Against the Odds by Marjolijn Hof

Author:Marjolijn Hof
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Groundwood Books Ltd
Published: 2011-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

I sat at my desk. I drew a picture of a dead dog. He was lying on his back with all four legs sticking straight up. Next to the dog I drew a man with a rifle. Bullets were coming out of the rifle. The dog was full of holes.

My mother knocked on the door.

“Yes?” I said.

The door opened a little. “It’s me,” my mother said.

“I know,” I said.

“Oma has gone home.”

“I know that too.”

“You know everything,” my mother said. She looked at my drawing. “Are you angry?”

“Why?”

“You’re making an angry drawing.”

I drew another hole in the dead dog. My mother got it right. I was angry. But I was not quite sure at whom.

“Oma’s right,” I said. “Daddy is only thinking about himself.”

“Oma is saying that because she’s worried.”

“But it’s true.” I took a black pencil and scratched all over the dog. The paper tore.

“Whoa, whoa,” my mother said. She grabbed my hand. I kept holding on to the pencil.

“Don’t do that,” my mother said.

Then I got really mad. I screamed. I yelled until my head was full of noise. I pushed my mother. I kicked my desk. The pencils flew all over the floor. My mother tried to grab me. “Leave me alone!” I yelled. I kicked the little chest without legs. Squeaky’s cage fell down. The top flew off.

“Watch it,” my mother said. “Watch out for the mouse.”

I stopped screaming. The cage was lying on its side. It was cracked. Most of the sawdust had spilled. Squeaky was gone.

“Where is he?” I asked.

My mother kneeled down and looked around. “Squeaky!” she called.

“Squeaky!” I called. I crawled on my knees around the room. My mother crawled behind me. We crawled through the sawdust.

I started to cry.

“Squeaky,” my mother said. “Squeaky!” And all of a sudden she began to laugh.

“Squeaky, squeaky,” I said, and I laughed too. I was laughing and crying. Not both at once. I took turns laughing and crying.

Squeaky was under my bed. I lay flat on my stomach and caught him. He didn’t try to run away. When I grabbed him I could feel him trembling.

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