JT chapter sampler

CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS MOSTLY PINK, soft and fluffy on top, rock-hard and ribbed on the bottom. And boy, did it hurt. ‘No, Mum,’ I pleaded. ‘Not the slipper. Please. I’m sorry.’ Too late … Mum had already turned her night-time footwear into a weapon. Kicked from her foot and caught in hand, the slipper was a whip: cocked and ready to crack. ‘You are getting it, boy,’ she howled. ‘You can’t behave like that.’ We got yelled at when we were bad. We got the slipper when we were worse. ‘Come here now,’ she said, her voice all no- nonsense and direct. ‘You’re getting a smack. Come over here and get it now.’ Oh no.

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