A Stitch in Time Read Online Free PDF

bothered to rap on the glass to shoo it away.
    After a shower, she was beginning to feel more like herself. Perhaps she wasn’t having a breakdown, just a blip of psychosis due to stress.
I mean, if I was having a full-blown breakdown, I would be hallucinating again by now, wouldn’t I?
    Sarah wiped steam from the bathroom mirror and pulled down her bottom lids. No, her eyes looked normal. She stuck out her tongue; yuck, normal. But then, what would she expect to find if she were mentally ill: spiralling eyes and little green men dancing on her tongue?
Come on; just get on with the day and stop worrying. You need all your energy for Danny Jakes.
    Breakfast over, Sarah collected her school bag from the hall. She remembered there were a few books she had meant to mark last night, but of course hadn’t. Glancing at the clock in the kitchen, she realised she didn’t have time to do it now. Oh well, can’t be helped. Now, where were her shoes?
    The shoe hunt proved futile in the kitchen and living room, but her eyes lingered on the doctor’s number in her open telephone book. Sarah’s fingers hovered above it but then made themselves busy plumping cushions instead.
Just see how it goes for now. And if you don’t find your shoes in a minute, this whole morning will be a disaster!
    The shoes were eventually located in the shoe-basket of all places. Slipping them on, and grabbing her coat and car keys, she left for school.
    ‘Hey, Sarah, have you got 9CM first period?’ Gary Keynsham, Head of English, shouted across the staff room. Gary always shouted, even when there was no need. Sarah thought he just loved the sound of his own voice and was so far ‘up himself’ that he was insufferable.
    She forced a smile. ‘Yes, why?’
    Gary closed the gap between them and stood inches from her nose. ‘Can you give a message to Danny Jakes?’ The volume of his voice required a step backward.
    She nodded.
    ‘Tell him to come to my room at break; I have a reward for him. He’s behaved brilliantly and is making fantastic progress!’ Gary flashed a row of tombstone teeth.
    ‘Really, well you must have something I don’t; he’s a complete shit in my lessons,’ Sarah said.
    ‘Yes, I have heard he can be a tinker, but he’s
always
great for me. Must be the teaching!’ He winked, punched her arm and let out a heehaw bray that rivalled any donkey’s. ‘Just joking, of course. Thanks for that, pet, see ya laters!’ Gary shimmied off like a peacock in heat. He had his eye on the new student teacher, the lovely Jodie. Jodie, having seen his approach, ducked out into reprographics.
    Sarah sighed and picked up her bag. Her watch told her it was 8:50
. Ten minutes to countdown, but I need a pee.
    After
washing her hands, Sarah checked her appearance in the mirror. She wasn’t too bad for thirty-four, was she? Her mousy blonde, shoulder-length hair could do with a trim and more highlights, but she’d managed to keep fairly slim and her light blue eyes still sparkled. Neil had once said that her eyes were ‘wishy-washy’ but then, he was a first-class toerag after all. She wondered what colour eyes his little boy had. Karen’s were brown so …
stop it, Sarah. For God’s sake, why do you do this to yourself?
    She pulled lipstick out of her school bag and wondered if the assessment of her appearance was correct. Neil dumping her for the beautiful Karen hadn’t done wonders for her confidence. But if she
did
look attractive, why she was ‘on the shelf’, as her mother called being single. Perhaps she’d ring her mum tonight, or her younger sister, Ella. A chat with Ella normally boosted her confidence and perhaps she could confirm her sanity or lack of it.
    And ‘on the shelf’? What a stupid expression. Women weren’t tins of peas, or packets of biscuits, were they? Sarah applied the lipstick and blotted it with a tissue. Maybe her appearance wasn’t the problem; maybe she was just boring.
    ‘Morning, Sarah!’ Janet