The Boy with the Unfortunate Name by Eva Markert

Author:Eva Markert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Babelcube Inc.
Published: 2016-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

A Huge Muddle

The thing with Joe’s surname continued to bother Richard. Wasn’t it odd to have a different surname than one’s father?

He met Joe on the way to school. “Hi, Richy!” Joe called out to him.

For a moment Richard was taken aback, then he smiled. He liked the sound of the name Richy. But then he realised that Richy Fartson was no better than Richard Fartson.

“I wanted to ask you,” he started, “about your name.”

“Oh, come on!” Joe smirked. “You’ve really got something with names. Is it maybe because your name is Fartson?”

Drat it! Joe must have heard correctly after all. It was odd that he had not laughed himself silly straight away.

“Don’t worry about it,” Joe said, “I think it’s cool to have such a funny name.”

“Well, I don’t! I would rather be called Different, like you.”

“Well, you know what?” Joe paused a moment before he continued. “When people hear that I don’t have the same surname as my father, they start asking, why and how come and for what reason. Just like Mr Woodhouse. It really gets on my nerves!”

Richard could well imagine how much it got on Joe’s nerves.

“I’m sorry that I asked you,” he said.

“It’s OK.” Joe nudged him in the ribs. “Let me tell you something, but first you have to promise not to tell anybody.” Richard was really curious. “I promise.”

They sat down on a bench. Joe took a deep breath. “My mother isn’t called Bartels but Different so that she doesn’t have a different name to me,” he whispered.

“Huh?” Richard did not understand a word of what he was saying.

“ She had me when her surname was Different,” Joe explained. “She was not married then, that’s why my surname is the same as her maiden name. She kept her name the same as mine, so that everybody knows that she is my mother.”

Richard said, “Oh!” even though he still did not understand completely.

“My father is really my stepfather,” Joe added. “My real father’s surname is Bird, but I hardly ever see him.”

Richard’s head was spinning. “Different, Bartels, Bird,” he counted the names, “that’s quite a lot of names for just one family.”

It was funny that Joe did not get in a muddle with all of them. Richard did not like it that everybody in his own family was called Fartson, but at least it was simple and clear.

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