Skippy Dies (2010) by Murray Paul

Author:Murray, Paul [Paul, Murray,]
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141943893
Publisher: Penguin Publishing
Published: 2010-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

‘Was your grandfather really in the war, Skip?’

‘He was my great-grandfather. My mum’s grandfather. He got his right hand shot off.’

‘Wow –’ Dennis performs some internal calculation ‘– does that mean you have an ancestor who wasn’t a bender?’

‘You know what I am thinking is –’ Mario speaks up here ‘– if you needed to raise an army of zombies, this Western Front would be a good place to go.’

‘Mario, what the hell do you want an army of zombies for?’

‘I don’t want an army of zombies, I’m just saying that if you did, a good place to go would be the Western Front, because of all the dead people lying around there from the war?’

‘No, it wouldn’t, you stupid wop, they’d all be missing arms and legs and stuff.’

‘Up yours, Hoey, you are the wop, because FYI if you die and then you are reanimated you can attach your limbs back on.’

‘That’s bollocks.’

‘It’s not bollocks, everyone knows that.’

‘It’s total bollocks.’

‘Well, they could throw the arms and stuff at you,’ Mario continues gamely.

‘With what, Mario? They could throw their arms at you with what? With their mouths? With Il Duce?’

But now Skippy’s phone bleeps and the conversation gives way to a charivari of coos and kissy-noises as Skippy, transformed into one giant goofy grin, reaches for his pocket.

In the end it was all so simple! What happened was, Lori’s dad saw her kissing Skippy outside the gates the night of the Hop and he freaked – he thinks she’s still too young to be with boys, and he grounded her for two whole weeks, and even confiscated her phone. That’s why she hadn’t replied to Skippy’s poem, and she was sorry because it was so beautiful! And she had missed him so much.

At first Skippy couldn’t believe it. When he’d got that first message, sitting in the basement, it was like a wrecking ball had just crashed through the wall and he suddenly found himself looking out into the airy night. But he replied, and she replied to his reply, and to the reply to her reply; and though he was sure every message he sent would be the one that brought the whole magical card-house tumbling back down again, his phone kept buzzing with her responses, each one a little golden hit that travelled straight to his heart, right through and into today, until it’s like they’ve never been apart!

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