T.J. and the Penalty Read Online Free PDF

large West Indian lady pushed her way to the front. ‘Excuse me,’ she said. ‘Are you calling my daughter a liar?’
    Mr Grayson took a step back. ‘No, madam. Of course not. But the inspection of a school is a serious matter. We don’t want to make any mistakes.’
    ‘I should think not,’ said Loretta’s mum. ‘It would be a very big mistake to say anything bad about this school, I can tell you. Look at all the wonderful things they have done here today. Shame on you.’
    There was a cheer from the crowd. TJ and Tulsi led the inspectors on to look at the other stalls. ‘That told you, eh, Charles?’ said Mr Turvey, and TJ thought he saw just the hint of a smile on his face.
    But Mr Grayson frowned even harder, as they went from stall to stall and saw that every class had produced posters and recipes and even little booklets. ‘It’s like a different school from the one we visited last term,’ he said suspiciously. ‘Something fishy is going on here.’
    ‘No,’ Tulsi said with a grin. ‘You can just smell Rodrigo’s stall, that’s all.’ She pointed at the bowls of fishy food. TJ kicked her. He had the feeling that Mr Grayson didn’t have a sense of humour.
    ‘Let’s take a look at the football,’ Mr Turvey said. ‘I see you have a pupil organizing it all.’
    ‘This is Rob,’ TJ said. ‘The one who likes facts. He’s in charge.’
    Rob had drawn out a complicated plan to show who was playing who, and which of the three small pitches they were playing on.
    ‘We have to have three pitches,’ he explained. ‘Otherwise we’ll never get all the matches played. But that’s OK. Mini-pitches for a mini-World Cup. We’re having mini-matches too, only two minutes each way.’
    ‘This is incredible,’ Mr Turvey said, studying Rob’s plan. ‘You’ve done a complete timetable!’
    ‘Are you planning to enter a team?’ Rob asked him. ‘I can let you have time to think about it.’ He looked at his watch. ‘You have an hour and twenty-three minutes before the first match. That’s so people can recover from all the eating,’ he added.
    For the first time, Mr Turvey’s face broke into a smile. ‘I don’t think so,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid my footballing days are over.’
    ‘Mr Coggins is playing,’ Rob said. ‘I’m sure he’s a lot older than you are. He’s in the dinner ladies’ team. They’re Mexico.’
    TJ made his way back to his mum and dad’s stall, where he saw a familiar tall figure in a woolly hat tucking into a bowl of his dad’s lamb and peas. ‘Hi, Marshall,’ he said. ‘You’re not going to play, are you?’
    ‘No way! We’ve got a game tomorrow. Imagine if I got injured again! I’ll tell you what though – why don’t I ref some matches? I don’t mind doing that.’
    ‘And you have to officially open the World Cup,’ Tulsi said. ‘Please?’
    ‘Well, OK,’ laughed Marshall. ‘But first I want to eat some more of this food. Where did you get this recipe? It’s fantastic. Just like my granny used to make in Jamaica.’
    ‘I got it from
my
granny,’ laughed Mr Wilson. ‘Hey, maybe my granny knew your granny!’
    TJ left them eating and laughing. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. He spotted Mrs Hubbard, the school cook, standing at Tulsi’s stall. ‘I don’t like spicy food,’ she was saying, wrinkling her nose. ‘Never have.’
    ‘Why don’t you try some of this aubergine?’ Tulsi’s mum said.
    ‘Oh, no. I couldn’t. I don’t like those overjean thingies.’
    ‘I bet you’ve never even tried one,’ Jamie said. ‘They’re great. Everything Mrs Patel’s made is great. I’ve tried it all!’
    ‘Jamie!’ said TJ. ‘You’re trying to stay fit.’
    ‘It’s OK,’ Jamie said. ‘I’m having a day off . I’ll start again tomorrow. Go on, Mrs Hubbard. Try some.’
    Mrs Hubbard took the little bowl from Mrs Patel and sniffed it suspiciously. ‘Hmm,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t smell too bad, I suppose.’
    She put some in