This evening, while doing a spot of babysitting, I had the great pleasure of helping a seven year old friend of ours do her Xmas cards.
She’s in a big class, so had thirty-one cards to get through. By the time she was halfway through the list, ticking off the names as she went, and I could see she was flagging. We were already an hour past what she claimed was her bedtime, and I was secretly hoping that at any minute she would cave and admit defeat for the day. But she was stronger than I anticipated, and she knew these cards were the one thing keeping her downstairs.
A moment of inspiration lit up her face. ‘Can you spell?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’I said. But she wasn’t convinced.
‘Spell Holly, she said. When I passed this test, she said I could write the rest of the names on the envelopes for her, and slid the pile across the table to me.
You can imagine my surprise when, glancing down the list to assess the scale of the task ahead, I discovered there are kids in her class called Phonix and Gorge. (What were their parents thinking?)
Also, I wouldn’t really like to hazard a guess at what Missus Dubru’s, real name might be. The trouble is, when it is said aloud ‘Dubru’ sounds to me like it should really have a ‘K’ and a ‘V’ in there somewhere. But this Christmas, she will be receiving, if not silent consonants, then invisible ones.
During the course the evening, I learned that so far in my friend’s short life, fifteen boys have kissed her.
‘You’re only seven and you’ve already kissed fifteen boys?’
‘No!’ She shook her head, aghast. ‘I haven’t kissed any. They kissed me.’
Hmmmm, I thought, so that’s how the counting is done…

Join the conversation! 4 Comments

  1. Hi Melanie,

    Love the short story, send it to Prima they’re always publishing one pagers and nothing as nicely written as this. Good luck with the books, I’ve missed seeing you at Jill’s, hope we can meet up sometime when I’m visiting.

    Have a good Christmas and a successful 2013

    Joan x

    Reply
    • Hi Joan,

      Nice to hear from you! Thanks for the suggestion about Prima. I’ll have a go. It’s funny that although we only moved less than 1km away, it feels likes miles and miles at time. Next time you’re down we should book a cinema night again! Mx

      Reply
  2. Wow, thanks for the recommended Goodreads! I’m just coming to the end of my current book and have nothing in the pipeline to follow, now I have a whole list to choose from. Brilliant! Jx

    Reply
    • I hope you find some you like. Are you on GoodReads? Let me know what you’ve been reading, as I’m always on the look out for good books too! Mx

      Reply

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