Bryony Bell Tops the Bill Read Online Free PDF Page A

horror. They couldn’t. They simply couldn’t.
    A terrible silence descended. Even Little Bob stopped gurgling and pointed a chubby, wet and accusing little finger at her. Bryony appealed to Clarissa.
    â€˜Dad said I could keep them for another week. Oh Mum, please …’
    But Clarissa shook her head, clamped her lips tightly together, and sucked all the air out of her cheeks. Bryony’s heart plummeted. This did not auger at all well.
    â€˜I’m sorry, Bryony,’ Clarissa said at last, her voice shaky. ‘It’s a question of priorities. If we win
TV Family Star Turns
, the first thing we’ll do is buy you the Viper 3000s again. But we have to have costumes, Bryony. We need to match, and we need to look glamorous. You know whatthe telly’s like — it’s all image.’ She sighed. ‘It’s a real shame, love, I know.’
    â€˜But Mum,’ Bryony tried again, ‘I need the Vipers. I’ve got an idea and without the Vipers it just won’t work. Just one more week …’
    Clarissa was not to be moved.
    â€˜I know you, Bryony. You’ll say you won’t scuff them, but you will. Fetch them,’ she said, kindly but firmly. ‘With the box. Your father will take them to the post office first thing tomorrow morning.’
    Then she turned to the other children, her eyebrows high and her emerald green eyeshadow flashing a warning. ‘And if I hear one more word about this from you lot, I’m warning you — there’ll be hell to pay. This is not easy for Bryony. Understood?’
    Angelina and Melody blushed deeply and looked at their toes contritely. Melissa opened her mouth to whine and had her foot stepped on by Melody. Emmy-Lou nodded sagely and said, ‘We hear you, Mum.’ Then they all muttered their apologies and trailed back into the living room to rekindle the flames of sisterly devotion.
    Eyes burning, Bryony climbed the stairs. Never had the clouds above her head seemed so dark. When she got to her bedroom she knelt down and slid out the Viper 3000s box, lifted thelid for the last time and watched her tears fall at last, to lie sparkling like diamonds on the white fibreglass composite uppers.
    â€˜Sorry, Abid,’ she whispered as she laid the rollerskates to rest, covered them over with tissue paper, and said goodbye.
    When she plodded back down to hand them over, Clarissa took the box with a reassuring smile. ‘Chin up, Bryony,’ she said. ‘We’re bound to win, and then you’ll get them back.’
    â€˜Is Dad home yet?’ Bryony asked.
    â€˜I believe he is,’ said Clarissa frostily. ‘I’d check the potting shed, if I were you. And tell him his dinner’s on, though I’m blowed if he deserves it.’

Chapter: Six
    â€˜Oh Dad…’
    Big Bob was sitting in the shed on a tea-chest padded with faded gold cushions, polishing his big brown boots. When he saw her, he gave Bryony such a sympathetic look that she nearly burst into tears all over again. Putting the shoe brush back in the box by his side, he wiped his dungarees and patted his knee. Bryony perched precariously on it, leaning on his shiny little bald patch to balance herself.
    Talk about being in the doghouse, Bryony,’ Big Bob sighed. ‘Didn’t expect your mum to go looking at the Special Expenses Account this week.’
    â€˜Do I really twist you round my little finger, Dad?’ Bryony asked suddenly, hooking her pinkie under Big Bob’s shirt collar and tugging. ‘Did I really wheedle at you till you got me the Vipers?’
    Big Bob patted Bryony’s back and smiled.
    â€˜Not a bit of it, lass,’ he assured her. Then helowered his voice. ‘Just between you and me and the potting compost,’ he whispered, ‘I sometimes think
The Singing Bells
go a bit over the score, so to speak.
    â€˜The little ‘uns are really mad at me, Dad,’ Bryony said.