me…we’ve only been up an hour and I’m knackered! Was I like this?”

Pippa smiled, feeling her body relax now she knew everyone was safe, well and apparently surviving without her.

“Believe me, Patrick, you were much worse! I seem to remember one morning Mum found you eating your Weetabix in the pigsty…”

She walked over, took the bobbles from his hand and started to drag the brush through Daisy’s hair. Without pausing from eating her breakfast, she immediately started to yell “ouch!” at the top of her voice as Pippa detangled her wild blonde tresses.

“Oh stop moaning,” she said, trying to be as gentle as she could. “Do you think Rapunzel complains every morning when she gets her hair brushed?”

“No,” murmured Scotty. “Rapunzel is perfect. Daisy’s just a big fat cry-baby.”

Pippa ignored the ensuing verbal battle and managed to get both the girls’ hair into passably neat ponytails. There were milk stains on Scotty’s shirt, but apart from that everyone was decent enough to pass muster at the school gate. And at least they’d eaten

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