Carol Hughes
BAM!Toots swung her foot against the leg of the chair.BAM!Her father had left her waiting(BAM!) stuck on a chair between two bookcases at a stinky old church fair(BAM!)while he went off and bought stinky old stamps.BAM!BAM!BAM!
Toots was sick of waiting. She pulled her bag onto her knee and glared across the crowded hall. There wa no sign of her father, but Michael Lambert and Thomas Sweeney, two boys from school, were heading her way.Toots shrank back against the wall.
'Don't let them see me,' she whispered. 'Please don't let them...'
It was too late.
'Well, look who's here,' said a smarmy voice.Toots opened her eyes to find Tomas's freckled face only inches from her own. 'Hello, Toots. What have you got in your bag? Could it be a teddy bear"?'
Toots hugged her bag to her chest.
'C'mon toots, where's Fweddy Weddy today?'sniggered Michael, reaching for her bag. 'Is he in here?'
Toots punched his hand away.
'Leave me alone, or I'll call my father.'
'Oh yeah? And what's he going to do? Come running to protect you? He's on the other side of the hall. he's forgotte all about you.'
'No, he hasn't, he'll be here in a minuite.'
'Yeah?'Thomas was quick. he grabbed the bag and laughed as he tried to shake it out of her grasp. Toots held on tight.
'Get off,' she squealen.
The boys latched onto her bag and pulled together. 'Let go! Let go!' wailed toots, kicking Thomas's shin.
'What's going on here?' demaded a woman with skiny orange hair. 'This isn't a bear garden! Go on, get out of it the lot of you!' The boys let go of the bag and ofled into the crowd. 'Now what was all that about?' asked the woman angrily.
'They started it,' Toots replied. 'They were trying to get my teddy bear.' The woman pursed he lips. 'Auen't you a little old to make such a fuss over a teddy bear? If I was your mother...'
'Hello, Toots,' interrupted Mr Small, the vicar. he touched the woman gently on the arm. 'Mrs Bacon? Might I have a word?' he smiled at Toots, then whispered something in Mrs Bacon's ear. Tootsd stared at the floor. It wasn't hard to guess what the vicar was saying.
'If I look up now,' she thought, 'she'll be looking at me in that way. She'll smile one of those "poor little girl" smiles.
'Toots hated those smiles; she'd seen so many. The lips always curved up like a normal smile, but the eyes remained all pinched and worried; the way people look at you when you're sick.
