I thought, Meg would like that book and Meg was the one who didn’t mind getting burgled by the tooth fairy.
I thought, but it was MY tooth.
I thought, this is just my luck.
I put back half my sweets and I also put back quite a lot of my animal stickers and I picked up that horrid princess colouring book and I took it to the counter.
I glared at the shopkeeper to make myself feel better and I put my tongue through the gap where my old tooth had been.
“Mabel,” said Dad when I was paying for everything with my two shiny gold pounds.
“Are you sure you want that colouring book? You don’t normally like princesses.”
“I know THAT,” I said, because one thing I’m not keen on is princesses, and I don’t like colouring much either.
Colouring is TOO NEAT.
“It’s not for ME,” I said in my slightly shouty voice.
“It’s for MEG.”
And Dad smiled.
I stomped all the way home and when I got home I stomped around the house until I found Meg.
I handed my sister that measly princess colouring book and then I stomped outside to eat my sweets.
Meg followed me.
She said thank you and she also said that she loved the colouring book.
“Well,” I said, “you should love it because it was very expensive.
“It was so expensive that I have no money left.”
“Don’t worry, Mabel,” said Meg.
“When you lose your next tooth, the tooth fairy will give you two more gold pounds.”
I didn’t say one word.
“Mabel,” said Meg. “Are you still scared of the tooth fairy?”
“No,” I said.
“I am not SCARED of the tooth fairy.
“I just think she’s a bit mean.
“Two gold pounds isn’t very much. She should leave three.”
I’ll tell you what is the most fun thing ever: a sprinkler, that’s what.
I don’t have a sprinkler in my own garden.
This is why life isn’t even fair.
When I ask my dad why we don’t have a sprinkler, he says our garden isn’t big enough.
But anyone can see that our garden is much bigger than a sprinkler.
When I ask my mum why we don’t have a sprinkler, she says the neighbours live too nearby and they would not be keen about being sprinkled on. But anyone can see that the neighbours would love a few refreshing drops.
When I ask my sister Meg why we don’t have a sprinkler, she says, “Come on, Mabel, let’s just play in the paddling pool instead.”
But everyone knows that paddling pools are not as fun as sprinklers.
Paddling pools are full of stones and bits of old grass and they are much colder than the true-life sea.
I know this because I swam in the true-life sea once and it was not at all freezing even though Meg said it would be.
Our paddling pool is freezing and scratching and boring.
Sprinklers are never boring.
Sprinklers are always fun.
Elsa Kavinsky has a sprinkler and Elsa Kavinsky is allowed to play in her sprinkler whenever she wants.
Elsa Kavinsky’s garden is bigger than ours.
I thought, I would like to visit Elsa Kavinsky’s big garden and play in that sprinkler.
But getting to Elsa Kavinsky’s house was quite tricky for me because I am not Elsa Kavinksy’s best ever friend.
Elsa Kavinsky is keener on Molly Cooper and she also quite likes Sam Farnborough when he is not eating cheese and pickle sandwiches.
So I had to spend a whole week doing nice things for Elsa Kavinsky.
I gave her broken crisps out of my lunch box.
I let her watch me do cartwheels.
At lunch break I played her not-very-good game of chasing for thirty-four minutes and I didn’t tell her how it could be better.
Luckily, at the end of the week Elsa Kavinsky asked me over to play at her house.
I said, “OK, I’ll come,” in a not-very-keen voice because I didn’t want to give my game away.
Elsa Kavinsky did not notice my tone of voice.
She is not a noticing sort of girl.
When I arrived at Elsa Kavinsky’s house after school I saw her sprinkler with my own eyes.
It was right there in the middle of her garden.
I stared at that sprinkler until my brain scrunched up.
I said, “Elsa Kavinsky, your sprinkler looks amazing.”
Elsa Kavinsky did a grown-up smile and said, “Oh no, ours is only a smallish sprinkler. Most people have much bigger sprinklers than us.”
This made me want to poke Elsa Kavinsky in the tummy.
But I didn’t because I needed to be nice to Elsa Kavinsky so she would let me play in her sprinkler.
I practised holding my temper like my sister Meg has been teaching me.
Meg never loses her temper so Meg knows what she is talking about.
I counted to ten in my head.
I smiled even though I didn’t feel like it.
I didn’t say one incy mean thing.
But Elsa Kavinsky didn’t notice how nice I was being.
She just said, “Do you want to dress up as a princess?”
One thing I am not keen on is princesses.
I don’t like dressing up either.
I said, “What I would really like, Elsa Kavinsky, is to play with your sprinkler.”
But Elsa Kavinsky did not listen.
She unpacked the dressing-up box.
We played princesses for ages and I let Elsa Kavinsky tell me what to wear and what to say because I wanted to keep her in a good mood so she would take me to play with her sprinkler.
When Elsa Kavinsky got bored of princesses, I asked if we could go and play in the sprinkler now.
But at that exact moment Elsa Kavinsky’s mum said it was supper time.
We had to stay at the table for ages because it was spaghetti and spaghetti is a slippery and slow thing to eat.
Also, Elsa Kavinsky’s mum asked us lots of questions about our day at school.
I don’t like people who ask too many questions about school.
School is not a nice subject.
Mums and dads should not talk about school.
After supper there were only ten minutes left
