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JayMerill
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outside and play. Because
I had to do checks like this,
I had to be private.
But the worst happened. I
was just breezing around,
my hands doing the windy-
flowing motion and my
body swaying in a similar
way when all at once there
came the soundof clapping
and a bit of laughter from
behind me. From the
other side of the hedge.
I turned, looked round.
There were my mum and
dad and Mum’s sister,
Auntie Errie and her kid,
my cousin Craig. His head
was just showing above
the top of the hedge. At
once, I remembered that
Dad had been planning to
pick up Craig and Auntie
Errie after going to sort
out his car. I must have
been doing my secret
dance routine for ages. I’d
forgotten time altogether.
Mum and Auntie Errie
were clapping -- how
horrible and insulting.
Dad was grinning but with
angry eyes and Craig was
laughing out loud with
happy eyes. Craig was a
year younger than me and
enjoyedany opportunity of
seeing me made a fool of.
I would have kept on with
the dance to show them I
didn’t care but I froze or
dried up, one of those,
and I just couldn’t carry
on. I sat on the ground and
listened to Mum saying,
‘Well, that was a very nice
display, Damien. Thank
you for that.’
I felt my own eyes getting
angrier than Dad’s. Not
that this pleased me. I did
not like Dad’s angry eyes
and did not want to have
angry eyes of my own. I
didn’t want to be anything
like Dad, and I wasn’t like