The Demon Headmaster and The Prime Minister’s Brain Read Online Free Page A

gasping for breath, Dinah gave a last scream, flung the card at them and ran out of the room. As she went, she heard Lloyd give a low, astounded whistle.
    ‘Wow!’ he said.
    ‘Ssh!’ muttered Mr Hunter quickly.
    Dinah pounded up the stairs, flew into her bedroom and flung herself face down on the bed.
    And was quite calm. Instantly.
    It was so peculiar that she sat up and blinked, testing out her feelings just as she might have prodded her arms and legs to see if she had any broken bones. There was no doubt about it. She was perfectly cool and controlled.
    At once, an embarrassed, miserable shiver ran up her back, when she remembered how she had just been behaving downstairs. But she squashed it. No point in wallowing in guilt and self-pity. Of course she had behaved terribly. She had behaved quite unlike her usual self. But why? And how had she managed to get back to normal so quickly?
    She slid off the bed and went to look in the mirror. Her face was still red and blotchy, but the awful screams and sobs seemed a million miles away. Oh, it was annoying that she was going to miss the final, but she quite understood. Of course they couldn’t afford to buy her an S-7. And it didn’t matter. Not enough to shout and scream at Mum and Dad who’d been so lovely to her. Who’d taken her into their home and adopted her.
    ‘How could I have done it?’ she whispered to her reflection in the mirror.
    Think, the reflection seemed to say back. Think hard. What started you off?
    Dinah stared into the depths of the glass, puzzling.
    ‘It was when I saw the card. From the Computer Director. I was all right before then, and I’m all right now. But as soon as I started to look at the card I felt—weird.’
    But what about the card? said her reflection.
    Dinah thought back over what had happened. She had opened the envelope perfectly calmly, listening to Lloyd bickering with Mum. She had slid out the card. And—yes—she had still been all right when she did that. Then she had looked down and seen—and seen—
    She was nearly there, on the verge of understanding it all, when there was a knock on the door. ‘Can I come in?’ said Mrs Hunter’s voice.
    Dinah jumped up and opened the door. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said awkwardly. ‘I’m sorry I made such a fuss.’
    Mrs Hunter put an arm round her shoulders and led her across to the bed. ‘Sit down beside me, Dinah. I want to talk to you.’
    Meekly Dinah sat down. She supposed she was going to be told off. It wouldn’t be nice, but she had deserved it, after all. She folded her hands and waited.
    ‘When people start living together,’ Mrs Hunter began slowly, ‘—the way you’ve started living with us—they have to try hard to get used to each other. Now, you’ve put a lot of effort into getting used to us, Dinah, but I’m not sure we’ve understood properly about you. You’re not an easy person to find out about, you know.’
    Dinah stared at her, utterly bewildered. ‘But you’ve been lovely to me.’
    Mrs Hunter smiled, a little sadly. ‘Well, of course we’ve tried. You’re our daughter now, and we want all our children to have what they need to grow up properly. But—’ she laughed suddenly ‘—we’re not used to having a child as clever as you. Perhaps you need more things than Lloyd and Harvey do. Or different things, anyway. Because of the kind of brain you’ve got.’
    Dinah had a terrible feeling that she knew what was coming. ‘Mum—’
    But Mrs Hunter went straight on talking. ‘After you’d gone, Lloyd explained all about this Junior Computer Brain Competition. We think it could be a really important chance for you. You ought to be in the final. And if you have to have an S-7 to do that—well, we’ll just have to buy you an S-7.’
    Dinah gasped. ‘But you can’t afford it! You know you can’t.’
    ‘Ah.’ Mrs Hunter suddenly looked very pleased with herself. ‘You didn’t know about this, did you?’ She put a hand into one pocket