Loudmouth Louis - Anne Fine [7]
“– today we have time to sing every verse!”
Excellent. And Mr Hambleton picked the song that he knows is my favourite.
Curious …
I’m not used to sitting quietly through work-time. I kept on nearly cracking. In the end I pretended I’d forgotten what Dad said, and borrowed Bethany’s sticky tape. Miss Sparkes pretended not to see me sticking it over my mouth. And we got on with Maths Workbook.
I couldn’t talk, so I was forced to listen.
“I can’t do subtraction,” Bethany was wailing.
“Easy-peasy,” said Lyle.
“I’m stuck”
Lyle leaned over Bethany’s workbook. “You’re not stuck. You just have to borrow”
“I hate borrowing,” Bethany grumbled.
“I always get it wrong when I pay back.”
I was about to tell Bethany all about the time I got all twenty wrong. But the sticky tape stopped me. So I just had to listen to Lyle explain things to Bethany.
“Have you got it now?”
“Nearly. Just tell me one more time.”
So he explained it again, and I still had to listen.
“Now do you understand?”
“Yes,” said Bethany. “But just tell me the bit about paying back one more time.”
So Lyle said it again. I nearly peeled off my sticky tape to tell him to shut up. But I didn’t. And then Miss Sparkes came and stood over us for ten whole minutes while we got on with it.
And Bethany got every single one of them right.
And so did I.
Interesting…
After that, it was Reading Time. Miss Sparkes picked a story about a ghost. Usually, we read in groups. (I’m on the blue table.) But on the day of my big silence, she brought in a big pile of books, and said we’d be reading in turns round the whole class.
“Except for Louis,” she said. “Because he can’t talk. So he’s going to have the ghost’s part because going ‘ Whooo’ doesn’t count.”
It made a nice rest from the silence, going “Whooo”.
“Whooo!” I went.
And then, when my next bit came:
“Whoooooo!”
And then, in the really scary bit:
“That was very good,” Miss Sparkes said at the end. “Everyone read beautifully, and Louis’s wailing was excellent.”
I didn’t say, “You’re welcome.” I just grinned. And then, before I could even believe we’d got through a whole story before the bell, it rang for lunch-time.
Interesting…
This listening business is even cleverer than you think. While we were standing in the queue for lunch, I was the only one who wasn’t talking, so I was the only one who got to hear that funny sizzling noise.
I turned around.
It was a new tray of macaroni cheese, fresh from the oven. Brown, bubbling and hot.
Suzie pushed me forward. (She was busy chattering to Frances.)
I looked at the cold, claggy yellow sludge on the tray in front of Mrs Patel. There were only two squares left.
I nearly made the mistake of saying, “After you,” but stopped just in time. Instead, I bent down and pretended to fiddle with my shoe lace.
“Keep the queue moving, girls!” called Mrs Patel. “Walk round Louis and I’ll serve you.”
They didn’t realize. They just hurried round, and took the last two claggy squares. I came up after them, and she gave me the first serving out of the sizzling hot brown tray.
“I’m giving you a big one,” Mrs Patel said, “because you’re doing so well, and everyone’s so pleased with you.”
(And that’s another thing I wouldn’t have heard if I had been talking, as usual.)
After lunch, it was Mr Hambleton and Percussion Band. He came in with the tape recorder, looking horribly worried.
Nodding at me, he asked the others, “So how’s he doing?”
“Brilliantly!” Caleb said loyally. “He hasn’t said a word.”
Mr Hambleton beamed. “Oh, joy! I never thought he’d get this far through the day. I’ve been chewing my nails all morning. I even tried to get Mrs Heap to let me have you all straight after Assembly. But she said not one of you could afford to miss Maths Workbook.”
“I could next week,” said Bethany. “Now that I understand borrowing and paying back.”
But Mr Hambleton wasn’t listening. He was diving into the boxes.
“Quick! Before Louis cracks!” He handed out triangles and woodblocks and castanets. Then he turned to me.
“Don