Penny Pencil - Chapter 1

chapter 1

McPaper’s Books and Stationery Supplies

It was the end of the summer holidays.

McPaper’s Books and Stationery Supplies was full of customers. Mothers and children, eager to go back to school, were buying exercise books, biros,  pencils, rulers, rubbers, bottles of glue, sticky-tape, scissors, pencil-cases,  textas, folders and textbooks. Not only were the mothers and children excited (and of course Mr McPaper, who hadn’t had a single customer all summer!), but the items for sale in McPaper’s Books and Stationery Supplies were absolutely jumping for joy. Finally, after sitting on the shelves all summer, with nobody even walking into the shop, they were being picked up by smiling children and thrust into shopping bags. A little girl called Sarah, wearing a blue ribbon in her hair, was the only child in the shop without her mother. Sarah lived with her grandmother who was very poor.  ‘Granny, Granny! Look at that lovely, big box of coloured pencils! There are  twentyfour and they look so pretty. Can we buy them? Please?’ begged Sarah. Sarah’s grandmother looked in her purse and frowned. She only had twelve euro left and they still had to buy Sarah a dictionary. ‘Let’s have a look at the dictionaries first,’ she said, taking Sarah firmly by the hand and steering her away from the coloured pencil section.

‘Oh, look!’ said Sarah as they got to the aisle where the dictionaries were for sale. ‘Mr McPaper is having a special! If you buy one of these coloured dictionaries then you get a free pencil! I’d like the blue one!’ Sarah pointed to the last blue dictionary sitting on the top shelf, which was too high for her to reach. Sarah’s grandmother, who was only a little taller than Sarah, reached up to the top shelf and picked up the  dictionary. She turned it over and looked at the price tag. It cost nine euro. They wouldn’t be able to afford both the dictionary and the coloured pencils. She handed the book to Sarah. ‘Wow!’ said Sarah, opening the dictionary. ‘Even the words are in colour!  This is a cool dictionary!’ she said, then quickly cupped her hand over her  mouth in case anyone from school was nearby and had heard her say that a schoolbook was cool. Sarah quickly took the dictionary to the cash register, forgetting all about the coloured pencils. Sarah’s grandmother breathed a sigh of relief, paid Mr McPaper for the dictionary, and walked Sarah out of the shop before she had time to remember the coloured pencils. On the way out, Sarah bumped into her best friend Ralph, who was shopping with his mother. ‘Hi Ralph! Look at the dictionary we just bought. It’s blue and the words are in colour! And look – it comes with a free pencil!’ said Sarah, showing Ralph her new purchase. ‘That’s exactly what you need, Ralph,’ said Ralph’s mother. ‘Something to help you with your spelling.’ Ralph winced. He knew he wasn’t very good at spelling (or sums or anything else  at school for that matter), but it was embarrassing for his mother to keep mentioning it in front of people. ‘I’d prefer a red one …’ mumbled Ralph,  looking at his shoes. Sarah also looked at the ground, not knowing what to  say. ‘Well, I’m sure you have a lot to do, so we won’t keep you,’ said Sarah’s grandmother, noticing that the children had grown quiet. ‘Come along,  Sarah.’ ‘Tsk, tsk,’ said Dictionary, a wise, old red dictionary, to the free pencil that was sticky-taped to it. They’d both been observing the conversation in the shop doorway by peering over the shelf of atlases in front of them. ‘Whatever is the world coming to? Choosing a dictionary based on its colour, rather than the quality of the definitions within …’ ‘Oh, cheer up,’ said Penny Pencil. ‘Now that all the blue dictionaries have been sold, someone who likes red will come along and buy us! Maybe even that little boy in the doorway.’ Penny tried to turn her body to get a better look at the people walking up and down the aisle, but it is very difficult to move when you’re stickytaped to a big, red dictionary. ‘Somebody who likes red will buy us indeed!’ snorted Dictionary. ‘Haven’t you learned anything I taught you all summer?’ ‘What?’ said Penny, a little distracted as she watched the customers hopefully. ‘Humans!’ continued Dictionary disdainfully. ‘All of them searching for the meaning of life. All they have to  do is pick me up, turn to page 427, and they’ll find it

