Ten of the Best Read Online Free Page B

Miss O’Brien, who had auburn hair like a fox’s back. Her lips were bright red and shiny, as if she was always licking them wet, though I never saw her doing it. I longed to be noticed by her, but she always seemed to be in a dream, gazing out of the window as she taught us, somewhere far away. And around me, the children in the class giggled quietly and passed notes to each other, and shared secrets. They all seemed to be going to each other’s houses for tea or to birthday parties. I was outside it all, just watching.
    When my own birthday came around, in November, there was no point having a party. There was no one to invite. So it was a special treat when my brother arrived home unexpectedly, especially as he brought me two presents. ‘I couldn’t decide which one to get you,’ he said. ‘So I got them both.’
    They were glove puppets, one of Mickey in a blue smock, one of Minnie in a pink smock with a yellow bow painted on her shiny black rubber head. They both had round beaming cheeks and huge smiling eyes. The heads were hollow, so I could put my hand inside them and bunch up my fist in the cheeks. The smocks covered my hands. I could make the heads bob about and look round and talk to each other. Everybody laughed when I made funny voices and made the puppets talk. I found I could say anything I liked with these puppets on my hands, and nobody minded. I could tell Jean, my sister, that her hairstyle was horrible, or her new dress looked like a sack of potatoes, and as long as I said it in Mickey’s voice she thought it was really funny.
    ‘Gee, I guess I’ll just have to smarten myself up for you, Mickey,’ she drawled, putting on an American accent. When my mother lit up her cigarettes, which I hated, I would put my Minnie puppet on and pretend she was coughing, and Mum would dab her cigarette out. ‘Sorry Minnie,’ she would say, ‘I forgot about your bad chest.’
    It was a kind of magic.
    I took Mickey and Minnie to school, and sat with my hands under my desk, tucked inside them. Usually in class I sat in absolute silence, never daring to speak or even to put my hand up, even if I knew the answer to any of Miss O’Brien’s questions. Her voice droned on in the hot classroom. I looked round. Everyone was looking fidgety and sleepy. Suddenly my hands seemed to shoot up of their own accord, with Mickey and Minnie bobbing about in the air.
    ‘This place could do with a bit of livening up!’ said Mickey.
    ‘Don’t you know any jokes, Miss O’Brien?’ said Minnie.
    Only it wasn’t Mickey and Minnie, it was me. The children sat up in their desks and stared at me, and Miss O’Brien stood with her mouth wide open. And then an amazing thing happened. She answered back in a Donald Duck voice.
    ‘Oh boy!’ she squawked, pouching out the side of her cheek like a balloon, ‘there’s two darned mice in my classroom!’
    After school, everybody wanted to have a go with the puppets. I looked round till I saw the most popular girl in class, Dorothy Ewers, who had a mass of curly hair. ‘That one,’ Minnie said, ‘that girl with bubbles all round her face. She’s my best friend.’ Dorothy flushed with pleasure and grabbed Minnie from my hand.
    ‘Well, I’m Mickey’s best friend,’ another girl, Maria Stephens said. ‘If you let me play with him you can come to tea tomorrow.’
    As soon as we got to her house Maria put on a purple ballet dress and pranced round the garden, leaving me sitting with my glove puppets making comments like, ‘Whoops, there she goes, Mickey. Did you see that fairy?’ ‘No, but I saw a flying elephant, Minnie,’ making Maria giggle breathlessly. When she finally stopped, red-faced and gasping, she said, ‘You can wear my ballet dress now, and I’ll have a go with Minnie and Mickey.’ It was a dream come true, and I floated round her rose beds like a princess, snagging the foamy material on thorns while Maria beamed at me.
    The next day I was invited to Dorothy