Eight Days of Luke

скачать книгу бесплатно


“Not these days,” David explained politely. “It’s the fashion you see, and it really isn’t wrong. I expect you’re a bit out of date, Uncle Bernard.” He smiled kindly and, he hoped, firmly at Uncle Bernard, and was a little put out to hear Astrid snorting with laughter across the table.

“I never heard such a thing!” said Uncle Bernard. Then he went frail and added pathetically, “And I hope I shall never hear such a thing again.”

David, to his amazement, saw that he was winning. He had Uncle Bernard on the run. It was so unheard of that, for a moment, David could not think of anything to say that would clinch his victory. And while he wondered, Mrs Thirsk turned his success into total failure.

“Yes,” she said, “and did you ever see such a thing as this, either?” Triumphantly, she placed a small mat with crochet edging in front of Uncle Bernard. In the middle of the mat, very thoroughly stuck to it, was a wad of something pink and rather shiny, with teeth-marks in it.

Uncle Bernard peered at it. “What is this?” he said.

“David can tell you,” said Mrs Thirsk, throwing David another malicious look.

Uncle Bernard, frail and puzzled, looked up at David.

“It’s chewing gum,” David confessed wretchedly. How it had got stuck to the mat on his dressing-table, he could not imagine. He supposed he must have put it down there while he was hunting for clothes. But he knew it was all up for him now.

“Chewing gum? In my house!” said Uncle Bernard.

“How simply filthy!” said Aunt Dot.

Astrid and Cousin Ronald closed in again then too, while Mrs Thirsk, looking like the Triumph of Righteousness, briskly plonked a plate of stiff, cold chocolate pudding in front of David. Such of it as David managed to eat tasted as thick and brown as the rest of supper. As the row went on, as all four of his relations continued to clamour how disgusting he was and Mrs Thirsk to shoot smug looks at him, David resolved bitterly, vengefully, that if it was the last thing he did, he would tell Mrs Thirsk how rotten her food was.

It ended with David being sent up to bed. By that time he was quite glad to go.