Billy and Old Smoko Read Online Free PDF

that,’” read Billy, “‘Bo-Bo’s father’s house burned down every time his sow had piglets.’ Would you like a turn at reading?”
    â€œI wouldn’t mind giving it a go!” Billy could tell by the casual way he spoke that Old Smoko was excited. He took the hackamore and put it on himself. “I’m glad I don’t have to put an iron bit, all wet with Old Smoko’s dribble, into my mouth,” he thought. Old Smoko sat on his shoulders, and they trotted towards home. Old Smoko read the next page, then it was his turn to put on the hackamore and carryBilly while he read the next page.
    By the time they climbed up to the farm under the Kaimais, Old Smoko could read nearly as well as Billy.
    â€œI enjoyed that story greatly,” he said. “But it has left me tormented by hunger pangs. I do wish we had a roast pig…”
    â€œMmmm!”
    â€œAnd crackling…”
    â€œMmmm!”
    â€œWhat is your stepmother cooking for your evening repast?”
    â€œShe said I’ve got to eat the rest of the mashed boiled turnip I didn’t eat last night,” said Billy. “Cold!”
    â€œMashed boiled turnip – cold!” Old Smoko shivered in sympathy. Billy took off the hackamore, and let him go in the paddock where he rolled and had a good feed of grass. Billy tried rolling, too, but he got dirt down his neck, and he didn’t like the taste of grass. He went inside and said, “Mum, I’m home.”
    â€œWhat did they learn you at school today?”
    â€œPaying attention, keeping quiet, and listening when you’re spoken to.”
    â€œI thought you said they were going to learn you to read?”
    â€œWe had to do some for homework.”
    â€œNot too much of that nonsense I hope?”
    â€œJust a bit. I did it on the way home. Can I have something to eat, please, Mum?”
    â€œHere’s a rotten apple I was going to give to the pigs yourfather and I don’t like them.” His beautiful stepmother walked across to the mirror.
    â€œThanks, Mum.” Billy shot out the door.
    The apple was full of wriggling worms and caterpillars, so he gave it to the pigs and watched them fight over it. “You know what I’d really like?” he said to Old Smoko. “I’d like to burn my fingers on a roast pig, stick them into my mouth, and crunch the crackling between my teeth!”
    â€œSome day you shall!” said Old Smoko fiercely. “I shall see to it, Billy, I promise you!” and he swished his tail and stamped his front off hoof. “I shall help you find your mother, and you shall taste roast pork and crackling – with lashings of apple sauce!”

Chapter Nine
That There Reading and a Pea Under the Mattress, Why Billy Had Feathers Round His Mouth, That There High-Falutin La-Di-Da, and Appropriate Language.
    T hat night, while Billy dried the dishes, his father said, “How about givin’ us a gink at you doing some of that there reading they learned you at school?” So Billy read the
New Zealand Herald
aloud from front to back.
    His father sat at the table and watched proudly. His stepmother looked at the reflection in her mirror and whispered to it, then sat down and listened, too.
    In those days, the paper started off with the Births and Deaths Notices on the front page and finished with the advertisements on the back. “‘Whimble’s Finest Swingletrees, Five horse set. Two pounds, four shillings, and fivepence each,’” read Billy. “‘Dr Percy’s Pink Pills for Piles. One and tuppence ha’penny a jar.’”
    He looked and saw his father and stepmother were almost asleep. Billy piggybacked and tipped them on to the bed which had a soft mattress stuffed full of downy feathers.
    “You read the
Herald
real good,” his father said sleepily.“I enjoyed them Death Notices.”
    Billy’s stepmother sniffed. “Do you want to give him a swollen head boy don’t you