The quarterly event ‘What I did on my holidays’ was a concept tailor-made for a girl like Veronica; she listened patiently as her classmates recounted where they were going when a hailstone the size of a coin, (a coin, mind you!), hit the roof of their car, or why the white seashell they found on their Summer holidays was a thousand times better than the identical white seashells five other kids in the class found on theirs, but it wasn’t because she was any more interested than anyone else was. It was because she was better than all of them, and she had the toys to prove it. When school resumed after the 1977 spring holidays, the usual assortment of gaudy travel favours was trotted out, including no less than twelve seashells, (four brown, eight white), which were displayed by their rather sheepish owners, many of whom were repeat offenders. Veronica sat ramrod straight, hands folded on her desk, smiling. She was still number one. The child who held the dubious honour of going on immediately after her that day was Samantha, and seeing as her parents never took her anywhere, her offerings were meagre, to say the least. But this term, she had a surprise for everybody.
When Samantha’s name was called, she took the glass jar out from under her desk and gingerly made her way to the front of the room, shuffling past four rows of desks, eyes fixed on the floor, determined not to make a misstep and drop her precious cargo.
‘And what do you have for us, Samantha?’ Miss Smart smiled.
Samantha breathed audibly and held up the jar.
‘Ladybirds! My goodness!’
Susan beamed at the collective “Oohs” and “Ah’s” of most of her classmates. Veronica Walsh was smiling, too, but not with her eyes. She listened patiently as Miss Smart gave detailed instructions on the care and feeding of creatures that were, after all, bugs. Bugs! As far as Veronica was concerned, every other person in the room was an idiot, and that included her teacher. Her doll cost forty dollars! How could they be so impressed by pests that she, and any other normal person, would squelch underfoot if they weren’t safely contained in their little glass flat?
‘Thank you, Samantha, for bringing your pets in to show us; I think we’ve all learned a great deal today. Boys and girls?’
The children gave Samantha a round of applause and she bowed, very nearly dropping the jar in the process. Miss Smart caught it just as it was about to hit the floor.
‘Why don’t I take these and put them on the window sill until the end of the day?’
Samantha nodded and returned to her seat, still glowing. She got as far as the desk at the end of the second row and stopped dead. Its occupant grinned darkly.
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