…’

Penny was used to Dictionary rabbiting on about the meaning of different words. She’d actually learned quite a lot from him over the summer – what different words meant and how to spell them. But today wasn’t like all the other summer days, sitting on the shelf watching people pass by the shop without ever stepping inside. Today the shop was full of people, and Penny was sure that soon a little girl (or boy) would point to her and Dictionary and ask their mother if they could buy them. ‘Look, Dictionary,’ said Penny,  training at her sticky-tape to look at the boys and girls walking along the  aisles. ‘Somebody will buy us any minute now! Maybe that little girl with the pink ribbon in her hair, or that little boy carrying the blue truck …’ But before Penny could finish her sentence there was a sharp jerk and she was almost blinded by bright lights. ‘What’s happening?’ she said, trying to wriggle close to Dictionary for safety, even though the sticky-tape was already holding her on tightly. Suddenly everything went dark again, and all she could hear was the sound of Dictionary laughing. ‘What are you  laughing about? What’s so funny?’ said Penny angrily. As it was, she was  feeling a little seasick, and whenever Dictionary laughed he always shook a little, which made Penny feel quite queasy indeed! ‘Would you stop it?’ demanded Penny as the shaking got worse and worse. ‘I have stopped,’ said Dictionary, but the shaking was still there. ‘Then why are we still shaking? And why is it so dark? Where have the atlases gone?’ asked Penny, feeling very sick and very frightened.  ‘I’d say,’ began Dictionary in the reassuring voice he used with Penny when she got confused about the meaning of a particularly long word, ‘that the atlases are still on the shelf, while we are in  a shopping bag on our way to the check-out!’  ‘You mean …’ began Penny, so excited that she forgot that she was feeling sick. ‘Yes. Someone is buying us!’ said Dictionary. And even though he was a wise, old dictionary, Penny thought he sounded a little bit excited too. All of a sudden there was a loud bang and the shaking stopped. Dictionary groaned a little.  ‘Be careful,  Ralph!’ said a woman’s voice. ‘You don’t want to have to buy Mr McPaper a new counter, do you?’ ‘Sorry, Mr McPaper,’ said a little boy’s voice. ‘Oh, that’s all right, Ralph,’ said Mr McPaper chuckling. ‘Lots of books  have landed on the counter this morning.What are we buying today?’ he asked, reaching into the shopping bag. Penny felt a jerk and suddenly she  was blinded by the bright ceiling lights again. ‘Ah! One of the red  dictionaries. The blue ones are more popular,’ continued Mr McPaper. ‘Oh, red’s my favourite colour!’ said Ralph, and before Penny and  Dictionary were put back in the shopping bag, Penny caught a glimpse of a little boy with red hair, green eyes and freckles, wearing a red T-shirt.

 ‘We’re not buying the dictionary because it’s red, Ralph.We’re buying it to help you with your spelling!’ said Ralph’s mother firmly. ‘Having trouble with spelling, are we?’ said Mr McPaper, looking at Ralph over the top of his glasses. Ralph looked at the ground and nodded his head. ‘I bet your spelling’s not so bad. How do you spell lollipop?’ asked Mr McPaper. ‘L-O-L-L-I-P-O-P,’ said Ralph. ‘See?’ said Mr McPaper, smiling and giving Ralph a red lollipop. ‘You know how to spell the important words at least!  Now enjoy yourself at school tomorrow.’ Ralph’s mother paid Mr McPaper for Dictionary and Penny, and picked up the shopping bag. The shaking began again but this time Penny didn’t feel seasick. She was happy to be going home with a little boy, who would put her in his pencil-case, take her to school, and write with her. And she was going to do her best to help him learn to spell.

xtract courtesy of Mercier Press www.mercierpress.ie