Free Mary-Mary by Joan G. Robinson

with white dust-sheets. Mary-Mary ran in and said, “Mother, guess what I’ve found!”
    But Mother said, “Not now, darling. Run away, there’s a good girl. I’m busy this morning.” And she climbed up on top of a ladder and started dusting the picture-rail.
    Mary-Mary crawled under a little table and began to play tents. She pulled the sheet this way and that, trying to make a nice opening for her tent, and then, because she pulled too hard, the whole table fell over on its side with a clatter and Mary-Mary was quite covered up in the dust-sheet.
    Mother looked down from the top of the ladder and said, “Now, Mary-Mary, you really must run away. This isn’t a game. This is spring cleaning.”
    So Mary-Mary climbed out from under the dust-sheet and went away to tell someone else about her primrose.
    She found Miriam still in the bedroom looking in the looking-glass and putting white cream on her nose.
    â€œMiriam,” said Mary-Mary, “shall I tell you what I’ve just found?”
    â€œNo,” said Miriam, “not now. You can see I’m busy.”
    Mary-Mary went up to the dressing-table and looked at the cream jar.
    â€œThat’s fun,” she said. “You look like a circus clown. I’ll be a clown too.” And she put her fingers in the cream jar.
    Miriam grabbed it from her. “No, not you,” she said. “You don’t need cream on. What you need is a good wash. You’re all covered in earth.”

    â€œWhy do you need it, then?” said Mary-Mary.
    â€œBecause of this spot on my nose,” said Miriam. “Mother says it’s the spring. Now, do go
away,
Mary-Mary.”
    So Mary-Mary went away to find Martyn. He had fixed up a rope in the dining-room. One end was tied to the table-leg, and the other end hung over the door-handle. Mary-Mary opened the door just as Martyn was going to jump over the rope.
    â€œGuess what I’ve found, Martyn!” said Mary-Mary.
    â€œOh, bother!” said Martyn. “Why must you come and interrupt me? Now, do be quiet. You can stay and watch if you like, but don’t talk.”
    So Mary-Mary went in and sat in the big armchair and watched Martyn. But she soon got tired of this; so she climbed up on to the back of the big chair and began jumping down into the seat every time Martyn jumped over the rope.
    Suddenly there was a loud
whamm
!
    â€œWhat was that?” said Mary-Mary.
    â€œYou naughty girl,” said Martyn. “That was the spring.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” said Mary-Mary.
    â€œThe spring of the chair,” said Martyn. “It sounds as if you’ve broken it by jumping on it. You’d better go away quickly before you break anything else.”
    So Mary-Mary went away to find Mervyn (because she still hadn’t told anybody about her primrose). Mervyn was sitting on the floor by the toy cupboard with his motor-boat on his knee.
    â€œGuess what I’ve found!” said Mary-Mary.
    â€œNo, not now,” said Mervyn. “I’m busy trying to mend this.”
    â€œWhat’s the matter with it?” said Mary-Mary.
    â€œI think the spring’s broken,” said Mervyn.
    Mary-Mary didn’t want to hear any more about broken springs; so she went away to find Meg.
    Meg was still playing the piano. Mary-Mary went and stood beside her, waiting for her to finish so that she could tell her about the primrose. But Meg didn’t finish. She went on and on, playing the same notes over and over again, and playing them wrong nearly every time. Mary-Mary thought it was a very loud and lumpy sort of piece, and wondered what it could be called.
    Soon she grew tired of waiting for Meg to stop playing; so she began playing herself, very softly, on the low notes.
    â€œStop it,” said Meg, still playing hard.
    So Mary-Mary went round to the other side and began playing very softly on the high notes.
    â€œGo
away
,”