Mimi Read Free Page B

came near me. So they didn’t anymore — except for Orla, no matter how much she was teased. Orla says that she is a tough cookie and won’t be intimibaited by a two-bit scumbag like Sarah Sinclair. No, sireee! And the way she says that always makes me laugh.
    “Let’s make a voodoo doll of her and stick pins in it,” says Orla. But I don’t know what she is talking about and I don’t really care. I just stare at the ground, and everyone in the school yard stares at me and Orla, but they keep away because they don’t want Sarah to pick on them. Maybe she’s right — maybe I am a Crybaby.
    After school I go into Mrs. Lemon’s shop to buy a candy bar with the rest of my lunch money, and Mrs. Lemon says, “Well, what can I do for you today, Miss Mimi?” I ask her for a Spiff bar, and after I have paid she takes some sweets out of the Pick ‘n’ Mix and puts them in my hand and closes my fist over them. Then she shows me her new CCTV camera, which she had to get installed because some children are not as honest as me and Sally and they steal stuff, and she hopes that the camera will help her catch them.
    Then I have to go, because Wednesday is Aunt B.’s day and you don’t keep Aunt B. waiting!

Aunt B. runs a tight ship, Mammy always used to say. No messing, no dawdling, no wasting time. I never knew what she meant, but now that I go to Aunt B.’s every Wednesday half-day, I am beginning to understand.
    When I arrive, my favorite cousin in the world, Emma, opens the door. “Well, hello, Dig!” she greets me, and we do our silly handshake and I say, “Well, hello, Dag!” and then it’s straight into the kitchen chop-chop for lunch before homework.
    We have to make our own lunch at Aunt B.’s house, but she supervises. Today we are having pancakes, and Aunt B. is giving orders. “Sally, sieve six ounces of white flour into the big white bowl. Chop-chop!”
    (Sally has a half day on Wednesday too — and she always manages to get to Aunt B.’s before me so she can chat to cousin Emmett — and Conor will come along straight after school as well.)
    “Emma and Mimi, beat up four eggs and don’t get shell in the bowl. Chop-chop! Emmett, heat up the frying pan!”
    Nobody argues with Aunt B., and soon we are all eating the most delicious pancakes — properly, with knives and forks. Aunt B. believes good table manners are very important. It’s just as well she never eats at our house.
    When we have finished, Emmett and Sally wash up and Emma and I dry the dishes.
    “Come on, Sally! Chop-chop!” says Emma as she waits for Sally to finish washing the pan.
    “Chop-chop yourself,” says Sally, and splashes some soap in Emma’s face.
    Emma doesn’t care — she just sticks out her tongue at Sally when Aunt B. is not looking. Aunt B. is not one for messing about.
    Wednesday is the only day of the week when I do my homework, because Aunt B. makes sure I do. Nobody talks during homework. When Conor arrives, Aunt B. gives him three pancakes that she has kept for him and then he gets straight down to homework as well. I know it sounds a bit strange, but I quite like it when the five of us sit around the table, all doing our work quietly. It feels like an office, and Aunt B. is the boss. Aunt B. never gets cross, yet we all do what she says without arguing.
    Emma and I are always finished first because we are the youngest (Emma is six days older than me), so we can go and play. Nobody watches television before six o’clock in Aunt B.’s house, and if the weather is OK we have to play outside, but today it has begun to rain, so we play Dig and Dag in Emma’s bedroom.
    Dig and Dag are very old and they live in bed (just like the grandparents in
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
). Dig, that’s me, is the old man, and Dag, that’s Emma, is the old woman. Dig lives at the top of the bed and Dag lives at the bottom. Today they are not feeling their best.
    “You’re looking a bit off-color today, lovey,” says