The Emily Eyefinger Collection by Duncan Ball

Author:Duncan Ball
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

2.

Emily and the Mysterious Moustaches

Emily and her parents went to a special party at an artist’s studio. The artist, Mr Paintswell, had been working on a painting for six months. Now it was finished and he had invited his friends to see it.

Mr Paintswell met them at the door.

‘I’m so glad you could come,’ he said. Then he whispered, ‘Someone is trying to ruin me! I need your help!’

‘What’s wrong, Pierre?’ Mr Eyefinger asked.

‘Shhh! Not now. I will tell you later. Please come in.’

All the people in the big room turned to see who had come in. Emily followed her parents.

Mr Paintswell was a tall, thin man who always wore a hat, even when he was indoors. Under his nose was the biggest, blackest moustache that Emily had ever seen. Its ends pointed straight up in the air. Emily wondered why they didn’t droop down.

Mr Paintswell’s helper, Gerald, was passing around drinks and bits of food on a silver tray. At one end of the studio was the painting that everyone had come to see. It was huge but no one could see it yet because it was covered by a piece of black velvet.

Mr Paintswell suddenly clapped his hands.

‘Attention, good people,’ he said. ‘Now is the moment you have all been waiting for. I will show you the best painting that I have ever made. It is a portrait of Celia, Cecile and Cecily Ritzy, the Ritzy sisters. As you know they asked me to paint it. They haven’t seen the painting yet either so it will be a surprise for everyone.’

Emily noticed three women at the back of the studio. They were dressed in expensive clothes and wearing diamond and pearl necklaces. They pushed forward to see the painting. Right away she knew these were the Ritzy sisters.

‘Here it is!’ cried Mr Paintswell as he pulled back the velvet. ‘The Ritzy sisters!’

There it was: the most beautiful painting that Emily had ever seen. It showed one of the sisters sitting in a gold-coloured chair. Another was lying on a lounge. The third one was standing up, holding a kitten.

Suddenly everyone gasped. There was something dreadfully wrong. On the top lip of each of the three women was painted a huge, black moustache just like Mr Paintswell’s. And it wasn’t just the sisters who had moustaches. Even the kitten had one.

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