The Tennis Party Read Online Free PDF Page A

the corner of the house, carrying Toby on his shoulders.
    ‘Hi, everyone,’ he said.
    ‘What a sweet little boy!’ cried Valerie.
    ‘Have some Pimm’s,’ said Patrick. ‘Have you met Don and Valerie?’
    ‘How do you do?’ said Stephen. ‘I’m Stephen Fairweather.’
    ‘And who’s this?’ said Valerie archly at Toby. Toby buried his face in his father’s neck.
    ‘Our son, Toby,’ said Annie.
    ‘What a gorgeous creature,’ said Valerie, ‘I do love children.’
    Nicola followed round the corner, with a drenched T-shirt and gleaming spectacles. Her right leg dragged slightly as she went, and she was panting.
    ‘The sprinkler’s brilliant !’ she said. ‘It’s better than going swimming.’
    ‘You look as if you have been swimming!’ said Caroline, smiling warmly at Nicola. ‘Does Georginaknow you’re here? She can’t wait to see you.’ Nicola flushed slightly with pleasure.
    ‘I haven’t seen her,’ she said.
    ‘She must be in her room,’ said Caroline. ‘Do you want to go and find her? Or do you want to cool down and have a Coke?’
    ‘I think I’ll go and find her,’ said Nicola, looking with alarm at the smart chairs and strangers on the terrace.
    ‘You know where her room is. Take Toby, too, if you like.’
    ‘Yes, go on, Tobes,’ said Stephen. ‘Go and annoy the big ones.’ He grinned at Nicola.
    As Nicola hurried off, Toby in tow, Valerie turned to Annie with a mixture of horror and sympathy on her face.
    ‘Oh dear, poor little girl,’ she said. She had a high, rather flutey voice. ‘It must be so difficult for you.’
    ‘Not really,’ said Annie.
    ‘She must be a very loving creature,’ continued Valerie. ‘I read in an article that children with disabilities are often the most rewarding.’
    Annie and Stephen glanced at each other.
    ‘But your little boy,’ she continued, ‘he’s quite normal, is he? I must say, he looks a charming child.’Nicola proceeded timidly along the long, cool corridors of The White House, trying to remember which door was Georgina’s. She kept a firm grip on Toby; Georgina’s house was full of things, balanced on pedestals and shelves, which she recognized as both expensive and easily broken. She vaguely supposed that was why Caroline and Patrick hadn’t had any more children after Georgina. Everyone knew Georgina was neat and tidy and never dropped things or ran into them; but if they’d had someone clumsy like her, or Toby, who never kept still . . . They passed a little table laden with Lladro china ornaments and she shuddered to think of them all lying broken on the floor; knocked off by a sweeping arm movement or one of Toby’s tennis balls.
    Eventually she thought she’d found the right door and knocked timidly.
    ‘Come in!’
    Georgina was sitting at her desk by the window, and she looked up, her face bright, as they entered.
    ‘Brilliant! You’re here!’ she said. ‘Why are you all wet?’
    ‘We went under the sprinklers,’ said Nicola, a little shamefacedly.
    ‘I do that sometimes,’ said Georgina, kindly. ‘Do you want a drink of water?’
    ‘Yes please,’ said Nicola, watching mesmerized asGeorgina went to a large transparent water dispenser in the corner of her room.
    ‘Isn’t it brilliant?’ said Georgina. ‘Mummy got it for me because I’m always coming out for drinks of water at night. The water in my bathroom is yuck.’
    She returned to her desk and lifted up a sheet of paper covered with writing.
    ‘I’ve got a plan sorted out for what we’re going to do!’
    ‘Can’t we go and see Arabia?’ said Nicola.
    ‘Of course,’ said Georgina. ‘But we need something for this afternoon.’ Nicola took a sip of water. It was cool, clean and delicious. She looked at Georgina and waited.
    ‘I’ve decided we’re going to do a play,’ said Georgina. ‘We can make one up. Isn’t it a brilliant idea? We can rehearse today and do the performance tomorrow. We can have costumes and everything. What do