Clementine Rose and the Pet Day Disaster 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

Clementine pinched her lips together trying not to smile.
    He raised his eyebrows. ‘It’ll be lovely to have the demanding old dragon back again, won’t it?’
    Clarissa rolled her eyes and shook her head. ‘Just what we need. At least this weekend there aren’t any guests booked in. I think it would be best if we had some time with just the four of us, to get used to how things will work.’
    ‘How long will Aunt Violet stay?’ Clementine asked.
    ‘I suspect she could be with us forever,’ said Clarissa. ‘She has nowhere else to go. She’s not the easiest person to get along with but she is your grandfather’s sister and I can’t just throw her out on the street. Your grandfather and Aunt Violet were very close once. And I remember that when I was a girl she was jolly good fun. I just hope we can find that Violet again.’
    ‘Under all those barnacles,’ Clementine said.
    ‘Yes, Clemmie, underneath all her crustiness,’ her mother agreed.
    ‘But she can’t have my room,’ Clementine said.
    ‘Of course she won’t have your room, Clemmie,’ her mother replied. ‘Why would you even think that?’
    ‘When she was here before, I found her in my room and she said that this was her room when she was little and she might like to have it again and make it the way it should be.’ Clementine’s face crumpled as she spoke.
    ‘Oh, sweetheart, there’s no chance of that happening. I’m putting my foot down this time. She’s having the Blue Room along the corridor up here, whether she likes it or not,’ Clarissa said firmly.
    ‘Hear, hear,’ Digby agreed. ‘I’d best go and make that call to the doctor.’ The old man disappeared from the room.
    Lavender was snuffling about on the floor at Lady Clarissa’s feet. ‘Hello you, why don’t you give Clemmie a cuddle and see if you can make her feel better,’ the woman said. She lifted the little pig up onto the bedclothes.
    Clementine hugged Lavender. Pharaoh began to purr loudly beside her too.
    ‘I’ll come and let you know when we’re seeing Dr Everingham,’ said Clarissa, then kissed the top of Clementine’s head. She looked at Clementine’s uniform, which she’d hung back up on the wardrobe door the night before. ‘Clemmie, is there anything else you’re not telling me? Did something happen yesterday?’
    Clementine shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about Angus or Mrs Bottomley or how the whole day was rubbish. She hadn’t learned to read or write or do numbers and she still couldn’t tell the time.
    After lunch, when she and Poppy and Sophie had gone to play, Angus and Joshua had followed them and wouldn’t go away. When the girls had finally agreed to a game of chasings, Angus scared Clementine half to death by hunting her into the overgrown garden at the end of the field and saying that a witch lived there. Then the school caretaker Mr Pickles had crashed into the garden and yelled that the children weren’t allowed in there because it wasn’t safe.
    In the afternoon, Mrs Bottomley had made them all lie down on the floor. She said that she as going to read them a story but then she started flipping through the magazine on her desk and making shushing noises. She told them that they should close their eyes and have a little nap. Clementine felt like a baby. She hadn’t had an afternoon nap since she was three.
    She hadn’t told her mother yet, but she wasn’t going back to school. There was no point. She could still see Sophie and Poppy at the weekend and she’d learn more from her mother and Uncle Digby than Mrs Bottomley. On top of that she wouldn’t have to worry about Angus and Joshua and all the mean things they did.
    She was hoping that Dr Everingham would help her tell her mother that this was for the best.

Uncle Digby managed to get an appointment first thing. So, just before half past eight, Clarissa and Clementine set off to Highton Mill, where the doctor had his surgery. There was no one else waiting when