A Likely Tale, Lad: Laughs & Larks Growing Up in the 1970s (Lad Series)
Mike Pannett
Language: English
Pages: 216
ISBN: 185568344X
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
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Making me feel better, her answer heightened my anxiety. If I was going to learn everything Billy and Jack knew I’d surely better get started. The clock was ticking. ‘Anyway, we’ll be going back in a few weeks’ time,’ Mum said. ‘It’s not as if you’ll never see your friends again, is it?’ I didn’t answer her. It all seemed so unfair. We all loved being in the country, and we always felt fed up driving home from the farm. Even Petra seemed deflated, and slept on my knee all the way – which was.
Goodies. ‘Dad, Mum!’ I said as we burst in through the back door. ‘Guess what we’ve seen? A giant bulldozer. It’s in the field. You want to see it, it’s fantastic.’ Dad was deep in his Evening Press. He seemed unmoved. ‘I see,’ he murmured, ‘so they’ve started, have they?’ That wasn’t good enough for me. I wanted a reaction. ‘Mum, Mum!’ I shouted. ‘There’s this giant bulldozer, with smoke coming out of its chimney. It’s fantastic. It’s in the field. Do you think I could be a bulldozer driver.
Sturmey-Archer three-speed gearing, they asked him? Like the one his sister had handed on to him. If he really wanted one of these daft new things, well, maybe they’d think about it. But only if he stumped up half the cost. ‘But they’re about thirty pounds!’ he complained. ‘That means I’ve got to find… loads of money.’ ‘Fifteen quid,’ I told him. Arithmetic was never Alan’s best subject. ‘That’s a fortune,’ he said, but when he said as much to his parents they simply replied, ‘All the more.
Arms and did a little poo down my trousers. ‘Hm.’ He took his pipe from his mouth and looked me up and down. ‘You’d best ask your mother. See if she’s got one of them feeding bottles wi’ a – ’ He checked himself once more. ‘Tell you what, I reckon I might have a spare. Follow me, lad.’ With that he tapped his pipe on the wall of the pen and set off to the back door of the farmhouse. I followed, struggling to keep hold of my new pet. In the kitchen was a big wooden table, and on the table was a.
Of the stairs and listened. There was a gentle, rhythmic snoring coming from Mum and Dad’s room. Otherwise all was silent. Purdy slid past my bare leg as I turned around, went to the back door, unlocked it and made my way to the outhouse. I opened the door as quietly as I could, picked up the can of paraffin, and hurried back indoors, grinning as I imagined how grateful they’d all be for this, waking up to a blazing fire and a nice warm house. I sloshed paraffin into the fireplace and watched it.