Desperate Measures Read Free Page B

like watching someone else’s home movie. I don’t know what she means and she gets all cross if I ask.
    Vicky was in a real moody in the tree house. Manky Matt was coming round later and Mrs Frankish had said she couldn’t go out. She had to pack all her stuff. I didn’t think I wanted to go to this new school any more. Not without Vicky and Jamie. We were all sitting around on the mouldy cushions when Jamie told us his Big Idea. He said we should run away because then they couldn’t split us up. I looked over at Vicky. She was biting her nails like they were really itching her or something.
    I said, ‘Can we run away to Disneyland?’
    ‘We’ll go somewhere better,’ said Jamie.
    I looked at Vicky again. ‘What about it?’
    ‘What about what!?’ She sounded really snappy.
    ‘Running away.’
    ‘They’re only going to split us up for a while – when the baby’s born they’ll have us back.’
    Vicky got up but Jamie tugged at her arm. ‘What if they don’t?’ he said.
    ‘They’ve promised.’
    ‘But what if something happens or they change their minds?’
    Vicky pulled a face then stared out of the little tree house doorway. ‘It’s a stupid idea; we’ve got nowhere to go.’
    ‘We could go to my secret camp in the woods,’ saidJamie picking up one of the postcards from the floor. ‘Just for a bit. Until everything’s all right again. It would be like when we went on holiday with Mum and Dad to Great Auntie Irene’s.’
    We’ve only been to Great Auntie Irene’s once. Vicky, Jamie, Dad and me camped out in a tent on a little island in the middle of this big lake.
    Mum slept in the house with Great Auntie Irene because she was cold all the time. Great Auntie Irene’s dog Jip came with us and we all got in the rowing boat and rowed out to the island. We made a campfire and cooked potatoes in foil and marshmallows on sticks. The potatoes were all black on the outside and hard on the inside. Mum wasn’t going to let us eat them – she said we’d be ill. But we did and we weren’t. She was the one that kept being sick. She never even ate any potato. She did have a tiny nibble on my marshmallow but that was all. She didn’t really want it but I said, ‘Go on Mum, you’ve got to have a taste.’
    Maxine can’t eat peanuts, she’s mlergic to them. If she has just one tiny weeny bit of peanut she’ll puff up like a balloon and be really ill. It’s true. Mrs Edwards told me. Maybe that’s why Mum isn’t here any more. Maybe she was mlergic to marshmallows. She didn’t puff up, she just slowly shrank thinner and thinner until one day she disappeared and wasn’t at the hospital any more. Maybe that tiny little bit I gave her was what started it all. She must be better by now. I just wish she’d hurry up and come home because I want to show her my new Furby.
    Jamie was explaining to Vicky about his camp and how no one knew about it. I told Vicky about the ferny little den and the campfire but she just pulled a face and told us to forget it. She got up and started climbing down the ladder when Jamie stopped her.
    ‘We’ve got to stay together Vick,’ he said in a whisper. ‘What’s going to happen to Re if we’re not around?’
    ‘I don’t need Miss Sticky Slob Bottom, thank you very much,’ I said but the words came out all wobbly.
    ‘We could look after ourselves,’ Jamie pleaded but then Vicky said all snappy, ‘Oh yeah? Great idea – just like last time.’
    ‘That wasn’t my fault!’ Jamie called after her but Vicky didn’t stop, she just ran up the garden into the house and slammed the back door behind her.
    ‘It wasn’t my fault Re,’ said Jamie when she’d gone. ‘I didn’t want them to take us away from Dad.’
    I remember when it happened. It was a long time ago. It was after Mum had gone. We’d all got in from school and Dad was out driving a lorry for Mr McCready. Mr McCready was so funny. When he came round to give Dad his money he’d always look round