Kiss My Name Read Online Free PDF Page B

delight, I did get to share a bucket of popcorn with Nicky, Joey didn’t like popcorn so he had a bar of chocolate instead.
    “She doesn’t half spoil you, doesn’t she?” Mum said.
    “Who?” I said as I was thinking about Nicky.
    “Joey’s Mum.”
    “Yeh, I suppose so.”
    “I think it’s because her girls have grown up, so she knows Joey is the only one left to spoil. Plus, of course, they have the money to spoil their kids because his Mum and Dad both have good jobs. Shows the benefit of working hard at school that, Si.”
    “Like you and Dad did?”
    Mum and Dad had one “O” level between them.
    “Yes, but you can learn from our mistakes, love.”
    “I’m never going to be a lawyer, Mum, I’m not all that clever.”
    “You might surprise yourself.”
    “Maybe.”
    “You will eat your tea though, won’t you?”
    “Yes, Mum.”
    “Anyway, you still haven’t told me about Top Gun! You’ve been dying to see that. Was it as good as you expected?”
    “Yeh.”
    “Is that it, ‘yeh’? It’s like getting blood out of a stone with you men! I should have had girls. They know how to chat properly.”
    “Mum, it was really good!”
    “How was it good? What was it about? What did you enjoy about it? Come on, Simon, spill the beans.”
    Mum managed to coax out of me all the details about Top Gun and for once, a real, detailed conversation ensued for a few minutes, until I was distracted by the sound of my Dad’s ladders being positioned against the side of our house. Moments later, my Dad entered the kitchen through the back door. It was ‘House Rules’ that we all had to enter via the back door, unless we had been dropped off, when we were told to enter via the front door, so we could wave goodbye, after remembering to say ‘thank you for having me’ to our hosts. Politeness was hammered into our bodies like nails into wood.
    “What a day!” my Dad said as he took his shoes off on the back door mat, “sunburnt this morning, then soaked this afternoon! I tell you, it could only happen in England!”
    Sweeping statements were a speciality of my father’s. Dad was a bubbly, outspoken man. He was only quite a small man, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in personality and width. Dad was extremely broad, almost square, ironic given he matched the shape of the Mr.Man who shared his surname.
    “What’s for tea?” he asked.
    “Braising steak for us, fish fingers for the boys.”
    “Is Colin upstairs?”
    “No, he went out playing cricket earlier and he’s not come back yet.”
    “I’m pretty sure rain will have stopped play by now.”
    “Yes, I’m sure it has, ” Mum said, “he’ll be mucking around in some puddles with his friends or playing on someone’s Commodore. I’ll ring around if he’s not back in half an hour.”
    “I thought he was sticking with you?” Dad said to me as he took his wet top off and threw it so it landed on the floor by the washing machine. In the summer, he was always tanned, every sunny day he would clean windows without his top on, to impress the ladies, no doubt, as he had a pretty muscular torso for a Dad.
    “He was with me this morning, but I went to see Top Gun with Joey and Nicky.”
    “Why didn’t our Col go with you?” Dad asked.
    “We wanted him to, but he wanted to play cricket. We voted on it and he lost.”
    “You should have just taken him then.”
    “I tried to,” I lied knowing that I hadn’t really bent over backwards to persuade him, “but he just went off in a mood saying he was coming back here to get his cricket stuff.”
    “He’s a stubborn sod, that lad. I’ll have words with him when he gets back. He just can’t wander off on his own every time it takes his fancy. If he’s left here with you, he should come back here with you, simple as that....anyway, I’m off to have a shower, clean myself up before tea. Is the immersion on, love?”
    “Yes,” my Mum replied, “and there are fresh towels in the airing