Lizzie Zipmouth Read Online Free Page A

whooping.
    â€œIt’s great to be back! It’s so b-o-r-i-n-g at Great-Gran’s!” he yelled.

    Sam said he could stick to Sunday visits.
    â€œWhat about you, Jake?” said Sam.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Jake. “I don’t like the dolls much. But I quite like the tea party. I might want to take all my Beanie Babies.”
    I frowned. Jake didn’t play with his Beanie Babies properly . He got all silly and excited and threw them in the air and made them have fights. I was sure they’d knock the teacups over. Great-Gran would put Alice and Sophie and Charlotte and Edward and Clementine back in their trunk sharpish.
    Sam put his arm round Mum.
    â€œI take it you’re not into dolls and tea parties either?”
    â€œNo way! Though I’m ever so glad Lizzie gets on so well with your gran. I’m a bit scared of her!” said Mum, giggling.
    â€œDon’t worry, she terrifies me!” said Sam.
    â€œShe can be seriously scary,” said Rory.
    â€œShe’s so frowny,” said Jake.
    â€œWell, I like her,” I said.

    They all looked at me.
    â€œLizzie spoke!” said Rory.
    â€œLizzie unzipped!” said Jake.
    Mum and Sam were smiling all over their faces. I smiled back. Then I skipped into my bright bedroom to get my knitting. I was making a teeny blue scarf for Alice. Great-Gran had taught me how to knit. She taught Jake too. Jake said he was going to make thirteen rainbow-striped scarves, one for each of his Beanie Babies, but he’d only done five rows of the first scarf so far. I’d nearly finished mine, but I seemed to have dropped several stitches somewhere. I needed to see Great-Gran to ask her to fix it.

    We were going to see her on Sunday, the whole family. But on Friday night there was a phone call. It woke me up. I heard Sam on the phone. He sounded very worried. When I peeped out of my bedroom I saw his face was crumpled up the way Jake looks when he’s about to cry.
    â€œOh dear, Lizzie, something very sad has happened,” said Sam, coming up the stairs. He put his arm round me. “It’s poor Great-Gran.”
    â€œIs she dead?” I said, shivering.
    â€œNo, she’s not dead, pet, but she’s very ill. She’s had a stroke. She can’t walk or talk properly. She’s in hospital. I’m going to see her now.”
    â€œI’m coming too!”
    â€œNo, love, not now. It’s much too late. Look, you’re shivering. You hop into bed with Mum while I go to the hospital.”

    Mum cuddled me close and told me to try to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t. I kept thinking of Great-Gran lying on her back in a hospital bed unable to walk or talk, just like one of the dolls in the trunk.

Chapter Seven
    Sam stayed at the hospital most of Saturday. Mum took Rory and Jake and me to football. It was a great game and our team scored. Rory and Jake jumped up and down and yelled and then remembered and drooped back in their seats, looking guilty.

    â€œIt’s OK, boys,” said Mum, putting her arms round them. “We can be sad about poor Great-Gran and happy about football too. Great-Gran wouldn’t want you to stop enjoying the match.”
    I looked at Mum. I knew Great-Gran much better than she did. Great-Gran thought football a waste of space. Great-Gran thought she was much more important than any football team in the world. She’d want Rory and Jake and me to be sitting quietly in our best clothes at home, worrying about her.
    I was worrying.
    â€œI want to see Great-Gran,” I said.
    â€œI’m not sure they let young children into the hospital,” said Mum.
    Rory and Jake breathed sighs of relief.
    I cornered Sam when he came home that evening. He looked very tired and his eyes were red as if he might have been crying.
    â€œI’ll make you a cup of tea, Sam,” I said.
    Sam looked very surprised.
    â€œIt’s OK. I can make lovely tea.