Lemonade Sky. Jean Ure

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СКАЧАТЬ you rather it was you?”

      Tizz hunched a shoulder.

      “You want to take over?” I pushed the pad towards her, but she shoved it back at me.

      “I don’t want it!”

      I knew she wouldn’t. The thing about Tizz, she may be sharp as needles and full of mouth, but she is far too impatient to ever sit down and actually plan anything. She also hates being told what to do. It is a constant battle! I know that I am not as bright as she is, but I do usually get things done in the end. Slow but sure, is what Mum says.

      “OK!” I reached out for a pen. “We’re going to sit here,” I said, “and make a shopping list.”

      In the end, we made two lists. The first was things we had to have:

      Bread

      Milk

      Marge

      Cheese

      Eggs

      Cereal

      Mostly chosen by me.

      The second was things we’d like to have:

      Pizza

      Fish Fingers

      Chocolate Biscuits

      Orange Squash

      Sugar

      Jam

      Meatballs

      All of them chosen by Tizz and Sammy.

      “We’ll have to go to Tesco,” I said. “You can get stuff cheaper there.”

      Tizz didn’t like that idea. She complained that it was a long way to walk and we’d have to carry heavy bags back with us. I told her that couldn’t be helped.

      “We’ve got to go where it’s cheapest.”

      Tizz said, “That’s not fair on Mr Petrides. He’s a small shopkeeper. He has to be saved! It’s people like you,” said Tizz, “that put people like him out of business.”

      I did feel a slight twinge of guilt, cos in the past Mr and Mrs Petrides had been really good to us. Sometimes when Mum ran out of money they’d actually let us take stuff and pay for it later. You couldn’t do that at Tesco. But I hardened my heart. I had to! It was a question of survival.

      “I bet if we asked him,” said Tizz, “he’d let us have things on tick.”

      On tick was what Mum called it when she couldn’t afford to pay. I think maybe it meant that Mr Petrides put a tick by the side of her name in his account book.

      “We’ll only do that if we get desperate,” I said. “Otherwise he might ask questions, like where’s your mum or why hasn’t she been in?”

      “Mm… I s’ppose.” Tizz said it reluctantly, but at least it stopped her arguing. The one thing we were terrified of was people asking questions. We’d be safe in Tesco cos nobody knew us.

      I put all the money in my purse except for five £1 coins and five 20p pieces. Tizz watched, suspiciously.

      “What are you doing with that lot?”

      I said, “Saving it. I’m going to put this –” I scooped up the 20p pieces – “in here.” I dropped them into the saucer that Mum kept on the windowsill. “They’re in case we need a bit extra. And this –” the five pound coins – “is our emergency fund. I’m going to leave it indoors so we can’t spend it. I’m going to hide it somewhere. Somewhere safe. Like…” I roamed about the kitchen, looking for a hiding place. “In with the flour!”

      There was a half packet of flour in the cupboard, with an elastic band wrapped round it. I pushed the coins in there and put the flour back on the shelf.

      Tizz said, “I bet that’s the first place a burglar would think of looking.”

      I told her that I wasn’t scared of burglars. “I’m scared of it getting lost.”

      “Like it absolutely would,” said Tizz, “if it wasn’t hidden in a bag of flour. I mean, if it was just put in an ordinary purse like any normal person would put it.”

      “I just don’t want us being tempted into spending it,” I said. “We’ve got to have something to fall back on.”

      Tizz said, “Yeah, like living on bread and marge. Yuck!”

      Sammy said, “Ugh! Yuck! Bluurgh.”

      They both bent over and pretended to be sick.

      “We want chips,” said Tizz. “We want pizza! We want—”

      “Fishy fingers!”

      “Yay!”

      Tizz and Sammy smacked their hands together in a triumphant high five. I was glad that Sammy had cheered up, but I did hope we weren’t going to have scenes in Tesco. I wasn’t sure I could cope with that. It would be just so embarrassing! Everyone would look at us, especially if Sammy worked herself up into one of her states. Just now and again, if she can’t get what she wants, she’ll throw herself on the ground and drum her heels and refuse to get up. Mum is the only one who knows how to deal with her.

      “I think,” said Tizz, “if you want my opinion, we ought to be allowed to have whatever we want to have. Without you dictating to us!”

      “Just buy nice things,” said Sammy.

      “Yeah! Right. ‘Stead of all that boring muck!” Tizz waved a hand at my list of things we had to have.

      I felt quite cross with her. She wasn’t being at all helpful.

      “Let’s put down some other stuff.” Tizz snatched up the second list and added CRISPS in big capital letters at the bottom of it.

      “Sweeties!” shouted Sammy.

      “SWEETIES,” wrote Tizz.

      She was being deliberately provoking. I almost felt like throwing my purse at her and telling her to get on with it. Let her take the responsibility. But of course she wouldn’t; not when it came to it. She just wanted to challenge my authority. It is very difficult, sometimes, being the oldest, especially when you have a sister who refuses to do what she’s told. And keeps getting the littlest one all worked up. I could see that Sammy was well on the way to having one of her screaming fits.

      “Listen,” I said. I squatted down beside her. Even a five-year-old can be made to see reason. “We’ll try to buy some nice things, I promise you! But nice things are expensive and we can’t afford too many of СКАЧАТЬ