Read Online Petronella & the Trogot by Cheryl Bentley - Free Book Online Page B

brain had got lazy. Still he had better do what Petronella wanted otherwise she might just send him back to sweat in the fields. The other thing he wasn’t good at was washing himself. He hated water and don’t talk to him about soap.
    â€œI BE clean,” Percy said. And he really meant it.
    â€œYou don’t know what ’clean’ means,” she said. “Come on. Up those stairs you go and into the bathroom.”
    â€œWhat AGAIN?” he asked. “I only washeth mynself three days ago, ye knoweth I doth nat like water.”
    â€œPercy, please, don’t answer back and do as you are told right away!”
    After much ado, Percy finally went and washed himself. And now down to school. To see the head teacher, no less.
    â€œCome in, come in,” said Miss Norman, looking at Percy over her glasses. “So you’re the new boy, are you? I was expecting you to be smaller. How old are you?”
    â€œEleven,” Percy answered.
    â€œELEVEN!” the head teacher said. Her left eye started twitching. Now turning to Petronella, the posh Miss Norman said: “OUR school is for children from five to eleven years old. I was told he was to start in Year 1. That’s for five-year-olds!” She sat down and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Then she leaned forward towards Petronella and half-whispering said: “Is there something wrong with him?” Her eye was still twitching. Petronella couldn’t work out if the head teacher was winking at her, or what?
    Petronella sat up straight and lifted her chin. This was her ‘ proud’ position. “There is nothing at all wrong with Percy. He’s just, well, he just... got a bit left behind.”
    â€œA bit left behind, my foot!” The head teacher now pushed her chair back, making the most awful squeaky noise caused by the grating of the chair legs on the tiled floor. Beaming a look of thunder, and flashing bolts in Percy’s direction, she said:
    â€œHave you ever been to school, boy. Come on, speak up.”
    Petronella wished Miss Norman were a bit nicer to Percy. The poor boy had peed his bed last night. Treating him like that would not help him. Petronella had pretended she hadn’t noticed the pee and just put the sheets in the washing machine.
    â€œYes, I been to school, so I hath.”
    â€œSo, I hath!” she mocked. “What kind of talk is that, if you please? So when did you go to school?”
    â€œI been to school from September to Christmas, then I stoppeth. Days were short at the beginning of the year and then spring cometh and I must needs goeth out into that them fields.”
    Miss Norman put her hands over her ears. She just couldn’t bear to listen to language that was NOT the Queen’s English. She took three slow deep breaths to gather herself together. But she was still red in the face. “How long ago was that?” Percy turned to Petronella as if to ask for help.
    â€œSooooooooo,” said Petronella, “this is going to sound really strange, but it was about 1,000 years ago. 1,159 years ago, if we want to nit pick. Isn’t that right, Percy?”
    â€œThat be right. We worketh it out the other evening together.”
    The head teacher now threw her head back laughing with an open mouth. They could see the gold fillings in the top row of her teeth. She kept laughing so much that she nearly fell backwards. All at once, she was serious. Got up and placed her hands on her hips for balance. “1,159 years ago! 1,159 years ago! Get out, GET OUT right now. You time-wasters, out of my office this minute. Do you hear?”
    Petronella took him by the hand and said: “Let’s go, Percy.” Then she darted a look at the head teacher, straight in the eye and said: “This school is not good enough for Percy. I will find him a better education than you could ever give him in this place. You are a disgrace to teachers and head teachers