Read Online Matty and Bill for Keeps by Elizabeth Fensham - Free Book Online Page B

Townsend has given you three the rest of the day off. She said to tell you that no one will be getting into trouble for what happened. I have to get back to a Spinners’ Association meeting, but I’ll drop you all off at the Grubs’.’
    Sergeant Smith patted Crispin on the back and strolled back to his patrol car.
    When Aunt Victoria delivered the three friends to the Grubs’ place, she had to get out in order to open the front passenger door with her usual kick.
    â€˜Rather a waste of expensive oysters, but an imaginative alternative to eating them – and the three of you presented an airtight case. Well done,’ she said. Then she slapped Crispin on the back and said to him, ‘ Fortes adiuvat fortuna !’ And with that, she squeezed back into the driver’s seat and drove off with swirls of dust spraying behind. Crispin’s face was shining with delight.
    â€˜What did she say?’ asked Bill.
    â€˜Luck is with the brave,’ said Crispin, sighing deeply with relief.
    â€˜I told you the family honour would be restored,’ said Mat as she led the way into the house.

The rest of the week was the smoothest run of days that Bill, Mat and Crispin had experienced since term started. Mrs Facey started the auditions for the Hills Inter-Primary Extravaganza. Lots of kids auditioned and everyone seemed to get a part no matter how small, but it was the major roles that got the most attention. They went to Mat and Crispin.
    All the children at Dewey Creek Primary – except for Isabelle Farquay-Jones and her remaining two friends – were happy for Mat and Crispin. The children already knew Mat was a natural on the stage with acting, singing and dancing. It seemed fair that she should get a lead role. As children often do, most of them now accepted Crispin’s oddities – his choir-boy accent, fairytale name, ruined tower home and somewhat witchy-looking aunt – as just one of the quirky things about life.
    Since the story had got out about Crispin’s tricks to avoid both eating oysters as well as kissing Isabelle, he now had hero status – especially amongst the boys. Most of the students at Dewey Creek Primary saw that it was natural Crispin should become a stage celebrity.
    As for Bill, far from being jealous of Crispin playing a lead role opposite Matty, he was immensely relieved. He’d ‘done his time’ (as his elderly neighbour, Mr Herbert Riley, liked to put it) only a few weeks back when he’d starred in the role of Romeo in Mat’s rap film version of Shakespeare’s play.
    The Extravaganza required immediate rehearsals for Crispin and Matty. Three after-school sessions a week were held in the assembly hall. On his walk home, Bill would wander past the open double doors and catch glimpses of children singing and dancing. Once, he saw Crispin, dressed in a T-shirt and black tights, leaping across the stage – like a deer jumping midair. Bill was deeply, joyously glad and grateful it was Crispin up there and not him. He took a long breath of fresh mountain air. He was a free man.
    By the end of the week, a southerly had blown in and brought with it cool, wet weather. On the Friday night, Aunt Victoria rang the Grubs’ house and asked if she could bring supper over as a thankyou to Matty and Bill for their support of Crispin during his Farquay-Jones ordeal. Under directions from Mat’s dad, Donald, the children laid a fire in the Grubs’ sitting room. They pulled the heavy curtains shut, put a white tablecloth over a circular table near the fire and arranged comfortable chairs in a semicircle. At Mat’s request, her mum, Tessa, put candles around the room.
    When Aunt Victoria entered the candlelit room with its glowing, crackling fire and inviting chairs she exclaimed with delight, ‘Aladdin’s cave!’ Bill had always thought the room was special. This was where Nan had taught the children to make a