Kitabı oku: «On Planet Fruitcake», sayfa 2

3

On Planet Fruitcake

On Planet Fruitcake. Philip sat quietly, wondering what it meant. It sounded like some upside-down world in which teachers didn’t want anyone to have ideas of their own, and people like him put up their hands in class and joined in the discussions.

It was a really strange idea. And he wasn’t the only one to think so. Clearly Miss Dove did too, because she was saying, ‘Of course we don’t live on Planet Fruitcake! And I’m so sure we don’t, I’ll make a bet with you. You can all use your brains and think for a whole day, and if I once get cross or lose my temper, I’ll buy the whole class a present.’

Everyone giggled at the very idea of sweet, kind, gentle Miss Dove losing her temper.

Except for Astrid. She just asked, ‘What sort of present?’

‘I haven’t had time to think.’ Miss Dove smiled. ‘And you’re not going to get one anyway. I’m going to win the bet because we don’t live on Planet Fruitcake. No one does.’

Still, Philip thought, it was a nice idea. On Planet Fruitcake he’d be someone who put up his hand and joined in the discussions, just like everyone else.

Yes, Planet Fruitcake was the place to be.

4

An axe dripping with blood

‘Right,’ Miss Dove said encouragingly next morning. ‘Ready to use your brains? Are all the tiny wheels inside your heads well-oiled and spinning nicely?’

Everyone nodded. It was cloudier today, and nowhere near so hot and stuffy. Everyone, even Astrid, felt ready to think.

‘Good.’ Miss Dove beamed. ‘Then we’ll begin the minute we get back from Assembly.’

But Philip started sooner than that. Because in Assembly Mrs Carter gave a little talk. ‘Anyone can knock someone over in the playground by accident,’ she said. ‘But they should never try to put the blame on someone else. It’s never, ever right to tell a lie.’

All the way back to the classroom, Philip was thinking. He knew that, if he lived on Planet Fruitcake, he would have something to say to the whole class. He’d put his hand up, just like all the others did.

Why not? Why couldn’t he pretend he lived there. No one would know.

Before he could even think about it for one more minute, Philip had raised his hand.

Miss Dove stared.

So did everyone else.

Miss Dove said kindly, ‘I see your hand’s up, Philip. Have you left something in the hall you need to go back and fetch?’

‘No,’ Philip said. ‘I wanted to tell you that what Mrs Carter just said to us – that it’s never, ever right to tell a lie – well, that’s plain wrong.’

Everyone stared even harder. Then Miss Dove asked him gently, ‘What makes you say that, Philip?’

He wasn’t going to admit he only said it because he was pretending that he was on Planet Fruitcake. So he said, ‘Because that’s what I think.’ And then, because they were still gazing at him in astonishment, he told them what he had been thinking all the way back from Assembly.

‘Suppose you looked out of your window and saw a man waving an axe dripping with blood, and terrified people scuttling away up an alley. If he called up to ask you if you could see anyone trying to hide from him, it would be right to say you couldn’t.’

‘That’s true!’ Arif agreed. ‘You’d say one tiny thing that wasn’t true, but you’d save people’s lives.’

They all chimed in. ‘Yes. That’s much more important.’

‘What could be wrong with that?’

They sat and watched as Miss Dove had a quick think about it. In the end she said, ‘Well, that’s a special example.’

‘Still,’ Astrid said. ‘It proves that Mrs Carter’s wrong.’

5

Horribly dangerous

It seemed that most of the class agreed. ‘Yes, it proves Mrs Carter’s wrong.’

Miss Dove shook her head. ‘No, I don’t think so. Philip has given us a really good example, but you can’t judge by only one.’

Philip sat quietly for a moment. But all the tiny wheels inside his head were well-oiled and spinning nicely. And he had another idea.

If he lived on Planet Fruitcake, he would put up his hand again to share it with the class.

Why not?

Up went his hand again. ‘Please, Miss Dove, I can think of another example. Suppose a boy runs into the street without looking, to try to catch his puppy, and gets knocked down. Then paramedics come in the ambulance, and tell him he has to keep absolutely still while they put a big plastic splint around his neck.’

‘In case he’s broken it?’ asked Helen.

‘That’s right,’ said Philip. ‘But just as they’re putting on the splint – terribly, terribly carefully – the boy asks if his puppy’s all right. Well, I think, even if the paramedics didn’t know, it would be better if they told him his pet was fine. At least till the splint was on.’

‘Yes,’ everyone agreed. ‘That would be better.’

‘Or else the boy would get upset and move his head about.’ Tamara shuddered. ‘That would be horribly dangerous.’

‘Yes,’ Paul agreed. ‘So even if the paramedics actually knew that what they were saying was a lie, they should still say it.’

Philip looked round the class. He couldn’t help feeling a little proud because it was obvious that everyone agreed with him, not with Miss Dove.

Miss Dove gave all of them a very vinegary look, the same way the janitor did when they tracked mud all over the clean floors. ‘Oh, come on, class! Things like that aren’t going to happen very often, are they?’

‘Small children get run over all the time,’ Tom pointed out. ‘And lots of them must have been running into the road without looking, chasing their pets.’

‘It could be happening right now, out on the street,’ said Tamara.

Everyone swivelled in their seats to stare out of the window and check.