The Testament of Jessie Lamb Read Online Free PDF Page B

fads,’ said Mum. ‘Did you see the state of the kitchen?’
    I agreed that it was bad.
    â€˜It’s all or nothing, with Mand. She’s been like that ever since we were kids. When she’s happy she does 20 things at once, and when she’s sad…’
    â€˜But how can she be happy, if she’s not allowed to have a baby?’
    â€˜That’s a good question, Jess.’
    I wanted there to be an answer. I guess it was the first time I ever took MDS seriously.

Chapter 5
    At the next meeting Iain brought his laptop and showed us a bunch of websites. They were all about the things people’d said the week before–climate change, animal lib, carbon-rationing. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘So how are we going to be different?’
    Nathan said, ‘It’s through airports that MDS spread. We need to stop planes from taking off.’ Everyone started laughing and suggesting more and more drastic things, but Nat was deadly serious. His face was white and strained, like he had to put a huge effort into making himself speak. ‘We have to do something, that’s the only point of this. It’s not a game.’
    Baz was nodding and drumming on the side of his chair. ‘Everything that’s gone wrong is connected. Scientists think they can do what they want, just muck about with anything.’
    â€˜We shouldn’t have to live with adults,’ said Lisa suddenly. ‘We can look after ourselves.’ Everyone stared at her. ‘We’re not stupid. Why should we be kept like–like pets ? By them? Why should we let them tell us what to do?’
    As people grasped what she was saying they began to nod.
    â€˜They’ve killed our mothers,’ she said. ‘We should have the right to decide what to do for ourselves, not be dictated to by them. They’ve lost their rights. Because they abused them.’
    â€˜Where will you live?’ asked Ahmed.
    â€˜Anywhere,’ she said. ‘We can take over some houses. And not let any adults in.’
    â€˜Like a Wendy house,’ sneered one of the boys, and the others laughed.
    Lisa fired straight back at him. ‘No other animals keep their young for 18 years! Kids of 6 can fend for themselves. Why do we let ourselves be imprisoned by them?’ I wondered about her dad. It must have been awful for him.
    â€˜We’ve got more sense than adults,’ piped up Gabe. ‘We don’t start wars!’
    â€˜Never mind animal lib,’ said Lisa to Nat. ‘What about kids’ lib? What about us telling them how to run things? We are the victims of every stupid thing they do.’
    â€˜We are the best!’ yelled Gabe, and everyone laughed.
    Lisa’s a year younger than me but she’s not afraid of anyone. She has long fuzzy brown hair and a pointed face hidden in the middle of it, and when she gets going her cheeks flush pink and a deep frown-crease forms between her eyes. Her idea about kids living separately was the best one at that meeting. It was easy to feel a bit futile when you saw how many protest groups there already were in the world.
    â€˜But every individual can make a difference,’ Iain said. He told us about the trees in China. In the 20th century it had lost nearly all its trees, causing terrible erosion. The Chinese decided that every person must plant three trees a year, and up to now they’ve planted 45 billion! Forests flourish where deserts were. Even if we couldn’t turn back the tide, and wipe out MDS–we could still show . We could show that we weren’t just interested in grabbing as much of the earth’s resources for ourselves, as our parents. We could create less waste. We could stop air travel. We could live together in groups, without the dead weight of adults’ lives pressing down on us. And maybe, if we could get enough people to join us, trying to create a different way of living on the planet, maybe that in